After we’d changed our routing to take BA, I decided it was time to research their service offerings, and I was pleased to find that they had installed flat beds in Business Class. This confirmed the wisdom of my decision to change — if we’d stayed with American, we’d have been in the usual reclining seats, and the flight time wouldn’t have been long enough for a good nap anyway.
Not all flat beds are created equal. Last year, I flew Virgin, and found the bed to be quite comfortable, if a bit narrow. Earlier this year, I flew to Beijing in the United First Suite, and again, the bed was comfortable but narrow. The bed in BA business class is narrow, but it’s also significantly harder than I would like (Virgin adds a mattress, which makes a big difference). Nonetheless, I slept for about five hours (intermittently, as always on an airplane), and I’m looking forward to our arrival at Heathrow in about an hour.
I suspect I will also be looking forward to a real bed tonight.
The rest of the flight has been quite pleasant — the food was good and the wine was quite drinkable (Chateau St. Michelle Syrah, which I bet I can find at Trader Joe’s). And we had metal knives to cut our food with, since the TSA has no authority over this flight. Yet another reason to take the Vancouver routing. :-)