British Airways is the national airlines of the United Kingdom. It is one of the largest airlines in Europe and the largest scheduled international airline of the United Kingdom.
British Airways group comprises British Airways (BA) and a number of subsidiary companies. British Airways operates flights to over 500 destinations worldwide. It serves both domestic as well as long distance international flights. Providing a full service experience, British Airways tries to provide flights at the most convenient times and to the best located airports. The company was formed in 1972 as a result of a merger between two companies: British Overseas Airways Corporations and British European Airways.
When it started operations, British Airways mainly inherited a fleet of UK built aircrafts that mainly consisted of Boeings. In 1976, simultaneously with Air France, British Airways introduced Concorde, the first ever supersonic passenger service in the world. Later, since 1998 British Airways has placed several Airbus planes to its long distance fleet. However, the Boeing range is still the centerpiece of the airline's fleet.
With three or four classes of service on the long haul international routes, British Airways features 'World Traveller' (Economy Class), 'World Traveller Plus' (Premium Economy) and 'Club World' (Business Class). The luxury services offered to the customers of British Airways include amongst others, BA Miles, Executive Club privileges and access to exclusive lounges at most international airports across the world.
British Airways now operates most of its flights from Heathrow airport- Terminal 5 which was exclusively built for British Airways and opened to passengers on March 27, 2008.
There are also smaller airlines in Britain such as Easyjet, FlyBe or Ryanair-so called ‘budget airlines’ offering cheap tickets and just the basics. There is no "first class" section, assigned seats, or meals. It's basically for people who don't want to spend a lot of money on air travel, or are on a budget. There are budget airlines in America as well as many other countries.
Travelers with British Airlines should obey the rules applied for international use in most countries (and in Russia, of course) Here are some of them.
Passengers are requested to arrive at the airport two hours before departure time on international flights and an hour before on domestic flights as there must be enough time to complete the necessary airport formalities.
Passengers must register their tickets, weigh in and register the luggage. Most airlines have at least two classes of travel, first class and economy class, which is cheaper. Each passenger of more than two years of age has free luggage allowance. Generally this limit is 20 kg for economy class passengers and 30 kg for first class passengers. Excess luggage must be paid for except for some articles that can be carried free of charge. Each passenger is given a boarding pass to be shown at the at the departure gate and again to the stewardess when boarding the plane.
Watch the electric sign flashes when you are on board. When the "Fasten Seat Belts" sign goes on, do it promptly, and also obey the "No Smoking" signal. Landing formalities and customs regulations are more or less the same in all countries.