The best of London with British Airways

my name is Shane and on behalf of Laura our inflight manager and the entire crew a very warm welcome on board this British Airways flight to London heo from the latest on Caribbean cruises to kosher safaris pilgrimages to Jewish Eastern Europe and award-winning wines and international cuisine in sundrenched Tel Aviv sit back and enjoy the trip with the travel edition of the Jerusalem Post podcast hello David hello and Shalom Mark Shalom David I'm going home what does home mean now we get into a whole controversial area oh gosh yes where is my home well I'm a jewel Citizen and one of my homes is in you are a jewel in the crown you're a jewel in the Crown Mark a Jew where oh dear me yeah sorry it's a bit noisy cuz I'm on a plane we are recording this at 30,000 they don't do 36,000 ft anymore it's cloudy is oh no there's a view now we're somewhere over Europe I can see an engine which is good should we just go on the other side and check well we're in a beautiful new plane it is it is an Airbus a350 and as you said it's got very curly things at the end of the Wings very pretty with a British flag on them and one on the back too well it's not a British flag it's like a ribbon in red and blue and a bit of white because we're flying British Airways and hence Mark's comment at the start about going home because whilst Mark and I both live in Israel these days in case you haven't heard a podcast previously or in case you're not good with accents if you did hear a banging noise that was somebody going into the bathroom just behind us uh both Mark and I are from the United Kingdom and David never likes to admit it but like me was born in London I was but my parents had the good sense to move to Manchester when I was 18 months old however British Airways flies into London he throws so that's where we're headed for this podcast we've been here for a couple of hours well we haven't been here CU we're not here I mean if we stood by the toilets for a couple of hours I think the crew would be very upset with us we've been on the plane for 2 or 3 hours we've found all the buttons in our club World Suite apparently the red one on my door which says do not use except in emergency is not the lock for my little slidy door that puts me in my own little cabin Club world is British Airways business class travel once you're traveling outside of Europe when we got on board there was a package of little goodies waiting for us so we could have socks a blindfold some lip balm and a pillow and a sheet all made by the White company which is a wonderful Home Furnishing company in the UK then we were given the menu and uh we'd already ahead of time asked for kosa food for vegetarian food but on the menu first of all most important for Mark were the cocktails yes it was 6:00 in the morning when I ordered my first gin fizz is it a gin fizz no a Jin Zing there are cocktails mocktails Spirits there's even for those of you who might be driving the plane so Pilots listen out they have alcohol-free beer I think that's the first time I've seen that on board plane alcohol free beer I possibly had it from the Middle East I would imagine from Muslim countries it's quite likely that it exists yeah and then it was a breakfast service yeah really lovely food three types of salmon three types of salmon and then what they call a was it a baked egg a baked egg yeah it baked egg which was almost like a sule right surrounded by Shak Shuka y look lovely and oine or eggplant in it and whatever drinks you wanted more important than this and the very very excellent entertainment system with multiple languages multiple themes and as Mark said the entertainment system is very very easy to navigate but beyond all of that I think not just us but I think everybody on board at least on Club world has had a very very warm welcome from some lovely members of Staff yeah we have been chatting nonstop to the staff poor people they can't do any work I think the cabin crew hopefully are like that with everybody else and if they're not then we're sorry but we've been taking their time and they've all been very happy to pose in their new uniforms yeah we've got some picks which you will find on the jpost website and across our social media at Mark davidp pod before we get on with the rest of the podcast talking about British Airways and what you could possibly do in London if you're staying in London or on a stopover it's time for the quiz question question number one but we've only got one question so definitely question number one where did the first British Airways flight to Israel land ooh interesting answer at the end of the Pod Israel is the startup Nation the scaleup nation the Unicorn country join me Mayan Hoffman Jerusalem Post Deputy CEO strategy and Innovation and me zachi Hennessy the Jost business and Tech and Innovation correspondent for our analysis of the most critical Israeli Tech Innovations today in each episode of inside Israeli Innovation we'll highlight a new tech Trend discuss the latest Innovation news and interview at least one of Israel's most promising companies so if You' like to know what's on The Cutting Edge then this Jerusalem Post show is for you listen to inside Israeli Innovation on Apple Spotify Google podcast or wherever you get your podcast this is the train to shenfield Via Stratford next station Haz Arlington so as you can tell Mark and I have just got on um the underground the tube a train into London we'll tell you a little bit more about the line that we're traveling on in a minute but first we wanted to tell you a little bit about what's coming up in the rest of the podcast and also a little bit about things that you can do in this part of the World Mark apart from our guests from British Airways who else have we got on the Pod we have a London guide who is going to tell us the best things to do in 24 hours 48 hours a week in London but if you haven't got that length of time say you're on a I know you've got an 8 10 hour layover what can you do and we've already experience this so share maybe with the listeners what we got up to this morning early afternoon for an 8 10 hour layover what we're doing is shopping we're filling our suitcases with the best of British shopping we went three stops four stops from heo airport we went to a place called houndslow 5 minutes outside the station is a shopping center with a supermarket with a town center with all the brands that people know from the UK like marks and Spencer next boots and supermarkets like Asda and even cheaper supermarkets like B&M we did all of our purchases our gift so if again you're in transit that's something that's very easy to do if you've got 6 to8 hours you could try to get downtown if you've got say 10 to 12 hours you most certainly can do it so when we got back from our little shopping spree in houndslow we went to our rooms checked in in the hotel that we're staying in in Terminal 5 which is where many of the flights come in and out particularly those of British Airways so we're staying in the sofh tail we've dumped everything there and now we're heading into town yes we're on the Elizabeth line this is the brand new London Underground line except it's a bit more than that it goes all the way from reading in the west to shenfield in the East it was originally called the cross Rail Project they started building it in 2009 and it was finally open for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee in 2022 at the minor expenditure of $18 billion the queen herself who wasn't actually due to be there made an appearance at the opening in May 2022 sadly a few months later she passed away but this is a lasting tribute to her and the Elizabeth line is the quickest way into London using the underground just to describe it's beautifully clean as opposed to those of you familiar with the tube or the Underground in London where each carriage is closed off from the next one here it really is open you can walk all the way through the train it's very airy it's very light people face one another which is the case in many trains on the underground we're going to get back to you in a little while from downtown London but first it's time to hear from another guest we're going to learn about the history of British Airways flying to Israel I don't want to go too far into it because we'll leave that to our guest Jim Jim Davis is the ba historian he works at something called the speedbird center I think it's also known as The Heritage collection we'll find out a bit more so let's hear from Jim now [Music] it's my privilege to be one of the curators here in the British Airway speedbird Center here at to Waterside in the airlines head office I joined the airline amazing I can't believe now so long ago in December 1966 when it was boac but it US Airways Corporation and finally took a deal uh early retirement in 2002 I think it was can't believe time's gone so fast 2002 and I didn't know what to do because I was a midly a young man then I caught up with the with the late Paul jarus who ran the museum and that was 20 years ago I've been working harder than I was ever since really been a great privilege to do this curating and looking after our history it's included for example doing a lot of fashion shows abroad because when there's a new uniform a new route they like to have a fashion show on a catwalk we've done two in Tel Aviv what a privilege as we were walking into this wonderful building and we were being told about the Queen's visit in 2019 I believe she came to the Heritage Center yeah the date actually is locked in my mind 23rd of May 2019 and amazingly I was given the privilege of being able to show her around the museum here which was incredible and she was in good form she laughed at my joke um always always a good thought really and she was interested we had a lot of material on display relating to travels during her Reign because on many occasions she and the prince would have flown on British Airways or B or baa it was a tremendous visit and also we had some staff here wearing old uniforms and I just love the fact they chose 10 staff it was a thank you to them because each individual had done a lot of fundraising and it was a great opportunity for the queen to say thank you for the money they'd raised for whatever the charity they were doing it's a beautiful center it's not overly large but there is so much to see you could spend hours in here and it's beautifully curated I'll ask the question in two different ways and you can choose which way you want to answer it why on Earth do you need a Heritage Center or the other version of the question how much do people love to wallow in sentimentality when they come in here they always say to know where you are today you need to look where you've come from and I think when people either external visitors or new staff or wander around here they realize it isn't just a flight today or a flight tomorrow on a new aircraft it's a history it's a story that goes back 100 Years of development and an expertise and Technical achievement with these wonderful Engineers who developed these aircraft from one passenger aircraft back in 1919 and today of course you have a 380 carrying 470 so it's a progress and change in the face of and I'm sure our colleagues agree in intense competition while we've been walking around the Heritage Center anniversaries seem to play large this is the 65th anniversary of X and but next year there are two enormous anniversaries for British Airways can you tell us about those first of April 1974 was when the two State Corporations Bea British European a and boac were merged after a lot of discussion within the government they decided to have one big Airline operating under a single flight prefix serving the world was better than duplication across two Airlines two engineering bases two fleets and so the government decided to create British Airways as a single entity that of course sounds very simple but it took a long time over quite a number of years for the various bits to come together now I work for boac and proudly so so whenever I see a Bea person I say well we took baa over which always always winds up a Bea person you can be sure of that I did notice actually in the very dark back stor room that you've got that you still have a boac shoulder bag there and isn't it wonderful to see just to remind our baa colleagues through the senior Alum and of course the other other anniversary is 1 April 1924 is when the British government decided that they needed a buddish state carrier to compete with the French and the Germans and the Dutch on routes across to the east far too far to get to the state but so they created this wonderful land called Imperial Airways with that mission to link the king possessions around the world as you say it's great to have a double anniversary I must tell people upstairs how we must celebrate that when it comes to it really perhaps have the king here I don't know last week British Airways had the new uniform that was designed by oswal bang and the Heritage Center has a collection of some of the older uniforms do you have a favorite uniform I do actually quite aart from the new one today and it's actually unexpected one it's actually a very lovely navy blue and it was used by boac from after World War II onwards it didn't change much they just gradually em it with brass buttons and rank badges and belts and stuff so that's my favorite because it's actually very traditional and it kept really up till 1974 after the merger when they started to put a uniform in but I think it's a very classy uniform and that's exactly the point because a lot of the uniforms are by distinguished designers Harel Osa bang McDonald they all all play their part in the story of course we have a formality of a Japanese kimono because Japanese cabin crew used to wear kimono on the flights for about 20 years or so and wonderfully for our visitors they're always intrigued by right next to the kimono which is a very formal thing to uh there's a paper dress worn by cabin Cruz I'm never sure they like them very much when flying from New York down to the Caribbean in 1967 nowadays because we go gway at Caribbean non-stop but in those days they went via New York so for that New York Caribbean sector they put on this paper dress like it all over at Mar might I don't know wonderfully in fact there horrible green shoes that don't suit me at all and there's also a flower in the hair which is actually rather special as well so you've talked a lot about the history The Heritage and clearly despite my cynicism in my question earlier obviously the future is completely built on the past how are you representing the present particularly in terms of people who are flying between Tel Aviv and London or t Aviv and North America for example well the answer is that as well as our historical displays here one of the purposes of the Heritage Center of course is to show current onboard product and here we have the four cabins first Club World World Travel plus and World traveler uh in terms of the aircraft of course we are showing the 350 there about say 351,000 which is currently use on the route which I think you came over on and so we're showing you know the general product and how hopefully we're going forward while looking back because this month 20 years ago Concord retired I see that Concord came to T Aviv actually on a charter flight some never never schedule flight they did visit so that part is so rich in which I think hopefully our visitors here enjoy seeing you mentioned visitors here and David and I have been talking about what to do on a stopover in London if people have time can they just rock up at the center or do they need to book an appointment is it open to the public very much open to the public and we're delighted to welcome people rocking out um what we generally ask them to do and we get a lot of inquiries by email we ask him in fact to make an appointment well from Monday to Thursday not Friday Saturday Sunday except on very special occasions so we ask him to make an appointment so that we can issue visitor passes up at the reception and they can come in and enjoy looking around some we get big groups in 20s 30s come in they have a sit down presentation but they're very welcome and we we suggest to make a booking just for convenience sake our email address here is very appropriate ba. one. Museum atba . and we have a website ba.com Heritage there's a lot to see on there as well because in addition to the actual Museum we sell posters and books and postcards and little souvenirs which people love to take home especially the posters and of course those posters what a store in their own right that's huge and beautifully artistic these post which people love to put in their front rooms and all not many people retire and then beg to come back to work there's clearly something a bug that you've got for for flight for British Airways and obviously for boac what is it what makes you come back here every single day I suppose it's a sheer pleasure of doing this role it's a busy role I'm working harder now than when I was paid but it's fascinating and it's very fulfilling we meet some tremendous people visitors here yesterday we had a pilot who was absolutely fascinated and spent about two hours here well some wonderful people cabin crew it's me meating and sharing I think that's the privilege behind it which what drives one on really along with one's wonderful colleagues [Music] here this is Mark Gordon from the Jerusalem Post podcast travel Edition find us on Facebook Instagram and Twitter at Mark davidp pod or mail us at Mark davidp pod gmail.com we've emerged from the hustle and bustle of the underground and we're now on Oxford Street this is is the main shopping street in the West End we're on a very very interesting corner behind me is selfridges the historic more than 100y old department store in front of me is marks and Spencer a very well-known brand name there is a really really interesting new glass building which houses Pandora Zara berska all of those Spanish retail names and behind David is a man playing wonderful music yeah busing in the old days would be a couple of the Pearly kings and queens or people like that from the East End of London strutting their stuff and singing local London songs but we've moved International so if you do have time in your visit to London if you're here for a good few days or just 24 hours we're going to introduce you now to the man who has all the answers to your questions where you should go maybe what you should eat also quite a bit about the Jewish scene tourist wise here in London his name is Jonathan Cohen he is a licensed London tour guide let's hear from Jonathan I was born in a place called mfield no doubt that any one of your listeners is going to know where on the planet mfield is it is the smallest little town just outside of Manchester and funnily enough I spent my first 16 years in mfield and then immigrated to a place that you might be familiar with also and that's a place called Israel so I spent the my 1980s in Israel doing the the usual things um but for whatever reason I ended up back in London in the 1990s where I've been working ever since and I've been a tour guide in London an official accredited blue badge tour guide in London since 2018 my sister lived about five minutes north of mfield in Pointon I went to school in Pointon what a small world it is Jewish geography in mville are you the only o from mvi to Israel I'm wondering that now in some ways yeah but actually there's two of us CU my sister subsequently made aliia as well out of the five Jews in mfield two of them made aliia I'm sure the Jewish agency would love those statistics I must tell you that I'm convinced that my grandparents immigrated there because they saw the signs they saw the M they saw the A and they thought here within Manchester and back to the podcast London's a huge Ely popular destination of course for our listeners both in terms of Tourism and as far as British Airways is concerned obviously it's a great hub for flying around the world for seeing Europe for going from the US to Israel and stopping off for a visit to London if somebody's visiting for the first time and they're getting out at Heathrow or one of the other Myriad airports in the capital where should they go first time visitors it is important to also point out that it's not just a hub for British Airways it is the hub for British Airways so massively important destination not just for the airline but for the whole world everybody comes to London the problem with the question is that there's way too many answers I literally could spend the next hour or so giving you the the the that's not the problem with the question that's the problem with your answer no fair comment good good point Thank you 10 seconds most people tend to when they think about London they think about two specific cities one called the city of Westminster one called the city of London most things are in that area when you look at the the city of London is where the money is made the city of Westminster is where it's spent because that's where the royal family are located so most people tend to focus on a first time visit they will visit things like the Palace of Westminster aka the houses of Parliament with that famous tower that most people recognize under the name of Big Ben they'll look at Westminster Abbey whiteall Buckingham Palace and also the most important palace in England which fun enough isn't actually Buckingham Palace at all but they will go to that area the city of Westminster is the new part of town that's been around for about a thousand years when they finish there they'll go to the old part of town the 2,000 year old city of London that includes things like St Paul's Cathedral the Tower of London and those are absolutely the must visit places when you think about coming to London for the first time three of us have lived in London at some point in our life if you know London reasonably well are there some hidden Gems or some new attractions to go to yeah it's a great a great question I think look London hasn't changed a huge amount but people discover new areas I take a lot of londoners around London uh and they're like you know I've never ever been here before there's a lot of things and certainly from a a second or third time visitor H you could be a a tenth time visitor and still not such a surface I like whopping just want to check whopping is the name of a place rather than an activity right that's whipping that's Westminster again the activity is an optional extra the location however is free for all name of a destination it's a an area towards the east of London it's where the old docks used to be but some of the pubs there date back to the 16th century uh you know it's got massive amount of entertainment value for for visitors Greenwich Greenwich is another one that very very few people head out to but everybody in the world has heard of something called Greenwich meantime so Greenwich is a massively important attraction not just because of the meantime but also because there's so many different things to see in the area it's got a again an amazing historical connection to the city Henry V8 was born there you know there's lots of lots of different activities and interestingly enough from an Israeli point of view the national Maritime Museum is sponsored by the offer family it's great fun for kids but as a as a Israeli point of view is quite a nice little context nice little Point final place is a location really really bang in the center of London but again nobody's nobody ever talks about it it's an area called souk around the famously it's got a chain station there the London Bridge railway station the way I describe souk is that most people are familiar with what's been happening in Las Vegas since the 1940s well souk has been doing the same thing since the 1490s it's got an incredible Maritime history it's got an incredible anything that couldn't and wasn't allowed to take place in the city of London had to move out of the boundaries so any activities that perhaps weren't perceived by the local authorities as being upholding and decent took place outside the city and a lot of them moved to sub so for example William Shakespeare or Billy the shake created his first theater there in 1599 because he wasn't allowed in the city of London so great place to visit again if you've happened to done all the main highlights London's got a large Jewish population there's probably somewhere between quarter of a million and 300,000 Jews there how far back does the Jewish history of London go the answer to that is on the record since 1066 off the Record and anecdotally you could say right the way back to the Roman Conquest the Romans took slaves in from Jerusalem back to Rome and they used those slaves in further subsequent invasion that they that They carried out so although there's no hard archaeological evidence to prove it it's very very likely that there was Jewish London way way back to the Roman times but in terms of concrete we know that uh William the Conqueror William the first William the and he's got a lot of other names as well brought over a large Jewish population with him when he invaded in 1066 in the Norman Conquest but there's also been a number of sort of if you like migrant ation points so the Jews were expelled in the year 1219 were readmitted in the 1650s so we got another wave if you like in the 1650s and then of course a more modern more recent migration that sees a lot of refugees or immigrants coming over from uh the Europe Russia the hail of settlement etc etc in the late 19th century so if you're doing a tour of Jewish London where do you take customers without obviously giving away all the secrets of your tour oh wow I love giving away secrets and that's part of the fun that's what that's what we do the Classic Tour for the Jewish population is basically something known as the East End of London it's where the majority of Jews moved to in the 19th century the latter part of the 19th century places like Brick Lane uh princelet Street Foria Street all these locations are tiny little streets where the Jewish Community being quite a poor Community immigrated to in the 19th century I have a number of other tours that I do do for specifically within with the Jewish community in mind I operate something called kosher kingdoms which is actually a West End tour touring the mansions and the places associated with some of the very very wealthy Jews that lived in you know the families like the Rothchild families for example there's also another tour that I do called gelt and gills which focuses on pretty much the city of London and charting the course of Jewish life through the VAR different financial institutions The Guild Halls the Lord mayor of London etc etc see from a a Jewish perspective interestingly enough both St Paul's Cathedral and the Tower of London both have extremely interesting Jewish stories to them so I take a number of visitors to those two places and look at it from a Jewish perspective and the one that most people like is a tour called Jewish or Jewish which is a focus on the residences of some people that perhaps surprise you when when you tell them that they are actually Jewish Bob Marley for example being one of the classic examples wow who knew that he was actually jewi well of course he's not but he's Jewish because his father was a Syrian Jew so there's a a whole range of things actually you can do with the with with Jewish visitors to London great place to come for it so blooms is no more Ruben's went and is back again but in terms of and these are well-known koser restaurants sort of more in the heart of London but today with the exception of rubins do you have to go out to Gold's green or henden or can you stay in the center of the city and still eat kosher Jewish life in London has moved North as you say to the some of the northern suburbs and of course in those Northern suburbs there's a lot of kosher restaurants to choose from there's a small and limited number of strictly kosher restaurants Israeli Cuisine is doing quite well in London so there's a number of Israeli places but they're not necessarily kosher but if you're looking at at kosher apart of course from Rubin on Baker Street then the the Island Grill is an option that's on Lancaster Terrace it's one of the London's most famous kosher CES who's ventured into the the restaurant business there's a small chain called baladi they've got a couple of restaurants in North London but they also have one restaurant in leather Lane just by Hatton Gardens actually and that's kosher and it's a relatively newcomer on groa Terrace in in the center of the West End the place is known as molet it's more so shop and sandwiches rather than a proper sitdown restaurant but again it's another kosher option in in the West End regrettably there aren't many more than that that I can think of when I go back to England I take a suitcase with me I try and buy the things I can't get in Israel where are the best places to go shopping in London and fill that suitcase oh Primark when I guide with Israelis 2,000 years worth of history is pretty much not the most important thing they're looking for Primark does tend to be one of the most important attractions let's say your budgetary range might be if you're looking for something to impress the wife or girlfriend or partner then certainly nightsbridge Regent Street beach Place Sloan Street these kind of places uh jokingly they always refer to the fact that it takes a man 45 minutes to walk down slow Street and a lady at about four and a half hours but if the luxury end is what you're looking for that's kind of where you go mid-range Oxford Street Soho coven Garden that kind of a Vibe so very much in the center of town but that's where most of the larger department stores are located and I guess the other thing is is souvenir people love souvenir shopping as well when they come here and of course you know that's an option Camden Market forella Road greenich is also good for souvenirs and the best souvenirs or the best cheap range shopping in London charity shops the charity shops particularly in in knsb in the West End you can pick up some incredible clothing at very very good prices one word answer I'm afraid if people have time for one show that's on at the moment what's your recommendation Hamilton cool let's move on if people want to know how they can get hold of you how they can take your tour what's the best way to be in touch oh what a great idea thank you um my London tour guide.com my London tour guide.com it's a as easy as that Jonathan Cohen thank you so very much for your time and for making us laugh British Airways London fact file British Airways flies directly between Tel Aviv and London twice daily from London British Airways customers have access to one of the world's most extensive flight networks both domestically and internationally operating out of three major London airports London hro London Gatwick and London City they serve 27 destinations in the us alone in total British Airways flies to around 200 destinations in some 74 countries operating more than 250 aircraft the quickest method to get from Terminal 5 to Central London is via the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station it takes around 20 minutes London Underground trains will take you to the heart of the West End the brand new Elizabeth line will get you to Tottenham Court Road in 38 minutes and the Picadilly line will bring you to Leicester Square in 53 minutes $100 will buy you 82 British p as of September 2023 London has M Winters and temperate Summers average daytime temperature is 42° F 5° C in January and 65° f 18° c in July The Sun Shines on most days but an umbrella is recommended all year round the 50 best hotel list says The seavoy Nomad conut and clares are London's best hotels inside Terminal 5 there's the Sophi tel hotel the Marriot London Park Lane offers a daily kosher Buffet as does the holiday and express gold as green which reopens in 2024 both have Shabbat friendly rooms for other kosher and kosher friendly hotels check the internet London has a remarkable 74 Michelin style restaurants including five with three Michelin stars there's a plethora of vegetarian restaurants including gindas near Soho Square for kosher food in central London old traditional favorites rubins is joined by baladi in the city of London and Tony Pages Island gr at the Royal Lancaster hotel for a wider Choice head up the northern line to Finchley henden gold as green and Edge [Music] wear hello David hello again Mark I think one of the advantages of having effectively your own terminal is you get to put your stamp on it you get to say this is how I would like to design the check-in process this is how I'd like to design what happens to First Class customers business class customers and British Airways have that freedom I think here at Heth thr we are very lucky and very privileged to be in the Concord room which is the first class Lounge we're in Terminal 5 which is if you're flying to Tel Aviv you will be coming through Terminal 5 and we haven't yet sampled the club lounges the business lounges we'll be doing that a little bit later on but when you come in if you're traveling first class you're siphoned off through a separate check-in area obviously the lines are much shorter the security lines are much shorter and you come to the first class Lounge where there are a variety of meals on offer as we came through a short while ago there was both breakfast and lunch menu which was really a buffet one of the many differences between that and the Concord area is that here it's an alicart menu and it is waiter service the lounge also has a very high-end wine menu you would notice that wouldn't you I would and I'm very happy to be facing the bar and looking at the multiple Gins the multiple vodkas the multiple whiskies that are on offer as well as takila bardi Campari there's a full range here you can sit and relax the atmosphere here is very quiet so we are talking quietly so as not to be thrown over the balcony and if you want to go and sit out on a balcony you can watch through the big glass windows of the terminal you can see all the planes you've got a 270° angle looking out at the plane you've got all types of consumers from all across the world with very different financial means Mark and I through this trip predominantly are looking at the club World which is the business offering from British if you're traveling through London to Tel Aviv or from Tel Aviv to London or onwards to North America or to other destinations so we wanted to find out a little bit more about that offering so what we're about to do after we finish our latest drink is head over to Waterside and British Airways headquarters for a very special meeting we're going to have a chat with British Airways Chief customer officer Callum lamming and find out about the ethos of the customer experience firstly Callum will tell us a little bit about himself been in Airlines for just 30 years actually I've been doing this quite a while I started when I was at school in a call center and then paid my way through University working for airlines in particular go which was Ba's original lowcost Airline um and I was the person on the very last go flight that was during University I also worked whilst I was working at Pro and gamble had a very classic marketing training and then after I left PNG I decided that Aviation was for me in the marketing and product space as it was back then having worked so many years in airports and call centers and on board the aircraft it seemed natural to kind of combine it with what I was doing and yeah I've been really lucky I've had a great career I've worked around the world I've worked as far a field as the Middle East New Zealand Nigeria the Caribbean and joined British Airways uh just under 18 months ago actually in April last year uh before that I was with Welling which is also part of the iig group uh I was the chief customer officer at Welling for five and a half years before I came here so all the way through the pandemic so that's pretty much who I am what is a chief customer officer it is the representation of our customers in the airline it's a team actually I'm really lucky we're a team of just under 20,000 here in British Airways in the team we call customer and brand we kind of look after the endtoend customer Journey so everything from all the touch points on the ground to the air we look after research and insight because it's key to know what our colleagues and our customers want and think and and how they're appreciating what we do we look after catering lounges the inflate entertainment we also have marketing brand in the team and of course our colleagues in customer care so all our call centers and customer relations teams around the world and crucially our cabin crew which make up about 18,000 of the team if you're in Tel Aviv at the airport benorian and you look at the departures board there are so many companies now flying this route into London why should they fly with British o you're right we are in a fiercely competitive industry and that's what we love why would you fly British Airways because we are uniquely who we are we have a great service of a long history particularly on the Tel Aviv route many years of operating in and out we most of the Year offer double daily services to Tel Aviv and great connections as well we have great products we put a lot of investment in but truly if you ask it's the experience and the experience is the product is the seeds and the entertainment and the food that we serve on board but it's all about our people as I said I've done this job for quite a while I am so convinced that British Airways has this uniquely set of brilliant individuals who really bring the experience to life in a way that is only us no other Airline could imitate and that's the experience that we are proud to offer to Tel Aviv to the US in fact we fly to all six continents of the world so we're proud to take the British flag as well um globally and fly that flag it's an honor it's something we're very proud of and it's a responsibility for us too David and I were lucky enough to fly in one of the club World cabins on the Airbus a350 from Tel AV to London but the experience isn't just about on board if you're flying Club World tell us about the experience from start to finish on the ground lounges you're quite right it's an end-to-end customer Journey it's not just about the the flight very conscious that the flight is the bit every one of our customers actually purchases but everything else is so vital um we put a lot of time and thought into it one of the big changes that's happened in recent years and become even more important of the digital experience that makes up a lot of the ground experience we're going through a redesign of our digital offering be that through the sales and servicing part of the journey through to you know we've just launched a digital wayfinding tool for example at heo to help our customers through there the other part is making sure that we're represented at check-in to our standards across the globe how we offer the dedicated check-ins for on rots with first class you know first class Club world or Club Europe if you're flying within Europe World traveler plus we have dedicated check-in for Long Haul and of course world traveler or Euro traveler for those cabins and a lot is about lounges particularly for the premium customers that you mentioned we still have a lot of lounges around the world we have 30 different lounges in 23 locations because we have quite a lot of Heath R we operate across two Terminals and satellite buildings and the different cabins have different lounges we put a lot of investment particularly at the moment we're putting a lot of investment in we've just completely refreshed Terminal 3 Lounge here at heo we are just refreshing the terminal 5B satellite Lounge which I hope you get to visit before before you leave that the full reeverb should be finished within the next couple of weeks a lot of it's already done so you'll be able to see some of the features for example the whispering Angel bar that we've launched there because are lots about working with Partners as well to bring this experience to life going forward we've got refreshes this year alone coming in am aan Lounge Edinburgh Lounge Seattle lounge we open the JFK lounge with our partner American Airlines the brand new ones in termal late when we made the move last December there's a lot of investment going in there particularly as we emerg from the pandemic which was such a challenging time for the world and you know our industry was definitely suffered as the World closed down and we we've had to rebuild we've been able to refocus on exactly what our customers want by using that research and insight by from our customers and our colleagues crucially because they're the ones that tell us what's happening you know each and every day we can use that to really shape the experience and actually things have changed post pandemic you know the types of customers we have more Leisure customers than business customers before that means how people can see assum how people enjoy how people travel they stay in lounges longer because they get to the airport earlier than they ever did before a traditional flight from New York overnight which can be under 6 hours or Boston before the pandemic the majority of customers just wanted to go to sleep now customers want to eat as well you know and that's absolutely fine so we have a duty and a responsibility do it and it's something we take very seriously we adapt and change quite quickly how do you make airline food for that many customers stand out how do you make it tasty nutritious and for Club world and first how do you make that higher quality product we work with experts around the world as an airline we're not colonary experts so we partner with culinary experts who do that work for us we do have a group of very talented chefs here in the team in customer and brand who work with our partners and our catering suppliers around the world it's about utilizing fresh ingredients you have to look at bringing the britishness to life you know we are all about being British Airways so you have to make sure we highlight that but at the same time we're British Airways we fly around the world we don't want to make it just you know British food you're not going to get the freshest British ingredients on the other side of the world you need to work with local Providence and we have set standards as in four starters in first class and we have choices of three in economy class they're kind of the standards or what we call World traveler but then we partner with the experts down route to say what works for our customers what works for time of day when you fly for example out of London to Singapore you leave 9:00 in the evening you land at 5:00 in the afternoon do customers want breakfast brunch or lunch when they land you know you you've got a lot of those challenges but that that's one of the things where we have been agile and been changing according to customer feedback over recent times but it's not just about the food you've got to have a good drinks offering alongside here as well hi everyone I'm Ellie and I'm Brooke we're brid Airways cevin crew and you're listening to the Jerusalem Post podcast travel Edition since last year we've very much been working towards our new brand platform which is a British original which you're starting to see come to life so you'll have seen it for example in the British original advertising campaign that we launched in October which we are so proud won a canline Grand Prix just a few months ago which which shows it it's really resonated we've brought that across the custom experience you see on the onboard entertainment you saw our safety video I think the safety video is fantastic today entertainment on the airplane is a different world and I have to say Mark said when we were flying yesterday that the beauty of the the British Airway system was the categorization of what's on the screen in front of you he thought it was far more indepth and much better ways of selecting than some of the other airlines that we flown well thank you for saying that we've certainly put a lot of work into that it was really important to design not only the content so you see a loads more box sets now because we're much more about box sets and full series it's about how we used to consuming media at home and this has to be an extension of that so we've done a lot with content we've actually this summer we've doubled the amount of content that we had versus last year we did a partnership with Paramount Plus at the end of last year which we launched which has been incredibly popular and now makes up a third of all the viewing that we have on board it's also about the system so if you're flying the a350 you've got our brand new system which also has the user interface which swipes which is much more what we're akin to doing now with smartphones so and iPads and of course you have to think about all of those so the entertainment experience is immersive but entertainment is not just what we have loaded on board our L haul aircraft of course we have Wi-Fi across most of the fleet and we're just progressively rolling out across all the fleet which is capable of doing streaming we're here at a very apt time last week was the launch of the new British Airways uniform what was the thinking behind the new uniform the previous uniform was iconic and successful but it was it was 19 years old so nearly 20 years old fashion has also changed an awful lot wearability usability individuality and choice voice in clothing has been really important so it was important for us to partner with an expert again as I think you're probably getting a theme as you talk to me that you know we rely on working with these expert collaborators Partners suppliers in whichever form and oswal bang was that for us in uniforms you know we are a premium brand and we proudly a premium brand we wear suits and ties we offer choice but who better to make a suit than a award-winning Master Taylor who represents the best of britishers so a lot went into that in terms of wearability in terms of sustainability you know using recycled polyester working with a better cotton initiative all of these things were super important offering different cuts of trousers for our gentleman colleagues so you have Slim Fit versus straight cut which is you know important to many people many different options for our female colleagues to wear from trousers to skirt the iconic jumpsuit and the dress which we hadn't had before in the previous thing and it was it was about listening to our colleagues and showing an investment and how proud We Are it allows our colleagues to come to work every day you know standing a little bit taller standing even prouder because they're proud of the uniform they wear the the representation of the British Airways brand that they really carry for us for our customers and ultimately that translates into a better experience and service for our customers where are you today what encapsulates British Airways what's your ethos our ethos is actually based around at the moment as we grow and develop and come out of the situation that we've been in in the world and in the industry with the pandemic and you've heard me say it before we are proudly a British original and that's who we are and that's what we represent we recognize that it's a new and modern world and how people travel and how people consume and how people spend their money and their time and where they work from has changed massively in the time and I think that's really really important so that a British original platform allows us to BBA allows our colleagues to be themselves we also recognize the original reasons every one of our customers gets on board our aircraft which is is also key it's about growing and developing proudly flying that flag proudly holding the name we H hold but also proud of where we've come from I mean if you notice in the safety video when when a cabin crew colleagu SEMA from the first version and Jason from the second version ask little Sims to pay attention as she takes the headphone off she was listening to the Flower Duet which is that song from the ' 80s that you could actually sing because we're super proud of where we came from We're 14 year old brand proudly flying to all six continents inhabited continents of the world and really wanting to bring that to life that will never change but we need to modernize grow develop it's about transformation for us we're under a very comprehensive very exciting transformation program across the airline it's got to encapsulate where we are in the World be that the focus on sustainability which is a very key one for us as we're working to make sure we work on that um offering the best experience for our colleagues as part of the airline and bringing the airline to life and constantly evolving the customer experience and where we are at the moment is we're completely on a journey together as a 37,000 strong Global colleague Workforce of creating for us and most importantly for customers what we call a better ba where can listeners find out more about British Airways and book tickets definitely please book tickets and it's well all the social platforms will have it everything from Twitter X Instagram you'll find lots of information on LinkedIn but of course everything is available on our website very easy ba.com Callum laming thank you so much indeed for your time and for your passion thank you so very much for coming to visit enjoy your flight back [Music] at the start of this podcast you may have heard the announcement welcoming people on board this beautiful plane as we set sail from Tel Aviv to London heo that announcement was made by Shane and Shane is with Mark and myself now hello good afternoon how long have you been with British Airways and what made you become cabin crew with British Airways I've been working about 5 years now my wonderful Aunt from Israel she worked 20 odd years for L Israel's Airline um and I think my inspiration for joining flying cuz I remember in the days when we were still allowed into the flight deck coming up and visiting seeing the pilots up the front and I think that's where the bug and the fire inside of me has been lit how did that develop from getting the bug going through the training and all those types of things to where you are today so I was lucky enough to live in Israel for a few years before joining ba having moved back to the UK it was my opportunity to be able to see the world but equally have the opportunity to come back and see my family and friends in Israel regularly and ba gives me the opportunity to do that so is this your favorite route or do you have another that you always look on the roster and go I'd love to go there how did you guys guess my favorite rude I might be a little bit biased I do like to get around and travel I'm hoping hoping for next month to go to Chile for the first time so we will see you speak Hebrew how important is that for this company and for the passengers when you're on the telev route I'm very lucky that I had the opportunity to learn Hebrew and that I can share it with our passengers on board there are only a few of us that speak Hebrew and the company but we do notice the difference with the passengers when we are able to have that extra bit of communication with them that extra connection it helps make the flights much calmer everybody is just ready for their holidays their travels their business makes a big difference you're decked out in a lovely new uniform which I believe only came out last week how do you feel about it it's always exciting to be in something fresh and new and we're hoping that we can wear it proudly for the next few years to come at least looking forward from your perspective where do you see yourself going is this something where you see yourself retiring in this job is being a flight attendant something that you can do for 40 years as a profession as perhaps your AR did with L well I'll have to consult my knees first if that'll allow me to do the 40 years but I'm very much hoping to be in this for the foreseeable future I do want to progress and it gives me great opportunities in this company in all manner of directions to be able to do it there do you have something that really makes you smile when you do this job is there one particular aspect that you really enjoy or something that customers do that really makes you smile every crew member brings their own little bit of something special to the job I enjoy making it smooth for the rest of the crew so 99% of the time I'll be in one of the kitchens and my job is to make everything flow to keep our passengers happy and if I can do that then I'm happy Shane thank you so much for agreeing to do the interview because you didn't know about it before and thank you for keeping us happily entertained and fed and mildly Tipsy mildly Tipsy is always good you need to be hydrated on a long flight thank you very much you're listening to the Jerusalem Post podcast travel Edition find us on Facebook Instagram and Twitter at Mark davidp pod or mailers at Mark davidp pod at gmail.com Oh David I knew that's how you were going to start this segment no but I am in a state of bliss at the moment I'm in this most comfortable chair with my feet up in the galleries Club Lounge at Terminal 5 Section B we're waiting for our flight back to Tel Aviv what a better way to do it and while I'm looking forward to my flight I'm not waiting that keenly because I'm quite having fun at turnill 5 we need to say thankk you first of all to several people who you've heard from during this podcast and also maybe a couple of others who've been working behind the scenes to make it happen thank you to Callum thank you to Jim thank you to Jonathan our wonderful tour guide and thank you to Shane so they're all the ones that you heard from a particular Thanks goes to Emily who made all of this happen from the international team at British and also to yel in Tel Aviv who helped along the way oh I'm still feeling very Blissful it's been a lot of fun as we always say we're very privileged because we get to do all of this special travel and we're looked after but one of the things that Mark and I have noticed and we're sure this will also be the case on our return leg is the attention that British crew members give to every person flying on their Jets and not just the attention we have caught British Airways cabin crew on escalators in the middle of the terminal and we've said hi we've asked them about uniforms we've asked them about working with British Airways and one thing they are is absolutely genuine everybody will talk to you like a human being there's no pretense you just feel very relaxed here if you have enjoyed this podcast well obviously the word if is irrelevant you have enjoyed this podcast so please do give us a five star rating follow us or subscribe depending on which podcast provider you use and please tell your friends all about the Jerusalem Post podcast travel Edition it's been a real privilege for me to go home to go to London and to David's home as well although he won't admit it because he's London born but we have also had the privilege to go around the world and if you want to hear our travels in various parts of the world we have another 70 odd podcasts for you to listen to you can always message us at Mark davidp for social media and our email address Mark davidp pod gmail.com quiz time please sir the question was where did the first British Airways flight land in Israel and actually it wasn't British Airways it was a predecessor of British Airways called Imperial Airlines and they landed not in L not at Boran but they landed trying and work out the year I think it was 1932 they landed not even on land they landed on Lake tiberious on the Sea of Galilee in a sea plane the canit in fact the canit yes to give it yet another name I assume that the first class and the business class in those days were a little bit different to the way they are these days actually I was looking at the model of the plane and within the seating it was facing each other it wasn't like standard 3 3 three there was three and then three people facing and it was quite a big plane with room for multiple people it wasn't just four people on a little C plane so maybe we were going back to that a little bit because if you look at modern business class nowadays they're like facing each other facing at Angles so you never know so we have been the guests of British Airways they don't tell us what to say none of the people who host us tell us what to say and we give our a pretty honest Frank impression we've been very impressed it's been a fantastic 2436 hours we enjoyed London the air here was so beautiful and even the 15 minutes of heavy rain was just a pleasure after the summer that we've had in Israel David I want to play a game of ice spy cuz we're looking out from the terminal window onto the Concourse I know where this is going I spy with my little eye something beginning with a a plane no go on airplane I spy with my little eye something beginning with a a plane no another plane yes let's kill this now get annoy thank you everybody for listening and join us again soon for our next Jerusalem Post podcast travel Edition take care folks bye-bye [Music] n