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TikTok star shares video of ‘horrendous’ British Airways first class experience

‘You get the odd amazing flight but the overall quality level is definitely low’ wrote influencer Jarvis Marcos

Lucy Thackray
Thursday 07 October 2021 08:10 EDT
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The TikTok video showed wear and tear in the BA first class cabin
The TikTok video showed wear and tear in the BA first class cabin (Jarvis Marcos/theluxurytraveller)

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A first class passenger on a British Airways flight has shared their negative experience of a first class cabin they describe as “horrendous”.

Jarvis Marcos, who posts on TikTok as @theluxurytraveller, filmed his experience while flying from Mexico to London with his girlfriend.

In the video, Marcos points out torn leather seats and scuffed compartments of the cabin and shows direct messages from followers who claimed they’d also seen flaws in first class.

“The seat didn’t fully recline either,” reads one of Marcos’s messages shown in the video.

“Emirates has onboard showers in first class. BA has this...” reads one of Marcos’s video captions, as condensation is shown dripping onto the seating area below.

The video also shows the airline’s breakfast offering, including a chopped up hot dog, fried mushrooms and a potato cake.

First class BA fares from Mexico City to London cost between £2,600 and £6,500 one way.

At the beginning of the video, Jarvis quotes British Airways’ own description of its first class experience, then writes: “Imagine saving up for years for a once in a lifetime trip. Only to get this…”

In a follow up Instagram caption last Friday, Marcos describes the experiences as “a frankly horrendous flight from MEX-LHR last month”.

Most of the issues with the flight appear to be cosmetic, with worn looking seats and bulkheads visible in first class.

In the comments, Marcos told his followers that, after complaining, he was offered £150 worth of vouchers as compensation. He also mentions that he is a BA Executive Club gold member.

Marcos also shows a video clip of rival Emirates’ first class seat, with a bottle of Dom Perignon, a plate of caviar and cream leather seat in view.

Prior to the in-flight video, the TikTok star - who has 181,500 followers on the social media platform - posted a more positive video showing BA’s first class check in and lounge.

“All 8 seats in first class were taken today. It’s great to see demand for travel returning!” he captioned the earlier video, which shows him eating lunch, drinking Laurent-Perrier champagne and opening the airline’s Temperley-designed pyjamas.

A spokesperson for British Airways said: “We’ve apologised to Mr Marcos and are investigating what went wrong, as his experience clearly didn’t meet our usual high standards on this occa​​sion.”

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