A Very British Airline

The first episode in the series looks at British Airways' efforts to escape the financial crisis it has been suffering in recent years, featuring the introduction of the Airbus A380 into its fleet, and cameras go behind 'millionaires door' at Heathrow's Terminal 5 to see what is experienced by the airline's first class passengers. The episode follows the preparation of the first A380 to join the fleet, and then its first flight to Los Angeles. The episode also follows the airline's new cabin crew recruits as they begin their training, and the staff at the British Airways HQ at Waterside with the task of juggling around aircraft when maintenance overruns or when unexpected problems occur.

The cabin crew training aspect of this episode resulted in bad reviews and opinions of British Airways' disciplining methods, due to the basis on which trainees were issued with warnings, and ultimately removed from the course, and the attitude of the trainers. One trainee, Patrick, had his contract terminated due to receiving a fourth and final written warning for arriving two minutes late to a session. He said had had to pay 'thousands of pounds' to join the course, had relocated and left a previous job to attend in the training. A fellow trainee described him as 'reliable & hard working' and that it was 'gutting' for him to have put in so much hard work. He described the intensity of the training as 'almost like being in the military'.

In this episode cameras follow the airline as it launches a new route to Chengdu, China, and investigate the company's major operations out of New York City. It follows a new manager as he begins his new role at New York JFK, and the airline's Chinese airports manager. The episode looks back on the days of supersonic flight, when Concorde was the centre of British Airways' fleet, flying the airline's Blue Ribbon route between London and New York. We also find out which cabin crew recruits have managed to successfully complete their training, with Jodi receiving her fourth and final 'snapshot' just 3 days before the end of her course. This episode showed footage of Jodi being escorted off the property for not wearing enough lipstick by lead trainer Si Hunter Jones. Another trainee was issued a snapshot for being late for training, despite the fact that the trainers were aware of a serious incident that had occurred on the M25 causing her journey to be delayed. Once again, this episode resulted in bad reviews and it further revealed to the public the cruel culture at British Airways.

Having already followed British Airways' cabin crew recruits, the final episode shows the first few cadet pilots to train with the airline on its new Future pilot programme in their final months of the course. The episode also takes a look at what it takes to manage the world's most congested airport, and the efforts of the staff to reduce delays. We see what happens to our bags after check in at the airport, and also what happens to aircraft in the turnaround between flights.

This episode received very positive reviews, unlike the previous two episodes.