British Airways took delivery of its 25th 787 Dreamliner last week and I had the pleasure of riding along from the Boeing factory in Everett, WA to London’s Heathrow Airport.

Before the flight, everyone was treated to a tour of the Boeing factory floor, where we were permitted to snap a few photos along the way.

There was no plane-side ceremony, but there was at least one pre-flight surprise for the passengers taking the ride: we (along with our hand baggage) were all weighed before the flight. Ladies first!

The explanation was something about gathering some important data for this and other flights, but I made sure not to step on the scale without my (very heavy….) backpack.

Hand baggage weighed separately met us planeside and we were ready to board and take-off.

Eveyone on this flight got a Club World seat, which are configured in a ying/yang (and, in the center  – 3 across, in a ying/yang/ying) configuration with a panel between seats that passengers can choose to raise or lower.

My favorite feature of the seat is the the floor-level storage drawer, which was big enough to hold my shoes and a variety of other items I wanted closed by.

British Airways engineers on the delivery flight were happy to chat with media on board and confirmed that, as part of the pre-delivery inspection, one thing they do is sit in every seat, looking for scratches and other issues and making sure the wiring is correct for the in-flight entertainment system for each passenger.

On landing at Heathrow, the pilots invited passengers into the cockpit and insisted we take a seat and snap a photo, even adjusting the seat so that it looked ‘real’.

Thanks, British Airways, for the ride to London!