British Airways (Glasgow to Heathrow T5)

This is the return flight, I went from Heathrow T5 to Glasgow last week. To my considerable annoyance, this journey wasn’t available for anywhere near the same price using the rail network, I try to avoid using aircraft for domestic flights.

I started from the Travelodge at Glasgow Airport and was pleased to note that they’ve made it easy to walk to the terminal by providing clear signage.

And the terminal at around 6am.

The list of departures, mine is the 08:15 flight. Note that I arrived only 2 hours 15 minutes before the flight, which was cutting it very fine indeed as far as I was concerned.

There’s already a JD Wetherspoons landside, so it seems that there will soon be one airside as well. It was at this point that I popped into the British Airways lounge.

I liked the artwork here, some interesting Scottish scenes.

And some information about it, a really lovely idea to help promote the work of an airport security officer, Christopher Marr.

The minor problem with air bridges is that I can’t photograph the aircraft, this was the nearest that I could get, but the back of it is pointing out at least. It’s aircraft registration G-EUUI, which I haven’t flown on before (I don’t remember the aircraft I fly on, I have to search my own blog, although that’s good for the access numbers….) but has been in the British Airways fleet since 2002. The aircraft went to Dubrovnik after it landed at Heathrow, I must admit to being slightly jealous of it….

Lots of people in boarding groups 1 to 3, a lot more than my flight to Glasgow last week. The boarding gate staff were helpful and cheerful, which I thought was impressive for an early Tuesday morning. The cabin crew were equally engaging, so first impressions were all very positive again. The pilot sounded chirpy and happy as well with his announcements during the flight, so my general impressions remained positive.

The view from the window, although I was more engaged in watching some customers in the aisle trying to put their bags into the overhead lockers. Children often have a toy where they try and fit a shape through a hole, I suspect some of these customers didn’t have that game when they were younger. They will try and fit a bag that clearly doesn’t go in the space provided and look endlessly surprised.

I had an exit row seat by the window, but the aircraft was full and I didn’t see any empty seats at all on the flight. The aircraft felt very clean, but everyone was handed a cleansing wipe if they wished to do a bit more cleaning.

Flying over Glasgow and what I assume is the River Clyde.

The free food and drink was a bottle of water and a Nutri-Grain bar, entirely sufficient for an hour long flight. The newspaper was free at the airport, I’m not into paying for them.

The aircraft arrived 29 minutes early at the airport, but arrived at the gate one minute later than anticipated, with a half hour wait on the runway for a gate to become available causing that delay. The pilot made regular announcements, so it all felt professionally managed and I wasn’t in a rush anyway. Customers seemed content (no-one was tutting or grumbling anyway) and the disembarkation process was well managed, with five rows being called to leave the aircraft at a time.

And this is where the domestic passengers are tipped out, right down the end of the terminal.

13 minutes?!?!?! This Piccadilly service back into central London was every ten minutes a couple of years ago, apparently now reduced to every 20 minutes. For most parts of the country a 13 minute wait would be normal for public transport, but in London it stands out as feeling a long time.

Anyway, this was another perfectly operated flight from British Airways, I remain entirely pleased at their service. All rather lovely.