Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: British Airways

  • Flights – London Heathrow T5 to Geneva (British Airways)

    I took this flight from London Heathrow T5 (as can be seen above) to Geneva in March 2016 in an A319. It’s memorable to me only because I remember the rather impressive views of the mountains near to Geneva, the rest of the experience has now become lost to the mists of time….

    My flight was in Club Europe and although BA have now changed how they band their flights, this was in the old Band 2 sector. That meant that a pretty decent salad was served, in this case a prawn salad with the obligatory BA seeded roll.

    I’m told that this isn’t the best champagne, but I have no clue about such things, it tasted fine to me. Again, since I took this flight, BA have changed which champagne they provide in the cabin though.

    The photos above are of the mountain views that I had, which the pilot said were in the Mont Blanc region. Whether or not it is actually Mont Blanc I have no idea, so I’ll have to visit it one day to find out. It looks a bit hilly though to me, rather higher than Beeston Bump in Sheringham….

  • Flights – Los Angeles to London Heathrow T5 (British Airways)

    After I’d spent a very enjoyable five weeks in the United States, it was time to return to London Heathrow, this time using British Airways. I had got to LAX nice and early, ensuring that I had sufficient time to go to KFC.

    It was an evening flight and the boarding process seemed particularly efficient, although it transpired that there was a reason for this….

    I had selected an aisle seat and I took my seat next to another gentleman (I say another as if I’m a gentleman….) ready for the red-eye flight. A crew member came up to tell me that the cabin had less than 15% occupancy, so he suggested that I take an entire row of seats to myself.

    This was the row of seats that I selected for myself, which was rather nice. Unfortunately the new iteration of BA seats means that the arm rests don’t fully lift up, so I wasn’t able to make up a Club World bed arrangement. The quiet cabin certainly made the journey a lot more comfortable and the crew member told me that the other cabins were equally light of passengers.

    Liam would have been pleased with the in-flight entertainment option of Alan Partridge…..

    The pre-meal snack of pretzels, which I have become rather fond of over my years on BA. They were removed for a while, but they’re now back! The white wine was perfectly acceptable as well.

    I’ve always thought that BA meals in economy are of a good quality, although they’re rarely well presented. This is a chicken tikka, along with a salad, roll and crackers. There was also a Lily O’Brien dessert, which I always appreciate.

    This was the second meal, which was some form of fruit dumped in a bowl (I would have preferred crisps) and a burrito, which was served hot.

    Overall, this was a really enjoyable flight because of the amount of space that I had in the cabin. It was like being in premium economy and the number of passengers also meant that there were never queues for the washrooms and it was easy to get additional drinks from the crew.

    I asked the crew member why the flight was so low on passengers and whether this was usual for the time of year (I flew in early February 2018). He said that he said it was rare to be that quiet, and he thought that the real reason might have been Norwegian Airlines and their cost-cutting. I’m surprised that this would have had a sufficient effect, but anything which forces down prices is good to me.

    The cabin was unusually clean when I boarded, something BA are sometimes rather hopeless at. The crew were all pleasant and helpful, and this was perhaps my best trans-atlantic flight in economy that I’ve had with BA. Whether or not I can be lucky enough to get such an empty cabin in future is perhaps rather less likely….

  • Lounges – Heathrow T3 (British Airways)

    Since I was the first person into the BA lounge today, it gave me the opportunity to take photos without including other passengers in the shots. So, since I’ve had no sleep, I amused myself by walking around taking photos whilst drinking coffee to keep me awake. It worked beautifully.

    Usually when at Heathrow T3 I would lounge hop around the other Oneworld lounges, but 5am isn’t an ideal time to do that as some aren’t yet open. That can be the focus of another post though…

    The fruit selection, with the accompanying yoghurts located a little further down, is carefully separated out with the different fruits. None of that mixing it all together and having people pick the bits out they like thing happening here… The kiwi fruit was a bit hard, but the grapes were rather lovely. Although I of course didn’t go overboard with the fruit.

    This is the informal seating area near to the front of the lounge, usually occupied by diners.

    The self-service alcohol selection, which I decided not to sample since it was 5am. Incidentally, and often not known by passengers, it is possible to get champagne by asking one of the staff members in the lounge. It’s also possible to get Marmite, another request only product (it gets stolen otherwise).

    The chilled drinks selections in the fridges.

    There are lots of different seating types in the lounge, which helps make it feel more relaxing and less like some giant school-room.

    This is often the section I end up sitting in, as it’s right at the back of the lounge and hidden away. There are power points in this area, which is something that this lounge isn’t great at providing. When BA modernise a lounge they do add a lot more power points, so it’ll improve one day.

    A little snacks section, with BBQ corn balls, spicy corn snacks and berry surprise. The berry surprise, which seems a little enthusiastically named, is rather addictive.

    Another seating area.

    Cinnamon rolls.

    Bacon rolls and some sort of egg thing.

    Croissants, pastries and soups.

    The business area of the lounge, where there are printers and computers that passengers can use.

    The room for kids. There are endless discussions about how children should behave in lounges, but if they’re being loud, I like it when they’re shoved in here. I’m sure Dylan and Leon would like the room for a while, but then want to explore the rest of the lounge though….

    Beautiful. I mean the crisps in the background, but it’s all rather lovely.

    Very decorative.

    The lounge also has showers and Elemis travel spa facilities free for those who want them. The showers are useful, but the Elemis travel spa facilities are a complete mystery to me, but it’s something to do with pampering. I just go in and eat crisps, that’s my pampering.

    It’s all very functional, but the lounge can get quite busy. As mentioned earlier, I’m a fan of lounge hopping when at T3, which isn’t something possible at T5 as there are only BA lounges there. It’s possible to hop between BA lounges at T5, but that’s not quite the same as hopping between lounges operated by different airlines.