Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: British Airways

  • Flights – Heathrow T5 to Bucharest (British Airways)

    Flights – Heathrow T5 to Bucharest (British Airways)

    My flight today was the 10:05 BA886 service operating from London Heathrow T5 to Bucharest in Romania. I haven’t been to Bucharest before, although I’ve been to Romania when I visited Oradea a couple of years ago. The aircraft being used today was G-TTNC, an Airbus A320 which was acquired new by British Airways in June 2018. The aircraft had come from Toulouse this morning and after it had returned from Bucharest, it then flew to Brussels.

    The boarding process was well managed and the boarding by group was enforced. One of the staff was quite forthright in dealing with customers who tried to board before they were meant to, but if there’s going to be a policy on things like this, it may as well be enforced. I was surprised how many customers tried to ignore the instructions that the staff members were making and although some might have been lost in translation, there were a few customers with headphones who seemed just a little oblivious to everything going on around them and they just wanted to board.

    I had an emergency exit row seat, so there was plenty of space, and no-one was seated next to me either. I felt sorry for the crew, playing Jenga with bags to try and fit them all in the overheads. They had to put some bags in storage elsewhere on the aircraft and so they were perhaps fortunate that there were twenty or so seats which were unused. As I’ve posted about before, the amount of bags that are brought on board is going to have to be reduced at some point.

    The emergency exit row.

    This is the first short-haul BA aircraft that I’ve been on which has wi-fi availability. I can cope, well – just about, without Internet for a couple of hours, so I wasn’t tempted, but it’s a useful service.

    For those who do want to use it, the wi-fi service costs £2.99 per flight, which seems reasonable enough.

    The descent was quite bumpy, with one customer walking down the aisles stumbling somewhat, but the crew were on hand. The crew were always pro-active and helpful, offering a really friendly service which always felt efficient but unhurried. The flight arrived in around ten minutes before its scheduled time and the pilots offered useful and timely announcements. The flight wasn’t the cheapest at £66 return and it would have likely been cheaper with a budget airline, but the cost wasn’t unreasonable and I felt that £33 for each journey was entirely acceptable.

    Incidentally, the border process at Bucharest Airport was efficient, although the staff took quite some time with every incoming individual and so I’m not sure what they were checking. There were lots of signs about the coronavirus as well, with a fair few passengers wearing face masks. Anyway, what I was going to mention was just as I was being called forwards, a customer came from the back of the queue to ask the member of border staff to hurry up. He was ushered away by another staff member in what was a polite manner, but I have to say that any customer who is rude to border or customs staff is taking a huge risk….. I suspect that his request for a swift route through the border wasn’t granted.

  • Flights – Warsaw to Heathrow T5 (British Airways)

    Flights – Warsaw to Heathrow T5 (British Airways)

    And back to the UK after a month in Poland….. I received a text from BA earlier in the day stating that my flight was delayed, which it indeed was by an hour due to the inbound plane being caught up in foggy conditions at Heathrow. I was in no hurry, given my usual tradition of allowing about eight hours between a flight arriving at Heathrow and a train going back to Norwich. And it just meant another hour in the Bolero lounge eating chocolate, so I managed to cope quite well.

    The gate was all clean and organised, with the signage being clear. The boarding process was muddled and was vaguely split into groups 1-3 and groups 4-5, but there was no enforcement of that. I wasn’t much bothered, as I decided to board a little late anyway, primarily as I saw no advantage in standing in a queue. Other customers were confused though and BA should fix things so that there isn’t any confusion.

    There was a specific reason for my lack of hurry with boarding, which is that BA had turfed me out of my emergency exit row seat about a week ago. When I have a seat in the emergency exit row I try to board first so that I can put my bag in the overhead locker nearby, but on this occasion I had been booted back to seat 37C. I had noticed this last week and decided not to put myself back in the emergency exit, as I’ve come to like being with my bag.

    Seat 37C is right at the back of the aircraft, but it occurred to me that FLY (BA’s seating algorithm) wouldn’t seat anyone by me. This came to pass and indeed they didn’t seat anyone in 37A either, so I had the three seats to myself. I was moved back as there was an aircraft change, to the new A321 Neo, which is controversial to say the least (the aircraft, not me being moved).

    So, the aircraft I had was G-NEOX and congratulations to BA for managing to get that registration, very ahead of the curve. It’s lovely and new, having been delivered to BA on 23 December 2019. This aircraft is densified, so it has 220 seats instead of 205 seats, with the bulk of the aircraft having slimline Recaro seats (the ones at the front in Club Europe, and in economy as far as Club Europe can ever go back have different seats).

    The seats are thin, they don’t recline and they’re unpopular with many people. I’m entirely sold though, I think they’re comfortable, at the appropriate angle and they don’t bloody recline. And I liked being near to the two rear washrooms as I’m not that near, but they’re convenient should I ever need to use them. There’s something quite pleasant about being near to washrooms, rather than stuck on seat 11A with a trolley and 6 passengers in a queue between me and the toilets. The two rear washrooms have been rather ingeniously crammed into the space that they have, but they’re functional and sufficiently big.

    I also like this seat at the rear as I could listen into any conversations which I felt were exciting, primarily connecting customers concerned that they’d be missing their flight at Heathrow. The crew were all professional and helpful, although I’m not sure that many customers actually made their later flights. The only negative about this densified aircraft is that BA haven’t taken the opportunity to put power in, even if it was just USB sockets, and they probably should have done. BA do many things better than Ryanair and easyJet, with this being an area that they could have moved ahead of their budget airline competitors.

    Anyway, back to the flight. The pilot sounded middle class and professional (I’m not linking the two, he just sounded both), with sufficient updates about out delayed flight. Initially there was going to be another 40-minute wait at Warsaw as we’d missed our slot, but this was soon cancelled and there was no extra delay.

    The crew were personable and friendly, lots of smiles and they ran an efficient trolley service for those who wanted to buy food and drink. Only around 10% of customers purchased anything, which likely aided their efficiency. The aircraft was clean and well maintained, although given it’s only a few weeks old, I’d be surprised if it wasn’t.

    The fare was £55 return plus 2,500 Avios, although I get 1,350 Avios back with this flight, so I thought that this was excellent value for money. Especially when taking into account that BA have provided lounge access at Heathrow and Warsaw, so all told, I was entirely content with the flight.

  • Flights – Heathrow T5 to Warsaw (British Airways)

    Flights – Heathrow T5 to Warsaw (British Airways)

    This was the clearest photo that I could get of today’s BA850 service from London Heathrow T5 to Warsaw Chopin Airport in Poland. The aircraft was G-EUPH, an Airbus A319, which British Airways have owned since April 2000 when it was new. These A319 aircraft are gradually being withdrawn from service, but they’ve served the airline well.

    As I was at B Gates lounge I asked the staff member if she could see where the flight was departing from before it was announced, to save me walking back if the departure was at B Gates. It was at Gate A23 in the main terminal and I was the first to arrive there, primarily since the gate number hadn’t otherwise been announced.

    And here’s the packed waiting area, although it soon got much busier. The staff were pro-active in trying to get customers with two bags to put one of them in the hold, as the flight was nearly full. Some people refused and so a different staff member, who was more forthright to say the least, went round and politely told customers that it wasn’t really an option. The amount of bags that customers are taking on board is becoming ridiculous, something will need to be done at some stage about them.

    The boarding process was otherwise orderly and well managed, with groups called forwards carefully and customers were despatched back to the seating area if they tried to jump the queue. I like organisation.

    I had an exit row aisle seat and there was no-one next to me, so it was a comfortable flight in terms of the space available.

    We were delayed on take-off, partly as the inbound flight had been a few minutes late, but primarily as the crew had problems trying to fit all the bags on. Some customers, mostly those who were trying to bring on a bag the size of a small hippo couldn’t find anywhere to store them. At one stage there were eight customers standing in the aisle of the aircraft with bags not fitting in anywhere, but the crew did their usual jenga tactics of moving and restacking bags, with another going into storage elsewhere.

    The flight eventually arrived into Warsaw twenty minutes late, so no real problem, with the crew members being conscientious with their announcements and updates. There was a buy on board service which went up and down the cabin, but I saw only a few customers buy anything from it. The fare was £55 return plus 2,500 Avios, although I get 1,350 Avios back with this flight.

  • Flights – Luxembourg to Heathrow T5 (British Airways)

    Flights – Luxembourg to Heathrow T5 (British Airways)

    And so, this is my last flight of 2019, a simple BA trip from Luxembourg to Heathrow T5.

    A view of the tarmac from the airport terminal, a photo which would have looked better if the terminal windows were just that bit cleaner….

    A nice smooth boarding process, group 1 was called first, then groups 2 and 3 together, then groups 4 and 5 together.

    The aircraft was G-EUPB, an Airbus A319 which British Airways have owned since it came into service in November 1999 (woooo, happy twentieth anniversary!).

    We were able to get exit row seats for a little extra comfort, although I had the usual dilemma of trying to keep an eye on my bag in the overheads. Some other customers never cease to amaze me with the size of their baggage which they bring on board and try and shove anywhere they can with little comprehension of how their bag simply won’t fit however many ways they turn it around. The crew on this flight were doing far more lifting than they probably should, making real efforts to ensure that everyone could get their baggage in the overhead bins. There must come a point though that customers try and bring just a little less on board, as the current system is unnecessarily time consuming.

    As an aside, I don’t mind my bag by my feet, but it is still unfair that crew ask customers to move their smaller bags to under the seat to make way for larger bags. For customers who only brought one small bag on board and wanted some extra leg-room, they’re disadvantaged in a bid to make way for those customers who have brought along something the size of a kitchen cupboard.

    One very minor disappointment, I was hoping to get the December issue of High Life (primarily as it was December), but they still had the November ones on board….

    A frosty Luxembourg……

    All was well with the flight, although the take-up of the M&S on board menu seemed lower than it usually was. One day the on-board menu will be from Greggs, then watch the sales soar…..

    The flight had a couple of loops over London meaning that time saved during the journey was lost, but the flight arrived on time and on schedule. As another aside, I was able to make it through Heathrow’s automated machines with no effort, but we had to wait about 20 minutes whilst Nathan joined a queue for special passengers (ones considered a threat to national security I thought, but apparently this wasn’t what the queue was).

  • When is Half Term?

    When is Half Term?

    If anyone is unsure when half-term dates are, British Airways have this handy feature on their web-site….

  • Berlin – Berlin Tegel Airport BA Lounge

    The BA lounge at Berlin Tegel is, as required by the airport’s layout, landside and this gives the usual limitations of having to leave in plenty of time to board. There are also no toilets in the lounge, they’re on a different floor and require a trip through Starbucks. The lounge also has a policy that visitors can’t leave items whilst visiting the toilets, although I doubt that this is particularly well enforced.

    The welcome at the lounge was better than I’d usually expect, with the staff member checking if I had visited before and then offering a quick explanation of the facilities. The lounge was also clean and the staff walked around frequently checking that everything was kept well stocked.

    There’s little point in BA investing in this lounge, since the entire building will be demolished in the next couple of years, so although it’s a little tired, it’s still holding up well.

    Not the best of photos, but this area usually had customers in and I was trying to avoid including them which meant quickly taking a photo when I had chance.

    The food and drinks bar.

    An extensive selection of teas. The coffee machine also produced some decent quality coffee.

    The biscuits and cakes selection.

    The ice cream freezer and I did enjoy the mini tub of vanilla, latte and macchiato.

    Crisps and other snacks, with olives, cold meats, cheeses, yoghurts and jams also being available. For those who preferred, there were also chocolate bars such as Twix and Bounty, as well as mini individually wrapped chocolates.

    All told, this was a perfectly acceptable lounge, and it was kept clean and well presented. The food options were unexceptional, but sufficient, although the pre-packaged sandwiches which used to be stocked here seem to have been cut (cut in the no longer available sense, not cut up in smaller portions).

    The staff announce to passengers when they need to leave to catch their flight, although I left earlier to try to avoid being at the end of a long queue for security. And as a little final bonus, the reception desk had small packs of Haribo available. What more could anyone want….

  • British Airways (Berlin to Heathrow T5)

    Every time I fly back from Berlin Tegel I wonder whether it’ll be the last time I visit the airport, with its replacement seemingly having been nearly ready for nearly ten years. Tegel has long since been unable to comfortably cope with the volume of passengers and it feels crowded and uncomfortable.

    The boarding process is unusual as the BA lounge is landside, so then there’s a long queue for the security and border checks. Above is a photo of the queue for the flight at the next gate, it’s one of the few airports I can think of where the queues to board are within a five second walk of the terminal entrance.

    The British Airways check-in desks. It took over 40 minutes of queueing to board the aircraft, with no seating for those who needed it. Interestingly, or at least I was interested, my battery pack was examined by the security personnel for compliance, which has never happened before. It is a large battery pack at 20000mAh and I was quite impressed that it was checked, since it is only just under the allowable level.

    The aircraft was G-EUPE, an Airbus A319 that British Airways have operated since it came into service in 2000. I had a window exit row seat, which was sufficiently spacious and clean. It was also a busy flight and was at near capacity, although fortunately there didn’t seem as much pressure on the overhead lockers as usual. Then flight left around ten minutes late, but the captain gave updates and it seemed to be because there was a slight delay with getting everyone through the security process.

    The crew were professional and the buy-on-board (BOB) seemed to be popular, with a new menu having come out at the beginning of October. I still don’t think it’s a very innovative on-board menu, although my views on this are a bit irrelevant since I never buy anything on board British Airways flights anyway.

    The DHL truck had appropriate branding for where I had just flown from.

    The flight arrived into London Heathrow T5 at the expected time and the disembarkation process was efficient and timely. It took around twelve minutes from the airport doors opening to my leaving the terminal, allowing me to leave Heathrow in good time.

  • British Airways (Heathrow T5 to Berlin)

    Today’s expedition was to Berlin Tegel airport and, as usual, I arrived hopelessly early in the day to ensconce myself into the BA lounge. It was evident from the volume of rain hitting the roof of Heathrow T5 B Gates building that there were going to be some weather issues, although there were only a few cancellations and relatively minor delays.

    Fortunately, my flight was only delayed by around an hour, although there’s always the fear of a creeping delay where that one hour turns into two or three.

    Boarding was from gate A2 and I fail to understand why BA don’t make this process easier to understand. They did have separate queues for the different boarding groups, with groups 1 and 2 each having their own lane, and groups 3 to 5 were merged into one lane. But, in a piece of design brilliance, the lane for groups 3 to 5 was in front of groups 1 and 2 and so the others couldn’t be easily accessed. I’m not important enough for group 1, but I can sneak into group 2 and it took quite a determined staff member to get me, and some others, to the right place.

    There’s the aircraft at the end of the airbridge, which was registration G-EUOE, an Airbus A319 which British Airways have been using since it was manufactured in 2001.

    The aircraft was clean, although the crew had their usual challenge of trying to fit all the hand baggage into the overhead lockers. It’s the one disadvantage of exit row seats for me, having to engage in this whole overhead baggage game. This is a problem for me as my bag is relatively small, and usually there is someone with a ridiculously sized cabin bag who takes great exception to my small bag being in the lockers. So they try and shove it somewhere else. Always unsuccessfully I’d add.

    Waiting on the tarmac for departure, with the captain sounding professional and fitting the British Airways brand perfectly. I was also pleased to note that there was silence during the safety demonstration, it makes things feel so much calmer. Indeed, the whole flight seemed calm and the crew were efficient and polite.

    We landed around sixty minutes late, with the pilot being able to make up a few minutes of the delay en route. I flew to Berlin Tegel around five years ago and thought it’d likely be the last time there as operations are being moved to Berlin Brandenburg Airport. Unfortunately, this is currently one of the world’s most mocked projects, with an opening expected nearly one decade late. All of which means that Tegel is looking quite rickety and spending more money on it is pointless given that it will all be demolished soon.

    Anyway, this flight was a Reward Flight Saver (RFS) so it cost £17.50 plus 4,000 Avios points.

  • Life is Prolonged When You Walk

    I saw this in the British Airways High Life magazine, I thought it was rather a nice message.

  • British Airways (Heathrow T5 to Baltimore)

    This post is more just to upload the photos than anything else, as I can’t remember much else about the flight now. I flew from London Heathrow T5 to Baltimore on an A380 in August 2015. Unfortunately, the photos aren’t very clear, but since they’re the only ones I’ve got of that flight, they’ll have to do.

    I was travelling in Club World and obviously I wasn’t paying since otherwise I’d have been in World Traveller.

    The aircraft at Heathrow T5.

    The Club World cabin during the boarding process.

    This happens too often….

    The starter and salad.

    Corn fed chicken, mashed potato and batons of carrot.

    Some sort of mousse.

    An ice cream from later on during the flight.