Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Flights

  • British Airways (Seattle to Heathrow T5)

    British Airways (Seattle to Heathrow T5)

    This flight was back in October 2014, and I hadn’t intended to upload the photos so there aren’t many interesting ones of how the aircraft looked. But there’s a lot of food photos at least. Anyway, with the caveat that this is a very limited trip report, since there’s not much text about the flight itself, here we go…..

    Woooo, I was lucky enough to get seat 1A.

    The First seat has a television screen which comes out and the whole area turns into a bed. For those travelling with someone else, the footrest can also be used as a seat. The table comes out and so it’s possible to dine as two people, such is the generosity of space.

    I still have the menu, so this is a photo from today…..

    Photos of the menu.

    Proceedings started with a Kir Royale (Creme de Cassis and champagne) and warm nuts. How decadent.

    The amuse-bouche, although I’ve long since forgotten what it was and they don’t list that in the menu.

    The starter of lobster, mango salsa and a Thai sweet chilli glaze.

    Butter chicken with rice, dal and a toasted naan.

    The dessert of a cheeseboard.

    And coffee to end the proceedings with.

    Unfortunately, the mists of time have meant I’ve forgotten anything of particular interest about this flight. The First experience was one I certainly couldn’t afford if I had to pay for it, but it of course makes flying an absolute pleasure. For me, I find the attentive service all a bit much, I could do without the tablecloth, the placing of the napkin and the laying of cutlery, but I can understand why this is such a treat for a special trip.

    I haven’t taken photos of breakfast and, from memory, I think that’s because I ordered another cheeseboard. There’s dine on demand on BA flights in First and so you can have whatever you want at any stage. This flight arrived in at something like 07:00, which meant that I had access to the Arrivals Lounge at Heathrow T5, where I could have a full English breakfast after my busy flight of eating.

    BA crews were nearly always excellent in First and I always tried to stay awake for the entire journey, as it seemed a bit much to just fall asleep with all this luxury. I probably won’t travel First for some considerable time in the future, so trips like this were always an exciting treat.

  • Flights – Gatwick South to Palma Mallorca (British Airways) – Gone Tech

    Flights – Gatwick South to Palma Mallorca (British Airways) – Gone Tech

    Above is aircraft G-EUUW, the Airbus A320 which was meant to take me from Gatwick South to Palma Mallorca. Unfortunately, a technical malfunction with the undercarriage meant that the aircraft needed to make an urgent return to Gatwick South after it dumped its fuel. The aircraft is one of BA’s Gatwick fleet and they’ve owned it since new, when it was delivered to them in 2008.

    Going back a little, this is the boarding gate 28 at Gatwick South. The boarding process was all well managed, the groups were called in order and there was plenty of seating. There was the usual muttering from some passengers in group 5 who had clustered around the gate to board and then found themselves waiting until the end, but the signage and rules are clearly displayed. The staff members were pro-active in moving waiting passengers away from the queue, as there can be gate congestion if this isn’t well-managed.

    I decided that I’d avoid an exit row on this occasion and went for one which was the row behind the exit row, because I like having my bag with me. After a major repair undertaken on my McCain’s bag, I wanted to monitor whether it would collapse or not. The flight was nearly full, it took off time and the pilots sounded friendly and helpful. With everything in order,  I went to sleep.

    I woke up to hear “we are now returning to Gatwick after we circle to dump fuel”. I asked the passenger next to me what had happened and was told that the pilot had made an announcement that something wasn’t responding, but there was no cause for alarm. I thought that this was most exciting and started to wonder whether there would be a three hour delay to claim EU261. I always think it’s just me who ponders on this, but it was clear from listening to other private conversations that it wasn’t just me. A couple of passengers were unnerved and wanted to abandon their flight when they arrived back into Gatwick, but all else remained calm. The crew came around with water and to offer reassurance, which they did very well.

    Fuel dumped, landing back into Gatwick Airport.

    I thought that BA dealt with the process well, but they didn’t really explain to customers where to go, they simply said to return to the main terminal and find customer services. That was fine, I knew where it was, but I was conscious that some people seemed to drift off unsure where to go. Nonetheless, there was a queue ahead of me at the customer service desk, where we were told that we’d be issued with new boarding passes and refreshment vouchers. Instead, we just got the vouchers and were told that the seat numbers would remain unchanged. I’m not sure in that case why they couldn’t have done that at the gate.

    Every passenger got £10 to spend on refreshments.

    I went to Boots with my vouchers. I had to pay 7p for the bag as the refreshments vouchers won’t cover that.

    The boarding gate situation for the replacement flight wasn’t entirely clear, my app was telling me that the flight would depart from Gate 14. But, when I got there, no-one was there and the screen was blank. The boards didn’t give a gate number for some time, but eventually they did and I felt reassured that I wasn’t in the wrong place.

    I was one of the first at the gate.

    And here is my replacement boarding pass, a change from 13F. I had to check that this wasn’t an emergency exit row, for reasons already mentioned. I have, if I’m being honest, had better boarding passes, although it gave the information that was needed.

    This was when things went just a little wrong for some customers. My seat was changed as the exit rows on the replacement A320 were in a different place, so they had to shuffle some customers around. I suspect that every customer was told about a change if it affected them, but some people claimed on board that they weren’t.

    Anyway, I found one of the few plug sockets at the gate and charged my phone, conscious that the three hour delay was now quite marginal and if BA boarded quickly they’d get there just in time to avoid paying the EU261 compensation. Boarding started smoothly and I was on board again soon enough. The new aircraft was G-GATR, an aircraft brought into use by TAM and they kept it until it was sold to BA in 2015.

    The boarding process was confused as some customers had a new seat number and some didn’t. I got on board, sat down at 11F and watched what became a slightly chaotic situation unfold. I’m not sure how much is BA’s fault, as I knew that two customers were deliberately staying in the seat they had already been allocated for the first flight, instead of their replacement seats. They were effectively being moved one row back to a different emergency exit row, but they weren’t having that. Which led to a domino situation of some customers in the right place, some in the wrong place, but some also standing in the aisle in a mood.

    There’s a page on Flyertalk called DYKWIA (don’t you know who I am?) and there was a little of this kicking off. One customer told a crew member that they always had the same seat and he expected them to deliver that. The crew member didn’t seem impressed, but acted professionally, asking him just to take his new seat and they’d resolve the situation when everyone had boarded. Unfortunately, he didn’t like this and he told the crew that he was unhappy and stood up again, delaying customers. A few other people were murmuring, but BA had a crew member who was solid and firm, he wanted people to take their seats and he’d do what he could on what was a nearly full flight.

    Our passenger, let’s call him Gordon although I don’t know his name, then continued arguing with a crew member in what was becoming a difficult situation. I heard another crew member say that they might need the pilot to intervene, but the crew member dealing with the situation said clearly “sir, you have two choices, you either sit at the seat you have been requested to sit at, or you leave the aircraft now”. The customer said something about there was another choice about he could have the seat he wanted, but the crew member was persistent and received a final warning of “sir, sit down or you will be asked to leave”. He sat down. I was marginally disappointed.

    This whole situation had meant that BA no longer had any chance of arriving into Palma within three hours, although I’m not going to credit the grumpy customers with that. The flight was comfortable and the pilots were professional and calm, apologising several times for the delay. The pilot also mentioned that he had been led to believe that a new crew would have been taking us to Palma, instead of mostly the same crew, hence a delay as they had to complete a considerable amount of paperwork relating to the now broken aircraft. Incidentally, I was also pleased as I now had a seat free next to me on the flight, which I hadn’t earlier on.

    We received refreshments of biscuits and a glass of water from BA, as there was no catering on the replacement flight. This isn’t a problem for economy as it’s a buy on board situation for customers, who could get stocked up at Gatwick, but the Club Europe customers couldn’t have been thrilled. The pilot made an oblique announcement when we landed that EU261 would apply, although he didn’t use those exact words and left just a little to the imagination. The doors opened, which is the measure of whether the compensation is paid, at 3 hours 19 minutes late, so this wasn’t the cheapest of days for the airline. But, looking at BA’s profits, I think they’ll manage.

    But everyone was safe and sound, and all told, a professional operation from my favourite airline. How very lovely.

  • Ryanair (Santiago de Compostela Airport to London Stansted)

    I don’t often write up my flights on Ryanair, as there’s a limited amount that can be said about the experience. The boarding process is though becoming slightly farcical as the priority queue has now increased to being around 75% of everyone boarding, although I have to say that it is an organised process.

    The aircraft was EI-FZL, a Boeing 737-800, which Ryanair had purchased in April 2017. The aircraft set off on time and was also back in Stansted on time.

    The seating on board, which was clean and sufficiently spacious given that this is a budget airline. I had been automatically allocated an aisle seat for free (woooo), with the other two passengers on this row arriving soon after I took the photo.

    The safety demonstration was appalling and one of the worst that I can recall on any flight. The crew did nothing to try and quieten the cabin down and I’m not sure that many people were able to hear the safety announcements. I’ve been on British Airways and American Airlines flights where the crew have stopped the demonstration if the cabin wasn’t quiet, which does reassure me somewhat that the crew are focused on safety.

    I couldn’t hear the announcements from the pilots either due to the cabin noise, which is not a problem, but isn’t ideal. The flight was the usual constant process of trying to sell things to customers, which is fine given the price of the flight, but it’s again not conducive to a peaceful flight. And, on this particular flight, there were two crew members who didn’t seem to be entirely nimble on their feet and managed to keep bumping into passengers on the aisle seats.

    I can’t recall how many Ryanair flights I’ve taken, I think it’s something around the eighty sectors mark over the last ten years. I’m now reluctant to book with them again though, primarily because the outbound flight was potentially caught up in the crew strikes. This concerns me because Ryanair’s IRROPS handling is inadequate and although I’ve never had a problem, it’s an additional factor which I’d rather not have to be concerned about. And, frankly, I’ve become too attached to Oneworld airlines (not literally, although British Airways do need to clean their cabins better).

  • Flights – British Airways (Gone Tech and Cancelled – Luxembourg to Heathrow T3)

    This is the forlorn looking BA aircraft that should have operated route BA0417 from Luxembourg to London Heathrow T3 today. The flight was cancelled due to technical issues and customers rebooked onto other services as it can’t be fixed within the next few hours.

    Being towed from the gate…. The aircraft is G-EUYG, an Airbus A320 which was brought into service in 2010 and has always been operated by British Airways.

    The whole flight delay process was well managed by the airline and there were verbal announcements which matched the information being displayed on the app. The pilot came out after around 45 minutes to explain that an oil leak had been discovered on board en route and that engineers had gone to look at it to see if the aircraft could keep flying. The information that the pilot gave all tied in to what we had been told, so the communications seemed excellent all round.

    Unfortunately, the engineers found that the oil leak was substantial and it couldn’t be fixed locally. Engineers from British Airways are flying over to Luxembourg to fix it later today or tomorrow and until then the aircraft will remain on the tarmac.

    This is my first flight gone tech and I think I’m up to somewhere around 200 sectors flown over the last few years (with around 150 of them with BA). The British Airways app automatically booked me onto a later flight and I have returned to the lounge to spend most of the day waiting for the late evening flight back to Heathrow. On the bright side, the delay was of over two hours, was the fault of British Airways and so I have claimed compensation of €250 via the airline’s web-site.

    Not entirely lovely, but I’d rather sit in the lounge all day than be flown on an aircraft with oil pouring out of it across the English Channel. And, incidentally, this is one positive element about the current weak pound as the compensation is delineated in euros……

  • Flights – British Airways (Heathrow T3 to Luxembourg)

    Sadly, and most inconveniently as I prefer this terminal to T5, this is probably the last time that I fly to Luxembourg with British Airways from T3. It’s relocating to T5 in a few weeks, shortly before my flight which I had scheduled from there.

    I’ve written about this route before, and since I was in Euro Traveller, there’s not much that is new to say. The boarding process was all very efficient and well managed, with customers called forwards by group both for the document check and also for boarding. Although there’s a slight flaw in the plan that boarding passes aren’t checked for the latter, but I can’t imagine many people were that keen to rush on board. Although, having said that, there are always a few who barge on board perhaps thinking it might leave without them.

    I had an emergency exit row seat, so there was plenty of legroom. It was nearly a full flight and so there were very few empty seats on the aircraft, with my entire row being occupied. The in-flight magazines were a bit battered, but the cabin was unusually clean for a British Airways flight, although it was likely the aircraft’s first flight of the day.

    The crew were efficient although I didn’t see them particularly engage with any customers, although the whole buy on board process makes that much more difficult for the crew. The flight was around 20 minutes late taking off, but that time was mostly caught back up in the air, with a journey time of under one hour.

    This photo was taken on arrival in Luxembourg, with the temperature being 39 degrees, which is entirely unsatisfactory as far as I’m concerned. The aircraft was an A320 and it had the registration G-EUYC which has always been part of the BA fleet, first flying in 2008.

    Luxembourg is one of the few countries I fly into which doesn’t inspect passports by hand, they’re done my machine. As with most things in Luxembourg, everything seemed to work as expected in the airport (with the exception of the sole hand dryer in the male toilet, but that’s not necessarily the most important thing to get right in an airport).

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

    The boarding process for the British Airways flight to Heathrow T5 was smooth and better managed than usual. Groups were called through so that Group 1 went through first, then Group 2, then Group 3 and then everyone else, sometimes it’s not quite that organised. There were also a lot of passengers with status, so perhaps that’s why they take particular care. The staff at the boarding gate were polite, efficient and visible, so first impressions were all positive.

    My first minor irritation is that this is an A321 neo, which meant that my emergency exit row seat had transformed into a normal row. Not that it much mattered as I had an aisle seat and there was no-one sitting next to me so I had plenty of space. This is aircraft registration G-NEOP and it only came into service in March 2019, so it still nearly new.

    I was in row 11 so I was seated in a seat which is the same as British Airways have been using in other aircraft, but these seats only go back as far as row 14. They went that far back in case the Club Europe cabin ever justifies such a number of passengers, and both plug and USB sockets have been put into these first fourteen rows. I had one under my seat and it was already damaged and knocked out of its holder, so I didn’t trust it to charge my devices on. It’s not perhaps ideal for an aircraft that is so new.

    For row 15 and behind that, British Airways have introduced a new ultra-thin seat which doesn’t recline. Nearly nobody I’ve heard likes this arrangement, although handily I do. I hate seat reclines and I like the ultra-thin seats as I sit in a near bolt upright manner anyway. These seats just have USB sockets, so where possible, it’s best to be seated in the front fourteen rows when on this aircraft.

    As for the aircraft, I think British Airways have gone too far with their tinkering about. They’ve taken out a washroom from the rear of the Euro Traveller cabin and this caused an evident problem on this flight as they had passengers going up and using the Club Europe toilet. One of the advantages for Club Europe is that it’s a quieter cabin, so I’m not sure what the customers will think up in those seats when there’s a queue of people standing by their seats and they themselves have to wait to use the washroom.

    And British Airways have decided to remove the drop down screens, so I can’t get to watch the moving map, or more importantly, the flight safety announcement by Chabuddy G. The crew safety demonstration on this flight wasn’t really ideal, the crew member was giggling and it wasn’t entirely audible. This meant that I didn’t see many passengers actually listening to the demonstration.

    Other than that the service was efficient and polite, but I can’t help thinking that the interior of the cabin is more Wizz Air than British Airways. That’s fine, but I don’t see British Airways have any choice but to keep on their downwards spiral of pricing if they’re determined to keep cutting corners.

    And here was a little problem at Heathrow T5, although it caused a delay of around fifteen minutes when disembarking. The air bridge to the aircraft broken down near to the front door and couldn’t be moved. This meant that steps had to be brought to the rear door and then buses used to transport passengers to the main terminal. Given that this wasn’t expected, the delay didn’t seem too excessive to me, although there were inevitably complaints.

    Given that this was a reward flight saver, the price was very reasonable and so I’m probably one of the reasons that British Airways keeps trying to save money by taking out any hint of luxury from their cabin. The pilots sounded professional, the cabin was relatively clean and so overall it was a comfortable and easy flight.

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

    This is aircraft G-EUPO after it had landed in Hamburg Airport, arriving on time from London Heathrow T5. The aircraft is an A319 which BA have owned and operated since 2000.

    I was able to board in the first group which was fortunate as the flight was nearly full. The aircraft could have been a little cleaner, but it looked well maintained and in good order. I was in an exit row seat which was sufficiently spacious and comfortable.

    There was a crew member who seemed to be new and he was being ultra efficient in term of his security protocol. I’d far rather that he was like that than not caring, but he had a passenger remove a book from the seat pocket as they were in an exit row, which seemed slightly excessive. At the end of the flight the same crew member tried to get the customer in front of me to return his seat to the original position, which confused the seat occupant as he was in a seat which didn’t even recline. The crew member was polite though, and I liked his enthusiasm, with the entire crew seeming to work well together.

    From the in-flight menu, this is the page which brought British Airways to the attention of that media titan, the Daily Mail. The afternoon tea doesn’t include a cup of tea, which is only sort of mentioned in the description.

    The flight was fifteen minutes late in leaving Heathrow T5 due to congestion at the airport. The pilot explained he’d be remaining at the stand, as opposed to waiting in a queue on the runway, in a bid to save fuel. The pilot gave regular updates and fortunately he was able to make up time during the flight so we landed on time.

    This was yet another comfortable flight with British Airways, nothing spectacular, but efficient, well managed and organised.

  • British Airways – Reward Flight Saver

    My travels, and also credit card spend, means that I’ve collected a fair chunk of Avios points. There are numerous ways of using these, and I usually just use them for discounts on flights.

    However, British Airways also have a Reward Flight Saver (RFS) scheme which means that for a fixed charge and some Avios, numerous short haul destinations are available. The prices aren’t unreasonable, so for my trip to Hamburg today there is a charge of 8,000 Avios and £35. Depending how you value Avios this isn’t necessarily the cheapest solution, but it suits my needs.

    As an example of what customers can get, a return to Amsterdam is £35 and 8,000 points, as is Paris. Destinations such as Rome, Barcelona and Venice are all also £35, but there’s a charge of 13,000 Avios for the return flight. Most off-peak flights have availability for these fares, which are all in economy.

    One of the downsides is that there are no Avios points granted for the flight and also no tier points. However, since I have enough Avios and I’m nowhere near reaching enough tier points for Gold, this isn’t much of a concern.

  • Flights – Naples to Gatwick South (British Airways)

    This is the last British Airways flight of the day from Naples to Gatwick Airport, which had only a light load with around 50% of seats taken. The aircraft was an A320, flight registration G-GATN, with this being another purchase by BA in 2015 to bolster their Gatwick fleet. The aircraft had previously belonged to TAM Airlines, a Brazilian airline, for just over a decade.

    The boarding arrangements were a little ridiculous, as although customers were called through by their group number this just meant that they got to stand outside for longer waiting for the bus to the aircraft. The bus was over-filled so it managed to be an uncomfortable journey for many customers, although I had fortunately found myself a seat for the brief transfer. Priority customers were mainly then on the wrong side of the bus when it disembarked, which I noted upset a couple of people.

    I had an emergency exit row seat and had all three of the seats to myself, which was marvellous. The crew were friendly and a little informal for British Airways, but that’s something I think works, airlines can be too serious otherwise. I couldn’t see clearly into the Club Europe cabin, but it looked as though the eight rows were occupied by the grand total of one customer.

    The crew took orders for food and drink via their tablet and hand-delivered them, rather than traipsing the trolley through the cabin. I liked this service style as it meant that there was less disturbance, and it wasn’t a slow process as not many customers purchased anything. The aircraft cabin remained dark for the flight so that customers could sleep, indeed it was so dark that I struggled slightly to find my seat again after visiting the washroom.

    The flight arrived into Gatwick a little early and the pilot made the appropriate announcements in what felt like a friendly tone. I’ll mark this down as yet another smooth and comfortable flight from British Airways, it’s making it hard for me to be tempted back to Wizz Air and Ryanair….

  • Flights – Gatwick South to Naples (British Airways)

    This is G-GATM, the British Airways Airbus A320-200 aircraft which was flying from London Gatwick to Naples. Interestingly (well I think), this aircraft initially belonged to ACES Colombia and was operated by them in South America. They went bust in early 2004, just a year after they acquired the aircraft, and Wizz Air took it on as part of their initial fleet of planes. It remained in the Wizz Air fleet until December 2014 and it was repainted and came into use by British Airways in January 2015 as part of their new second-hand fleet to be used at Gatwick on short-haul operations.

    The boarding gate was spacious with plenty of seating and the screens were clear. The boarding process worked well and customers queued where BA wanted them to.

    On board, the flight was relatively full, although the seat next to me was left unfilled. These are exit row seats so they were spacious and the crew member reminded occupants of their responsibilities in the event of any incidents during the flight.

    There was a queue of aircraft waiting to take off, including easyJet and BA planes.

    Another BA aircraft joining us in the queue for take-off, which didn’t seem to take an overly long amount of time. Our flight ultimately actually arrived a few minutes early into Naples and it was a smooth journey with no turbulence of note.

    These look like clouds at first sight, but it’s the Alps. The captain made an announcement telling customers on the right hand side of the aircraft to look out, and as luck would have it, that was where I was sitting.

    Shortly before landing.

    Naples Airport is one of those where customers are shuttled to the terminal by bus transfer. There were two buses which left promptly and weren’t over-filled. I was slightly concerned when I saw that there were literally hundreds of people at the immigration desks, so I was anticipating a long wait. Fortunately those with passports were despatched to automated kiosks and so my wait transpired to be under three minutes from entering the terminal to leaving it.

    Overall, another smooth and successful journey with British Airways, who seem to me to be delivering some consistently impressive flights. The flight cost around £32 as a single fare in what is a crowded market as Ryanair, Wizz Air and easyJet all operate to Naples, along with numerous other international carriers.