Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Heathrow T3

Wednesday : Warsaw to Heathrow T3 with Finn Air (via Helsinki)

Yet another breakfast photo, woooo….. I posted this one as there’s a bay leaf on it and I enjoy it when people complain at Chipotle because they think part of a tree has landed into their food. For anyone who wants to see irate people on Twitter, just Google “chipotle bay leaf”. Another cheap and cheerful breakfast, which was suitably filling. I’m not sure why they’re providing biscuits for breakfast, but I didn’t quibble with what I thought was an innovative idea.

I’ll miss Warsaw, but I’ve gone on about that before. Note how bloody hot it was. That made it easier for me to leave the city, so I could escape the rampantly high temperatures that I had endured.

My journey to the airport was far from ideal, I had intended to walk to Warszawa Powiśle railway station to get the train. Unfortunately, this ticket machine en route didn’t supply the ticket I wanted, entirely because the sun was so bright that I couldn’t see the screen properly. There’s no good comes from this extreme weather I’ll say, no good at all.

There’s the railway station I need, but I was on the hunt for a ticket machine. The railway station ticket machine wouldn’t sell me the ticket that I wanted and I couldn’t remember whether the train itself had a ticket machine on it as I always pre-purchase them to avoid any little issues with the guard.

I swore quietly at the situation, then decided to instead walk one stop along to Warszawa Śródmieście as there’s an S2 train to the airport around every thirty minutes. There’s the Palace of Science and Culture in the boiling hot temperature. I was pleased to note that a lot of Polish people seemed to be struggling with the heat. Although I mean that in the way that I’m pleased I wasn’t the only person who was uncomfortable, not that I was pleased Poles were struggling with something.

This wasn’t the train I needed, I just like taking photos of double-decker trains. I should probably get out more….

I was slightly annoyed generally that there were indeed ticket machines on the trains, as can be seen by everyone else buying their tickets on them. I’d mention I was more annoyed that I hadn’t just risked it, but I like to live in a low-risk public transport world.

And that was that, after 20 minutes I was at the railway station saying goodbye to Warsaw for the last time in what will likely be for some months. My journey today was to fly back to Heathrow, but due to problems with British Airways, they were flying me back via Helsinki. This isn’t ideal in many ways and is the second time that they’ve had to do this. One day the rail service will be fast and cheap enough to do this journey back to London without needing to fly, but we’re nowhere near there that stage yet.

That gave me time to visit the Preludium Executive Lounge in Warsaw Airport, again which I’ve written about before. As an aside, the security process was extremely efficient, once again in Warsaw I was through into the lounge area within ten minutes of disembarking the train. Polish efficiency that is.

It wasn’t particularly busy, so I sat near to the food (at the counter behind, not literally this near) with my laptop being productive.

The lounge has finally got rid of the pre-packaged food that it has for some time, replacing it with help yourself food items so that guests can make their own salads or whatever they’d like. There’s also hot food and most importantly, big tubs of chocolates. What a time to be alive….

Chicken wrap with olives, what more could anyone want from their brunch? I say brunch, it was still breakfast time, but I’d already had breakfast at the hotel and it’s bad luck to have two breakfasts.

One quick beer before leaving. I’m not sure I needed that, but it’s another one for Untappd.

The flight was already boarding when I got there. It’s rare that I cut things so fine, although I don’t want anyone thinking I had been unusually reckless, they were just boarding a little early.

Down the airbridge, this is Finn Air’s Embraer E190, registration OH-LKM, an aircraft they’ve operated since it was brought into service in 2008. For anyone wondering why there are so many photos on air bridges, it’s usually so I can get the aircraft registration number, such is the level of detail that I demand for my two readers.

This was a nearly full service, so no photos of the interior. I was pleased to get my free blueberry juice and the service was all efficient and felt a little more professional than my outbound flight. There was a bigger business class section than on the way out, they had the delights of a salad and bread for their morning meal.

A little cloudier than Warsaw, I enjoy knowing that I’m unlikely to get heatstroke in Helsinki. These short stops in Helsinki are slightly sad from the point of view that I’m not leaving the airport to see the actual city.

Back in the non-Schengen lounge at Helsinki Airport and the staff were as friendly as before, with everything being just as ordered and welcoming as I remembered. They have the same self-scanning desks to get into the lounge as their Schengen one elsewhere in the terminal, but they don’t seem to use them here.

The pods and I went to investigate the showers here for the first time. They’re all self-service, you just type in the keypad on the door and if they’ve been cleaned with more towels put in, then they’ll open. When leaving, press a button on the keypad and it alerts the staff that the shower needs cleaning and restocking.

This is much better than the food selection at the Finn Air Schengen lounge. I noted that they were unlikely to run out of plates as well.

Meatballs in pepper sauce and these were delicious. There was also a broad bean tikka masala, which sounded a bit too vegetable orientated in its design to me.

Self-pour beer, meatballs, rice and I even got some roasted vegetables for reasons I can’t remember. I probably got muddled up.

I hadn’t noticed this before, but the text of what they’re doing is readable by clicking on the image, effectively they want some rye spirit ready in 2023 to mark Finn Air reaching 100. A rather lovely idea and not long left now, they thought ahead by starting this process in 2017.

After a quick dessert and some more meatballs, back in the open space of the airport terminal. I wonder if this international terminal ever feels busy and cluttered, it’s hard to imagine that.

The flight was showing a slight delay, but nothing frightening.

Having this much space makes the whole boarding environment feel much more relaxed. Note power points everywhere, no-one is leaving Helsinki without their devices being fully charged.

The airbridge photo again. Finn Air have two separate parts of the waiting area in the gate, so priority passengers were able to board first. A couple of people, whether through accident or design, tried to board in a lane they shouldn’t have done, with the Finn Air staff politely sending them back to the end of the queue, thereby forcing a little walk of shame.

It’s Airbus A319, registration OH-LVL, which Finn Air have operated since new in 2004. I can also confirm that I didn’t overheat in Helsinki Airport.

I’d deliberately put myself on an aisle seat towards the back of the aircraft and this was another flight, with just about every seat taken. If a flight is looking busy, I’d rather just sit at the back and stay out of the way of people trying to navigate their way around the crew with their trolleys.

The drop-down screens showed a variety of television programming throughout the journey, including Tom & Jerry. This reminds me that British Airways has taken screens out of all of their short-haul aircraft, although I recall they only displayed the live map, never anything as exciting as Tom & Jerry cartoons.

I wasn’t tempted as I had just been in the lounge, although I did think from the photo how small the cheese platter was. They didn’t seem to sell much, a few items here and there, but in the main customers just requested the free water or blueberry juice.

And that leads me neatly into the now obligatory photo of blueberry juice.

Back into Heathrow T3, nearly every time I use a Travelator I remember Liam’s children being endlessly excited by this exciting “it’s like an escalator but flat” device. To be fair, they’re not wrong.

I had a fair amount of time at Heathrow Terminal 3, but more about overnight stay there in the next exciting post in this series.

July 3, 2022
Wednesday : Sleeping at Heathrow T3

For complex reasons relating to flight cancellations, I was at Heathrow T3 overnight, although in my case I wasn’t planning to sleep, just sit with my laptop and sleep on the aircraft the next day on my early morning flight. Hotel prices are ridiculous in London at the moment and it would have cost the best part of £100 in the cheapest hotel near Heathrow, which hardly seemed worth it for a few hours.

One of the quietest areas, at least overnight, is the central bus terminal. There were police around talking to a few people, but that seemed to relate to those they considered to be non-travellers, although they didn’t approach me so I wasn’t entirely sure what was being said. I think the rule here is that they’ll tolerate travellers waiting for a bus or plane, but not much else. The police floating about for most of the night made it all feel safer to me as well.

There were a few people sleeping on the seats, which I’m sure the bus terminal isn’t thrilled about, although it is possible. The seats at least have some padding and the lighting isn’t too harsh in this area, so it’s probably the best place to go. The main Heathrow T3 terminal doesn’t throw people out, but it’s got bright and harsh lighting alongside lots of noise from the cleaning and maintenance teams who have to use the overnight period to get things done.

There’s a Costa near security on the upper level which claims to be open 24 hours, although I’m not sure how many hours they’ll allow people to stay for. Probably for as long as it looks like it might be full. The Pret shuts relatively early, although that means their external seats are accessible overnight.

From my wanderings around T3, this is usually the quietest place if in need of power, on the ground floor near Zone G. There’s some seating around here as well, although it’s not overly comfortable as it’s firm metal chairs. Free Heathrow wi-fi is available throughout the entirety of T3, including the central bus terminal.

July 3, 2022
Wednesday : London to Warsaw via Helsinki

Today’s adventure wasn’t an ideal situation, but British Airways needed to change my flight from London Heathrow to Warsaw and the only way that they could get me there was via Helsinki. These are challenging times for airlines at the moment, but I hope that these schedules start to settle down over the next few months, it’s not really a routing that I would have thought the most cost effective to arrange.

I was starting at the Ibis Styles at Heathrow, not my first time in the hotel, but my first time in the separate accommodation bloc. It’s really not apparent, but there’s a floor above what is visible here which is reset a little, which is where my room was.

Not that it’s particularly interesting, but that additional floor is visible behind Esso, with the main part of the hotel on the right.

A bus journey to Heathrow T3 central bus station and my complaint, yet again, that Heathrow have blocked off the pedestrian and cyclist entrance to the airport and so people are forced to use cars or go on public transport. In the past, the airport themselves paid for that public transport, but they don’t now. There’s an element of greed here and I find it a little sinister who is benefiting from these changes, but I had better not meander down that path for too long. So a little ride on the Travelator from the central bus station to get me to Heathrow T3.

And here it is again in all its glory, my favourite of the terminals at Heathrow. This is solely because of the lounges where I can get the most free food, T5 is a much better designed and interesting terminal architecturally (including the bits that my friend Liam built).

I can use the premium security line at Heathrow T3 because of my silver card (I have to mention every time that I got this through judicious use of Flyertalk tips, my spend on flights is very low and wouldn’t normally get me such decadence). A member of staff came over and said that the premium security line was longer than the standard line if anyone wanted to move over. I was by that point near the front and didn’t take the risk, but I was amused when someone just behind me said “you’re the one who just sent me over here”. I laughed just a little inside because the man seemed to want an argue but the staff member walked off. Security at T3 always seems quite quick and I got fortunate with my choice of queue, I think I was through within five minutes including the waiting time in the queue.

Lounge hopping at T3, I decided to start with Qantas to get a Salmon Eggs Benedict and delicious it was too. The service in the lounge was as impeccable as ever, efficient, informal and professional.

Part of the cold food selection, but I’ve written about this Qantas lounge before and won’t bore readers unnecessarily. It was though quiet, comfortable and as lovely as ever. I can’t decide which lounge I prefer, Qantas or Cathay Pacific, so I just visit them both.

I thought some exercise would be in order and so I walked to the Cathay Pacific Lounge to get food there, with this being the menu of the day.

Delicious, that Dim Sum selection is always quite beautiful. There was some spicy kick to that Thai coconut and vegetable soup, which complemented the Asahi beer nicely. I didn’t bother visiting the British Airways lounge, it’s just not as decadent and they don’t have any beer there. Well, they have Heineken, but I mean proper beer. The barman mentioned that I had the last bottle of beer he had left, so I hope he had access to some more stock from somewhere. Service here, just as in the Qantas lounge, is professional and although more formal, it always feels welcoming. It’s a comfortable space as well, there are plenty of different seating types as well as lots of power points to charge devices. I mention that frequently as it is quite important to me, just imagine having a phone without any charge. It’s too much to even contemplate, I shall move on and away from that horrible thought.

My flights to Warsaw were with Finn Air, although it was a little difficult to work out when to board as the neighbouring gate spilled over and they had the wrong passengers in each queue for a short whilst. I think the other flight was going to Africa, so it would have been quite some distance if someone landed in Helsinki by mistake. I had a little problem when boarding as the staff member said “since you’re going to Warsaw as your final destination, I need to see your Covid pass”. I’m not actually sure that was right, as Poland doesn’t need the pass any more, so I spent about three minutes (that feels a long time when you know you’re holding up the queue) trying to find my older one, which he said would be sufficient. He was very helpful and after a few seconds of panic that I had forgotten to do something I should have done, I was ready to board.

I don’t know why they were using such a large aircraft, the Airbus A350-900, as the flight wasn’t that busy and it isn’t the usual aircraft that I’ve been on when shunted onto this service before. I was very pleased with it though, as it’s also a long-haul aircraft and I haven’t been on such a large aircraft since 2019.

I rarely get to see these sort of images, as British Airways opted out of the camera installation which isn’t relatively that expensive, they just claimed their passengers wouldn’t want it. I do, I like watching the plane from above and below, it’s quite surreal as it’s not the sort of image I’m used to seeing.

I had the entire row of three seats to myself, so I could lounge out and enjoy my free blueberry juice.

There was in-flight entertainment, so I watched an episode of Bear Grylls doing something adventurous with Alex Honnold, who I watched on board a BA flight a few years ago climbing with ropes in the film Free Solo (I mean I watched him on the BA in-flight entertainment, he wasn’t on the aircraft climbing things, although that would have been exciting). The series is Running Wild with Bear Grylls, it’s the sort of thing that my friend Liam would be excited to be on, it’s full of adventure and danger. I’d rather be in the pub than jumping out of aircraft or eating rattlesnakes.

We landed and I was transfixed watching the servicing of the aircraft underneath me. I hope British Airways change their minds and install these in the future, they’re very informative about how aircraft are serviced after landing, it’s all precisely timed.

I wasn’t in business class as I’m not that decadent, that’s the sort of thing my friend Richard does as he spends a lot of money on things he doesn’t need, but it looked really rather comfortable.

And there’s the aircraft.

I very much enjoyed visiting the non-Schengen Finn Air airport lounge a few weeks ago, but the Schengen one was much smaller and it was at near capacity when I went to it. The staff were friendly, although it’s the first time I’ve gone into a lounge and the check-in process has been via a scanner checking my boarding pass rather than a human inspecting it. The food wasn’t very exciting, a tray of pasta and a tray of cooked vegetables. It’s not exactly Michelin cuisine, nor actually is it even Greggs cuisine.

They had some feta salad with cooked vegetables, but I’d rather have had something cold and crisp with it, it was all very bland. I greedily got two slices of cheesecake as they looked delicious, but they weren’t very nice either. I can’t complain as this was all free, but I just got my hopes up from how good my experience had been before.

I had a couple of hours in the lounge and it got much quieter during the second half of my visit.

Wine and biscuits. I don’t know anything about wine to comment on the quality of that, but they needed some custard creams I thought. Or Jaffa Cakes, that would have been very good.

My laptop and I moved to the window to watch the aircraft. There were lots of power points in the lounge which was handy, so that I could get everything charged ready for the second flight.

All much more sedate when most people had left.

The self-pour selection.

I left the Finn Air lounge a little disappointed it wasn’t as good as their other one in the same airport, but I enjoyed the friendly service, the clean environment and indeed the entire airport felt relaxed and comfortable.

The flight to Warsaw was on a smaller aircraft.

The aircraft was at near capacity, so no empty row for me this time. The curtain between business class and economy is right at the front on this flight, there were just two people in business class. One of the debates on FlyerTalk is whether customers in economy should be able to use the washrooms in business class. usually it’s preferred not to, but on this flight, I saw the crew turning back three customers and sending them to the back of the aircraft to wait. I thought that was petty and it caused them service problems as then customers were trapped behind trolleys in the aisles and the crew had to reverse back up to let them pass. I don’t know how many washrooms they had on this aircraft, probably two at the rear and one at the front. Having one washroom for two customers and the other two for eighty customers doesn’t really make sense, however much you want to offer a differentiated service for business customers.

The crew member made an announcement at the end saying “please let business class passengers off first” which caused amusement as there were only two of them, and she looked annoyed people had laughed. I just thought it was all a bit odd, although it didn’t impact me.

Finn Air offer free blueberry juice and water, with other items being chargeable. I was quite happy with my blueberry juice.

The flight landed on time and I was through Warsaw airport security quickly enough, even though I (and others from the UK, it’s not just me) now have to wait in a queue separate to everyone else as I was from the UK and not in Schengen. I love being back here, it’s the railway station underneath Warsaw airport, which means I’m back in what is now my favourite city.

Warsaw landmarks on the seats, the train spotlessly clean and it cost me 74p for my ticket to the hotel. Bargain.

I was staying at the Warsaw Airport Mercure hotel again, one of my favourites and I’ve stayed there ten or so times I think now. It’s the smallest room I’ve been given in this particular hotel, but they said I might enjoy the tea theme of the room, so I thought that sounded interesting.

I wasn’t going to run out of tea.

My welcome gift and I always appreciate the gesture, even if it is mostly fruit. Indeed, as fruit goes, it was rather nice.

Pictures, all part of the tea theming of the room.

I liked it, there’s something quite fun about hotels having these individually designed rooms, it seems to be something that a few Accor hotels in the city are doing. Having quirky little elements like this makes things just a little more interesting, especially when it’s a room that I haven’t had before.

That’s the end of today’s little instalment. It was good to be back in Warsaw, I very much like it here.

June 25, 2022
Flights – British Airways (Luxembourg to Heathrow T3)

This is the evening flight from Luxembourg to Heathrow T3 as the earlier one had gone tech. The forlorn and lost looking aircraft can be seen towards the back on the tarmac above, with the nice and shiny new aircraft waiting at the gate. Well, relatively shiny.

The aircraft was an A320 with the registration G-EUYC, the same aircraft that I was on when I flew out to Luxembourg last week.

I arrived a little early at the gate, which was the quietest that I’ve ever seen at Luxembourg. In terms of boarding, this was a bit of a mess and the staff didn’t make any audible announcements about who was supposed to be boarding when. This meant that people were queueing up in the wrong place and blocking the priority lines, although there were no particular delays.

The crew from the aborted earlier flight were also no doubt keen to get home and they were seated in Club Europe. One of them said to their colleagues that they thought they should be professional and hang back for other customers to board first, although the others collectively agreed that they didn’t like that idea.

I boarded early and so the flight looks quite quiet from the above photo, but the aircraft soon filled up because of the delayed earlier flight. The captain apologised for the problems with the morning’s cancelled flight and the rest of the announcements were also professional and helpful. BA’s communications had been good all day and I didn’t hear any customer complain about the situation.

I don’t know if the engineers from Heathrow had arrived on the inbound flight to Luxembourg, but work was starting on the slightly stranded BA aircraft.

Waiting to leave Luxembourg airport. The crew on board seemed efficient, although they didn’t manage to complete the buy on board trolley service, a situation caused by BA’s policy rather than a lack of ability from the crew. There’s been great play made by BA about the 12 different covers they have this month on the new in-flight magazine. It’s fortunate that I hadn’t got myself over-excited about this, since the aircraft didn’t have any in-flight magazines.

Arriving back into London, landing around ten minutes ahead of schedule. The pilot did say that he hoped that the ten minutes made up would be useful for those who had been delayed earlier on in the day, although since that flight was nine hours earlier, I’m not sure that the ten minutes made much difference. Anyway, all was professional and the disembarkation process was well managed.

All in all, I thought that BA managed the problems delay well. I got to sit in the lounge for eight hours (in addition to the two hours before my first flight) and the rebooking process was simple and easy. I was given a window seat and was able to confirm everything via the app, so the technology worked well. Another customer told me that they had gone into Luxembourg for the day, but I had rather got myself settled in at the airport and decided against that idea.

But, that’s my first flight which has been cancelled due to technical issues, so I’ll probably remember it for many years to come. Although goodness knows why, I’m sure there are better things to remember.

July 25, 2019
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……

July 25, 2019
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).

July 25, 2019
Heathrow T3 – American Airlines Lounge

For BA customers who have silver status or above, or who are travelling in a premium cabin, they can access all of the Oneworld lounges at Heathrow T3, which are Cathay Pacific, American Airlines, British Airways and Qantas.

I get to fly American Airlines from time to time, both internationally and within the United States, and I’ve never had a bad experience. The staff member at the reception desk was typically American, full of enthusiasm, customer service training and friendliness.

The lounge itself is large and wasn’t particularly busy, but everything seemed pretty well stocked up. There’s a First Class section to the lounge as well, but that’s beyond my access level unfortunately…..

The lunch menu consisted of smoked Spanish style chicken and chorizo with roast new potatoes and green beans. There was also a cured meat platter and and a pasta option.

There’s the cured meat platter mentioned on the menu.

This is the Spanish style chicken and chorizo, although I neither saw nor tasted any chorizo element to it. It all tasted fine, the chicken was tender and the green beans were served al dente (I think that phrase really applies to pasta, but I’m applying it to green beans anyway).

So Cathay Pacific are very proud of their noodle bar serving dim sum and other delicacies. American Airlines don’t have anything like that, but they have a sweet counter instead. This is partly why I like American Airlines so much…..

How rather lovely.

Reading other reviews, not many people pick the American Airlines lounge as their favourite if they’re taking part in a lounge crawl. Perhaps it isn’t, but I think it’s better than a fair few people say it is. Friendly service, spacious and, well, it has unlimited jelly beans and chocolate mints.

January 20, 2019
Flights – British Airways (Luxembourg to Heathrow T3)

A morning flight back to Heathrow T3 from the beautiful country of Luxembourg.

A relatively light load across the cabin, which meant sufficient space in the overhead lockers. I had a row to myself, the same as on the way out.

As for the crew, they were exceptional. The crew member who managed the cabin had a service style which made me wonder if he was a crew trainer, he was faultless. He introduced himself to everyone and he remembered the names of all of the customers, that alone is a very impressive service standard which is rarely ever attained by the crew. For the first time in a long while, I’ve contacted BA to tell them just how good he was.

There was a choice between warm quiche or the above, which is smoked salmon with cottage cheese. Served with a roll, which appeared after I took the photo, and fruit and dessert. The salmon was sapid and flavoursome, the cottage cheese was unexceptional and the cucumber was, well, cucumber. BA seem to have thing about capers, and I’m certainly not one to complain as they add taste and texture. Overall, it was a perfectly acceptable brunch, as the airline calls it.

Note my initial choice of drink, which was sparkling water, was served alongside with a champagne I hadn’t even thought of having until the crew member so politely mentioned that it went well with the salmon. As did the glasses of it he followed up with during the flight.

The flight departed about five minutes early and landed around ten minutes early, not that I was in any particular rush. Heathrow T3 was well staffed, so I was able to leave the airport within twenty minutes of having landed. I’m sure that BA is on an upwards trajectory again after some years of complacency….

January 20, 2019
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.

July 7, 2018