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Tag: Heathrow

  • Heathrow – Ibis Heathrow

    Heathrow – Ibis Heathrow

    I’ve stayed at this Ibis hotel near the airport a few times and written about it before. It’s a short free bus journey away if using TFL buses and there’s car parking available for those who insist on driving everywhere.

    This is one of the Accor hotels which persists in this habit of welcoming customers from the customer side of the reception desk. I don’t much like the practice, they’re often leaving screens open with names of other guests, and I’m pleased more Accor hotels are ditching this policy.

    The check-in process was relatively quick, but they missed my free drink voucher, although it was provided quickly enough when I very politely hinted about it.

    I’ve only once been given a welcome amenity by this hotel, and Accor themselves have told me to mark this hotel down for failing to do so every time. That seems a little harsh, but consistency is probably in the hotel’s own interests. The room was clean and well presented though, with a most lovely view of the car park. Everything was well stocked and worked properly, with the wi-fi being fine, albeit with a couple of drop-outs. They still have the anti-theft devices on their towels that I mentioned last time.

    The room this time didn’t have an information card about breakfast times, contact details and the like, but it now has a menu instead.

    The hotel is asking guests to pay £1 per bag they want stored during the day, which is donated to charity. I’ve never stored bags here, but I’m not convinced that charging for a service that guests would expect for free is an ideal solution here. I thought Accor hotels were meant to organise separate events to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust rather than this, but it is a marvellous charity to raise money for.

    This was provided after I queried where it was….

    The bar area, with two members of staff, one of whom was competent and welcoming, the other was, well, not. Bar work really isn’t an ideal role for those with misanthropic tendencies.

    The London Pride was off, just for a short while, so I went for the Goose Session IPA as I haven’t had it before. Slightly generic, but it’s an interesting additional option for the hotel to offer as nearly every customer I noticed order beer went for the Stella option….

    And served in a branded glass and at the appropriate temperature.

    The breakfast buffet arrangements, with the food placed on two large tables in the centre of the restaurant area. There were plenty of seating available and the manager was making continual efforts to keep everything clean and tidy. There didn’t seem many customers going for the breakfast option, but it starts early and runs late to cater for those with strange flight times, so perhaps it’s rarely overly busy.

    The croissants were particularly nice, although the muffins were the usual bland Ibis affair which the company must provide. The sausages were delicious and flavoursome, with the bacon either served slightly firm (my favourite) or with raw fat on it (my least favourite) which required some dexterity to get the piece I wanted. The ham lacked some colour and seemed quite grey, as if it had been out for a little while, but everything seemed organised and well presented.

    I had a look at TripAdvisor to amuse myself and the hotel was left this ridiculous review.

    “When I arrived at just gone 11am, which I have done on MANY occasions, I was expecting maybe a short wait to get into my room as 11 is a little early, what I wasn’t expecting was to be told the hotel was fully booked the night before & I would have to wait until TWO pm to check in UNLESS I paid an extra £20.00 & then low & behold a room would miraculously appear clean & ready for me.”

    I’m often one of those people who checks in early, but 11:00 is very early for a check-in…. £20 for early check-in seems reasonable to me, although it’s free for most under the loyalty scheme anyway.

    “You either have NO rooms available full stop because the hotel is booked OR you put your prices up on your website & on booking.com to reflect how much you are ACTUALLY going to charge people to get into their room at a reasonable time.”

    14:00 seems reasonable to me…. They definitely had a room, ready and waiting for those who wanted to pay…. This is the problems that hotels face, they try and help customers by giving them something they’re not entitled to, such as an early check-in, only for the customer to throw it back at them later on with a 1 star review when they don’t get the same favour.

    Overall, I can’t much complain (although I seem to end up doing so on here….) as the room, including breakfast, came to just over £30. For the convenience of Heathrow, this was ideal, plus I’ll get some points back on the new Accor Limitless loyalty scheme.

  • Heathrow – Free Travel Zone

    Heathrow – Free Travel Zone

    I’ve been aware of the free travel zone at Heathrow for some time and it’s a useful way of getting to the airport from Bath Road without having to pay for the Hoppa Bus. I stay relatively frequently at the Ibis Heathrow which is marginally outside of the zone, but it’s only a three-minute walk to the next bus stop that’s within it.

    For some reason (probably because I don’t think as much as I should….) I’ve always got the buses to the central bus terminal and then got the underground or Hex to T5 (both free for changing between terminals) from there. But, I realised today that there’s the 423 bus which goes straight to the delights of T5, so there was no need for me to go to the central bus terminal.

    It wasn’t the busiest bus that I’ve ever seen, although it picked up a few more passengers en route to T5.

    Image result for hal free travel zone

    And here’s the free travel zone in its entirety…. For anyone staying on the Bath Road, unless they’re at a strange place along it, getting the TFL bus is a handy saving on the otherwise quite expensive charges of the Hoppa bus.

  • Heathrow – Off to Luxembourg

    A quick breakfast in the BA lounge at Heathrow T3 early this morning, before my flight.

    Today I’m off to Luxembourg for the day, then getting the Flixbus to Bern. Given my past experiences with Flixbus, it’s anyone’s guess just whether I’ll actually reach Switzerland, but we’ll see. It’ll be an adventure.

  • Heathrow – Security Scanners

    From Business Traveller, this will be a significant improvement for travellers. The number of passengers who still seem surprised that they have to remove liquids, even though they’ve passed 22 signs telling them, never ceases to amaze me.

  • 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.

  • Megabus (Heathrow T5 to Gatwick)

    Today I’m going from Heathrow T5 to Gatwick, ready for a flight tomorrow. Usually I’d get the Underground Piccadilly line up from Heathrow and then get a train to Gatwick from Blackfriars with Thameslink all using Oyster. However, since it was early morning that would mean that the prices to do that would cost getting towards £20 and it would also take a couple of hours.

    I checked the National Express price, and that remains at a ridiculous £26 for a single journey.  Although it’s a convenient service to take, I find it unfortunate that a company price gouges like that, it’s not a great image for tourists. The price is so ridiculous that for any group of two people, it’s just as cheap to take an Uber.

    Fortunately, the wonderful Megabus have taken an interest in this route. If booked ahead this ticket can be under £10, although mine was £15 booked just before the journey. This is more expensive than going from Norwich to London with Megabus, but at least it’s a chunk cheaper than National Express and I’m sure they have some high overheads to operate to and from airports.

    The bus arrived on time, at 10.00, with a scheduled journey time of 70 minutes. It was clear from the ticket details where to wait for the bus, although the actual information at the bus stop could be clearer as it was nearly all for National Express. I was confident that I was in the right place though and there were Heathrow staff nearby to offer assistance to anyone who wanted it.

    The driver looked at the ticket on my phone seemingly confused, although he must have seen hundreds of them before. He looked at his watch, looked puzzled and so perhaps he thought it was a different time of the day to what it actually was. Who knows…. The driver didn’t exact engage like the American Megabus drivers, but that’s not unexpected.

    I got the seats at the top and there were plenty of working power outlets and there was also wi-fi available.

    I had a lovely view of the sweeping countryside. Well, the motorway.

    This photo doesn’t really show it, but there were an alarming number of chips and cracks on the bus’s windscreen. I can’t imagine that it’ll last too many more journeys. The driver seemed competent though and his driving was professional and smooth throughout.

    Anyway, the bus arrived into Gatwick early, so the journey took just 50 minutes. For the price I think this is a really decent service and hopefully it’ll take some trade away from National Express who I think are over-charging quite heavily for such a short route with such a captive market.

  • Flights – Boston Logan to Heathrow T5 (British Airways)

    My favourite aircraft is the A380 and this was the plane G-XLEG which was delivered to British Airways in 2014. It was a moderately busy flight, although my bulkhead row of ten seats had just one other person on it, although the crew moved another two onto it just before departure. This meant plenty of space for me, rather different to my American Airlines flight of the previous day. Sitting on the lower deck of the A380 it is genuinely difficult to know that this beautiful aircraft has taken off, I never tire of just how much of an engineering triumph this is.

    The initial drinks run took place around 45 minutes after take-off, with the crew member saying she was surprised how little alcohol was being requested. I was content with my orange juice, sparkling water and mini pretzels.

    There was plenty of choice on the in-flight entertainment system, although I had hoped for some episodes of Friday Night Dinner again which unfortunately weren’t there. There were though some episodes of People Just Do Nothing and This Time with Alan Partridge which I hadn’t seen before.

    The meal was served around 20 minutes later, consisting of a salad with dressing, roll, chicken casserole with mashed potatoes and vegetables, caramel dessert and then cracker with cheddar cheese. Several people declined their food tray, but I most certainly didn’t. There was also the option of pasta with cheese, which I think has been an option on nearly every BA long-haul flight that I’ve ever taken.

    The quality was fine, the chicken was tender and had a decent amount of flavour, the vegetables retained some firmness to add some texture and it was all served hot. The dessert was also above average in terms of the richness of the taste. The salad was a little dull, but the dressing helped somewhat.

    I had some problems with my screen during the flight, but the crew member was able to successfully reset it. The moving map didn’t work though even after the reset. The crew were helpful with this and everything else, they were also visible throughout the flight. I thought that the temperature in the cabin was just right, although I suspect that this meant most other people were cold. The pilots and crew members made appropriate announcements throughout the flight and they came across as friendly and professional.

    The breakfast option was a croissant with tomato cream cheese, which tasted better than it looked. Another customer, who had refused his evening meal, didn’t look thrilled and a fair few of these were returned uneaten to the crew. The presentation really does need looking at and perhaps some choice to improve the options somewhat.

    However, overall, I thought that this flight still represented superb value for money. Coming in at under £125 there is pretty much no money in this for British Airways, but I won’t complain about that. The food and drink was served efficiently, the aircraft was clean and the crew were helpful and friendly. Lots of space and British Airways is once again becoming my favourite airline.

    The landing of the A380 was though quite heavy at the end of the flight which led to a crew member saying “we’ve certainly landed, I can guess that’s the First Officer landing that”.

  • British Airways (Newcastle to Heathrow T5)

    It’s the first time that I’ve flown from Newcastle and also, I think, the first time that I’ve taken a flight starting and ending in England. It was aircraft G-EUXL, a British Airways Airbus A321.

    The boarding process was one of the smoothest I’ve had with British Airways and the lines were clearly divided between boarding groups 1-3 and boarding groups 4-5. It was also one of those times where I managed to walk through the boarding pass scan just as boarding started, so I didn’t have to wait at all.

    I assume he was de-icing the plane……

    Reading material.

    Seat 24F, an exit row seat which has the advantage of not having a seat in front of it. So, lots of space, especially as there was no-one sitting next to me. The flight was around 75% full with, I think, four rows in Club Europe up at the front of the aircraft.

    The crew did their M&S buy on board trolley run and managed to sell very little. The flight only lasts for 45 minutes, but the service seemed efficient and well managed. The crew member was excellent, she was merrily making conversation and was personable, it’s these little things that British Airways can do really well. She said that she was then about to fly to Geneva and back, which now makes me realise that I should go back to Geneva at some point….

    Anyway, the flight arrived on time and at Heathrow T5 A Gates, making it easy to transfer to my next flight.

  • Heathrow – Ibis Heathrow

    Since I have a flight from Heathrow which leaves relatively early in the day (well, afternoon, but I need to sit in the lounge for six hours) I thought I’d get a nearby hotel for the night before. It transpired that the rail fares were expensive to do that, and Accor had a “buy two nights get one free” offer, so I went for three nights at this Ibis Hotel on the Bath Road which also worked with my £10 rail fare.

    One thing I hadn’t realised until reading the reviews of this hotel is that Heathrow Airport offer a free bus service to the hotels on Bath Road. It was introduced to limit traffic between the airport and the limited surrounding area, but that meant I could get to the Ibis for free. Very handy, as I really don’t like the National Express Hoppa bus, it’s unnecessarily expensive and price gouges, a dreadful image for the company in my view.

    There’s a large dining area, all was clean and organised.

    One of the more generous vouchers that I’ve seen, and actually one of the clearest in what customers could order.

    I went for a free pint of London Pride, very lovely.

    And there is the London Pride. I very much liked the big chairs, gave a feeling of privacy for those customers wanting a private chat. I was on my own though, so didn’t need the privacy, but I liked the chairs anyway as they looked exciting. I don’t get out much…..

    The room was clean and had everything that I realistically needed for the stay. Well, other than a Greggs chicken bake, that would have been nice.

    The plug for the kettle was about two inches long as it had been cut back. However, there was no nearby socket to plug it into, so the set-up wasn’t entirely practical.

    I’ve heard about this, but never seen it. The hotel will probably claim it’s to do with tracking their towels during the cleaning process, but realistically, it’s to stop customers pinching them. I’ve never stolen a towel from a hotel (bar once at a hostel in the US where I left with it by mistake), namely because it’s theft, but I approve of efforts to stop people doing it.

    Anyway, the stay was all fine, no noise problems either internally or externally and the staff were all friendly. The member of staff at the bar was particularly engaging, and for an airport hotel it met all my expectations.