bmi BD 122 DUB-LHR
April 4, 2004
bmi BD 122 DUB-LHR
Scheduled: 09:00 - 10:25
Actual: 09:20 - 10:37
A321 G-MIDC seats 30E/F
Our short stay in Dublin had been at a B&B south of the city centre, so we took the Aircoach service to the airport. From memory it was EUR 6 or 7 each. These services are comfortable, efficient, and very frequent (they claim every 15 minutes, but they seem to be more often than that). We arrived at the airport around 07:50.
There were initially only two agents handling the check-in for our flight, but that increased to four in the 15 minutes it took us to reach the front of the queue. When we checked in, the agent confirmed that we had no onward flights from LHR, and offered us the choice of an isle or window seat. We chose the window. Then we made our way through security (and the associated ten minute queue).
We had a brief look around the airport but were more direct than usual in heading towards our gate. We boarded on time, but were 20 minutes late to push back due to "apron works". Once we did so, there were two aircraft in front of us to further delay our take-off (one Spanair and one Cityjet/Air France).
Once we were airborne we had a comfortable flight across the Irish Sea and on to Heathrow. We were served with a breakfast roll (cheese and tomato from memory) which was quite tasty and just what was required after skipping breakfast at the B&B. It was served with juice or water, and tea or coffee.
Behind us there were two women who talked loudly for the whole flight. They were excited to discover that the man sitting next to them was Irish. He had lived in America for seven years, currently works as a bartender, and was previously in the construction industry. The women had been to Dublin for the weekend on a (successful) quest to pick up Irish men. They lived three hours north of Heathrow, and would have left from LBA if it wasn't for Sally who hadn't gone with them anyway. Interesting. But I digress.
We circled over London for about 20 minutes, then picked out the famous landmarks on our approach. We ended up arriving 12 minutes late. There was no passport control, luggage collection was prompt, and we worked our way through the maze of LHR to the central coach station from which we travelled to Bath.
After a day in Bath, we caught the train back to London and saw all we could before our next flight to Madrid.