nonsoloinglese
Mar 14, 05, 4:42 am
Ok, So here it goes. A mini trip report for BA570 Sunday 13th March 13, 2005.
I maximised my amount of time at home so arrived at LHR T1 only one hour before the flight, went to straight to zone R and used SSCI to collect my ‘first A seat in Y’ OLCI boarding card that had been kindly OLCI’d for me by dnw.
The security line was pretty quick and I was soon in trough into the departure lounge. One thing I did note was that there was a BAA sign at the Zone R security area that stated that it was only for ‘BA First and Business class passengers’. Myself being in Y, although BA Silver and therefore able to use Zone R didn’t know if my privileges extended to security, I just went through anyway and they didn’t say anything.
I headed straight for the Terraces to relax before heading towards Gate 40 for boarding.
The terraces was very busy due to the Johannesburg flight leaving around the same time, the video monitor stated that the LIN flight was delayed by 10 minutes which was even more time to fill myself full of food and drink and save having to cook back in the flat in Milan. I was pleasantly surprised, the lounge seemed very full but once I was sat with my sandwiches and tea in front of the football it truly did seem like a normal Sunday afternoon, a home away from home. I also took the opportunity whilst in the Terraces to change a booking. So that was fantastic and soon after a few phone calls I was on my way to Gate 40.
I had been cheeky in having a laptop bag and my rugby kit bag, and bringing them both onboard having seen others in the queue had to put their bags in the hold could have been a problem. It is an inconvenience having too many bags on you but waiting for Italian luggage handlers is a different kettle of fish and a kind I didn’t want to deal with when I would get to LIN. Boarding took a while due to the flight being very full, didn’t seem to over hear any OpUps like I did on the outbound sector.
9A was my seat, the first row of Y on the A320 and the flight was chock-a-block, not a single seat available. We had too wait a while for a few more pieces of luggage to be loaded but eventually we started to pull back and it wasn’t too long until we were in the sky and the skymap on the screens soon commenced. I have always wondered if it really is that hard to put a video on, a few episodes of friends or an other sitcom would go down a treat.
I had noticed that the button that is used to make the seat recline was missing and hence I couldn’t put my seat backwards. This however was a blessing in disguise as having forgotten my book I was pretty bored until I could unleash the laptop, so proceeded to stick my finger in the hole in order to find an alternative method of putting the seat backwards. BA I salute you, a very inventive way of creating IFE! this killed the first 20 minutes of the flight but incurred very strange looks from the passenger in 9C.
The food service was the standard deli box with the addition of a slice of pizza, well more like half a baguette with cheese and tomato on one side but it made a tasty snack and ensured that no cooking was required when I got home. It has become a tradition of mine to have a pre-landing cup of tea and even though the crew were tidying up I was pleasantly surprised as within less than a minute to have it in my hand.
Another interesting observation I made in my boredom was a new inventive way of using the remaining fruit juice from the ‘fruit cocktail’ pour it into a glass, add some ice and your choice of poison and you will have a fantastic fruit punch and it all can be done on board! Long live Y and the all day deli box, a great way of killing time on those boring twilight hour flights when you forget to bring anything to do with you.
With regards to the new 24 hour checkin available to all, I haven’t noticed any difference, I was able to get the seats I wanted on both legs. I suppose it will take time but it seems that the ‘fast bag drop’ will become not so fast in the near distant future.
All in all another fantastic Y experience, all the way from the Zone R T1 to stepping off the plane. Zone R & the Terraces make it worth having my silver card on occasions like this after a very heavy weekend. Landing 10 minutes late on a Sunday evening wasn’t so bad with no major delay. Well done BA and keep it up! The seat never did recline. :)
I maximised my amount of time at home so arrived at LHR T1 only one hour before the flight, went to straight to zone R and used SSCI to collect my ‘first A seat in Y’ OLCI boarding card that had been kindly OLCI’d for me by dnw.
The security line was pretty quick and I was soon in trough into the departure lounge. One thing I did note was that there was a BAA sign at the Zone R security area that stated that it was only for ‘BA First and Business class passengers’. Myself being in Y, although BA Silver and therefore able to use Zone R didn’t know if my privileges extended to security, I just went through anyway and they didn’t say anything.
I headed straight for the Terraces to relax before heading towards Gate 40 for boarding.
The terraces was very busy due to the Johannesburg flight leaving around the same time, the video monitor stated that the LIN flight was delayed by 10 minutes which was even more time to fill myself full of food and drink and save having to cook back in the flat in Milan. I was pleasantly surprised, the lounge seemed very full but once I was sat with my sandwiches and tea in front of the football it truly did seem like a normal Sunday afternoon, a home away from home. I also took the opportunity whilst in the Terraces to change a booking. So that was fantastic and soon after a few phone calls I was on my way to Gate 40.
I had been cheeky in having a laptop bag and my rugby kit bag, and bringing them both onboard having seen others in the queue had to put their bags in the hold could have been a problem. It is an inconvenience having too many bags on you but waiting for Italian luggage handlers is a different kettle of fish and a kind I didn’t want to deal with when I would get to LIN. Boarding took a while due to the flight being very full, didn’t seem to over hear any OpUps like I did on the outbound sector.
9A was my seat, the first row of Y on the A320 and the flight was chock-a-block, not a single seat available. We had too wait a while for a few more pieces of luggage to be loaded but eventually we started to pull back and it wasn’t too long until we were in the sky and the skymap on the screens soon commenced. I have always wondered if it really is that hard to put a video on, a few episodes of friends or an other sitcom would go down a treat.
I had noticed that the button that is used to make the seat recline was missing and hence I couldn’t put my seat backwards. This however was a blessing in disguise as having forgotten my book I was pretty bored until I could unleash the laptop, so proceeded to stick my finger in the hole in order to find an alternative method of putting the seat backwards. BA I salute you, a very inventive way of creating IFE! this killed the first 20 minutes of the flight but incurred very strange looks from the passenger in 9C.
The food service was the standard deli box with the addition of a slice of pizza, well more like half a baguette with cheese and tomato on one side but it made a tasty snack and ensured that no cooking was required when I got home. It has become a tradition of mine to have a pre-landing cup of tea and even though the crew were tidying up I was pleasantly surprised as within less than a minute to have it in my hand.
Another interesting observation I made in my boredom was a new inventive way of using the remaining fruit juice from the ‘fruit cocktail’ pour it into a glass, add some ice and your choice of poison and you will have a fantastic fruit punch and it all can be done on board! Long live Y and the all day deli box, a great way of killing time on those boring twilight hour flights when you forget to bring anything to do with you.
With regards to the new 24 hour checkin available to all, I haven’t noticed any difference, I was able to get the seats I wanted on both legs. I suppose it will take time but it seems that the ‘fast bag drop’ will become not so fast in the near distant future.
All in all another fantastic Y experience, all the way from the Zone R T1 to stepping off the plane. Zone R & the Terraces make it worth having my silver card on occasions like this after a very heavy weekend. Landing 10 minutes late on a Sunday evening wasn’t so bad with no major delay. Well done BA and keep it up! The seat never did recline. :)