Fraser
Jul 28, 05, 4:49 pm
Route: Southampton - Edinburgh
Airline: British Airways CitiExpress
Flight number: BA7863
Aircraft: Embraer ERJ-145
Seat: 12A (UK Domestic Single Class)
Distance: 356 miles
Duration: 1hr 5mins
Date: Wednesday 27th July
I vowed several months ago that following my graduation from University of Southampton on July 26th that I would never venture back to the hellish city on Britain's south coast, the weather was poor, the nightlife was mediocre and the locals hostile. So it was only natural that I'd of course return to Southampton the day after my graduation to fly from Southampton for the first time. Living close to the southern approach during my time at the University I often saw BA, flybe and other strange aircraft taking off and landing yet never ventured beyond the security point. I booked this trip on something of a whim and took my best friend from school along for the ride.
I checked in online the day before, securing the seats beside the emergency exit in row 12. These benefited from substantially more room than the other seats in the cabin but unfortunately I couldn't get the pair of seats that make up the 1-2 configuration although knew the size of the ERJ145 meant that chatting across the aisle wasn't going to involve semaphore, smoke signals or a megaphone.
We arrived at Southampton approximately an hour before the flight and used the self-service check-in machines to retrieve our boarding passes for both the outbound and return flight. The check-in area was much busier than I expected with a large snacking line for people those heading off to various flybe destinations in the depths of Europe. I barged my way to the front of the “congested” BA Gold/Silver check-in line so I could get the code for the broom cupboard that masquerades as the British Airways lounge at Southampton. The agent gave me a very high-tech scrap of newspaper with code written in the corner and we headed over to enjoy the views over the passenger drop off ramp.
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/1682/dsc018483oa.th.jpg (http://img294.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc018483oa.jpg)
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/5305/dsc018494in.th.jpg (http://img294.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc018494in.jpg)
The British Airways Executive Club Lounge at Southampton (not their best furnished but with a well stocked fridge!)
A fridge containing a number of soft, fruity and alcoholic beverages was on tap as well as one offering tea and coffee. A couple of other folk were present in the lounge with us and people came and went as we waited for our flight to be flagged up on the monitor in the corner. The time approached 10.15am and our flight was not assigned a gate yet, despite all the others around it...a look out the window noted a lengthy looking security line (NB. lengthy looking for Southampton, so about 8 people). Apparently a new BusinessCheck (i.e. FastTrack line) had been installed in the latest revamp of Southampton Airport although it was closed and with the flights out of Southampton having a very small number of business class seats this either seems before it’s time or for frequent flyer elites, of which BA are the only airline (exception of AF) to have an FFP! Odd choice! Anyways, we passed through into the airside area into surprise, surprise a World Duty Free shop! :mad: I think at most BAA airports you struggle to move 50ft without passing through one and Southampton was no exception. I went up to the new gallery overlooking the apron but within a minute our flight was called. We boarded through Gate 8 and walked out to the ERJ145. I was welcomed aboard by James, one of the FAs who directed me to my seat towards the rear of the aircraft. The aircraft was rather cramped, more so than expected when walking up and down the aisle, although this added to it’s character. His colleague came and introduced herself to us and informed that we were sitting in the exit row and what to do in the case of an emergency.
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/3025/dsc018520ye.th.jpg (http://img294.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc018520ye.jpg)
The view from 12A on the ERJ145
We pushed back a little after our 10.30am departure time and taxied to the southern end of the runway utilising the turning circle. The takeoff was very smooth and the engines only had one level of spool, unlike the larger Boeing and Airbus that seem to have two stages of acceleration. We were soon into the low level of cloud which lay over the South of England although were hopefully due better weather up North. After a few minutes we punched out of the cloud and into bright blue sky above, what a contrast!
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/5904/dsc018539sn.th.jpg (http://img294.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc018539sn.jpg)
View over the wing
Within a few minutes an announcement was made to say that hot breakfast would be coming round. This consisted of egg, bacon, sausage, a bread roll and mushrooms. Almost a small Club Europe fry-up sans fruit plate and layer of grease!
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/7667/dsc018543mc.th.jpg (http://img294.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc018543mc.jpg)
BA CitiExpress hot breakfast
For single class service it wasn’t bad at all…and the one bonus….brown sauce ^ . Two separate drinks rounds were made, one for cold and one for hot drinks and I took a coffee from the hot, choosing to stick with the orange juice already on the tray. The 100% cloud cover and lack of moving map meant we relied on announcements from up front for orientation so I spent the rest of the flight talking to my friend, working out what we were going to do during the day.
We began our descent off to the east of the city and banked round landing from the west with great views over the Firth of Forth to my side of the aircraft. I noticed a Continental widebody off one of the stands, something I didn’t expect to see primarily due to the London Airways factor that being, ’BA don’t want to fly longhaul from EDI so why would anyone else want to?’ :) The passage through the terminal was smooth and I noted the location of the BA Terraces lounge for our return later in the evening. We then caught the very efficient Airlink into the city for just £5 return!
Route: Edinburgh - Birmingham via Southampton
Airline: British Airways CitiExpress
Flight number: BA7868
Aircraft: Embraer ERJ-145
Seat: 12A (UK Domestic Single Class)
Distance: 251 miles as the crow flies (actual flying distance 461miles)
Duration: 2hrs 10mins
Date: Wednesday 27th July
We left Edinburgh a little early as we had thought about going into our third pub of the day although decided that with my £100 note in hand I wouldn’t get far so headed back to the airport for free drinks in the BA lounge, caveat: I may have graduated the day before but a friend was still a student so free drinks we a good thing! :D The Airlink dropped us right beside the BA check-in although we already had boarding cards to hand so went upstairs to security point. There were a large proportion of suits about including Ben Fogle (http://www.benfogle.com) getting the rubber glove treatment….ah we can only wish ;) I always find it nigh on hilarious seeing low grade celebs when flying for some reason I cannot fathom!
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/8206/dsc018934ud.th.jpg (http://img294.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc018934ud.jpg)
http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/848/dsc018946kf.th.jpg (http://img83.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc018946kf.jpg)
http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/3968/dsc018966td.th.jpg (http://img83.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc018966td.jpg)
British Airways Terraces Lounge at Edinburgh
The BA lounge seemed incredibly busy with flights leaving to Gatwick and Heathrow within the hour. There was little room for both myself and friend to sit as all but the odd single chair were taken even outside in ‘animal pen’. We helped ourselves to a couple of beers from the fridge, a Newcastle for me and Stella for friend. Plenty of Walkers Shortbread type snacks were about as one would expect, as well as good old Irn Bru! Having a laptop seemed de rigeur as did jabbering a way into cell phones, Blackberries, Blueberries and Raspberries…. And also showing off your confidential presentation to the rest of the lounge! I swear one day I should take a notepad and pretend to listen to someone’s conversation writing down choice bits of speech! As the cart containing sandwiches (including prawn and mayonnaise…..and smoked salmon) arrived all hell broke loose as business men and women fought like small children to get their hands on them! Although they were yummy I skipped them and went for the Kettle Chips and went back to the sandwiches later! The Mango Chilli Kettle Chips were a much more scarce commodity….yum!
The flights to Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester were called and the lounge all but emptied. My friend and I moved from barstool to leather couch and from reading back of napkin to Business Traveller magazine. We chatted and browsed the magazines and then some minutes later an announcement, ‘Could Passenger Davidson on BA7868 to Southampton please come to the front desk IMMEDIATELY’, yikes. What could be wrong? The flight was closing although no announcements were made in the lounge. We ran the short distance to Gate 8, my memory of leaving the lounge being the lady on reception white courtesy phone in hand looking at me with evil etes saying ‘Yes, they are on their way just now’ :o I have to say I was very embarrassed as I got out my boarding pass at the gate with the screen above showing ‘Flight Closed’ and we ran down the jetway with BA agent who escorted us…..This is one of my pet peeves, people who turn up late which made it much worse and the stairs were shut so fast they almost caught my trousers in the gap! I was extremely apologetic to Nicole, our purser, and as we sat her colleague came from the rear and exclaimed, ‘Gentlemen, you look very hot and flustered’ so we explained once again the situation and were informed that we were sitting in the exit rows, etc…We pushed back after the safety demo and taxied to the western end of the airfield where I became certain I had indulged too much with the complimentary Newcastle Brown Ales as I saw a Spanair MD-83 out the starboard window!! The tops of the Forth Road and Rail bridges were just visible from the window as we began our take-off roll, probably the final Edinburgh landmark I'd see before being enveloped with cloud. We banked off to the south and just like at Southampton we climbed through the aforementioned cloud and went from overcast to bright blue sky!
http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/7326/dsc018998xd.th.jpg (http://img129.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc018998xd.jpg)
Beautiful blue sky at this altitude, some 12,000ft lower it was very different
The “meal”, much smaller than the breakfast consisted of a sandwich and chocolate cake. I was glad I had a handful and a half of sandwiches in the lounge, especially bearing in mind what was to follow.
http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/5645/dsc019008ak.th.jpg (http://img129.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc019008ak.jpg)
Cheese and pickle sandwiches and chocolate cake
As per the outbound a hot and cold drinks round were brought and all were cleared away before we had reached Manchester!
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/8139/dsc019035sh.th.jpg (http://img80.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc019035sh.jpg)
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/6849/dsc019053sv.th.jpg (http://img80.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc019053sv.jpg)
View of the cabin once again and my £100 note, attained from Bank of Scotland in Shandwick Place
The captain then made a fairly run-of-the-mill announcement saying that we were at 29,000 feet and would soon begin our descent north of Birmingham and that the weather in Southampton wasn’t as good as in Edinburgh. In the 10minutes or so before we began our descent I enjoyed watching the contrails of numerous aircraft, some looking suspiciously like that of Easyjet, criss-crossing the blue sky above and below us as well as seeing the odd plane come up through the cloud! Alas when we dropped into the cloud it all went a little grey! About 20mins later the captain come on the PA and informed us the weather in Southampton was deteriorating and that we were not far from the airfield and circling with several other aircraft hoping the weather would clear up and that if we see other aircraft out of the window not to worry! Soon after, perhaps 25mins (it all blurred into one) the undercarriage was lowered and you could feel the plane descending as if on approach. The lights of Eastleigh became visible to the port side for a moment of a second before the engines spooled up and gear was retracted. The lights then disappeared out of view and we banked around to the right, almost as if for a second approach. Nothing was heard from the flight deck for a few minutes, as expected during a go around. When the captain did come in over the PA system the news was not good. Due to the severe deterioration in the weather we’d have to divert to Birmingham…Birmingham, West Midlands, not Alabama ;) Bournemouth was suffering from similar weather related events and we were told that permit restrictions on the aircraft meant we couldn’t land at Heathrow or Gatwick. A number of passengers were extremely agitated and took their frustration out on the crew which didn’t help things, although they handled everything exceptionally, dealing with difficult customers and answering all questions. For me I wasn’t too fussed, it did make a change from what was an ordinary routine commuter hop. Emma and Nicole came round with another drinks round (Stella for me please!) and the leftover sandwiches. We were all informed coaches would be ready for us at Birmingham and as we approached Birmingham now over 2hrs since leaving Edinburgh it was clear rubber was going to meet tarmac, albeit rather wet tarmac. We parked up on remote stand and were bussed to the terminal where BA representatives were awaiting our arrival and those on Southampton bound flights from Manchester and Glasgow which were also diverted. I felt most sorry for those Manchester passengers who had flown best part of 300miles and only gone 60 as the crow flies! The buses were already part filled with passengers and a young man with a clipboard was ticking off passengers from the manifest, alas no Mercedes S Class for BA elite passengers today :(......;)
Route: Birmingham – Southampton
Airline: Flights Hallmark Coaches c/o British Airways CitiExpress
Flight number: FH1313
Aircraft: Volvo 9700
Seat: 9C (UK Domestic Single Class)
Distance: 105 miles
Duration: 2hr 5mins
Date: Wednesday 27th July
http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/3605/volvo97001024x7680zo.th.jpg (http://img83.imageshack.us/my.php?image=volvo97001024x7680zo.jpg)
Our craft from BHX-SOU
Boarding was nigh on chaos, no priority for elites or those on full fare tickets and it ended being something of a free-for-all. The cabin was configured in a 2-2 arrangement although the seat pitch was quite miserable and the cushions rock hard. While some of the more senior passengers were well past their bed time they were unlikely to nod off with the garish seat pattern that would keep even a narcoleptic this side of forty winks and it soon became apparent there was going to be no Goodnight Service on this flight.
http://www.flagship-eastbourne.co.uk/jpgs/905int.jpg
The cabin arrangement
There was no safety briefing, which was great, and the best thing of all was not being advised on our Well Being after the flight! Upon leaving the airport the captain announced our route that was to take us on one of the main jetways to the south; initially to the east of Birmingham than south east as far as Oxford where we head south towards the coast.
The ride was very smooth despite the earlier weather conditions and soon after levelling out at the top of the cruise the inflight entertainment began. While some of the business passengers brought out laptops and carried on with work, my friend and I were left playing charades and Guess Who, may I hasten to add the harder ten question version. Within the hour the captain announced that due to the lack of facilities onboard we would be making a de-fuel stop (think about it <img src="/discussions/graphics/smilies/wink.gif" alt="Wink">) close to Banbury. Fifteen minutes later and we were on our way down to Southampton, our journey only hindered by four roundabouts and we cruised into Southampton Airport at just about 1am.
;)
Overall: – Just joking on the ‘third leg’ and I know nothing about what the coach was….honest! In all seriousness both flights were rather good in the circumstances and for the cost, just £9 each way plus taxes (about £64 all in). Got a couple of meals and access to the lounge (even if the one in SOU was a little ropey and EDI was really busy!) which made this exceptional value for money and a great day out. Alas the diversion on the return leg was beyond BA’s control (much to the admonishment of other passengers who were looking for someone to blame) and in the circumstances were handled exceptionally well. Incidentally, a number of flybe passengers also diverted from SOU were left stranded on the kerbside at BHX, who knows what happened to them!
Airline: British Airways CitiExpress
Flight number: BA7863
Aircraft: Embraer ERJ-145
Seat: 12A (UK Domestic Single Class)
Distance: 356 miles
Duration: 1hr 5mins
Date: Wednesday 27th July
I vowed several months ago that following my graduation from University of Southampton on July 26th that I would never venture back to the hellish city on Britain's south coast, the weather was poor, the nightlife was mediocre and the locals hostile. So it was only natural that I'd of course return to Southampton the day after my graduation to fly from Southampton for the first time. Living close to the southern approach during my time at the University I often saw BA, flybe and other strange aircraft taking off and landing yet never ventured beyond the security point. I booked this trip on something of a whim and took my best friend from school along for the ride.
I checked in online the day before, securing the seats beside the emergency exit in row 12. These benefited from substantially more room than the other seats in the cabin but unfortunately I couldn't get the pair of seats that make up the 1-2 configuration although knew the size of the ERJ145 meant that chatting across the aisle wasn't going to involve semaphore, smoke signals or a megaphone.
We arrived at Southampton approximately an hour before the flight and used the self-service check-in machines to retrieve our boarding passes for both the outbound and return flight. The check-in area was much busier than I expected with a large snacking line for people those heading off to various flybe destinations in the depths of Europe. I barged my way to the front of the “congested” BA Gold/Silver check-in line so I could get the code for the broom cupboard that masquerades as the British Airways lounge at Southampton. The agent gave me a very high-tech scrap of newspaper with code written in the corner and we headed over to enjoy the views over the passenger drop off ramp.
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/1682/dsc018483oa.th.jpg (http://img294.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc018483oa.jpg)
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/5305/dsc018494in.th.jpg (http://img294.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc018494in.jpg)
The British Airways Executive Club Lounge at Southampton (not their best furnished but with a well stocked fridge!)
A fridge containing a number of soft, fruity and alcoholic beverages was on tap as well as one offering tea and coffee. A couple of other folk were present in the lounge with us and people came and went as we waited for our flight to be flagged up on the monitor in the corner. The time approached 10.15am and our flight was not assigned a gate yet, despite all the others around it...a look out the window noted a lengthy looking security line (NB. lengthy looking for Southampton, so about 8 people). Apparently a new BusinessCheck (i.e. FastTrack line) had been installed in the latest revamp of Southampton Airport although it was closed and with the flights out of Southampton having a very small number of business class seats this either seems before it’s time or for frequent flyer elites, of which BA are the only airline (exception of AF) to have an FFP! Odd choice! Anyways, we passed through into the airside area into surprise, surprise a World Duty Free shop! :mad: I think at most BAA airports you struggle to move 50ft without passing through one and Southampton was no exception. I went up to the new gallery overlooking the apron but within a minute our flight was called. We boarded through Gate 8 and walked out to the ERJ145. I was welcomed aboard by James, one of the FAs who directed me to my seat towards the rear of the aircraft. The aircraft was rather cramped, more so than expected when walking up and down the aisle, although this added to it’s character. His colleague came and introduced herself to us and informed that we were sitting in the exit row and what to do in the case of an emergency.
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/3025/dsc018520ye.th.jpg (http://img294.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc018520ye.jpg)
The view from 12A on the ERJ145
We pushed back a little after our 10.30am departure time and taxied to the southern end of the runway utilising the turning circle. The takeoff was very smooth and the engines only had one level of spool, unlike the larger Boeing and Airbus that seem to have two stages of acceleration. We were soon into the low level of cloud which lay over the South of England although were hopefully due better weather up North. After a few minutes we punched out of the cloud and into bright blue sky above, what a contrast!
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/5904/dsc018539sn.th.jpg (http://img294.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc018539sn.jpg)
View over the wing
Within a few minutes an announcement was made to say that hot breakfast would be coming round. This consisted of egg, bacon, sausage, a bread roll and mushrooms. Almost a small Club Europe fry-up sans fruit plate and layer of grease!
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/7667/dsc018543mc.th.jpg (http://img294.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc018543mc.jpg)
BA CitiExpress hot breakfast
For single class service it wasn’t bad at all…and the one bonus….brown sauce ^ . Two separate drinks rounds were made, one for cold and one for hot drinks and I took a coffee from the hot, choosing to stick with the orange juice already on the tray. The 100% cloud cover and lack of moving map meant we relied on announcements from up front for orientation so I spent the rest of the flight talking to my friend, working out what we were going to do during the day.
We began our descent off to the east of the city and banked round landing from the west with great views over the Firth of Forth to my side of the aircraft. I noticed a Continental widebody off one of the stands, something I didn’t expect to see primarily due to the London Airways factor that being, ’BA don’t want to fly longhaul from EDI so why would anyone else want to?’ :) The passage through the terminal was smooth and I noted the location of the BA Terraces lounge for our return later in the evening. We then caught the very efficient Airlink into the city for just £5 return!
Route: Edinburgh - Birmingham via Southampton
Airline: British Airways CitiExpress
Flight number: BA7868
Aircraft: Embraer ERJ-145
Seat: 12A (UK Domestic Single Class)
Distance: 251 miles as the crow flies (actual flying distance 461miles)
Duration: 2hrs 10mins
Date: Wednesday 27th July
We left Edinburgh a little early as we had thought about going into our third pub of the day although decided that with my £100 note in hand I wouldn’t get far so headed back to the airport for free drinks in the BA lounge, caveat: I may have graduated the day before but a friend was still a student so free drinks we a good thing! :D The Airlink dropped us right beside the BA check-in although we already had boarding cards to hand so went upstairs to security point. There were a large proportion of suits about including Ben Fogle (http://www.benfogle.com) getting the rubber glove treatment….ah we can only wish ;) I always find it nigh on hilarious seeing low grade celebs when flying for some reason I cannot fathom!
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/8206/dsc018934ud.th.jpg (http://img294.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc018934ud.jpg)
http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/848/dsc018946kf.th.jpg (http://img83.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc018946kf.jpg)
http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/3968/dsc018966td.th.jpg (http://img83.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc018966td.jpg)
British Airways Terraces Lounge at Edinburgh
The BA lounge seemed incredibly busy with flights leaving to Gatwick and Heathrow within the hour. There was little room for both myself and friend to sit as all but the odd single chair were taken even outside in ‘animal pen’. We helped ourselves to a couple of beers from the fridge, a Newcastle for me and Stella for friend. Plenty of Walkers Shortbread type snacks were about as one would expect, as well as good old Irn Bru! Having a laptop seemed de rigeur as did jabbering a way into cell phones, Blackberries, Blueberries and Raspberries…. And also showing off your confidential presentation to the rest of the lounge! I swear one day I should take a notepad and pretend to listen to someone’s conversation writing down choice bits of speech! As the cart containing sandwiches (including prawn and mayonnaise…..and smoked salmon) arrived all hell broke loose as business men and women fought like small children to get their hands on them! Although they were yummy I skipped them and went for the Kettle Chips and went back to the sandwiches later! The Mango Chilli Kettle Chips were a much more scarce commodity….yum!
The flights to Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester were called and the lounge all but emptied. My friend and I moved from barstool to leather couch and from reading back of napkin to Business Traveller magazine. We chatted and browsed the magazines and then some minutes later an announcement, ‘Could Passenger Davidson on BA7868 to Southampton please come to the front desk IMMEDIATELY’, yikes. What could be wrong? The flight was closing although no announcements were made in the lounge. We ran the short distance to Gate 8, my memory of leaving the lounge being the lady on reception white courtesy phone in hand looking at me with evil etes saying ‘Yes, they are on their way just now’ :o I have to say I was very embarrassed as I got out my boarding pass at the gate with the screen above showing ‘Flight Closed’ and we ran down the jetway with BA agent who escorted us…..This is one of my pet peeves, people who turn up late which made it much worse and the stairs were shut so fast they almost caught my trousers in the gap! I was extremely apologetic to Nicole, our purser, and as we sat her colleague came from the rear and exclaimed, ‘Gentlemen, you look very hot and flustered’ so we explained once again the situation and were informed that we were sitting in the exit rows, etc…We pushed back after the safety demo and taxied to the western end of the airfield where I became certain I had indulged too much with the complimentary Newcastle Brown Ales as I saw a Spanair MD-83 out the starboard window!! The tops of the Forth Road and Rail bridges were just visible from the window as we began our take-off roll, probably the final Edinburgh landmark I'd see before being enveloped with cloud. We banked off to the south and just like at Southampton we climbed through the aforementioned cloud and went from overcast to bright blue sky!
http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/7326/dsc018998xd.th.jpg (http://img129.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc018998xd.jpg)
Beautiful blue sky at this altitude, some 12,000ft lower it was very different
The “meal”, much smaller than the breakfast consisted of a sandwich and chocolate cake. I was glad I had a handful and a half of sandwiches in the lounge, especially bearing in mind what was to follow.
http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/5645/dsc019008ak.th.jpg (http://img129.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc019008ak.jpg)
Cheese and pickle sandwiches and chocolate cake
As per the outbound a hot and cold drinks round were brought and all were cleared away before we had reached Manchester!
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/8139/dsc019035sh.th.jpg (http://img80.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc019035sh.jpg)
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/6849/dsc019053sv.th.jpg (http://img80.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc019053sv.jpg)
View of the cabin once again and my £100 note, attained from Bank of Scotland in Shandwick Place
The captain then made a fairly run-of-the-mill announcement saying that we were at 29,000 feet and would soon begin our descent north of Birmingham and that the weather in Southampton wasn’t as good as in Edinburgh. In the 10minutes or so before we began our descent I enjoyed watching the contrails of numerous aircraft, some looking suspiciously like that of Easyjet, criss-crossing the blue sky above and below us as well as seeing the odd plane come up through the cloud! Alas when we dropped into the cloud it all went a little grey! About 20mins later the captain come on the PA and informed us the weather in Southampton was deteriorating and that we were not far from the airfield and circling with several other aircraft hoping the weather would clear up and that if we see other aircraft out of the window not to worry! Soon after, perhaps 25mins (it all blurred into one) the undercarriage was lowered and you could feel the plane descending as if on approach. The lights of Eastleigh became visible to the port side for a moment of a second before the engines spooled up and gear was retracted. The lights then disappeared out of view and we banked around to the right, almost as if for a second approach. Nothing was heard from the flight deck for a few minutes, as expected during a go around. When the captain did come in over the PA system the news was not good. Due to the severe deterioration in the weather we’d have to divert to Birmingham…Birmingham, West Midlands, not Alabama ;) Bournemouth was suffering from similar weather related events and we were told that permit restrictions on the aircraft meant we couldn’t land at Heathrow or Gatwick. A number of passengers were extremely agitated and took their frustration out on the crew which didn’t help things, although they handled everything exceptionally, dealing with difficult customers and answering all questions. For me I wasn’t too fussed, it did make a change from what was an ordinary routine commuter hop. Emma and Nicole came round with another drinks round (Stella for me please!) and the leftover sandwiches. We were all informed coaches would be ready for us at Birmingham and as we approached Birmingham now over 2hrs since leaving Edinburgh it was clear rubber was going to meet tarmac, albeit rather wet tarmac. We parked up on remote stand and were bussed to the terminal where BA representatives were awaiting our arrival and those on Southampton bound flights from Manchester and Glasgow which were also diverted. I felt most sorry for those Manchester passengers who had flown best part of 300miles and only gone 60 as the crow flies! The buses were already part filled with passengers and a young man with a clipboard was ticking off passengers from the manifest, alas no Mercedes S Class for BA elite passengers today :(......;)
Route: Birmingham – Southampton
Airline: Flights Hallmark Coaches c/o British Airways CitiExpress
Flight number: FH1313
Aircraft: Volvo 9700
Seat: 9C (UK Domestic Single Class)
Distance: 105 miles
Duration: 2hr 5mins
Date: Wednesday 27th July
http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/3605/volvo97001024x7680zo.th.jpg (http://img83.imageshack.us/my.php?image=volvo97001024x7680zo.jpg)
Our craft from BHX-SOU
Boarding was nigh on chaos, no priority for elites or those on full fare tickets and it ended being something of a free-for-all. The cabin was configured in a 2-2 arrangement although the seat pitch was quite miserable and the cushions rock hard. While some of the more senior passengers were well past their bed time they were unlikely to nod off with the garish seat pattern that would keep even a narcoleptic this side of forty winks and it soon became apparent there was going to be no Goodnight Service on this flight.
http://www.flagship-eastbourne.co.uk/jpgs/905int.jpg
The cabin arrangement
There was no safety briefing, which was great, and the best thing of all was not being advised on our Well Being after the flight! Upon leaving the airport the captain announced our route that was to take us on one of the main jetways to the south; initially to the east of Birmingham than south east as far as Oxford where we head south towards the coast.
The ride was very smooth despite the earlier weather conditions and soon after levelling out at the top of the cruise the inflight entertainment began. While some of the business passengers brought out laptops and carried on with work, my friend and I were left playing charades and Guess Who, may I hasten to add the harder ten question version. Within the hour the captain announced that due to the lack of facilities onboard we would be making a de-fuel stop (think about it <img src="/discussions/graphics/smilies/wink.gif" alt="Wink">) close to Banbury. Fifteen minutes later and we were on our way down to Southampton, our journey only hindered by four roundabouts and we cruised into Southampton Airport at just about 1am.
;)
Overall: – Just joking on the ‘third leg’ and I know nothing about what the coach was….honest! In all seriousness both flights were rather good in the circumstances and for the cost, just £9 each way plus taxes (about £64 all in). Got a couple of meals and access to the lounge (even if the one in SOU was a little ropey and EDI was really busy!) which made this exceptional value for money and a great day out. Alas the diversion on the return leg was beyond BA’s control (much to the admonishment of other passengers who were looking for someone to blame) and in the circumstances were handled exceptionally well. Incidentally, a number of flybe passengers also diverted from SOU were left stranded on the kerbside at BHX, who knows what happened to them!