theworld
Nov 20, 06, 10:46 am
Just returned from a trip to the Bahamas and thought I would write a little trip report.
The trip on BA was JER-LGW LHR-NAS-LHR LGW-JER, all in Y.
JER-LGW was a standard short hop over the English Channel. This time it went from gate 9, which confused most of us (normally goes from gate 2, where there is a linking door from the lounge directly to the gate). Required to take my shoes off at security (but belt stayed on, this is the opposite of what was required 3 weeks ago) Flight itself was uneventul, apart from the fact that I knew about 10 people on the flight, also still no G&T :-(. In what seems to be a more and more common occarance we parked in the international side, therefore needed to take a 5-10 bus ride to the domestic side of things. Waited probably only about 5 minutes for my baggage to arrive.
Next morning set off from home at 6am to get to LHR. Journey was from Croydon to Victoria by train and then tube to T4. Arrived at LHR at about 07.15 and went to first class check in. There was a lady making sure it was only status pax and F pax where checking in there. There was a bit of a line, but didn't have to wait too long. Had tried to get a bulkhead seat via OLCI, but no luck. Also no luck at check-in re exit row seating. Did ask for a bump up to WT+, but failed, however did get a fast track sticker on my boarding pass (which I understand BA shouldn't be doing for econ pax). However did not have any problems using fast track, as a result cleared security in less than 5 minutes (this time no shoes off, but belt off). Proceeded to molton brown, however the first available therapy session was at 10.30 (my flight was at 09.50). Went off to the first class lounge, where I had a nice long breakfast and some champagne and took it easy until the flight was called. Walk to the gate was a bit of a schlep, about 10 minutes.
Got seat 17J, so was at the front end of econ. The plane was pretty full, maybe a few spare seats (was a 767). Great thing was the plane had AVOD. Even better was the AVOD was already working and I was able to watch it while everyone else was boarding (as I used the fast track boarding line). Also even better AVOD was working during take off (it was rightly turned off during the security briefing though). The AVOD system was pretty good, nice selection of movies (most of which I had seen though), normal TV programmes, music albums and radio stations. Menu selection was done via touch screen. There were a few glitches with the AVOD, such as a wrong programmes / movies starting and screen freezes, however all in all it worked. We had a hot lunch about 30 minutes after take off, got a more than acceptable pasta dish. About 2.5 hours before landing we were served an all day deli box. Also, unlike the JER flights, full bar service, so I got my G&T. Flight arrived on time and waited about 10 - 15 minutes for my baggage at NAS.
On return from NAS arrived at the airport at 18.15 from my internal flight, collected my bags and went to BA check in. At NAS BA has a dedicated check in for CW and WT+, so I proceeded to the CW check in. In any case check in was very quiet for econ as well. They tried to bump me up, but said they couldn't. They couldn't even offer me a paid upgrade as they said the flight was completely full. For some reason I was under the impression there was no lounge at NAS, but the check in lady gave me written out lounge invite, I was told the lounge was run by the airport authority. While on vacation I met someone who was also on the same flight as me, but in WT+ (she was checking in at the same time as me), but her seat was unallocated due to the loads (apparantly this is a common occorance on the NAS flight). Naturally the lady was worried she would be off loaded, in any case I was able to get her an invite into the lounge, which helped settle her nerves a bit.
I didn't actually go through security, as I was meeting a friend for dinner in Nassau. Arrived back at the airport at around 20.15 and went through security, which was very short (there were only two people ahead of me) and found the lounge. I found the lounge quite pleasent. It had two main rooms with seating, a few table and two TV's. There was a decent bar selection (well for me that meant G&T) and some snacks. They also had free Wi-Fi and some computer terminals.
Flight was called and proceeded to board. Again I got 17J. The flight had come from Grand Cayman and was already about 70% full with people from there, with the remainder pax the flight was completely full. Again we had AVOD on board, but this time there were major glitches. Normally there would be a safety video, but this time the safety brief was done the old way, with the crew doing the demonstrations. It took two hours for AVOD to finally work properly. Some people had AVOD working, for others nothing would start, for others it reverted back to the old system. Eventually they rebooted the whole AVOD system for the entire plane, even then there were still a few glitches.
Took a little while for dinner to arrive. In any case it was very poor, had about two bites (main was some sort of rice and vegetable dish) and left the food (was glad I had a proper dinner earlier in the evening). Watched a movie and tried to get some sleep. About 1 hour before landing was served and all day deli box, which was pretty nice. We arrived at LHR at 10.00 (about 1 hour 10 minutes ahead of schedule), but there was already traffic, so we circled for about 20 minutes. Landed into LHR at 10.30. However, the gate was occupied, didn't actually get off the plane until 11.10. Had a bus ride to the security gate. There was a pretty long line for EU pax, but luckily I had IRIS and there was only one person ahead of me. Walked down to the baggage belt and was ready for the usual 45 minute wait for baggage, however I had only a 2 minute wait for my baggage!! This is the quickest ever I have experienced LHR (or LGW in that matter). Didn't get a chance to use the Arrivals lounge, as my ride had already arrived.
Flew back to JER that evening. I already had my boarding pass (given to me in NAS) and security was pretty quick at LGW (this time no belt or shoes off, however a friend of mine was also flying back to JER that evening but from LGW South and told me everyone had to take their shoes and belts off at south terminal) and proceeded to the First lounge where I had a lovely greek salad. Again the flight back was pretty uneventful (and I was asleep during the majority of the flight). Arrived back to JER very tired and ready for bed!!
Overall all my flights were pretty decent, at the level of service I would expect from BA. Again, was quite content flying in econ rather than paying the extra to fly WT+.
The trip on BA was JER-LGW LHR-NAS-LHR LGW-JER, all in Y.
JER-LGW was a standard short hop over the English Channel. This time it went from gate 9, which confused most of us (normally goes from gate 2, where there is a linking door from the lounge directly to the gate). Required to take my shoes off at security (but belt stayed on, this is the opposite of what was required 3 weeks ago) Flight itself was uneventul, apart from the fact that I knew about 10 people on the flight, also still no G&T :-(. In what seems to be a more and more common occarance we parked in the international side, therefore needed to take a 5-10 bus ride to the domestic side of things. Waited probably only about 5 minutes for my baggage to arrive.
Next morning set off from home at 6am to get to LHR. Journey was from Croydon to Victoria by train and then tube to T4. Arrived at LHR at about 07.15 and went to first class check in. There was a lady making sure it was only status pax and F pax where checking in there. There was a bit of a line, but didn't have to wait too long. Had tried to get a bulkhead seat via OLCI, but no luck. Also no luck at check-in re exit row seating. Did ask for a bump up to WT+, but failed, however did get a fast track sticker on my boarding pass (which I understand BA shouldn't be doing for econ pax). However did not have any problems using fast track, as a result cleared security in less than 5 minutes (this time no shoes off, but belt off). Proceeded to molton brown, however the first available therapy session was at 10.30 (my flight was at 09.50). Went off to the first class lounge, where I had a nice long breakfast and some champagne and took it easy until the flight was called. Walk to the gate was a bit of a schlep, about 10 minutes.
Got seat 17J, so was at the front end of econ. The plane was pretty full, maybe a few spare seats (was a 767). Great thing was the plane had AVOD. Even better was the AVOD was already working and I was able to watch it while everyone else was boarding (as I used the fast track boarding line). Also even better AVOD was working during take off (it was rightly turned off during the security briefing though). The AVOD system was pretty good, nice selection of movies (most of which I had seen though), normal TV programmes, music albums and radio stations. Menu selection was done via touch screen. There were a few glitches with the AVOD, such as a wrong programmes / movies starting and screen freezes, however all in all it worked. We had a hot lunch about 30 minutes after take off, got a more than acceptable pasta dish. About 2.5 hours before landing we were served an all day deli box. Also, unlike the JER flights, full bar service, so I got my G&T. Flight arrived on time and waited about 10 - 15 minutes for my baggage at NAS.
On return from NAS arrived at the airport at 18.15 from my internal flight, collected my bags and went to BA check in. At NAS BA has a dedicated check in for CW and WT+, so I proceeded to the CW check in. In any case check in was very quiet for econ as well. They tried to bump me up, but said they couldn't. They couldn't even offer me a paid upgrade as they said the flight was completely full. For some reason I was under the impression there was no lounge at NAS, but the check in lady gave me written out lounge invite, I was told the lounge was run by the airport authority. While on vacation I met someone who was also on the same flight as me, but in WT+ (she was checking in at the same time as me), but her seat was unallocated due to the loads (apparantly this is a common occorance on the NAS flight). Naturally the lady was worried she would be off loaded, in any case I was able to get her an invite into the lounge, which helped settle her nerves a bit.
I didn't actually go through security, as I was meeting a friend for dinner in Nassau. Arrived back at the airport at around 20.15 and went through security, which was very short (there were only two people ahead of me) and found the lounge. I found the lounge quite pleasent. It had two main rooms with seating, a few table and two TV's. There was a decent bar selection (well for me that meant G&T) and some snacks. They also had free Wi-Fi and some computer terminals.
Flight was called and proceeded to board. Again I got 17J. The flight had come from Grand Cayman and was already about 70% full with people from there, with the remainder pax the flight was completely full. Again we had AVOD on board, but this time there were major glitches. Normally there would be a safety video, but this time the safety brief was done the old way, with the crew doing the demonstrations. It took two hours for AVOD to finally work properly. Some people had AVOD working, for others nothing would start, for others it reverted back to the old system. Eventually they rebooted the whole AVOD system for the entire plane, even then there were still a few glitches.
Took a little while for dinner to arrive. In any case it was very poor, had about two bites (main was some sort of rice and vegetable dish) and left the food (was glad I had a proper dinner earlier in the evening). Watched a movie and tried to get some sleep. About 1 hour before landing was served and all day deli box, which was pretty nice. We arrived at LHR at 10.00 (about 1 hour 10 minutes ahead of schedule), but there was already traffic, so we circled for about 20 minutes. Landed into LHR at 10.30. However, the gate was occupied, didn't actually get off the plane until 11.10. Had a bus ride to the security gate. There was a pretty long line for EU pax, but luckily I had IRIS and there was only one person ahead of me. Walked down to the baggage belt and was ready for the usual 45 minute wait for baggage, however I had only a 2 minute wait for my baggage!! This is the quickest ever I have experienced LHR (or LGW in that matter). Didn't get a chance to use the Arrivals lounge, as my ride had already arrived.
Flew back to JER that evening. I already had my boarding pass (given to me in NAS) and security was pretty quick at LGW (this time no belt or shoes off, however a friend of mine was also flying back to JER that evening but from LGW South and told me everyone had to take their shoes and belts off at south terminal) and proceeded to the First lounge where I had a lovely greek salad. Again the flight back was pretty uneventful (and I was asleep during the majority of the flight). Arrived back to JER very tired and ready for bed!!
Overall all my flights were pretty decent, at the level of service I would expect from BA. Again, was quite content flying in econ rather than paying the extra to fly WT+.