Innocent Abroad

Oh yes, now I remember I was a kid in those days It used to be just south-east of Terminal 1. Thanks.

Innocent Abroad

Route: LHR-MAN
Airline / Flight number: BA1394
Aircraft: Airbus 319, G-EUPU
Date: June 29, 2016
Miles: 242 km
Flight time: 0:35 minutes
Scheduled departure: 13:55
Actual departure: 15:22, RWY 27R
Scheduled arrival: 15:00
Actual arrival: 15:57, RWY 23R
Class: Domestic
Seat: 1A

So, why did I go landside instead of using T5 Flight Connections? Firstly, because many times it is (much) faster to go landside and re-enter as Flight Connections tends to be very crowded at certain hours. Of course, this would only make sense if you hold an eligible e-passport (UK, EU and some more) and can go thorough the e-gates, and have status or travel on J or F AND and can use Fast Track. The point is that using Fast Track within Flight Connections can also be very slow. Secondly, I love the Arrivals Lounge it is cosier and in general less crowded than the airside lounges



Also had to make few corrections to my lecture so sat at the business centre and printed it and some handouts (more on that soon )



After 45 minutes headed to North Security and in less than 15 minutes was sitting in T5 Galleries First. I am not going to elaborate on this lounge as it was covered numerous times and nothing much to add except that it is a lovely place (although as I type this in T3 GF I think I like it here more). My flight to Manchester was delayed for an hour but once the gate was announced and open I strolled there and boarded my inaugural BA domestic flight



What can I say, this was an uneventful flight, so short that the crew did a great job distributing the snacks and drinks on display here:





Since we landed later than expected and since I pre-booked my train ticket to York I dashed through the maze that MAN is. I have never been here before and can say I really want to come back as the airport doesn’t seem very inviting Anyway, the good thing is that the train station is inside the airport but I did miss my train but thankfully the agent was very kind and validated my ticket for the next train:







After some 80 minutes I arrived to York



A short walk and I got to my “apartment" for the next four days





Alas, when I unpacked I realised I’ve lost my lecture and handouts that I printed at the lounge and with them my hotel vouchers and train tickets I printed at home

KARFA

This is a useful thing to know if booking a train from Manchester. TPE explicitly make allowance for late flights so that if you book an advanced fare on a specific train but the flight is delayed you are not stuck buying a new train ticket.

http://www.tpexpress.co.uk/special-o...ester-airport/

It is worth noting you must get your ticket endorsed at the station before boarding though.

offerendum

Not so good but I think we all know such situations

Innocent Abroad

Route: LBA-LHR
Airline / Flight number: BA1341
Aircraft: Airbus 319, G-EUOA
Date: July 3, 2016
Miles: 278km
Flight time: 0:47 minutes
Scheduled departure: 9:35
Actual departure: 9:41, RWY 32
Scheduled arrival: 10:45
Actual arrival: 10:28, RWY 27R
Class: Domestic
Seat: 1A

My “emergency” was solved very quickly; the organisers of the conference printed for me the lecture and the handouts and since I did not lose my laptop (sigh…) I was able to retrieve all my hotel / transport vouchers for the rest of the trip. This would not be the case 20 years ago, of course…

Anyway, York is a lovely place and the conference went well so on Sunday morning I embarked on my journey to Vienna for a few days of vacation with my family. The stroll to the train station was lovely:



I almost missed the train from York to Leeds as I was supposed to travel on the 7:12 service and for some odd reason (lack of sleep?) was sitting at the platform of the 8:15 train



I discovered what happened 5 minutes before departure so rushed to the right platform and got on the train. Since I had heavy hand baggage I had to use York’s train station “subway”





From Leeds’ central train I had to catch the 757 bus to the airport (they surely got the route’s number right). A 25 minutes journey through lazy towns on a Sunday morning and here I am at the airport at exactly 7:57



What can I say, LBA is a nice and cosy little airport, security did not take much longer than 5 minutes and the third-party Yorkshire Premier Lounge is very nice:



Boarding was swift although rather strange. There was a jet-bridge where the aircraft was parked but boarding was done in the old fashioned way - walk to the aircraft and climb the stairs:






Boarding was complete quickly, I asked the crew to hang my jacket - a trick I learned on the inbound. The last interesting bit I can tell you about LBA is that it only has one runway and the taxiway are sparse so the aircraft has to make a -180 degrees turnaround in order to take off. It has been a long time since I experienced such a manoeuvre…. After an uneventful 47 minutes we landed at LHR T5 at 10:28. Oh yes, I had that weird snack for breakfast:



Here began another adventure; originally I and my family were booked on BA704 to VIE that was scheduled to depart from T3 at 14:55. But then plans at VIE changed a bit so my family moved to the earlier LHR-VIE flight that was scheduled to depart T3 at 11:40. My aim was to get on that flight and although the experts here on FT concluded that this is not doable I thought I’ll give it a try. The MCT for T5-T3 is 90 minutes and guess what I was able to do it - gate to gate - in 32 minutes! However, unlike US carriers I could not simply go to the gate and asked to be rebooked on the earlier flight. I had rather to go to Costumer Service at the BA Galleries lounge however since I got there 40 minutes prior to departure there was nothing they could do (flights close at T-45 minutes). So I walked my family to the gate, waved goodbye and crawled back to the Galleries First lounge at T3 and surprisingly found it nicer than its sister/brother at T5. It was my first time in T3 and overall it seems like a disaster to me (in comparison with T5) except for the lounge. Anyway, I used the spare time to update the TR and headed to the gate for my departure to VIE.

Route: LHR-VIE
Airline / Flight number: BA704
Aircraft: Airbus 320, G-EUUC
Date: July 3, 2016
Miles: 1277km
Flight time: 1:48 hours
Scheduled departure: 14:55
Actual departure: 15:19, RWY 27R
Scheduled arrival: 18:10
Actual arrival: 18:07, RWY 34
Class: Euro Traveller
Seat: 12D

LHR-VIE leg was my first time on Euro Traveller but as you can expect there is nothing much to write about it. A very decent service, with great cabin crew. I choose in advance an exit seat row (in reality, in the second row of the exit seats, which is slightly better. Since I had the three seats for myself:



It was definitely better than Club Europe upfront And since I had a nice lunch in the lounge there was no need for the sandwich that was offered (or the meal at CE).
But what about some fizz, you might ask? Well, here is a great story.
Some forty minutes before landing the CSM came to greet me (they do so for Gold card holders flying in Y sometimes). After the usual, “Hello Dr. Innocent Abroad, we’re glad to have you back with us”, she looks at me and says “do I know you from somewhere?”. Of course, she recalls after a few seconds, you flew with your mother out of TLV in March on the 787 and I invited you for a Drink in Club World Now I remembered that memorable event; we were flying World Traveller Plus and after the meal was invited by this kind CSM (CSD at the time) for a long and lovely chat at comfortable front galley of the 787-800. And she remembered that after who knows how many flights, I was speechless. Anyway, I got my share of Castelnau and roasted almonds and was very much content:



We agreed that we should meet once more in the skies and that the fact that I did not get on the earlier flight was because this meeting was destined to happen

Five minutes later another cabin crew member came with a bag (!) full of champagne and nuts with the strict order to deliver it to my mom; unbelievable!



After all the excitement we landed at VIE - at a remote stand - and from there with the City Airport Train in less than 20 minutes I was at the Hotel Am Parkring. What a day:

KARFA

Thanks for posting. I am enjoying reading your TR.

I think there used to be a direct bus service from York to LBA, but on checking it doesn't seem to exist anymore. Transport links are not LBA's strong point unfortunately!

Glad you enjoyed it. I find LBA quick to get through too. Also all BA passengers get fast track security regardless of status.

I don't know what is going on with that airbridge. As you can see from the branding it is nominally the one BA tend to use (the airbridge at gate 9 is KLM branded). There was a long period BA didn't use this airbridge even when free and either did steps at 8 or gate 9. However, recently they went back to using the airbridge at 8 so I don't know why they didn't on your flight.

Yes, so the two main taxiways on/off the runway are around 1/3 and 2/3 rds the way down the runway. I have had a few instances where the BA flight has taken off from the intersection rather than backtrack to save time. This has usually been on lighter loaded flights as less take-off distance is needed, although it did happen once on a fully loaded flight - I think the de-rates were taken off and packs & bleeds went off as the increased take-off performance was noticeable and similar to the A318 from LCY.

Also it is a shame the flight isn't timed for a pre-09:30 departure as you would have got a hot bacon butty rather than the snack.

Innocent Abroad

As a vegetarian I could live without it

KARFA

Lol. I am sure there is a vegetarian equivalent for you

Innocent Abroad

I'm sure there is. At the Lamb & Lion Inn in York they have on the menu a vegetarian full english breakfast

offerendum

That´s unusual today, but great story

Innocent Abroad

Route: VIE-TXL
Airline / Flight number: AB8405
Aircraft: Airbus 319, OE-LNC
Date: July 7, 2016
Miles: 547km
Flight time: 0:55 minutes
Scheduled departure: 10:40
Actual departure: 11:11, RWY 29
Scheduled arrival: 11:50
Actual arrival: 12:07, RWY 26R
Class: FlyDeal
Seat: 12F

The time in Vienna was lovely and the weather…. much nicer than in York And after four days the journey continues to my next destination - Berlin. I booked a very cheap BA’s Reward Flight Saver with Avios on BA’s OneWorld partner Air Berlin; definitely one of strength of BA Executive Club.
As I already mentioned VIE is connected to the inner-city by the express City Airport Train, which covers the distance in 16 minutes and cost more a less 0.5 EUR per minute One of the benefits of the CAT is when you travel on OS and take the train you have the option of using the City Check In service at the train station which is a great thing (my wife used it the night before and it was seamless. A big sign in the CAT lobby indicates that Air Berlin / Niki starts to offer this service as well beginning in August so unfortunately I could not used it:



I never flew with AB before so was looking forward to the experience even if on a very short route. Baggage drop was almost empty at this morning hour so it did not take more than few minutes before I headed to the departure gate’s area. The security check is only after going through the shops and most importantly the lounge so in order to access this area you have to scan your BP in an automatic gate before proceeding:





Air Berlin uses the Jet Lounge in Terminal 1, a third-party lounge, that handles all the traffic in this section of terminal:



You would think that under these circumstances it will be extremely busy especially in the morning hours but it wasn’t. I admit that I had very low expectations - perhaps because my recent experience at the AF lounge in MUC that IB uses - but this one is really impressive. Spacious, great food offering, drinks, newspapers and magazines, showers and even a prayer room















The gate was not far from the lounge so went towards it few minutes after boarding was announced. I had to clear security but using the Priority Lane it really took a few minutes. Upon arriving to the gate I was surprised to see that AB has a dedicated “Exclusive Waiting Area”, which is practically a mini-Lounge. There is no lounge dragon here only an automated gate that scans your BP. I only spent five minutes there but here is my conclusion: it is nice to be in such space before boarding the aircraft but you should bear in mind that all the other passengers that are literally few steps from you (but in the wrong side of the big glass window) and they stare as if watching a wild animal in the zoo







This was an Air Berlin flight was operated by NIKI, its Austrian subsidiary:



Overall the flight crew was great and boarding was well organised. We had to wait 10 minutes for some passengers that were late because some part of the terminal was closed due to an unattended luggage. After take off the cabin crew distributed a sandwich (chicken or cheese) and drinks. The funny thing was that the sandwiches (at least the cheese one) were branded Abu Dhabi, probably because Air Berlin / NIKI are Etihad partners:



Also I liked very much the video screens that had a very modern flight-path system with nice hi-definition views including a “cockpit” view:





We landed in TXL and taxied to a remote stand. TXL is really shamble airport that makes you feel as if you’re in the 60’s or 70’s. Here for example the baggage reclaim area that looks more like a warehouse:



I know remembered that the agent in VIE tagged only one suitcase with the priority tag but guess what: the untagged suitcase came out with the first batch whereas for the tagged bag it took more than 15 minutes to arrive on the belt



Soon after I took the bus to the city and arrived after 40 minutes to Hotel California on Kurfürstendamm. Yes, I know, stupid name to an hotel in Berlin; you can guess what was written on the sign alongside the reception desk…

bluemoon68

Do I spot a Pokemon?

offerendum

Seems so

Innocent Abroad

I wish I knew

not2017

Nah, that looks like Stitch, from the Disney movie, "Lilo and Stitch".