BA 0868 LHR-BUD Club Europe
The problem with joining FT is that you get ambitious. Just flying isn't enough. Even flying cheaply isn't enough. It's got to be cheap travel in premium cabins. And so it was that BrotherNCFC and I came to experience our first trip in a premium aircraft cabin. Now Club Europe ain't Singapore F but it isn't Ryanair either. We were definitely looking forward to it.
Our first mission was getting to Heathrow which is pretty easy for us as we only live an hour or so away. Our chosen transport method was the Railair coach from Reading. It's far easier than driving, cheaper than a taxi and generally convenient. At least to T5 which is the first drop off point. T3 is the last dropoff point and thus we got an extra 20 minutes on the bus and a tour of most of Heathrow. Oh well, it's always fun watching planes landing on a sunny day.
Once we actually got inside Terminal 3 our premium travel experience began with the separate check in desk. Am I a really bad person for feeling slightly disappointed that there wasn't a huge queue of people at the regular desk that we could swan past? This was followed by fast track security which was only slightly quicker than the normal line but did seem to involve less shouting by the staff and fewer idiot passengers who'd apparently never considered the possibility that there might be some kind of security at an airport. After security we went for a quick wander round the shops before proceeding to BA's Galleries lounge. As this lounge has been well documented on FT I didn't bother taking pictures except of our lunch. Suffice to say it's a well appointed lounge with plenty of food, booze and soft drinks and some comfy furniture. As it was a Sunday afternoon the lounge was fairly quiet.
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We knew that the food on the plane would be BA's 'legendary' afternoon tea, of which more later, so clearly we were going to have to eat lunch in the lounge. An idea which became even more pressing after we decided we'd try to drink our way through all three of the white wines BA was offering. Being seasoned in the art of fine dining we decided to open with a bag of kettle chips each. We followed this with tomato soup (lots of bits of tomato in it but I didn't like the flavour much). We skipped the salad/deli buffet and headed for the hot mains. There was pasta with tomato and basil sauce but today's main theme was Morocco. Moroccan style lamb meatballs (and i'm pretty confident they were lamb rather than horse), sweat potato tagine, couscous and rice. And very tasty it was too. Excuse the rather messy and overloaded plate but I was really hungry.
There was a distinct lack of any pudding on offer, so I got a bit creative and raided the breakfast buffet for yoghurt and fresh fruit.
After three glasses of wine, including a rather fine Austrian example (I accused brotherNCFC of being too drunk to read 'Australia' but I checked and it turned out he was right) we were in serious need of some coffee. Fortunately BA's customer service extends to providing some seriously strong espresso. All the time the staff were very proactive about clearing away used plates but strangely reluctant to remove the empty crisp packets.
Deciding not to sample wine no 4 we headed off down to the gate to wait for the bus to the aeroplane. I suppose I should do some serious DYWIA moaning about lost lounge time, having to share a bus with Eurotraveller passengers and the lack of priority boarding but as I've slagged off a fair few DYWIAs on FT that would be a tad hypocritical.
Our ride to Budapest was A320 G-EUYN. Among the many aspects of BA's operations regularly slated on FT is aircraft cleanliness but this one was spotless. It also has an updated mobile map system which, for some bizarre reason, includes shipwrecks. Looking after us were a lovely CSD called Kris and his colleague Anna, they did a great job with the service and were very friendly and welcoming. Now I realise it is considered normal to include a leg room photo of one's own knees but as i'm 5ft 3 that would be about as much use as tits on a fish. So I snuck a picture of BrotherNCFC instead.
Our flight left at 1420 and thus fell 20 minutes outside BA's window for serving lunch. So afternoon tea then? A product repeatedly slated on FT for the simple reason that people expect food which actually constitutes a meal. Having sampled it I would have to say that, whilst totally inadequate as a main meal, it would be a generous mid afternoon snack. In fact we didn't actually have room for the lemon cake which went into our bags for later. Certainly a better effort than the 'dinner' Eurostar provided on our way home, of which more later. All the items tasted quite decent although the sandwiches were starting to go a bit stale.
A couple of pictures, please note the correct application of jam and cream to scones. Also the two drinks, I originally asked for the white wine and then changed my mind. Kris suggested I keep the white wine anyway. As I said, a top bloke.
Having left more or less on time we arrived at BUD a couple of minutes early, it was time for us to take our first steps onto Hungarian soil.