I've just stepped off possibly the best club europe flight I've ever taken - BA680 to Istanbul last night.

I don't know if it's all about perception but it seems to me that either everything goes well or everything goes wrong!

Check in - no queue at the club bag drop; agent was friendly and polite; no queue at fast track - I was through in about 1 minute; when clearing plates, the lounge catering person masked me what I thought of the food. I commented that it has improved since the summer but there are still issues (they had no forks for about 5 minutes yesterday, during the lunch service)! She was honest and said since the changeover she has had "nothing but complaints and problems", but things had got better than they were. She also said not to expect significant further changes. I noticed staff were very quick to clear plates, and that cleaning was going on more often than I had previously noticed.

I got to the gate about 25 mins before scheduled departure time to find nothing happening. The gate agent eventually made a PA just saying that she didn't have any information, she was trying to get information and she would keep us posted. At the scheduled departure time, the captain, first officer and CSD (we were lucky enough to have a CSD on this Airbus flight) came out and I knew that this was not good news. The captain made a PA saying the aircraft had gone tech, we would be on another A320 from two gates down, although that plans wasn't here yet. He said he expected a 17:45 pushback and an 18:00 takeoff so a 23:30 arrival. He also said he would wait at the gate to answer any queries anybody may have. I thought this was excellent. I understand that things go wrong, and when airline staff tell you what's going on, that's all I can ask for!

Boarding was quick and I was welcomed warmly on board. I was in 1A and in 1C was a lady who I assume was a Prem or a diplomat (or both) because I had seen her being escorted to the gate originally by a man in a dark suit carrying an ipad (I presume Special Services), he had spoken to the gate staff, made some calls, and took the lady away again. He was disembarking as I boarded.

The CSD and all the crew were very attentive towards her, but not to the detriment of everybody else.

The CSD was proactively helping with hand luggage. I'm not sure where the crew bags were, but they certainly weren't above row 1!

So, why was the flight so good? The CSD, Gavin H, was outstanding. He kept drinks topped up during the flight, made conversation just at the right time, and was also a great ambassador for the brand by being immaculately presented and approachable. I liked that he said before the safety video that people should not be afraid to let the crew know if there was anything they see which they are unsure about during the flight, and he emphasised people should be free to use the call bell if they need anything.

The other CC member based in club was released to ET but she brought some drinks around before landing and was also very friendly.

Smooth landing. Easy arrival process.

I've encountered some excellent shorthaul crew before but Gavin has to be one of the best I've come across so far!

Well Done forms for both the CSD and captain have been completed.