Sat 09 Aug BA0394 - LHR-BRU
Equip: A319
Scheduled Depart: 10:50
Actual: 10:50
Scheduled Arrival: 13:00
Actual: 12:54
Takeoff: 11:09
Touchdown: 12:49
Since the Heathrow Hopper runs on a 30 min cycle, we needed to tie in within the H57 bus timetable. It leaves Hilton T5 at 17 and 47 mins past each hour (more frequent on weekdays I believe), so we jumped on board on the 08:47 bus. We had to go via the Travelodge T5 which I have to say didn’t look that inviting! And we reached T5 by about 09:05.
Vick’s learning the ropes now about how to get through security quickly. She knows that we need to go through Security South since it always gets less pax; that we need our boarding cards ready (and not stuck in our rucksack); that our BAEC Gold cards give us access to the fast track lanes; and that we need to be careful about which fast track queue you get in to. The only one we didn’t do too well on today was the selection of the fast track lane – we ended up in the slowest lane ever – looked like we had an operator who was training. Never mind – we could see the Millionaire’s door just beyond security which was inviting us in.
It only took us 10 mins to get through security, so no great shakes. Into the CCR and as normal it was very busy so we ended up on the terraces again. I went out to Starbucks and there was a huge queue with some foreigners trying to jump in – I’m not having any of that! Got back to the CCR and the lounge agent opened the door for me and I was straight back in.
It wasn’t long before Vick noticed that our gate was the dreaded A10 which meant a bus ride to the aircraft. We got down to A10b with 25 mins to go, and the last few pax were boarding the bus – we joined the queue and were on the second bus out to the plane.
Once onboard, we settled down in the first row of economy and luckily had the row to ourselves. It was an uneventful flight – we dozed when we could to save our energy for the 5 hour wait I had included at BRU as a risk mitigation strategy since we would be heading straight back to LHR on our first flight of our main trip to the US. This flight is part of our positioning trip.
I had agreed to provide some photos of the arrival process for one of the FT readers who was intending on doing a same plane turnaround at BRU. So when we arrived I started a video of the walk up the ramp expecting to see the ramp up to the left but it was nowhere to be seen. Oops – perhaps we have arrived at a different gate to normal?
So as the aircraft taxis to the gate, the visible gate numbers on the outside don’t tie in with the published gate numbers from a pax perspective. So gate B04 (which is the standard BA gate) is gate 204 from an aircraft viewpoint. Things may have changed now at gate B04 – they had specifically turned off the overhead sign advising UK connections to head left up the ramp, and the door to this ramp was shut, so you have no idea the ramp is even there.
As it happens getting back to the gate was child’s play, and still easy to achieve for a same plane turnaround. Off the aircraft, follow the air bridge up into the terminal, through the security automated doors and then turn right to head to arrivals/connections. 50 yards down the corridor, head up the stairs to the right and that takes you to the start of the security process to get into Terminal B. For us there was no queue, and we were back at gate B04 in 5 mins.