After the stress and strain of last month’s 18,000 mile round trip holiday in Hawaii/OGG, we decided we really needed a holiday! And iWife’s expert hotel research came up with a little gem in Malta to accommodate us for a week … a petite, 5-suite, guest house in the middle of the City of Valletta.

We are great fans of Malta. iWife served there in the 70s, i proposed to her there in the 80s, and we’ve been back a few times since. But we haven’t been there since 2014 (Previous TR here >>> http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...r-lgw-mla.html)... Clearly, it was time to go again.

I dragged the copy of “Teach Yourself Maltese” from the bookcase, had a quick refresh … and then abandoned the idea, and inevitably accepted that virtually the whole population speaks English anyway. Maltese is a very complicated and ancient language, with roots in Arabic and Sicilian/Italian and indeed beyond!



Hey, this journey is easy, though!! No trips round the M23/M25 to get from LGW to LHR, no need to go ex-DUB and stop off at various points on the way to maximise TPs [ensuring all US sectors at 2,000+ miles]. No, this is an utterly simple JER-LGW-MLA. OK, the variable BA flight schedules to MLA compelled a night-stop at LGW on the way out, but then who can resist a night at Gatwick? You can? So can we, but there was no choice!




Tue 19 Sep 17
JER-LGW
BA2775, 1735-1830, A319 G-DBCA, CE seats 2A/C

Considering this is such a routine hop to the Mainland [as we call it] there would normally be little to say. On this occasion, there was a bit more to note. Bag-drop, Security and the Lounge were as routine and painless as usual. But then this time, as it was later in the day, and with camera and brain functioning ….

CE and BA Status pax boarding via Gate 10 [the other side of the pier to the Lounge]. As you enter, and have your BP scanned, the privileged are ushered to a large [and comfortable] holding pen to the right, whilst the ‘others’ go to another pen to the left. So we got this …



… and with easy access to our waiting Jet



So far, so good. Our usual seats [2A/C] with our small carryons under the seat in front for the ~40 minute hop to LGW. Doors closed, push back, time for the manual safety demo. Now I do understand that the script has recently changed [involving all sorts of irrelevant information for s/h flights], but we still couldn’t understand why the CSD, at the front of the CE cabin, was demonstrating things about 2-5 seconds before the announcement of that item! Perhaps he was in a hurry?

Safely airborne, the ‘high speed meal service’ commenced - to a certain extent. With the CSD in the Galley, the other CC went aft with the trolleys to start both BoB in Economy and CE service from Row 8 forward. The CSD started serving the 4 pax in Row 1 … and was then constantly interrupted by orders from the CC with the trolley at the back of the CE cabin (8 rows as usual) for the Hot Croque-Monsieur (Ham and Cheese Toastie, for those not familiar with the term). They had 6 rows working forward, he had 2 rows working aft … and by the time he reached us in Row 2 it was about 15 minutes from the start of service! And guess what … there was only one hot option left, and that was cold by the time it arrived. Chaotic!

Which only left the Arrival. You know the calls … “Cabin Crew, Seat for Landing”, accompanied by various bings [or bongs]. At this point there are 2 female CC in the Galley at the front, who occupy the 2 jump-seats. The CSD goes and hides in the forward lavatory until after landing!!! WHAAAT? I had a perfect view of it all from 2C.

Unimpressed by the CSD … never seen a shambles like it. I was glad to get off!

Anyway … Arrive, airbridge, bus to Arrivals (Common Travel Area thing) and wait for bags to arrive. I was about to head for the Gents when our bag arrived on the belt! Hello? Are we really at LGW? OK, let’s move on! Though the throng of Arrivals, find the Exit and make our way across the road to the Car Park and the passageway to … <drum-roll> … The Hilton, Gatwick South. Whee!!

I didn’t take many photos, as we were more interested in having a shower and having an early night … but I was tempted to take one of the missing curtain [and indeed curtain rail] in Room 1275. It was not possible to photograph the creaking noise made by the bed A most unimpressive first stay at this Hilton.




Wed 20 Sep 17
LGW-MLA
BA2644, 0745-1205, A320 G-GATK, CE seats 2D/F

An early start to the day, which explains the need for the night-stop. After the usual painless LGW Security, we headed for the BA First Lounge … only to discover it didn’t open until 0700. I know, I should have checked the BA Forum Dashboard! We therefore joined the rest of society in the Club Lounge for a quick coffee, before strolling nonchalantly to Pier 3 (the round one) and Gate 31 … where we loitered nervously. There was no aircraft at Gate 31 However, when boarding started it was revealed that we had a short walk down the green pathway from the airbridge at Stand 31L to our aircraft on Stand 31R.



This was our first experience of this BA variation of the A320. Thanks to the info on Flyertalk, we avoided Row 1 [the 1A/C seats where the wardrobe used to be] and went for 2D/F with the bulkhead in front. 1A/C is, shall I say, a bit ‘industrial’ and of course also fully exposed to the Galley.



With the front overhead bins inevitably now allocated to Crew use, we had to use the bin between Rows 2 and 3 … only to find the bin full of bundles of replacement magazines and material for the seat-back pockets. A bit of DYKWIA muttering and rearrangement of BA’s stuff, helped by our very nice [and experienced] CC. And there we are, in the spacious bulkhead row, and with a good view of the switchgear for the “Doors to Manual and Cross-Check” department.







And then, to our amazement, the CSD came round with her iPad and greeted us! How nice, and unusual, and what a charming and efficient lady too: one of the best we’ve encountered, and a total contrast to the one we had yesterday. We pushed back a bit late at 0810, but were delighted when the Flight Deck advised us that the flight would only take 2h45m.

Airborne, and time for breakfast. Whaaaat? Why is it not swimming in water/grease? And why do I have a bread plate? A quick check of the menu confirmed we are indeed on BA … so enjoy!! And we did!





After all that excitement, it was time to settle down with our Kindles and await our arrival in Malta, which duly happened some 10 minutes early at around 1200. A gentle walk from the aircraft to Arrivals, across the air-side service road, instantaneous and polite passport check at Immigration, and headed for an almost empty Baggage Reclaim … to wait. And wait. Eventually bags started arriving on the next belt, from an Air Malta flight that arrived after us … oh, well, it’s their country, and their airline, and I suspect we do the same in UK And when the KM pax had all departed with their luggage, ours eventually started arriving. As a bit of a novelty, our case was one of the first to emerge, and thus we headed outside to find the driver of our pre-booked taxi for the 5-mile run to our accommodation. Success, and a nice shiny Mercedes too!

He had to take a rather devious route into Valletta, as there was a monster traffic jam near the airport exit - a colleague of his had been stuck there for an hour! Eventually we were safe within the City walls of beautiful old Valletta, and the holiday could commence.