ATH-LHR

With check-in desks opening 2 hours before departure, we used mobile BPs to access the passport check and security, where the queue for the single Fast Track lane was typically slower than that for the several standard lanes. It looked like there was a special area for Fast Track off to the right, but this wasn’t in use today. I was pleasantly surprised by the rigour applied by the security staff; they insisted on iPad covers off, and even decanted my liquids from my perfectly compliant bag into one of their own bags. It beats my experience of a couple of years ago in Doha where a security officer pointed to the x-ray screen and asked me to identify what something was.

BA closed their Terraces lounge at Athens in the summer of 2016. Since then, they’ve used the third party Skyserv lounge. Aside from some reasonably new furniture, the lounge bears the fit-out of its former life as an Olympic Airways/Airlines lounge. It’s a pretty dismal and dated space, with an oppressive black floor, unimaginative seating layout, utilitarian ceiling and washrooms, harsh lighting and a modest selection of unappetising snacks. As the world’s slowest cleaning staff shuffled around, I went on the hunt for power sockets, eventually resorting to sitting on the end of one of the bench seats to charge my phone at one of the two visible sockets.



















Boarding at Gate A9 was a total shambles with no gate signage at all and a single Club/Gold/Silver/Bronze call that went unpoliced; as my BP was being scanned, the agent half-apologised and said that the Priority Boarding banner had broken earlier in the week. Fair enough if that was the case, but I’m sure a couple of temporary signs could’ve been printed off. Clear announcements and policing don’t require any signage.

With the airbridge connected to Door 1L, the opening moments of the flight in Row 2 weren’t as peaceful as they could’ve been with the entire aircraft’s worth of passengers filing past. My second time on this aircraft, G-BZHB was in no better condition than her outbound sister, despite being four years younger – a veritable child at just 20 years old. Highlights included the traditional broken headrest, non-functioning IFE (resulting in a manual safety demonstration and rendering the pre-placed headphones somewhat useless) and reading lights throughout the aircraft that simultaneously turned off shortly after takeoff and could not be re-energised. Our rather jaded Cabin Services Director noted that ‘these aircraft are old and nothing works; we have to be engineers and do everything ourselves’. I responded that hopefully the engines and gear was in full working order. Hmm. My ‘disappointing flight’ radar was more than twitching by this point.





Jackets were taken on request as the 9 row Club Europe cabin filled up ahead of pushback around 10 minutes behind schedule to commence this 3h30 flight. The cushion BA provide on the longest of the Long sectors is really welcome, although I find the old squishy convertible seating to be pretty comfortable in any case. I didn’t have any use for the blanket on this flight, but it’s another good amenity to have the option of.

Once airborne, service commenced with hot towels and a trolley bar service (featuring two packets of nuts for each passenger). No menus, lemon slices or serviettes had been loaded, and so on request the CSD serving the port aisle brought a packaged serviette from Euro Traveller for use with the nuts, commenting that BA were ‘cutting back’. Whilst this may be true more generally, this is not the case for serviettes in Club Europe – and in any case, is not something that crew should be openly declaring to passengers. I should apologise at this point for the poor lighting of the following images; inoperative reading lights are the trip reporter’s curse.



Dinner this evening commenced with a starter of peppered melon carpaccio with king prawn and raspberry dressing. This was passable, but most fruit (and I include melon in this assessment) has no place in a starter or main course, IMO. The tray had been presented by the CSD with plastic lids covering the cheese and dessert plates; another service no-no that by itself is not a huge issue, but added to the other niggles combines to present an unfavourable view of this particular crew. I handed the lids back to the CSD, by which time I think she’d got the measure of me and I’d got the measure of her – there was hope for a friendship yet!



This evening there was a choice for main course of chicken supreme with potato gnocchi, rosemary cream sauce and dry ratatouille or miso-glazed cod with wasabi mash and wok-fried vegetables; I picked the latter which turned out to be an excellent dish, nicely flavoured and not badly presented, accompanied by a fresh cutlery/serviette roll and further warm bread.



Cropwell Stilton with red onion chutney and oat cakes comprised the cheese plate, whilst dessert was the chocolate tart with coffee mascarpone cream and pecans – super sweet but enjoyable. I opted for a peppermint tea to conclude the service (bonus points if you can guess whether I had to request a drip dish or not).

Once on the ground at Heathrow, as seems to be the case for most late night shorthaul arrivals, we parked at a T5C stand, but with a brisk pace, hardly a queue at the e-gates and no checked bags, were landside in short order.

This was a pleasant long weekend in historic Athens, bookended by one average and one sub-par flight. The retirement of the 767s can’t come soon enough – the interiors are poorly maintained, and in Club Europe the large cabin size and close together outboard seating means the modicum of privacy and space otherwise available in that cabin on the Airbus fleet is all but lost. The weight that a good or otherwise cabin crew brings to the experience should never be underestimated.

Thanks for reading; comments and questions are welcomed as always.

Coming Soon: The Qatar Airways 787 and A350 Business Class Experience to Singapore