17/05, BA2796 LGW-AGP, operated by IB Express (EC-LYM).
I got to Gatwick using Southern rail's service from Farringdon. There were minor delays to all services but that mostly meant that you'd jump in the earlier service and get there at the time you expected to.
Because my trip was now a full 2 weeks instead of 5 days, that meant checking in luggage. I arrived at the check-in counters for business and status passengers and found a long queue (about 25-30 people) which was moving slowly. Luckily I already had my boarding pass and the automatic bag drop had many booths available. So much for having dedicated premium check-in! That took less than 10 minutes in the end.
I'd left my covid testing for the USA pretty late so I booked with Express test, which is in the North terminal (not the BA one...). The shuttles are quick and pretty regular, and I think it took me about 40 minutes from dropping my luggage in the south terminal, going over, getting tested and getting back to security at the south terminal.
I went through fast track ("Gatwick Premium") with literally nobody in front of me, got through security really fast and then headed for the BA lounge. At the entrance you turn right for the galleries club, and left for the first lounge. By the time I got there I didn't have much time left until boarding, but at least I had good news from my lateral flow test being negative.
(Still time for a cheeky glass of Canard Duchęne though)
The flight departed from gate 35, which is about a mile away, or at least it feels like it. When I arrived it looked like it was the end of pre-boarding for people requiring assistance, and there were a bunch of people holding back. I got closer and heard the agent say that the tannoy was broken so to just come forward. It was a stroke of luck really but I got on just after the wheelchairs and families with young children. There were quite a few of the latter, and a fair few Glasgow Rangers fans travelling to Séville for the Europa League final. Thank god for noise cancelling headphones!
I assigned myself a window seat in the overwing emergency exit row, and watched theoretical seating at work until about 4 hours prior. Unfortunately the flight was almost full so no luck there. One thing to note on IB, you can't keep your headphones on if you're sitting in an emergency exit row, for taxi take-off and landing. I can't remember that from other airlines.
One of the pain points of flying via Spain is the requirement for masks. Most of Europe, and the US, have dropped the mask requirement, but Spain and Italy have extended it for now. Not the end of the world, but I was looking forward to getting back to almost normal.
Doors were closed around 1630, we pushed back at 1636, had a long and slow taxi, before taking off from runway 08R at 1655.
Despite being IB Express operated, the flight had BA service, which means a bag of Tyrrell's crisps and a 250mL bottle of water. It's an improvement from the recent past, but 250mL of water is a bit on the small side for my liking on an almost 3 hour flight.
I find the black apron with the red strap that cabin crew wear on IB to be particularly stylish. I don't know why, maybe my continental upbringing. I didn't want to snap a picture for obvious reasons, but I'm sure there are stock photos available on the interweb.
The crisp and water service was done and cleared within half an hour. There was a reasonably slow Speedbird café service. I think the IB Express staff were struggling with the payment terminals, and some of the football fans were doubling up on drinks.
The entertainment on IB Express is quite good, especially for a short-haul airline. However, someone should tell them this isn't a great name for their on-board catering 😬
We touched down at 2020. A short taxi to a gate at 2024. No queue at immigration, so I went straight through. The first luggage on the belt at 2045, mine at 2052. Priority Tags were all over the place (as is often the case with BA services), I think they were prioritising golf clubs! But if your bags are out that quickly, it doesn't really matter.
Vaccination certificates were vaguely checked by staff at the airport just after immigration, and then there were quite a lot of nursing staff, I guess they were picking random people to be tested but thankfully I didn't get picked on.
Next flight in just over 4 hours...