Nice experience ex-T3 today
Jul 29, 2016, 8:43 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: London
Programs: BA Silver, IHG Spire, Radisson Gold
Posts: 991
Nice experience ex-T3 today
I spend a reasonable amount of time in T5 - I love to hate the place but all things considered it's a decent operation.
Having been travelling lots for work for the past couple of months, I've been getting used to it being increasingly like a zoo as summer draws in, also weekly delays due to confused passengers, FLY horrors etc etc.
Today I flew to Marseille with my parents, from T3 - admittedly my view of this has the rose tint of a 'going on holiday' flight, but I genuinely thought it was a stellar experience and a credit to BA.
Stayed in the Holiday Inn Ariel last night. BA366 this morning so a 07:25am departure. Awake at 0430 and a knock on my parents' room at 0500 to head on our way.
Across the road and a free TfL bus to Heathrow Central - there in 5 mins, down the escalators and along the moving walkways towards T3.
Into T3 - I'm Gold, my mum is Silver and my dad is Blue, and we're flying ET - so straight to J check in (we're here for 2.5 weeks so no HBO this time). There's a queue of about 20 people at J check in but it's very fast moving and we end up being waved at from F check in as it's empty.
A really lovely Irish lady checked our bags, and I wish I'd got her name as she deserved a 'thank you' just for being personable. Chatted to her about FLY etc as she labelled up the bags. She gave us lounge directions (very rare I do T3 so couldn't really remember) and wished us a good trip.
Up the escalator and through fast track security - although this is non-BA specific, wow, I was impressed. We were through in a couple of minutes - no queue, straight up to the tray area and no issues getting through. Granted this was at 0545am but even so, T5 is normally in full swing by that stage.
Onto the lounges, and with breakfast on my mind I cheekily asked the lounge angel if there's any chance she'd let us all squeeze into the flounge (1 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Blue so officially we should be in GC) and to my surprise she said yes! Parents were absolutely thrilled, especially my mum with the champagne bar in full view as we walked in. The flounge was an oasis of calm, with only a handful of other people there. The breakfast and champagne were plentiful, and a fantastic start to the holiday.
06:50 and we head for the gate - gate 36 so a mammoth walk but the gate closure time of 07:05 was quite generous for a 07:25 flight (I assume that's deliberate to encourage people to leave the lounge and get walking). Doors closed and taxiing a couple of minutes early, settled into the 2nd row of ET (row 6) - I avoid the first row of ET as the curtain is a bit in your face.
Once up in the air having all stuffed our faces with breakfast buffet in the flounge we weren't wishing to eat, so we opted for coffees and orange juices. The 'unfortunate' part came when we asked for milk & sugar for the coffee, and she said "oh it's packaged in with the breakfast", so we had no choice but to take the breakfast offering anyway (it's a tough life), which was a ham & cream cheese croissant - actually surprisingly nice, I was impressed. The crew on this flight were also wonderful.
One otherwise fairly normal flight later and we touched down 15 minutes early.
We were greeted with the unfortunate news that Marseille airport had been evacuated due to a suspect package, so we had to sit on the plane for another half an hour before they let us go - but again the crew were on it immediately with pouring out trays of juice etc, so even with the small disruption we had they managed it really nicely.
I suppose nothing is particularly extraordinary about this flight, it is just that the entire experience was really smooth and pleasant, and that every single member of BA staff we came into contact with today was superb. When I'm flying every week for work it does get tiring, and just when I think BA is becoming same old, same old, they surprise me with a genuinely excellent flying experience - just the way it should be
Good work BA ^
Having been travelling lots for work for the past couple of months, I've been getting used to it being increasingly like a zoo as summer draws in, also weekly delays due to confused passengers, FLY horrors etc etc.
Today I flew to Marseille with my parents, from T3 - admittedly my view of this has the rose tint of a 'going on holiday' flight, but I genuinely thought it was a stellar experience and a credit to BA.
Stayed in the Holiday Inn Ariel last night. BA366 this morning so a 07:25am departure. Awake at 0430 and a knock on my parents' room at 0500 to head on our way.
Across the road and a free TfL bus to Heathrow Central - there in 5 mins, down the escalators and along the moving walkways towards T3.
Into T3 - I'm Gold, my mum is Silver and my dad is Blue, and we're flying ET - so straight to J check in (we're here for 2.5 weeks so no HBO this time). There's a queue of about 20 people at J check in but it's very fast moving and we end up being waved at from F check in as it's empty.
A really lovely Irish lady checked our bags, and I wish I'd got her name as she deserved a 'thank you' just for being personable. Chatted to her about FLY etc as she labelled up the bags. She gave us lounge directions (very rare I do T3 so couldn't really remember) and wished us a good trip.
Up the escalator and through fast track security - although this is non-BA specific, wow, I was impressed. We were through in a couple of minutes - no queue, straight up to the tray area and no issues getting through. Granted this was at 0545am but even so, T5 is normally in full swing by that stage.
Onto the lounges, and with breakfast on my mind I cheekily asked the lounge angel if there's any chance she'd let us all squeeze into the flounge (1 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Blue so officially we should be in GC) and to my surprise she said yes! Parents were absolutely thrilled, especially my mum with the champagne bar in full view as we walked in. The flounge was an oasis of calm, with only a handful of other people there. The breakfast and champagne were plentiful, and a fantastic start to the holiday.
06:50 and we head for the gate - gate 36 so a mammoth walk but the gate closure time of 07:05 was quite generous for a 07:25 flight (I assume that's deliberate to encourage people to leave the lounge and get walking). Doors closed and taxiing a couple of minutes early, settled into the 2nd row of ET (row 6) - I avoid the first row of ET as the curtain is a bit in your face.
Once up in the air having all stuffed our faces with breakfast buffet in the flounge we weren't wishing to eat, so we opted for coffees and orange juices. The 'unfortunate' part came when we asked for milk & sugar for the coffee, and she said "oh it's packaged in with the breakfast", so we had no choice but to take the breakfast offering anyway (it's a tough life), which was a ham & cream cheese croissant - actually surprisingly nice, I was impressed. The crew on this flight were also wonderful.
One otherwise fairly normal flight later and we touched down 15 minutes early.
We were greeted with the unfortunate news that Marseille airport had been evacuated due to a suspect package, so we had to sit on the plane for another half an hour before they let us go - but again the crew were on it immediately with pouring out trays of juice etc, so even with the small disruption we had they managed it really nicely.
I suppose nothing is particularly extraordinary about this flight, it is just that the entire experience was really smooth and pleasant, and that every single member of BA staff we came into contact with today was superb. When I'm flying every week for work it does get tiring, and just when I think BA is becoming same old, same old, they surprise me with a genuinely excellent flying experience - just the way it should be
Good work BA ^
Jul 29, 2016, 9:34 am
#3
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Flatland
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold 1MM, BA Gold, UA Peon
Posts: 6,110
There will be a record of who handled your checkin, so if you fill in as much of ba.com/welldone as you can, especially your ticket number, they can work out who the lovely Irish lady is.