Innocent Abroad

Sometimes I find it hard to believe that I only joined FT less than a year ago; it feels as if I was posting here for ages So I guess the time is ripe for my first Trip Report. Being a BA devotee, for the time being at least, this trip is mostly on BA flights, with one sector on AB (plus a DB [=Deutsche Bahn ] train ride) and will lead me to several places in the UK and Europe (which are not the same as we all know by now ).

Basically my itinerary looks like that and will be covered in 16 days:

TLV-LHR (BA)
LHR-MAN (BA)
LBA-LHR-VIE (BA)
VIE-TXL (AB)
(±)TXL-FRA (DB)
FRA-LCY (BA CityFlyer)
LHR-TLV (BA)

Part of my excitement (besides the customary travel rush) relates to the fact that I will be sampling on the trip three new airports (MAN, LBA, LCY), two new service classes (UK Domestic, EuroTraveller ) and one new BA / OW terminal and associated lounges (LHR T3).

I hope to bring fresh views on some well trodden routes (and on some that are less so) and hopefully (some of) you will find this TR interesting and worthwhile reading and following...

nux

The EU and Europe are different things.

The UK is still part of Europe.

Innocent Abroad

My journey begins tomorrow, June 29, on BA 162 (TLV-LHR) so I was looking forward to checking in ASAP this morning and I was delighted to wake up and find an Aircraft Change Notification email from ExpertFlyer letting me know that the scheduled 772 aircraft (the regular on the route) will be exchanged for the 77W. I have never flown this bird before (as far as I can remember and definitely not on BA) so I am already excited about that.

I did not mention that I will be flying on BA Club World and initially picked seat 5K on the scheduled 3 class 772, which is a great window seat with direct aisle access. At OLCI I was assigned 16A which also have a direct aisle access so I was pleased BA did not mess up this involuntary seat swap.

Anyway, now that I will be sampling BA's 77W for the first time I will have the doubtful (?) pleasure of flying in the Dorm, as some FTs nickname this (too) big cabin :roll eyes:

Now I am checked in and what I think about the annoying warning in BA's APP you could read tomorrow as this TR continues.

Innocent Abroad

I do hope so

KARFA

May I ask what date your LBA-LHR flight is?

Innocent Abroad

Of course you can (and it is also on the reincarnated BA forum Travel Meet Up thread): July 3.

KARFA

Thanks. Ah, I am northbound that day and on the later rotation so won't get the chance to say hello at LBA. Also I notice you are connecting on to T3 at LHR so no opportunity to meet airside at T5 which is a shame.

Remember to pick up your free HEX return ticket at the lounge reception at LBA if that is of use to you. Sometimes they don't put the date in so you can save it for another day. Also all BA passengers can use fast track security. Gate will be 8 and is usually called and open 30 minutes before departure.

Innocent Abroad

Thanks for the useful briefing and hopefully we'll be more synchronised in the future.

offerendum

And still part of EU

roadwarrier

Looking forward to this TR!!

Innocent Abroad

It did not take much time for me to realise that writing a live TR is not an easy task especially when you are on a business trip and have problems accessing the internet… So please excuse my momentary absence; things should get better from now on and here is the first instalment - Departure from TLV.

It is 4:45am and my diligent taxi driver awaits me, as always, as I go out of my Jerusalem apartment. It is rather chilly in this early hour but it will not stay like that for long. Summers in Jerusalem can be harsh and the last two weeks were no exception so I quite look forward to some west European weather



We drive past the relatively new “Chords Bridge” that was designed by Santiago Calatrava



And then right as we get on the highway to Tel Aviv we got stuck in traffic. That was not suppose to happen at 5am in the morning…



It turns out these are road construction but since I have plenty of time I do not worry too much and after a couple of minutes of delay we cruise swiftly towards the airport



And here we are at the entrance to Terminal 3; oddly the only other terminal at TLV is Terminal 1 and I have no clue whatever happened to Terminal 2 that was not. In the rear you can see the new ATC tower that was opened just couple of months ago



Since I am traveling with hand luggage only I head straight to security but here is a general view of the check-in area



Until recently TLV did not have a proper Fast Track at security but now there is one but it only accepts business or first class passengers, that is no entrance to passenger with airline status although there are reports that if you try you might get lucky. The other thing I really look forward to is the day when TLV will be able to accommodate mobile boarding passes but who knows when this will happen…



Anyway, another unique feature of TLV is that even if you go HBO you have to go through security screening, which is done at the left hand side of the Fast Track. This morning it was quite crowded and I had to wait fifteen minutes for the process to be completed and then just went through the Fast Track security that was literally empty



Passport control is also not so busy but I head to the old-fashioned biometric machine that in fact uses fingerprint technology and not biometric passports





The machine prints a voucher that you scan at the electrical gate



And then you start the descent into the holy of holies of TLV - the duty free shops



On the way down you can see the new concourse that is being built. Currently there are three concourses at the terminal designated B,C and D. For some reason the new concourse will be E, so the lack of Terminal 2 will not be the only anomaly around



BA uses the DAN+ lounge, which is the smaller and more exclusive version of the regular DAN lounges at the terminal. Truly, all of these lounges are very basic, but the DAN+ is in fact more relaxed although its major disadvantage in my view is that there is no view! The most you can see, if the shades are open, is the parking lot but when concourse E will be completed there will be a good view of it. Here are some photos from the lounge that basically feature two small rooms, one with some food and the other more for relaxation











Everything is on schedule so at 6:30 I head to the gate. This is a good chance to take a look at the old ATC tower



Then straight to gate B6



A glimpse at the bird



And here I am at the door of the shiny 77W aircraft



More soon.

Ditto

Thanks for the interesting report, I wonder, wouldn't it make more sense in such case to go to the normal pre check-in security where you can use the priority land instead of waiting 15 minutes?

I will be flying in C out of TLV and will try to find once again the mysterious fast track

Innocent Abroad

I haven't thought about that but I guess it should work. I think it took a very long time not only because there were many people on line but also because the person who did the enquiry was extremely slow. This could happen, I guess, also at the "normal" pre-check in security.

Innocent Abroad

Route: TLV-LHR
Airline / Flight number: BA162
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER, G-STBK
Date: June 28, 2016
Miles: 3,593
Flight time: 4:47 hours
Scheduled departure: 7:15
Actual departure: 7:56, RWY26
Scheduled arrival: 10:10
Actual arrival: 10:46, RWY 27R
Class: Club World
Seat: 16A

As I mentioned in the pre-post I was delighted to discover the day before the flight that there was an aircraft change. Instead of the 3-class 777-200ER that regularly operates the BA162-163 rotation, BA assigned a-4 class 777-300ER. I noticed that this happened several times in the last few weeks and I assume it is done because of operational reasons. I have no clue what might these reasons be but anyway the flight was not full. How do I know that? Well, I took a short stroll from the front to the back during the flight as I wanted to browse the entire aircraft… Well not exactly the entire aircraft as the first class wasn’t in operation and I did not dare enter it… BA does offer First class service on the second rotation of the day (BA164-165), although on the 4-class 777-200ER.

What the aircraft change meant that the aircraft was only two years old (in comparison to the usual 3-class 777-200ER’s that date back to the year 2000) and this indeed was noticeable as the seats and cabins were much more fresher and nicer. Arguably this is most noticeable in World Traveller Plus that features the new seats which are miles ahead of the former generation; those who were booked in this class got really upgraded although I wonder how many of them actually understood that… For me the change meant that for the first time I travelled in the so-called (notorious) Dorm. Club World on the 777-300ER is one big cabin (rows 10-16) with 8 seats abreast. In the 777-200ER version Club World is divided into two smaller cabins (rows 2-5, 10-11) and so far I have always travelled in this configuration which I quite like. This is what the Dorm looks like from 16A:



I originally booked seat 5K which is one of only four window seats with direct aisle access (the other being 5A, 11A, 11K) but since the aircraft was changed I was moved to 16A and it’s worthwhile noting that in the Dorm configuration there are only two such seats (the other being 16K), which is indeed annoying. This is the view from the seat’s window:



To be honest I have never been in a proper dorm so I don’t feel qualified to decide whether this configuration deserves its name but on such a short flight is doesn’t really mattered to me. And speaking of which, as far as I can tell this route is the second shortest Club World route in the BA network (the shortest being CAI, which in fact is just slightly shorter). For travel from TLV to Europe this is significant as the vast majority of European carriers use narrow-body, intra-European business configuration, which is far inferior. Moreover, flying Club World into LHR (in the morning hours) also grants the passengers entry to the BA’s arrival lounge in LHR. For those who terminate their trip in London this could be very helpful (and in fact, not only to them…). And a last note concerning the advantages of BA’s use of a wide body aircraft on this route- it is no less important for travellers in economy as on BA they get a 3-3-3 configuration with AVOD whereas most other carriers have none.

So what is the service like on such a short hop? Well, pretty much the same as any other Club World service only shorte: pre-departure drinks (water or orange juice in this case), hot towel, amenity kit, breakfast and that’s about it, its time to land. This is what the menu looked like:



Decent menu in itself but I got the exact same one every time I travelled on this route in the last two years; don’t they ever change it??? Here is the Traditional Israeli Breakfast followed by the Chive Omelette:





Food was decent as the whole Club World experience - decent hard and soft product but nothing inspiring. Anyway, the crew was great, the CSD came to greet me (as Gold member, I guess) and even shook my hand which felt a bit awkward, I must say. Since this was such a short flight after breakfast I got some work done and that was it, the middle eastern brightness over the wing became the typical British grey:



We docked at T5C at 10:55, I disembarked, got on the first transit, straight to the E-Gates in the UK Border (no queue) and in less than 15 minutes I was here:


The British Airways Arrivals Lounge at Terminal 5

Why did I go landside, and the reader is reminded that I still had a domestic leg to MAN ahead of me, can be read in the next instalment (and no, I do not smoke…).

Houminer

T2 was once there.
Before they builr T3, T1 was the international terminal and the very small T2 was the domestic one. After they built T3, T1 became the domesitc one and T2 was torn down.