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Originally Posted by JapesUK
(Post 36613187)
It was a relatively short taxi towards the stand which was occupied! Too early at Heathrow is not your usual problem.
And the peak is this runway swapping at 3pm. I don't know why they are doing this. However, this results that many flights have to wait until 3pm before they can hit the runway. At the and some flights are then 30 to 60 min delayed because of this. |
Boarding commenced around 20:15 and the gentleman behind me commented on the Flyertalk tag, and I have had the pleasure of meeting drpabs
G-TTNU this evening, which I have been on twice before, each time from NCL-LHR. This has been fitted with the nice XL luggage bins so hopefully no bin battles and stress this evening. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...aa60eac87.jpeg I’m back into my favourite seat 1C this evening but as usual I’m in temporarily located in 1B for boarding and one of the crew has just come along to check my seat, I guess she thought I was trying a bit of self upgrading. :) https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a931a5033.jpeg Having said ‘no bin battles’ 1F and 1A have both struggled due to the number of crew bags up front :( |
It was quite a rocky takeoff from Heathrow with the plane tilting back and forth for the first couple of minutes. Once it settled down the seatbelt lights were quickly off and service started almost immediately.
My choice of meal for this evening caused the usual amount of levity. I knew I would be eating an evening meal in the Concorde Room so I’d preorder a child meal again. https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...c5cb62679.jpeg Proving once more that there is not much that a bread roll cannot improve, it converted into a very nice chicken roll, accompanied by a baileys and coffee to close out the evening. https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...330e238c1.jpeg By the time the crew were clearing trays the captains announcement was made that we were over Leeds and inside twenty minutes to landing. Quite surprisingly, the crew were still scurrying and faffing around ten minute later when the 10 minutes to landing was announced. They seemed to be running backwards and forwards with just one or two glasses each time, very odd. They were still securing the galley when the call came for ‘seats for landing’. |
And here we are at the end of another wander. As per usual I’m sat in the Uber writing this whilst heading home, and right now we are enjoying a little tour of the backroads because the main drag is closed for repairs.
The next trip that is hopefully worthy of writing about will be Riga in three weeks time. Before then I’m either in Birmingham for business, or London just because, and none of those will be worth putting thumbs to keypad. I hope that this epic saga cured your insomnia :D |
One of these days I have to figure out how to cross your paths at Heathrow.
Any particular plans for Riga? Advance reconnaissance before August following? What I can tell you at this point, hotel situation is good, that you probably already know, and I recommend you visit Garaza Bars for some great atmosphere, wide choice of whiskys and good beer and eating. |
Originally Posted by Fabo.sk
(Post 36613824)
One of these days I have to figure out how to cross your paths at Heathrow.
Any particular plans for Riga? Advance reconnaissance before August following? What I can tell you at this point, hotel situation is good, that you probably already know, and I recommend you visit Garaza Bars for some great atmosphere, wide choice of whiskys and good beer and eating. Thanks for the tips, I’ve done no planning as yet. |
Originally Posted by JapesUK
(Post 36613848)
It’s just a cheap filler, but now you mention it, maybe a reconnaissance mission is in order :D
Thanks for the tips, I’ve done no planning as yet. |
Great review! Loved the brewery crawl. Riga sounds like a great shout!
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Originally Posted by BMarkus
(Post 36613513)
And the peak is this runway swapping at 3pm. I don't know why they are doing this. However, this results that many flights have to wait until 3pm before they can hit the runway. At the and some flights are then 30 to 60 min delayed because of this. |
Originally Posted by Nimrod1965
(Post 36616493)
Heathrow swaps runways at 3pm every day so that it gives the residents living under the immediate flight path a break from arrival traffic. This is only for the westerly 27 runways. For runway 09, the majority of landings are on 09L as rhe departures are on 09R; something about the taxiway to 09L not being suitable for all aircraft sizes with T5 domestic gates being so close to the runway threshold (I think).
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Originally Posted by JapesUK
(Post 36612894)
I had purposefully ordered the gluten free special meal which was really decent this afternoon. Watermelon and cheese, a little pot of olives, and a chicken curry, plus some gluten free salted olive oil crackers. Desert was a coconut pot which was also pretty good. My only observation, who on earth thought steamed broccoli was an appropriate side for chicken curry and rice?
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Originally Posted by BMarkus
(Post 36617350)
Thanks for the explanation. However the transition is never smooth. I was on a flight departing 14:30 and held back until the runway swap has been carried out. Why not do one day runway L and the other day R. That would be much easie in my opinion.
Unless it’s quiet, the usual time that it takes from pushing off stand at T5 to take off on 27 is somewhere in the region of 25 minutes, maybe longer during runway changeovers. I would question your comment on delays up to 60 minutes occurring during this process. British Airways has a regular meeting with representatives from NATS and if flights were being delayed by 60 minutes because of this operation, they would question it. The delays might be down to other reasons. Your perception is that it is never smooth but from an ATC perspective, it’s a standard procedure that works well. |
Originally Posted by JapesUK
(Post 36612225)
Here I am, happily ensconced in the lounge, and more on that subject in a minute. Firstly, the trip to the airport which took quite some time as the traffic was horrendous. I eventually arrived at the airport at 12:08.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...63cff48a2.jpeg Otopeni Tower As I was still over three hours early the BA desk was closed but one sad looking soul was camped out against the pillar. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...2d5560bb9.jpeg Then to the standard craziness that is Security. Massive queue to get in https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...82ceec7bd.jpeg Usual chaos pre-security It was around half an hour from the back of the queue to airside. Airside most of the reconstruction is done and it looks a bit smarter than previously https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e0bed5e5d.jpeg https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...02915a984.jpeg To gate three and onwards and upwards to the Dacia lounge https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...95518bf6e.jpeg https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...5bece0959.jpeg No sir, this is not the lounge for the likes of you! BA passengers now need to go through to the non Schengen side and use the business satellite lounge. This is a mini version of the Dacia lounge, same pitiful food offering, just a lot hotter as it is a huge glass house. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d6f6824e3.jpeg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...93d344d4a.jpeg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e0e52990d.jpeg https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...9ff1e16a3.jpeg https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d1c8a4b4c.jpeg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d5239d655.jpeg https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...06726139a.jpeg https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...79dca9e58.jpeg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...ae5489ae4.jpeg A little sample of the food and a nice cold Ursus https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...75620adac.jpeg The pizza was as nasty as it looks, one bite was enough. The chicken nuggets were reconstituted, the potato croquettes greasy. It’s been less than a year since the lounges introduced any sort of hot food but I’d hoped they might have upped the game, unfortunate not. With two hours to wait until boarding it’s time to see how much of this rather good Ursus I can make disappear :D |
Originally Posted by Nimrod1965
(Post 36617478)
The runway change has been in operation for longer that I can remember (over 30 years), there may be an agreement between HAL and the local authorities, I’m not an expert. It does require a bit of effort but at some point, aircraft have to taxi to the other runway and wait for the changeover, at some point, there has to be a slight “pause” to effect the runway change.
Unless it’s quiet, the usual time that it takes from pushing off stand at T5 to take off on 27 is somewhere in the region of 25 minutes, maybe longer during runway changeovers. I would question your comment on delays up to 60 minutes occurring during this process. British Airways has a regular meeting with representatives from NATS and if flights were being delayed by 60 minutes because of this operation, they would question it. The delays might be down to other reasons. Your perception is that it is never smooth but from an ATC perspective, it’s a standard procedure that works well. |
Originally Posted by Fabo.sk
(Post 36613824)
What I can tell you at this point, hotel situation is good, that you probably already know, and I recommend you visit Garaza Bars for some great atmosphere, wide choice of whiskys and good beer and eating.
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