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The Bucharest Bounce - 1,120 Tier Points to BA GGL
It's been far too quiet around here of late :)
This week I present the Groundhog Day of trip reports. This has been booked for 9 months and I am still moving forward with it despite the changes in the BA The fun starts tomorrow lunchtime and the plan is as follows: A 5 night holiday NCL-LHR-OTP-LHR-NCL departing Saturday and Returning Thursday, delivering 480 tier points. The hotel of choice is the Hilton Garden Inn close to the airport For the 4 days of the holiday, OTP-LHR-OTP every day delivering a total of 640 tier points, Each day I will depart OTP at stupid o'clock, spend 8 hours in T3, and then return to OTP, arriving at even stupider o'clock! If I end up heading into the land of sleep deprivation then I'll either grab a day room one day, or cancel a days flights and pick up the tier points later, we'll see how it all plays out. Expect many, many, many photos of lounges, food, and alcohol, and not much else :D |
Will look forward to your sleep deprived posts! Are there no lounges with daybeds in T3?
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Originally Posted by alex67500
(Post 36804930)
Will look forward to your sleep deprived posts! Are there no lounges with daybeds in T3?
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The crazyness can begin.
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That sounds… exhausting! :eek:
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Wild!
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And we’re off, almost. Uber is booked but its a few minutes out, just time for a quick update before I leave the house for six whole days of flights and airport lounges. Now the day is upon me I am having doubts about the sanity of this trip but, hey, it’ll be an experience, for sure! I’m wondering how many trips it’ll take before I have to explain Tier Point Runs to Romanian border control. My guess, Monday night :)
Next Stop: Newcastle Airport |
BA are starting my trip in the fashion we have all become accustomed to. The first delay message was 20 minutes, then 30, 40, 43, and now 56 minutes. All in the course of the trip to the airport.
My first surprise was the change to the signage, it’s no longer ‘your airport’ and now has this simple white sign https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...de3248835.jpeg The airport is really quiet. The car park was almost empty, check in likewise, the BA desk queue free. https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b64548604.jpeg Security was equally deserted and the staff busy chatting to the point that I had loaded all my junk on the belt and heading for the body scanner before the lass realised she had a punter :). Secondary security for the iPad once more and then through to departures. The other surprise was the presence of two armed police at the entrance to duty free. Don’t recall seeing armed police here previously. Departures is as quiet as the rest of the airport and, as has become the new normal, first stop is Aster and Thyme for a glass of Castelnau courtesy of PP. https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f82930792.jpeg And, once again, very quiet. https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...4efb0cf1e.jpeg Lovely day for flying, now if only BA can manage to turn up! https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...81346742f.jpeg G-NEOY is already parked at the gate but according to flighty we will be on G-EUYJ Time to enjoy the fizz before heading down to the Aspire lounge. |
Safe travels from the east coast USA!
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And so to the lounge, which is fairly busy in comparison to the rest of the airport. A standard start to any visit
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...fda70124b.jpeg Having gathered all the prerequisites of a sausage roll, KARFA appeared. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...cab4db289.jpeg He is the jinx of my sausage feast, the last time he commented that the buns always fall apart and lo and behold, the bun disintegrated! Let’s see what happens with this plate of deliciousness https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...2267bf677.jpeg As I’ve been typing this the lounge staff have been around and removed all the WiFi flyers as their WiFi is down. Somewhat pointless as the WiFi is still advertising, you just cannot connect. |
I’m happy to report that the bun stayed mostly whole and there was no embarrassing landslide of bread and sausage. As K is sitting some distance away getting some work done I can only conclude that his influence is a factor of distance :D
Tracking our flight on flight radar and it has been stationary on the taxiway at Heathrow for quite some time and so there is nothing for it but to console myself with some Madri. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...09db5bfdd.jpeg Whilst I was securing provisions I took a couple of quick photos of the food offering which is unchanged since the day they opened https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...ece1cf355.jpeg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d970a88d2.jpeg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...c4d2484a4.jpeg The table menus look to have been revamped and the premium food offering has changed slightly https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...bf6bd6723.jpeg The premium spirits uplift doesn’t apply, they’re all available on free pour in the luxe lounge. And as I finish this update I’ve just received a notification that our incoming airplane has just taken off 93 minutes late. The delay doesn’t hurt me, my flight to OTP is not until 18:10 from T3, and that is already posting a delayed departure. |
And so to the gate which is, well, let’s be polite and call it sub-optimal!
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...5c6373171.jpeg The group 1-3 queue is completely stalled and jammed up, 4-9 is still flowing. Little hope for group 0 boarding this morning! Our chariot for today https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b733fcda6.jpeg |
No great surprise, group 0 fail, but I will give them points for trying. There was a clear group 0 called and at least a three second delay before they called groups 1-3!
It was walk on and stairs this morning so it looks like the Gate 3 jet bridge is broken again. When I finally made it on board finding space for my carry on was a bit of a challenge but I got there in the end, albeit with the case a few rows back, the rucksack in a crew bin, and the coat in the wardrobe! Seat 1C today which I think I have on almost all of these 12 flights. Today’s chariot is G-EUYJ which is was last on board from OTP-LHR back in October. https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e81becf4c.jpeg The new issue of the High Life Cafe magazine is out, nothing earth shattering in the way of changes https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...66eb17679.jpeg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e550f0c09.jpeg https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...dbe249d18.jpeg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...773787957.jpeg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...cd65a6e38.jpeg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...434f2c890.jpeg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...0ecd3f39d.jpeg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d0898826b.jpeg https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...9e05fb735.jpeg We are now fully 40 minutes past departure time, the door is shut, the stairs have been retracted, but the flight deck door remains open. Whilst we wait the menus have been distributed. Pretty sure I have special meals ordered for all these flight, just don’t ask me what! https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...c45c754d0.jpeg https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...2324af782.jpeg Next stop: London Heathrow |
Once we were underway the in flight service started in good time. My meal of the day was gluten free, it turned into a very nice chicken roll :). The desert was coconut and something else unpleasant and returned to the galley one spoonful short of when it arrived :)
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...529639ed1.jpeg The standard trio of drinks to accompany the meal but the delivery of them was so spaced out that I didn’t get a photo of them all partying together. https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...0e9026652.jpeg Not much else to add to this short hop down south. The crew were efficient but not engaging, no use of anyone’s names and obviously no gold greeting. They got the job done in a workmanlike fashion. Soon enough we were ten minutes to landing and eventually on the ground at Heathrow just over twenty minutes late, and as I write this we are trundling around the airport so it is fingers crossed that we have an A gate. |
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