Big Plane! Heavy Plane! BA911 A380 Frankfurt – London Heathrow

Big Plane! Heavy Plane! Short-Haul A380s with British Airways
BA910 London Heathrow to Frankfurt Main

Index:

• Big Plane! Heavy Plane! (The Introduction)
• Chiltern Railways to London, Heathrow Connect and the Holiday Inn Ariel
• To Heathrow T5 and a Sinking realisation
• Killing time in the F Lounge – an Airplane Art Special!
• A Look at the lower deck of the BA A380
• BA910 London Heathrow T5 to Frankfurt T2
  
• A Frankfurt Stopover
• BA911 Frankfurt Airport T2 to London Heathrow T5
• The work of a photographer
• A bright future?

BA910 London Heathrow T5 to Frankfurt Main T2
British Airways, Airbus A380
Club World, Seat 10F. 9,000 Avios spent + Taxes

I was welcomed back aboard, and some of the crew recognised me (sparking some minor interest in the days events), and I took my seat at the opposite side of the plane that I was in before.

Over head bin – pivot style

I took my seat, and again, I’m in the reserve position as before.

Lets look around the seat. For those who need power, there’s USB sockets aplenty, as well as normal power

Seat controls

Overhead light

IFE and additional USB Power port

Privacy divider

I settled in as passengers filed aboard this plane – again an A319’s worth of passengers in an A380 is rather like a coupe of tic-tacs in a box rattling around.

The Captain gave a welcome speech (pretty similar to the one he gave on the way out) and soon, the plane was pushing back.

Safety card.. so those who pilfer them don’t have to take one now.

Soon we begun the journey, with a long taxi past T2, T1, the cargo pad and finally, to runway 18 for departure. Of course, this is filled with photographic opportunities…

Insert classic Frankfurt shot here.

JAL 777 waiting

Insert classic Frankfurt shot (2) here.

Clearing the cargo pad.

After a short wait for traffic, our A380 turned, and begun another climb into the sky:

Climbing out, it was a wonderful evening for flying.

The mood lighting went a wonderful purple too…

Though it would help if I don’t accidentally rotate my images

Outside, though the view from 10F is a lot better than 11A

Once again, the crew sprang into action for this short 1 hour 15 minute flight. As the flight attendant came to me, she said “Don’t worry – it’s not sandwiches again – it’s a cold plate”

Ah, they know me so well. A choice of bread was also offered.

I was offered a drink, and the male flight attendant offered another bottle of bubbles. I tried to resist, stating I had drunk my fair share earlier… but to quote the flight attendant.

“That was morning and afternoon. This is evening. Time to start again!”

I love BA crew.

The meats were cold, and actually had flavour – something some meats miss in flight. It was presented well.

More Pommery. One of the long haul crewmembers tried to remove the foil… not realising it was a screw top…

Speedmarques on the cutlery

Coffee… and yes in the background – that is my passport. It’s still with me thankfully.

In the interests of research, I also paid a visit to the toilet. And yes, it’s as small as any toilet in the air. The things I do for my you, my readers…

Missing a flower here I suspect.

Elemis Spa amenities

Water controls

The service was cleared down quick and the plane settled into to an approach at Heathrow Airport

Speedmarque lit up.

As decent began, the light of the day started to fade.

The plane touched down on 27L utilising pretty much the full runway. From there it was a slow taxi. Bear in mind the bottom of 27L/09R is the British Airways/Virgin Atlantic maintenance pads, which is the opposite end to where we need to be at T5. So it was off on a very long taxi around Heathrow airport, going round the back of T1, past the in-build T2, pass the row of A380’s at T3 and finally docking at T5C, ending an adventurous day.

T2 in progress. And air bridges that haven’t got HSBC branding… yet.

T2 Main building I think

Qantas A380

Singapore Airlines A380

Emirates A380

The cabin during taxiing – notice the green glow indicators from the seats

As the plane came into T5C, bongs went off indicating that the journey was over. I gathered my stuff together, and waiting for the exit commence – which normally would be through M2L. Today, we were going through M1L – or right through FIRST.

A big thank you to the crew, and I was off back into the United Kingdom

Overall: The Club world product is very very solid. Whilst some would expect an evolutionary change or a complete massive change, Club world when delivered in the 747s and 777s works. And it works aboard this plane too. The evening service was a lot better than the afternoon sandwich service and felt like a meal as opposed to a snack. As for the crew… it was a polished long haul crew who want to do their best aboard a plane – The best sort of crew.

Now back in the UK, I followed the signs to the elevators, and down to the transit system, back to T5A

From the exit, I approached the UK Border… which was ram packed for a Friday evening. Normally I would had gone through the Biometric Passport lane, but this way full to the brim, whilst manual inspections seemed to get going at a fair rate. I therefore plumped to the EU Passport queue, and was seen to within 5 minutes – and on my way out of the airport after 10 minutes.
I made the mistake again of catching a Heathrow Hoppa back to the hotel (I wasn’t in the mood to mess around with busses and trains), and 45 minutes later after landing, I was at my hotel room, reflecting back on a very different day out.

Next: The other reason I needed to be in London – the life of a photographer working with models…