Book it Danno! British Airways BA837 Dublin Airport to London Heathrow Airport in Club Europe
Index:
- A Rock, A Hard Place and Tier Points
- To Birmingham Airport, Ryanair FR693 Birmingham to Dublin
- A morning around Dublin
- Dublin Airport, BA4467 Dublin Airport to London City Airport
- Travelodge, London City Airport
- A Morning at London City Airport
- British Airways BA001 London City Airport – Shannon, Shannon to New York-JFK
- Über Takes on Manhattan
- Holiday Inn Express, JFK
- JFK T8, US Airways Flight US510 New York JFK to Phoenix, Arizona
- US Airways Club/Admiral’s Club, US694 Phoenix Sky Harbour to Honolulu
- The Aston Beach Waikiki
- Travel Plus… Doing – Exploring the Diamond Head Trail
- Travel Plus… Doing – Pearl Harbour and The USS Arizona Memorial
- The joy of British Airways Rebooking
- Honolulu Airport, American Airline Lounge, US693 Honolulu International to Phoenix
- US425 Phoenix to New York-JFK, Economy Class
- JFK Omnishambles
- BA002 JFK to London City Airport
- Involuntary Downgrade Chaos
- BA4462 London City Airport to Dublin
- A Five Hour Dublin Layover
- BA0837 Dublin Airport to London Heathrow Airport in Club Europe
- Homeward bound
- Aftermath: Points and Reflections…
Heading onto the plane, I was welcomed aboard… and struck immediately by the new cabin installed in on this plane.
Well, new to me.
Yes, the curse of mood-lit cabins has arrived on British Airways, along with slim-line seats so they can cram more people in.
Note the headrest – looks like the crew didn’t reset the seat…
The seat in its more natural position.
The legroom is more crush capacity than not, with a 30″ seat pitch – but with thinner padding so you don’t notice the lack of legroom. Hmm.
Tray – note the Speedmarque
And another speedmark on the headrest.
Hmm. That still looks pretty tight to me. Hardly premium – and that with the old seats. The new seats are almost as bad as Ryanair.
Now, before I go on, there is a bit of bad thought in this design of the new seat – and that there’s a document pocket on the top of the seat… and the bottom.
I hate to be nasty, but that’s stupid (and a lot more materials). Either do the top one (to increase legroom), or the bottom one (to increase accessibility). Or simply... make up your mind BA!
Boarding continued apace as the plane filled up for the flight to London Heathrow
Hot towels were offered on the ground as we prepared to depart.
With those cleared away, it was time to prepare to depart.
Thank you Dublin – see you on another Tier Point run!
With the safety video played and a long taxi to the runway, our Airbus A320 powered up for the hop over the Irish sea.
With the plane climbing out, the crew were quick off the bat in delivering the service as there were a quite a few more people aboard compared to the Embraer E170 I was aboard earlier.
The curtained galley area. That brown gets everywhere.
This being the point between lunch and dinner – it was time for British Airways famously bad selection of sandwiches. Nothing changes really.
Sandwich Platter
Scone
And more bubbles. Well. They were 9,000 Avios. Best drink it since the crew were offering, it would had been rude to refuse.
Not to mention the crew was expecting this to be a champagne-heavy flight.
The sandwiches were fresh – if uninspired to be honest. The scone was warm and the coffee… brown. Not the greatest mid-afternoon meal (considering the city airport flight that leaves 1/2 an hour later has a full meal loaded on it).
The trays were cleared down as I drunk my drinks.
In-Flight Entertainment was provided by the map, and when I glanced up, I was flying over “home”
What I would had given for a diversion there at that point in the trip.
Meanwhile outside, the day was turning into evening as dusk began to fall.
Soon, we were coming up on London. Glancing down, I could see some of the sights appearing
The home of football – Wembley Stadium
Our plane tracked around London, looping until we were cleared to approach Heathrow
London City Airport below us…
Father Thames snaking out to the North Sea.
South London
With Twickenham Stadium coming into view, we were 3 minutes away from Heathrow Airport – time to land.
With a few bumps, our Airbus A320 safely landed on the tarmac. Arriving on 27L meant that we were lined up perfectly for a quick arrival at Terminal 5.
Heathrow Terminal 5
Cabin during Taxi.
With the plane coming to the stand, the bongs went off, and it was time to leave.
Overall: A reasonable service for a short flight. However, compared to the Dublin-London City flight, service is not a spot on it, as well as the catering. The new seating is an interesting thing – whilst offering comfort, it didn’t seem premium at all for those who paid out full price for Club Europe. A case of “passable”, but not “excellent” I would say here.
Would I spend the hard cash on a seat like this in the normal world? Not a cat in hells chance unless it’s offered as an upgrade. For 9,000 Avios… it was just about passable.
Just.
London City vs London Heathrow? Depends where you need to be in the world. I needed to be nearer to Heathrow, so the mainline service suited me better. If positioning wasn’t a factor, I would had taken the London City service.
Welcome to Economy Class and Beyond – Your no-nonsense guide to network news, honest reviews, with in-depth coverage, unique research as well as the humour and madness as I only know how to deliver.
Follow me on Twitter at @EconomyBeyond for the latest updates!
Also remember that as well as being part of BoardingArea, we’re also part of BoardingArea.eu, delivering frequent flyer news, miles and points to European readers.
Great report. Does club world not sell the middle seat, so at least the you have extra side room? Also are the prices to lcy more expensive in general than lhr and gatwick?