Two for the Price of One: BA Domestic – BA1387 Manchester Airport to London Heathrow

Two for the Price of One: BA Domestic – BA1387 Manchester Airport to London Heathrow

In this epic…

• Two for the price of one? Or when two become one?
• Off to Manchester Airport on the edge of my seat…
• BA Domestic – BA1387 Manchester Airport to London Heathrow
• Heathrow Transit, American Airlines Flagship Lounge
• American Airlines – AA87 London Heathrow to Chicago, Main Cabin
• Streamlined Immigration?
• The Crowne Plaza O’Hare
• Evening adventures with the Sony A5000
• The Hyatt Regency O’Hare
• Off to O’Hare, American Airlines Admirals Club
• American Airlines – AA1205 Chicago O’Hare to Boston Logan
• A Boston Omnishambles
• British Airways – BA202 Boston Logan to London Heathrow Terminal 5 in World Traveller Plus
• Transit and changes… from holiday to work, British Airways Galleries North Lounge
• British Airways – BA974 London Heathrow to Hamburg
• IBIS Budget St Pauli, Hamburg
• Trade Show 101 (or… don’t sleep on your glasses).
• Pounding the Halls of AIX – What you might had missed…
• A Walk around the Hamburg Dom
• Rushing back to Hamburg Airport
• British Airways – BA967 Hamburg to London Heathrow
• Homeward bound
• Mixing business with pleasure

BA1387 Manchester Airport to London Heathrow
Seat 1A, UK Domestic, Airbus A321
151 miles flown, 125+432 Avios Earned, 5 Tier Points Earned

With me boarding, I headed down the jetway to my home for the short hop to Heathrow – seat 1A. There was someone already sat in 1C – who was quite chatty with the crew.

We meet again B/E Pinnacle.

Boarding in full swing.

Speedmarque in full view.

Thankfully, boarding was completed in reasonable time for this shuttle flight to London.

Legroom.

With a 1 hour 10 flight time posted (with a good portion of it due to stacking over London), the A321 pushed back and begun taxing to the runway.

Passing a FlyBe Dash-8…

And another one occupying the entry to the runway.

Once in position, the engines roared to life , the plane took to its home in the sky

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Up we go!

With short services like these, the crew need to be out of the traps quickly to commence a breakfast service – and this domestic crew were no different with breakfast buns begin offered to all passengers.

(A quick aside – British Airways only offer economy class on its UK domestic routes – whilst fares can be sold as “UK Business”, it’s still an economy seat. Also… it’s that dratted B/E Pinnacle Seat… so it’s not going to make a dot of difference anyway).

With me in 1A, I was served off the bat with my bacon roll and diet coke.

Now, you’d expect the bacon roll to have a copy of rashers of hard bacon in it, and zero taste in the air – given most caterers out of Heathrow are good at converting bacon into cardboard or rubber (and on occasions – both at the same time)

All wrapped up.

With drink

Niceeeeeee!

Burp.

So I was rather surprised to find a good few rashers of bacon in the roll (I counted at least four) and the roll tasting moist and edible – not as hard as a brick.

Miracles do occur in the air sometimes.

As the crew went about their business, the plane continued on its route over the United Kingdom towards Heathrow Airport

The flight itself was a smooth run to London, with the crew cleaning up the cabin once the service had been completed.

Passing Heathrow first. Alas, no quick landing for us – off to a stack!

Soon enough the plane was placed in a stack for London Heathrow. After a few spins in the stack, our plane was released to approach Heathrow on runway 27L, taking us past the London sights.

Father Thames

Since I was sat on the right hand side, i got to see the Thames, Wimbledon (that was a first for me), and finally, Twickenham rugby stadium.

Heading towards Wimbledon

The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club

Twickenham Stadium

This is where the undercarriage was deployed as the plane is just under 3 minutes out from Heathrow.

Soon enough, the A321 touched down at Heathrow Airport, ending the first segment of this trip.

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The plane pulled off the runway, and begun the long taxi to T5A, and to the domestic side of Terminal 5 – Gate 501-504.

Terminal 5

It’s a Dove from above (Still in semi-Olympic Colours after 4-5 years!).

Taxing towards to the Domestic Gates

Coming into Gate 501.

51 minutes after taking off from Manchester – we were at the gate

With the bongs going off to indicate we could move around the cabin, I got up, grabbed my stuff and headed for the exit.

Overall: I don’t expect much at all from a UK Domestic service at all – if anything a drink of something if I’m lucky to slurp down before we land – so  breakfast service of a bacon roll on a 51 minutes flight was good to see. Considering how much time the crew had to deliver that service – it was pretty reasonable. Certainly more than you’d get on a US Domestic service of  similar length.

Next: Heathrow Airport Transit, the Duty Free Rip Off and The American Airlines Flagship Lounge.

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