BA710 London Heathrow Terminal 5 to Zürich Airport, Club Europe.
“Life, The Universe and Everything”
Contents
- In the beginning I begun to write this trip report. This made a lot of people very angry, and has been widely regarded as a bad move.
- First action of being 42 – Coach 210, British Airways Galleries South
- BA710 London to Zürich in Club Europe
- A brief wander into Zürich featuring the Canon 50mm F1.2
- Mostly Harmless – The Zürich Airport Observation Deck
- The Aspire Lounge, Zürich Airport (B/D Dock)
- BA717 Zürich to London in Club Europe
- The Race, The Coach, The Cold
- Six by Nine? Forty Two?
BA710 London Heathrow Terminal 5 to Zürich Airport
British Airways, Airbus A319, Seat 2F – Club Europe (Business Class)
491 Miles flown, 0 Avios earned, 0 Tier Points Earned.
I was welcomed aboard, and headed to row 2 on this A319. Whilst I could had gone for Row 1, I was in the mood to have a row of seats to myself.
Row 2.
Overhead pannel with air vents.
Legroom. Crappy EuroBusiness legroom.
Some might call it greedy – I call it maximising my space.
A towel service was carried out on the ground.
Now, Towels are important things in the galaxy. And if you’ve read the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (a wholly remarkable book), it has various statements on towels, and how useful they are both physically and psychology. I’d suggest Chapter 3 of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy for light reading – or if you’re cheap the Wikipedia Entry about Towel Day has the same effect.
I’m glad I had the towel. After inspecting the seat pocket… More than a few wipes were needed.
Ewww.
Today’s service was aboard an A319. Sadly, this isn’t an ex BMI plane, so it is B/E Pinnacle seats all the way through. Regular readers will know my opinions of this seat.
The flight didn’t seem to well loaded, so the plane was buttoned up on time, and pushed back on scheduled by a Robo-Tug.
Thank you robot-tug and robo-tug’s human!
For those of you unfamiliar, British Airways use remote-controlled tugs for pushback purposes at Heathrow.
Here’s the video again.
With that, two things happened. One, the safety video played (and this video – as much as I like it, feels that bit too long coming in at six minutes or so).
The second thing… is more photography related. As some of you know, I’ve been having fun with the 6D (and by fun, I am of course meaning that I want to throw it in the nearest river with the issues its had).
This trip, I’ve switched lens from the 24-105 to a 50mm f1.2. Whilst I lose the zoom ability – I gain something else – F1.2 goodness, meaning a very shallow depth of field, and what I would bluntly describe as a light monster – so I should get some rather passable images.
Let’s have a look, shall we?
Speedbird tails.
BA A320
Terminal 2
With a long taxi, our plane finally lined up for departure. After a short wait, the engines powered up for a quick take-off with BA710 heading into the sky.
With a short run, our plane turned and headed southwards, heading to the south coast of the United Kingdom, over the Channel, into France and across to Switzerland
Engine shot.
With the plane beginning its crossing across the Channel, breakfast was offered – a choice of a vegetarian option or a full English breakfast.
Regulars will know what I went for – the full English.
I was also offered drinks – I went for water and Champagne.
And as it was short-haul, it BA’s Champagne de Castelnau in mini-bottles – A drink that not entirely unlike Champagne, but is just way to acidic for its own good.
Whilst it didn’t come from a Nutrimatic drinks dispenser, this is pretty much an approximation of a glass of bubbles that you’ll encounter aboard a plane.
No matter
La France.
The cabin crew were paying attention to some passengers more than others – it seems there was a passenger that the CSD was interested in, and sat next to him in the front row and chatted for a good 15 minutes.
Hmm.
Cruise.
Closing in.
Meanwhile, the cabin was cleared down and duty-free service was carried out. With that, the crew checked on passenger needs, and hid behind the curtain until it was time to arrive
As usual, the appropriate announcements were made with the plane coming in, and the cabin being tidied down.
Our plane crossed the bumpy cloud layer and headed towards the ground.
With a nice thump, our BA710 landed at Zurich Airport – ending this 1 hour 45 flight.
Our plane had a short taxi, with our plane passing E Dock on the right-hand side, and taxing by it. In some ways, I was glad (as it’s a much shorter transfer to landside from B/D docks), but in other ways, I wasn’t – namely as I wouldn’t see the Swiss Cow welcome display.
E Dock
Swiss Airbus A330
Lots of longhaul tails
With our plane arriving at the B/D dock, the engines were shut down and the seatbelt signs extinguished.
Short haul tails
Wilkommon in Zürich!
I thanked the crew and headed off to enjoy my birthday.
Overall: I’m still trying to sum up this flight in a lot of different ways. There were flashes of excellent service, but also a crew being too close to passengers. The on-board service was actually good (I tend to find the breakfast flights are never a duff option).
But there needs to be a balance of service, and maybe the CSM/CSD went over the top. At least all other customers were served.
Next: A quick trip into Zürich.
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