Trip Report – Hello Daytrip! Back to Orly Airport and the Iberia Lounge.
In this trip report…
- To Heathrow, British Airways Galleries First Lounge
- BA332 London Heathrow Airport T5 – Paris Orly West in Club Europe
- Would you like to heal your Pokemon? – The Paris Popup Pokemon Centre
- Other bits of Paris (or which scam is where!)
- Iberia Lounge, Paris Orly Airport
- BA337 Paris Orly West – London Heathrow Airport T5 in Club Europe
- Homeward Bound on Heathrow Express and Chiltern Railways
- Wrapping up the DayTrip – To catch them is my real quest, to train them is my cause….
After a day of walking around, with my tiredness beginning to creep in, and the possibility of real fum if the SNCF strike continued to be a pain, I decided the best course of action was to head back to the airport on the RER.
Thankfully, at Notre Dame, there is an RER B station that will take me directly back to Antony station.
There was only a short wait before the train came in – made up of old carriages and refurbished ones. I made a beeline for the refurbished ones (least of all, they’re cleaned up – but more importantly, they’re fitted with CCTV and slightly more comfier seats).
The RER made its way from the central zone of Paris, and out back into the Île-de-France, eventually depositing me at Antony station.
Old and new
Le Rush to get off
Classqiue.
From there is was back towards the OrlyVAL, where there was a short wait for the next train. Another ticket validation, and it was off onto the automated train back to the Orly Airport complex.
At Orly West
With that done, I headed back into the Orly West Airport complex to play “hunt the lounge” (combined with hunt the toilet). For British Airways passengers – this is an annoyance as the lounge is over in Hall 1 (where BA/OpenSkies depart from Hall3).
But still, I was early for my flight, so I headed up to the lounge.
Lounge for…
So off we go up to the Salon VIP
The doorway
First black mark as I enter – no member of staff to greet. That was the best part of 15 minutes to wait before a lounge attendant could be interested in returning. For a lounge that’s co-branded by Melia Hotels and Resorts.. it’s a bit poor.
Lounge
Magazines
Seating
Whilst drink was pretty free-flowing (be it soft drinks or alcoholic), food was a bit lacking with prepared bagels and pasta.
Not the greatest selection…
Power charging points were an issue in this lounge as well – with so few around.
In addition, I was tired so I dosed off – waking up occasionally to check on the flight, which was delayed inbound from Heathrow.
Of course, this wasn’t announced in the lounge – rather annoying where I had to check every 5 minutes to see if when boarding was to commence.
Eventually, the plane was announced for boarding – with a rush to be made as I was still land side (along with a majority of the lounge following me).
Overall: Apart from the food and drink, the indifferent attitude of the lounge staff wasn’t welcome made it feel like some of the US Lounges I’ve been in. Put it like this: I wouldn’t spend more time than needed in that lounge than needed, nor would I go out of my way to visit it.
Heading to Hall 3 in a hurry, it was a quick step over to the departure area.
Walking over
A Nespresso store too…
Approaching the non-Schengen check in area
Closing in…
Hall 3 – or where BA depart from
Passport control was handled with the usual French attention to detail (i.e. a quick glance at the photo ID page), with me filtering into the priority security queue for clearance.
A few minutes doing the usual security things, and I was cleared to head to the gate.
My plane at the gate
With the majority of plane loaded, there was no wait to board. My boarding pass was scanned, and I headed down the jet way for the delayed flight home.
Next: BA337 Paris Orly to London Heathrow
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Lounges, perhaps all but a handful of superior, home-port spaces are just not what they were even ten years ago. Other tan ‘free’ mid-shelf liquor for those who do (I do not) they don’t have a lot to offer. The food is rarely better than cheap snacks, power access is usually limited and the “Quiet” is often not. There was a day when I wold consider buying a day pass if my ticket did not qualify. Currently, unless I already know that the lounge is superior, I often bypass, even when the fare does qualify. Perhaps worst of all, the greeters (door monitors) used to be qualified agents if the airline who could double as check-in agents and change agents when necessary. In most places today, the greeters are nothing more than door police. The vast majority of lounges have lost the real value associated with premium class fares. Sad to see it.