Time for another snapshot, this time focusing on British Airways Short-haul product
Boarding: Boarding sadly was conducted from Gate 10 at Heathrow. Whilst this doesn’t mean a lot to a lot of people, this is the busing gates at Terminal 5. Which is… Not so good.
Why? Priority boarding normally goes out of the window. Like it did today (although by the time a bus load of people were checked, priority lanes were enforced. Nice.
The bus ride was a slow drive under t5, popping out at T5C, and a very long drive around the terminal to the waiting plane.
Seating aboard these planes are based on the British Airways new short-haul seat. Which is… well.. not that bad in my case…
The plane: today’s bird is a British Airways A321- one of the larger short-haul airplanes they have in their fleet. The plane itself is fitted with British Airways “new” short-haul products…. Or what I call “BANEK” (a play on British Airways Neue Europe Kabine), fitted with slimline seats – the ones that can cause sore backs and bottoms.
Whilst as not as bare as a Lufthansa NEK seat – after a while – bottoms know they’ve won between sitting on them for a while.
Business Class seating
Lovely embedded BA logo.
And the view from my seat
The Club Cabin was pretty loaded, with 47 up front, and the rest of the plane solid down the back – so not a light load over to Madrid yesterday.
Sitting in the 2nd exit row of an A321 means you’ve got an exit door for a friend – and the nearest window behind you. On the plus side, you have practically unlimited leg room. I went for leg room for once.
The loaded cabin.
Sadly, views weren’t that hot…
The flight itself had its share of bumps over the Channel and the Bay of Biscay not unexpected, but not welcomed none the less.
Breakfast was a croissant with soft cheese and bacon. I’m glad I went for the lounge option earlier in the day.
… and on a more serious point, I’d wish airlines could develop better coffee for planes.
The cabin near the end of the flight..
Even with the late departure, the plane was on the blocks on time at Madrid – always a good thing.
The full trip report… sometime next month (I have the Hawaii trip report still to complete).
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