BA0974 London Heathrow to Hamburg (Club Europe)
Aircraft Interiors Expo 2022: Back in Person
- Redemption seats exist for a reason
- Off to LHR, Terminal 5 South Lounge
- BA0974 London Heathrow to Hamburg (Club Europe)
- Into Germany and IBIS Hotel
- What you might have missed from Aircraft Interiors Expo 2022
- What do I get up to on the off-hours? (or “Do you have a life?”)
- Back to Hamburg Airport
- BA0957 Hamburg to London Heathrow (Club Europe)
- There’s a coach around here, I swear…
- Innovation continues
Upon reaching the aircraft, I noticed that this A319 was a little different to the norm – with this being the BEA Retrojet that was painted as part of the BA100 celebrations (remember those heavy days?).
Taken at Frankfurt.
I was welcomed aboard and headed to my home in 3F (a seat I had selected for both outbound and inbound by some odd coincidence).
Club Europe was five rows long today, with 20 passengers filling the seats for this short flight. Meanwhile, EuroTraveller seemed to be doing a good trade – with announcements that the aircraft would be operating out full today.
On this British Airways Airbus A319, they have installed the classic Collins Aerospace Pinnacle seat that we all know well.
Knees, meet seat back.
I’ve written at length about them, and we all know the pluses and minuses of them – the bottom line is they need an extra inch of space to work, rather than the cramped configuration British Airways has chosen doe this aircraft.
And whilst new delivers of the A320neo/A321neo have a mixed cabin configuration (with the Pinnacle seats at the front, combined with Recaro SL3510s at the back), these seats do not feel that premium.
Safety card.
With ease, our A319 filled up on schedule and it was time for it to push back and head off for a short-haul euro-jaunt.
The CSD took our drink orders before departure – a proactive move.
Next door neighbour (Another Airbus A319).
Except we had more than a little delay pushing back. Eventually, the aircraft commenced a long hike around the Heathrow Airport, as we taxied towards Runway 27L.
Away we go.
The electric tug doing its thing
British Airways Airbus A350-1000.
Heathrow Terminal 4, before it reopened to the world.
Lufthansa Airbus A320neo starting its take-off run.
American Airlines Boeing 787-9 starting its run.
British Airways Airbus A350-1000 starting on its way.
Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787-9 lining up.
The traffic behind us, with an Airbus A380 too.
Eventually, after letting an Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 pass, it was time for our Airbus A319 to take to the sky.
Uere’s the take-off roll – in glorious 4K/60FPS. Be happy with those who have displays that can drive their content that hard.
With the aircraft in the sky, it turned to take it over North London and out to the North Sea, over The Netherlands and finally into Germany and Hamburg – a 1 hour 1-minute jaunt.
On this A319, it seems British Airways is still hell-bent on getting shot of them in the near future – as there had been no cabin upgrade work (so, no Wi-Fi or Power at Seat).
No power here.
Drinks were delivered pretty quickly, thanks to the pre-ordering. That worked out well.
These new Club Europe snacks are nice though.
What didn’t work was the delay in the meal service.
From what I could work out, the person at the front was trying to run an A320 style service aboard an A319, thus it was over the Netherlands when food started to be distributed By the time the cart reached me, the aircraft was at the top of descent.
Which meant I had a total of 15 minutes tops to wolf down the presented salad. Although given the size of it, it wasn’t any challenge.
Offered on this flight was a prawn salad along with a side salad, and a rhubarb custard dessert. A bread roll was offered (but declined) due to the remaining flight length.
The salad was fresh enough, with the mandated three King Prawns British Airways likes to put on the plate – which brings us onto the side salad. That’s right. Serving a side salad, with a main salad.
At least it wasn’t the afternoon tea service, something to be grateful.
With speed, the service was cleared down (along with the rest of the cabin), as the aircraft was prepared for landing.
Outside, the summer sun was giving the world a nice display of evening sun over the German countryside.
With ease, the Airbus A319 lined up for an approach at Hamburg Airport, with rain starting to fall.
With the aircraft on the ground, the cloud decided to drop water. Well, it was due. However, the A319 taxied along its merry way, arriving at the Hamburg Airport terminal area and swinging towards a waiting gate.
Hello HAM.
You don’t see many MD aircraft around these days…. especially in Europe.
Thankfully at Hamburg airport, there was no wait for the jetbridge crew as the aircraft engines powered down.
It seems things have returned to normal with disembarkation, with the usual free-for-all, as opposed to organised disembarkation by rows.
With my bags in hand, I made my way off and into Germany.
Overall
It’s a shame that British Airways have kept the A319s in service to a point – as it’s difficult for a three-person crew to complete a full service, especially on these 1 hours or so segments.
If the airline intends to keep them, they need to drag them to the mid-2015s at least and install power at seats, maybe even go so far as to add Wi-Fi to the aircraft.
As for the service speed, I think the CSD was trying to do a long-haul service on a short-haul service and ran out of time sadly. This is important in short segments like this when you need to get the service done quickly.
Next: Into Hamburg, Ibis Hotel St Pauli
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