BA836 London Heathrow to Dublin Airport (Club Europe)
Polishing Silver
It’s time to leave London town on the last part of my long-haul Business Class ticket. How is the service on British Airways on the short-haul segments… and is it possible to deliver it in an hour?
In this Tier Point-laden adventure
- All I ask is for one decent airfare. Just ONE. Anyone?
- Off to Birmingham Airport
- FR669 Birmingham to Dublin Airport with Ryanair
- Welcome to Dublin, Premier Inn – Dublin Airport
- Early Morning Dublin Airport and US Preclearance, 51st and Green Lounge
- AA723 Dublin to Philadelphia – Flagship Business Class
- A Rocky Interlude – Exploring Philadelphia
- Return to PHL and the Philadelphia American Airlines Admirals Club
- AA2663 Philadelphia to San Francisco – US Domestic First
- A new terminal and The Crowne Plaza, Burlingame
- The Intercontinental San Francisco (and trying the new BART trains)
- Asian Eats around San Francisco
- A challenge unto myself: Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge
- Ferrying around the bay with Golden Gate Ferry
- Of Dragons and Lions – Celebrations in San Francisco Chinatown
- Back to SFO, American Airlines Admirals Club
- AA164 San Francisco to New York JFK – Transcontinental Business Class
- A snow-laden pit stop at JFK and the American Airlines/British Airways Greenwich Lounge
- AA104 New York JFK to London Heathrow – Flagship Business Class
- Transiting across Heathrow Terminals and the British Airways Galleries North
- BA836 London Heathrow to Dublin Airport – Club Europe
- A Two Hour Dublin Turnaround featuring the Dublin Airport Lounge
- BA4469 Dublin to London City Airport – Club Europe by BA CityFlyer
- To the trains… and on the cheap
- Points in the bag
BA836 London Heathrow Terminal 5 to Dublin Airport Terminal 1
British Airways, Airbus A320neo
Seat 3F, Club Europe
280 Miles flown
Revenue value: £22.40, 179 Avios flown
40 Tier Points Earned
Ad yes, it’s an Airbus A320neo. No barking hydraulics for me.
Heading aboard the aircraft, I was welcomed by the crew. I took the chance to stow my rucksack in the overhead bin, whilst keeping the Pam Am bag at my feet.
Although there were no announcements on how to store luggage – note the diagram, indicating this is a SpaceBin XL as opposed to a normal overhead bin. Yes, I spend far too long looking at overhead bins on this blog.
Heading to the seat I’m greeted with the classic thats Collins Aerospace Pinnicale seat.
What was missing however was a cocktail table. It seems that British Airways had done a cost-benefit analysis, and found that having a cocktail table in Club Europe was too much of an expense, thus this is “real” Eurobusiness – just an empty middle seat.
What’s the term… letting accountants run an airline? It’s not as if it’s an expensive part (and Collins Aerospace has updated the seat so the tray can now stowed in the seat, with airlines like Aegean operating it successfully.
Although there’s good news, with British Airways selecting the Meridian seat recently – bringing back the cocktail table to Club Europe. Hopefully, British Airways gets the bug and refits the entire short-haul fleet. However, no one has mentioned the planned seat pitch of the new seats…
The aircraft slowly filled out, there might have been the chance of the oddest of oddest things at Heathrow Terminal 5 – an on-time pushback.
It couldn’t be… and it wasn’t. A few load issues and we were 17 minutes late, along with a long taxi around Heathrow.
I can’t be angry – that’s close enough on time for British Airways these days.
I was dozing during the taxi – I guess the past few days were starting to catch up with me at this point.
Terminal 4
United Airlines Boeing 767-300ER heading back to the USA.
With ease, the bigger engines of the A320neo have propelled the aircraft into the sky.
With the aircraft climbing in the air, I had a play around with things.
It seemed the crew forgot to switch on the in-seat power on the aircraft. In addition, the BA Inflight Portal wasn’t present on the A320neo.
No power for you, fool!
For an hour, I can live without connectivity in the air. It’s a shame they didn’t order screens for these aircraft with the map on though (or even to play a safety video – however bloated it is these days). The lack of in-seat power is slightly more annoying.
A snack service was the first thing to appear.
The food and beverage service came out quickly – with this being an hour’s flight, with the airline offering a light salad – with a choice of zucchini or prawns. I went for pawns as I wanted something light.
Although British Airways is getting tough with the definition of the term light. In the past, we’ve seen three slices of beef or three pawns. It seems the Domestic and Ireland route has been downgraded to two prawns.
Delicious. Someone had taken the lesson from American Airlines on how reducing one item can reduce costs across the board when purchasing at scale.
The mango moose helped things along. At least Do&Co can still cater well, even if their client seems to be costing things down.
Nonetheless, it had filled a hole that had developed from the time I had sat in the lounge to when I had sat on the aircraft.
And yes, another gin and tonic – with water. This time Tanqueray Gin.
For those of you who are worrying about how much I’m drinking, this is where I let you into a secret.
I’m barely putting half a measure (25ml) versus a full double that’s 50ml in it. By the time I drown it in tonic water, it goes from 40 40%Abv, down to about 3% (given a 200ml premix can is around 6%Abv). It’s there to favour the drink, rather than get me drunk.
Also, I’m too much of a control freak to get drunk. That’s my failing, and my benefit at this point of the game.
On top of that, I’ve been building a collection of half-bottles of gin this trip, and it’s starting to get impressive.
With Dublin closing in, and the Irish Sea looking as pretty as always, the A320neo began its descent into Dublin Airport, with it lining up for the old runway for arrivals.
The crew cleared down the cabin and readied it for arrival, with seatbelts on, as the aircraft vectored towards the Irish Coast and Dubin.
Cabin secured.
Passing Lambay Island
With ease, the A320neo landed at Dublin airport and pulled off the runway.
After pulling off the runway the aircraft began its taxi back to the main terminal area.
Now, I’ve been giving the EOS R50 a good workout this trip, with it needing a charge each day. Sadly, it seemed the battery finally gave out, whilst we were taxing into Dublin Airport.
Delta and Aer Lingus over at Terminal 2
KLM Boeing 737-800
I suppressed the swear words and switched to the camera I had in my hand – an iPhone. Chase Jarvis said it best – “The Best Camera You have is the one on you”.
I should modify that to “the best camera you have is the one with charge in it”.
and the same KLM 737 following behind us.
Approaching the Terminal 1 area
Nonetheless, it did a stirring job as the A320neo crossed one of the major taxiways, and headed to Gate 201… right next door to where I had come into Dublin not a few days earlier.
Parking up next to a pair of A330s
Old and new.
It wasn’t 5 days before I was there…
As the aircraft came onto the stand, the engines powered down. It was time to head off the aircraft.
There was a short delay, but eventually, the airstairs were brought to the aircraft. At that point, the passengers…and I were allowed to disembark.
It was time to face the 200 gates again.
Overall
It’s hard just to say it was “just another Eurobusiness flight”, but that does seem that way. The crew were business friendly and the service – even with two prawns was passable.
The Ambassador truly spoilt us with two prawns.
I would have liked to have seen the power at the seat on, but for an hour’s flight, it’s not the end of the world.
But given that the new seats are around the corner, we can hope the passenger experience improves aboard the mainline A320neos.
And hopefully, the rest of the short-haul fleet will get love in the future.
Next
A two-hour back-to-back transit at a smaller international hub. It should be plenty of time… right? Right?
crickets.
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