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You are here: Home / Trips / Bucharest 2025 / TRIP REPORT: BA886 London Heathrow to Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport (CLUB EUROPE)

TRIP REPORT: BA886 London Heathrow to Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport (CLUB EUROPE)

22/02/2025 by Kevincm

BA886 London Heathrow to Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport (British Airways Club Europe)
Miles to Bucharest

Romania Trip Report Cover

It’s time to fly aboard an Airbus A320 for 3 hours in Club Europe. And yes, I get a Club Europe Window Seat. Let us see what there is to greet us for this three-hour hop to Romania… 

In this adventure

  • The Last Gasp of Silver (or British Airways did us all dirty)
  • Off to Heathrow and the wonder of Terminal 3
  • Lounging around Terminal 3 with Cathay Pacific and Qantas
  • BA886 London Heathrow to Bucharest Henri Coandă (Club Europe)
  • Exiting Bucharest Henri Coandă Airport and into the City – Of Trains and Trams
  • The Mercure Urinii – An Accor ALL Hotel
  • A Nighttime Walk with an iPhone
  • A Morning Exploration around Central Bucharest
  • Back to Bucharest Henri Coandă Airport and the Visa Satellite Lounge
  • BA887 Bucharest Henri Coandă Airport to London Heathrow (Club Europe)
  • Two Trains, A Tube and a Bus to Home
  • Silver Retained. But a New Battle Awaits

BA886 London Heathrow to Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport
British Airways
Seat 3A, Club Europe
1,311 miles flown
80 Tier Points Earned,£266.revenue spent, 2,131 Avios Earned.

Boarding the A320, I was welcomed aboard. With my seat of 3A, I was near enough to the front of the aircraft.

a seat in an airplane

Settling in, the aircraft was pretty much confirmed it wasn’t an A320neo but rather, a newer if slightly more classic A320ceo with Sharklets.

How could I tell this without seeing the engines? It’s rather simple – the business class seats had a tray table between the passenger seats.

a seat in a plane

The seats themselves were the Collins Aerospace Pinnacle seat – which for a three-hour-plus mission… I’ll be honest, was not my first choice. Whilst the seats are in good order, they have been broken in well. As such, new padding is needed on the base.

a row of black chairs on an airplane

a close up of a seat
The valuable cocktail table

a magazine in the arm rest of a plane
Legroom 

It did seem that the turnaround crew hadn’t been paying too close attention to the seats, with headsets at different levels. It’s a small thing, but shows how rushed they were to turn the A320 around.

Row 3 itself felt a little tight but not too cramped. I suppose we should be grateful for British AIewats not shrinking the seat pitch down to 29” or less across the cabin.

I chucked the rucksack in the overhead bin and got comfy.

The rest of Club Europe filled up – with a full cabin of 24 seats filled. Eurotraveller filled up, with luggage jenga games in full flight (and I noticed a cage full of cases heading down to the aircraft that were gate checked too). If only there was a solution for larger overhead bins in A320ceo classic aircraft was out there…

Meanwhile, a celebrity aircraft completed parking next door – this is the last of the active BA100 aircraft – with this aircraft painted in the colours of British European Airways (one of the parts that make up the present British Airways).

British Airways A319 - BEA Retrojet British Airways A319 - BEA Retrojet

During this time, a menu also made its way around the cabin.

a hand holding a menua hand holding a menu

a menu on a table

With the aircraft filled up, the aircraft was loaded on time and it was cleared for a pushback.

a person in a suit standing in an airplane

The safety demonstration was played out, with a manual demonstration given.

a hand holding a blue and white sign with instructions a hand holding a blue box with instructions on it a blue and white book with pictures of airplanes and airplane a hand holding a paper with a picture of an airplane

As the A320 would be departing from the North Runway, I would be treated to the sights of Terminal 3 and 2 before turning for the runway.

a large building with a lot of windows
Clearing Terminal 3

an airplane parked at an airport
Cathay Pacific Boeing 777-300ER

Qantas Boeing 787-9
Qantas Boeing 787-9

airplanes parked on a runway
Turkish Airlines and Air Canada – I still like the Glacial Blue livery…

a group of airplanes at an airport
Singapore Airlines Airbus A380

a large white airplane on a runway
Cathay Pacific Boeing 777-300ER

airplanes on a runway
United Airlines and Ethiopian Airlines

a large airplane on a runway
United AirlinesBoeingg 767-300ER

an airplane on the runway
British Airways Airbus A350-1000

Our A320 made a rolling turn for the runway and powered up its engines to propel the machine into the sky.

an airport runway with a plane on the runway
Line up and go

an aerial view of an airport
Climb

an aerial view of a city an aerial view of a city
The Heathrow field 

With the aircraft in the sky, there was the traditional service greeting, along with the planned service for passengers aboard – with Club Europe getting the meal and bar service, whilst EuroTraveller getting water and a snack, and the Buy-on-board service.

In addition, free internet messaging was offered on the aircraft.

 

That’s nice. Except when I went down to the power outlet on 3A… and found that both the USB and Mains were out cold (and never woke up during the flight). I am trying to be positive, but we’re getting into the “small things are adding up here” territory”.

The crew commenced with a bar service first for a rather relaxed meal service. I guess I’m used to the 1 hour “distribute and collect service” as opposed to a more glacial service.

I went for a Gin and Tonic – mainly as the bubbly that BA uses can be a little acidic for my liking. This was served with the Bealzu snack packs.

a drink and a can of liquid

The crew followed with a second drinks service, with lunch.

a tray of food on a table

I went for the beef cheek with potatoes. This was served with a beetroot and whipped goat curd cheese salad, two sorts of side cheeses, crackers and a mango cream crunch dessert.

The side salad wasn’t to my taste, to be honest. But then again, if cheese is presented, I’ll normally shy away from it. Sorry people, I’m not a cheese lover on a good day, and on a bad day, I won’t touch the stuff.

a plate of food with a roll of bread and cheese
Salads and Cheeses 

Meanwhile, The beef cheek – it’s a very tender cut when cooked, and this suited me well, with some very soft mashed potatoes and green vegetables on top. A nice main course. The grilled corn added an interesting texture too.

a plate of food with broccoli and meat

The mango cream crunch dessert was nice and light – something to be welcomed after the heaviness of the beef cheek.k

With the meal cleared down, I sat back and watched the world go by. Well, the clouds mainly.

a cup of coffee and a glass of water

And pretty much fell asleep. With only a few hours of intermittent sleep, I needed the rest.

clouds and sky above the clouds clouds and sky above the clouds

I woke up around 30 minutes before landing, as the landscape changed from blue skies and white clouds to a different landscape than I was used to, with rolling lands and new views.

clouds and clouds in the sky

clouds above a city

aerial view of a landscape with clouds

aerial view of a city from an airplane

aerial view of a landscape

With the cabin cleared down for arrival and seats back in the upright position, the views came into place indicating we were nearing our destination of Bucharest.

 

aerial view of a landscape

aerial view of a city from an airplane

an aerial view of a landscape an aerial view of a city

an airplane wing and a landscape

As the aircraft made its final approach to Bucharest Airport, it was interesting to see the local landscape.

With ease, the A320 landed at Bucharest Airport, which passed the military base that is also located to the side of one of the runways – with OTP being home to the Romain Air Force 90th Airlift Base.

The A320 taxied away from the runway and towards the passenger terminal, where a Wizz Air aircraft was parked.an airport with a plane in the background

Eventually, a gate was allocated and it was guided in.

With the aircraft at its temporary home, the engines powered down. As par for the course, everyone was up within seconds to start retrieving their baggage.

a group of people on an airplane

I joined the game too, as my backpack was in the overhead bin.

a seat in an airplane

With the jetbridge being mated to the aircraft, it was a quick process to start moving passengers off the aircraft. I followed along too, ensuring that I had everything before I left the aircraft.

I thanked the crew and headed off into a “new to me” country.

Overall

A mostly “as expected” experience of Club Europe, with a good catering offering and drinks, delivered by a friendly enough queue in the front of the cabin, with the aircraft making good time during its journey.

However, it’s the little things and the lack of attention to small details that add up after a while, something that British Airways has fallen behind on over the past few years.

And with customers being able to be more open to things, due to the airline creating its own problems – for some the little things will matter.

Next: Of Trains and Metros – Into Bucharest.


Welcome to Economy Class and Beyond. Your no-nonsense guide to network news, honest reviews, in-depth coverage, unique research, as well as the humour and madness I only know how to deliver.

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Filed Under: Bucharest 2025, Trip, Trip Reports, Trips

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