BA886 London Heathrow to Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport (British Airways Club Europe)
Miles to Bucharest
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
- Mercure Urinii
- An evening walk with a camera phone
- Morning Explore
- Back to Bucharest Airport and the Visa Satalite Lounge.
- BA887 Bucharest Henri Coandă to London Heathrow (Club Europe)
- To the Trains! And a bus too.
- 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.
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.
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.
The valuable cocktail table
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).
During this time, a menu also made its way around the cabin.
With the aircraft filled up, the aircraft was loaded on time and it was cleared for a pushback.
The safety demonstration was played out, with a manual demonstration given.
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.
Clearing Terminal 3
Cathay Pacific Boeing 777-300ER
Qantas Boeing 787-9
Turkish Airlines and Air Canada – I still like the Glacial Blue livery…
Singapore Airlines Airbus A380
Cathay Pacific Boeing 777-300ER
United Airlines and Ethiopian Airlines
United AirlinesBoeingg 767-300ER
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.
Line up and go
Climb
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.
The crew followed with a second drinks service, with lunch.
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.
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.
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.
And pretty much fell asleep. With only a few hours of intermittent sleep, I needed the rest.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I joined the game too, as my backpack was in the overhead bin.
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.
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