Well after 7 months of planning my wedding and honeymoon arrived, so on 25th August I got married to Alison at a beautiful service at Derby Cathedral, followed by a reception at Breadsall Priory. Then the next exciting part of our week was a 3 hour drive down the M40 to Heathrow and Terminal 5. I had been excited for months about this, especially because I have 1) Never flown with British Airways, 2) Never flown in Club Europe before and 3) Not flown from Terminal 5.

We arrived at Terminal 5 parking and the first thing we saw was that we were parked right next to the active take-off runway. The first aircraft we saw was this one

We had already checked in at the hotel the previous evening and all we needed to do was check in and drop off our bags. First impressions of Terminal 5 were how big and spacious it is. Check in through to airside took 9 minutes! And then it was straight to the Galleries Lounge for some BA hospitality before getting on our flight.

We were both very impressed with the food and drink on offer. We sat for a while and had something to eat and plenty to drink. Before long it was time to wander down to the gate at board our flight to Rome (stopping off at a few shops along the way)

BA 558
Aircraft: A320 G-EUUX
Seats: Club Europe 3A and 3C
Euro Traveller 100% full, Club Europe 19/20 seats

Boarding was through Gate 26 (I think) and I was so excited when I realised that we would be flying on G-EUUX which was just over a month old. (Most flights to Rome are on A321 but the last one of the day at 18:15 is on an A320 and one a day is on a 767) There was no priority boarding, although the gate agents did try to board from the back. We waited until some of the queue had gone down and wandered to the gate. When we got on we found that most of the seats in Club Europe had already been taken, so we were one of the last on. Dinner service started straight away after takeoff with one of the cabin crew serving food and one doing the drinks. The options were Chicken Salad or Prawns and noodles. Even being on row 3 they had run out of the salad and we were only left with the noddles. My wife does not do prawns so we mentioned this to the crewe, he then suggested that they had a beef stew which she could have, but to keep it quiet (i assume this was one of the crewe's meals?) I had the prawns which were very nice, although quite spicy. We got cheese and biscuits and two little white chocolate truffles. I did think that we might have got a pudding though. There were two drinks runs done on the flight, with a couple of Gins for the Mrs and lagers for me. The lights were dimmed for about the last 45 minutes before landing and one of the cabin crew brought round a tray of brandy or baileys!!!




I was very impressed with G-EUUX and it certainly felt very new!! Was a very smooth flight and we were looked after well. Had a "Congratulations" from the Club Europe crew as we left which was quite a nice touch!

The taxi ride to the hotel was quite an experience too. Travelling at 102mph not 6' behind the car in front!!! Is that how all Italians drive  

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We spent a lovely few days in Rome staying at the Crown Plaza St Peter's. We managed to see all of the sights and soak up some sun in the 39 degree heat! All too soon it was time to come home. I was also excited because we were going home on BA553 which is the flight operated by a 767.

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Check in was again done at the hotel prior to going to the airport. We were given seats 4A and 4B. We found the BA check in desks at the airport and I was pleased that Club Europe had a special lane to wait in   We got rid of our suitcases and made our way to the BA Lounge to wait for boarding. I watched our 767 land and we decided to get the little train to the boarding gate. When we got there it was very busy and once boarding was called it tended to be a bit of a free for all. There were random searches being done before getting on the plane, and yes you've guessed it, Alison and I were stopped and searched!!!




BA553
Aircraft: 767 G-BNWA
Seats: 4A and 4B

The flight was again 100% full in both Euro Traveller and Club Europe, with someone even travelling in the jump seat at the front of the plane. No sooner had we taken off then we were given drinks and packets of pretzel bites which were very nice. Meals were then brought round and the choice was chicken salad or salmon steak and pasta. We both chose the salmon and really enjoyed it with the hot bread rolls which were offered. Yet again we were offered drinks to go with our meal. The cabin crew seemed much more ralxed on this flight and even had time to talk to the 24 passengers in Club. Yet again this was another smooth flight, helped yet again with another drinks run (The female cabin crew gave the Mrs a bottle of champagne and I had a lemonade, due to driving back home from Heathrow). We took a course over the West coast of Italy. We went over this airport but I am not sure where it is



(I am sure an airnetter can tell me lol) then flew directly over CDG before beginning out descent over the English Channel. We few past Gatwick and the Co-Pilot told us that we were being put in a hold over Biggin Hill and would be landing in about 20 minutes. We flew past Windsor Castle and had the smoothest landing that I had ever had!!! A short (ish) taxi to stand and then everyone was let off through the front door. Again the cabin crew were brilliant and said "congratualtions, hope we had a lovely time in Rome and a good flight with
BA". Once inside Terminal 5 we waited for our baggage, which were given Priority labels in Rome but were one of the last ones off!!!

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Overall impressions:

Terminal 5: 9/10 Is a lovely terminal which doesnt seem busy or crowded at all. The only reason I have knocked off a point is because of how long we had to wait to get our bags at the end.

BA (Club Europe): 10/10 Having never flown BA before I wasn't sure what it would be like. Have got to say that both flights were brilliant, especially flying on G-EUUX. Cabin crew were wonderful and made us both feel welcome and comfortable. Meals and drinks were lovely and we were really looked after. Thank you BA!!!!  

Hope this trip report was ok. Sorry I can't get any more photgraphs on the report, I don't seem to have enough space in my profile.

Thanks for reading!!!! Am thinking about my next flights already!!!