Being a Saturday, traffic was nice an light to Heathrow, I had guessed this woild be the case so only got up at 05:30, bit of a lie in for a change!
Zone R, the BA premium check-in was nice and quiet, a complete contrast to Tuesday when it was packed, that said Tuesday was a weekday & had it been later in the morning when I was there, peak time for many departures.
Security was a pretty easy though again I had to remove my shoes as this was the right hand machine, it appears you don’t have to remove your shoes when using the machine on the left – stupid!
Didn’t bother with any shops, just headed for the BA Terraces to relax before my flight. Whilst there, I managed a coffee, small bowl of fresh berries and a nice thick Yoghurt, very nice indeed.
Boarding was announced at about 6:50 for gate 39. Since it was a 5-10 minute walk I headed off straight away, good job as boarding had started and was pretty much complete by the time I arrived, as always I touched the skin of the plane when boarding, don’t know why I do that, but always do.
The crew were nice and friendly, a slightly more mature gent would be serving the Club cabin this morning, I forget his name but he was very polite and provided super service through the flight.
Push back occurred a few minutes early, Club had a light load this morning, but the rear cabin was pretty full. Hot towels were offered prior to push-back.
There was a fairly long taxi this morning as we had to head down to 09L for take-off, though we were number 2 for take-off following a company 319 – wheels up at 07:31.
Once the crew had been cleared to move, breakfast service started, the usual BA full English Breakfast. Despite this being my 4th since last Saturday, I still enjoyed it.
BA990 - Breakfast
After my tray was cleared I took Champange, this went down nicely whilst reading my latest book, the second book this week!
The rest of the flight was uneventful, our cabin service had been superb this morning, I had to refuse the extra bottle of Champagne being offered, I’d be asleep rather than spotting otherwise!
BA990 on finals to TXL
BA990 Getting closer to TXL
Wheels touched down at 09:49, just over 20 minutes ahead of schedule, we were docked at gate 6 a few minutes later.
Another great BA flight and a good start to a days spotting in one of my favorite cities.
28.04.07 BA985 A319-132 G-EUOE 4A
1st Flight on this aircraft & 46th A319 Flight
SCH DEP 16:35 SCH ARR 17:30
ACT DEP 16:35 ACT ARR 17:15
After a super day of spotting and some decent pictures, well I say superb, it was a little slow, only made 16 new planes, but still had a nice day, the weather was superb, think I got a little burnt! It was time to head home. Having already printer my boarding pass this morning in London, I headed straight to paradise or rather the BA Terraces, one of my favorite places to relax.
Outside the Lounge @ TXL
I’d not been to this lounge before, it was pretty big, clean and had windows, the view was not great, ie no apron view, but nice nontherless + the girl at the desk was quite cute.
TXL Lounge 1
I took a Beck’s and a few snacks in the lounge whilst awaiting departure, I’d decided not to eat on the plane, I decided I would rather sleep and eat at home with my girlfriend, I’d not really seen her much this week from all my travelling.
Boarding was called around 16:10, so I headed down to gate 6 again, passport control was easy though security at TXL is quite strict, it’s even worse than US airports!!
Anyway I made it through and made my way to the plane. The cabin was configured to row 7 for Club, pretty much all of which was filled today, quite a contrast from the flight out, the back was totally full. Given this was the 3rd BA flight of the day to London, I found it interesting the cabin was so full up front.
Push back occurred bang on time, we taxied past the Lufthansa hangers to take off, not sure of the runway number – wheels were up at 16:43.
I must have fallen asleep after take-off, I awoke to discover that the cabin service had started, the lady next to me in 4C had a meal, the row behind were just receiving theirs, I’d caught the drinks service though and took sparking water. To be honest, given that I was now awake I would have expected to be asked if I wanted a meal at that point.
The guy seated in 3A must also have been asleep as he was offered a meal when the crew noticed he was awake, which he took, why was I not offered anything when it was noted I was awake? Granted I did not want anything, I had decided to eat at home, however I had paid Club and expected Club service, this was the worst BA flight I have had, the service was very poor and I was quite disappointed with BA, or rather this crew, to be honest.
Later the crew came around offering Tea & Coffee, however since I had not had a meal and therefore no cup, was not offered anything. To be honest, I was pretty miffed about this was I really wanted a cup of Tea. When the crew came around to clear trays, I noted the guy’s name, when my seatmate had her tray cleared I said “Will, when you get a moment could you arrange a cup of tea for me, since I don’t have a cup I appear to be getting missed out on any service” – He said no problem, Tea appeared once the rest of the trays had been cleared.
The rest of the flight was uneventful.
Approach was over Windsor again for landing on 09L, same as yesterdays Bmi flight.
Wheels touching down at 17:15 with just a short taxi to the gate – home again.
Summary:-
The outbound flight was superb, great crew. The inbound flight was really below par, I must admit I’m quite unhappy with the level of service and plan to e-mail a complaint to BA. My records indicate I have had 132 BA flights since 1992 including this one, out of all of those not a single real complaint, yes drinks could have been served whilst awaiting a delayed push back etc, but nothing like the complete lack of attention like this flight.
A340600 From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2003, 4103 posts, RR: 53 Reply 1, posted (6 years 3 weeks 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 4663 times:
Good and interesting report. Shame you had bad BA service coming back, i've only had it once out of many BA flights too, it comes as a bit of a shock. Can't believe they didn't even offer you a drink. That good BA Club breakfast, whatever length of flight, is always waiting, was lovely out to KEF,
Sam
Despite the name I am a Boeing man through and through!
FLIEGER67 From Georgia, joined Sep 2003, 4387 posts, RR: 57 Reply 2, posted (6 years 3 weeks 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 4581 times:
Hello, Mark,
nice report.
Sounds you had an interesting day in also one of my favourite european cities, down know the number of visits till now.
What a shame about BA on your flight back to London, especially nowadays, it´s the only chance to attract people willing to pay a higher fare with much more than service only at all beneath good schedules.
I had till now, no real bad experience on my BA flights.
Hope they will quickly answer your questions.
Best regards,
Markus (FLIEGER67)
Lan1981 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 3, posted (6 years 3 weeks 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 4461 times:
Hi BA, thanks for the report; I hope you enjoyed your time in Berlin - of all the trips I've flown as BA crew, it's right up there with Istanbul as my favourite!
I'm very sorry to read that the BA crew failed your expectations on the flight back; I'm not going to comment on the crew as I wasn't there myself; my policy is not to wake passengers if they are asleep - once they are awake, I would then offer the customer a meal and a drink. All I can say is that you should certainly have been offered a meal once you were awake.
I must admit that in the past, I have (accidentally) missed out an entire row of seats on a drinks/meal round...it can and does happen but I have always been profusely apologetic....nevertheless, it's not an excuse. I really hope it hasn't stopped you from flying with us in the future.
rgds
LAN
p.s. rest assured that if you do file a complaint, the matter will be brought to the attention of the crewmembers involved for future reference...we receive compliments & complaints via our line manager.
Contact Air From Germany, joined Apr 2001, 1154 posts, RR: 14 Reply 5, posted (6 years 3 weeks 4 hours ago) and read 3737 times:
Hi Mark,
great report and pictures - I enjoyed reading and watching a lot!
The full English Breakfast looks really good.
Quoting BA319-131 (Thread starter): After a super day of spotting and some decent pictures, well I say superb, it was a little slow, only made 16 new planes
I have also been to Berlin and did spotting at TXL several times and I have to say that there is less traffic on a Saturday than on a regular working day. As TXL isn't a hub like FRA or MUC and a very high percentage of the passengers are business passengers travelling to and from Berlin (O&D traffic), many flights are only running Monday to Friday.
BA319-131 From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2001, 8263 posts, RR: 56 Reply 6, posted (6 years 3 weeks 1 hour ago) and read 3663 times:
Hi Guy's, thanks for reading and your comments, nice to have you read and reply.
Quoting Lan1981 (Reply 3): must admit that in the past, I have (accidentally) missed out an entire row of seats on a drinks/meal round...it can and does happen
- It is understandable, don't have a problem with that if a service recovery is made, in my case it was not.
Quoting Lan1981 (Reply 3): p.s. rest assured that if you do file a complaint, the matter will be brought to the attention of the crewmembers involved for future reference...we receive compliments & complaints via our line manager.
- Good to know BA follow these up, at least it shows they look at customer feedback.
Quoting Contact Air (Reply 5): I have also been to Berlin and did spotting at TXL several times and I have to say that there is less traffic on a Saturday than on a regular working day
- I never expected many, but 16 was pretty poor, made 36 in AMS the previous saturday
Ndebele From Germany, joined Apr 2001, 2895 posts, RR: 25 Reply 7, posted (6 years 2 weeks 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 3541 times:
Hi Mark,
I gotta agree that the meal on LHR-TXL looks really good. A pity you didn't get a meal on the return, this really shouldn't have happened - but I guess everybody has a bad day sometimes, even the usually very kind BA f/as.
Speedmarque From United Kingdom, joined Jul 2005, 678 posts, RR: 1 Reply 8, posted (6 years 2 weeks 4 days 2 hours ago) and read 3173 times:
Perhaps you could have ASKED for a meal when you woke? The call bell is above you!
Drinks are not generally served on the ground as delays have a nack of shrinking quite quickly, leaving some customers served and some not. Then you have an unsecured cabin on pushback.
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