Trip to Kathmandu flying on Etihad A380 First Apartment and Qatar Airways A380 First Class
Last month, Mike and I traveled to Kathmandu, Nepal for the first time to meet our travel partner Helena, owner of Helena India Travels. We are sending our first group to Nepal in autumn and it was a great opportunity to meet her as well as the owners of the hotels where our group would be staying at. We were offered complimentary five nights stay by Mingma, the Nepalese owner of Chhahari Retreat and needless to say, we enjoyed every single day of our stay not only because of the nice room and excellent food in the restaurant but moreso because each one of them treated us like their own family. As for our flight, Mike and I used our remaining American Airlines Advantage miles to fly in first class from Europe to the Indian Sub continent, just before the devaluation in March, which is 80K miles return per person. Here's the full trip report of our trip to Nepal and I hope that thru this, more people would consider traveling to this wonderful country in the future!
Review: British Airways Business Class, Stockholm-London
Review: Etihad A380 First Apartment, London-Abu Dhabi
Review: Al Dhabi Lounge, T1 Abu Dhabi Airport (AUH)
Review: Qatar Airways Business Class, Abu Dhabi-Doha
Review: Qatar Airways Business Class, Doha-Kathmandu
Review: Chhahari Resort, Kathmandu
Review: Yeti Airlines to the Himalayas
Top Attractions in Nepal
Review: Executive Lounge, Kathmandu International Airport (KTM)
Review: Qatar Airways Business Class, Kathmandu-Doha
Review: Qatar Airways A380 First Class, Doha-Paris
Review: Hilton Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport
Review: Cathay Pacific First & Business Class Lounge, T2 (CDG)
Review: British Airways Business Class, Paris-London
Review: Hilton London Heathrow Airport
Review: British Airways Business Class, London-Stockholm
British Airways Airbus A321 bound for London
Flight: BA 785
Departure time in Stockholm: 8:45 (actual 8:39)
Arrival time in London: 10:35 (actual 10:21)
Equipment: Airbus A321
Seat: 1A
Duration: 2h 42m
Date of flight: May 25, 2016
*This is an award travel, Business Class flight #101
British Airways flights depart from Terminal 2 of Stockholm Arlanda Airport together with airlines like KLM, Finnair and Air Berlin. We arrived at the terminal about 2 hours before our 8:45am flight and went straight to the check in counter for business class passengers.
British Airways check-in desks, Terminal 2 Arlanda Airport
Check in process went smoothly at counter 20 and after receiving our boarding passes on this flight as well as the Etihad flight from London to Abu Dhabi, we directly headed to the Aurora Executive Lounge to have some breakfast.
Aurora Executive Lounge, Arlanda Airport
Boarding was scheduled to start at 8:30am from gate 87 but actually begun 10 minutes earlier. Gate 87 is actually on the second level which is directly above gate 67 where the actual passenger bridge used was located. I guess they were only using gate 87 since there is an extra passport control for passengers flying to London.
My seat 1A and the middle seat for privacy
The cabin has a total of 20 seats from rows 1 to 5 in a 2-2 configuration excluding the middle seat. On that morning flight to London, 13 of the seats were occupied.
Seat 1A, window seat
Magazine rack
Duty free magazine, BA's Highlife magazine and safety card
Sally, one of the 2 flight attendants working in the business class cabin welcomed us and offered to hang our jackets. Later, the captain came on the PA to welcome us onboard and to advice us of our flight time of 2 hours and 10 minutes which was much shorter than the expected 2 hours 50minutes.
Shortly after take off, breakfast service commenced and there was a choice between a hot and cold breakfast which was a good thing. Mike and I ended up choosing the warm option.
Eggs, sausage, mushroom, tomato, yogurt, bread, sweets and cranberry juice
The food was actually very tasty. Mike specially loved the sweets which was some sort of cookies. Refill of drinks were also done during the meal service.
British Airways coffee cup by Royal Doulton
British Airways coffee cup
British Airways toothpicks by Swantex
There were small monitors showing the flight details. I wished the monitor was a bit bigger and that they had shown some programs like "Just for Laughs Gags" the way other airlines do.
Lavatory
There were two lavatories in the business class cabin which is quite unusual. The one directly behind the cockpit was smaller though. Both had Elemis handwash and handlotion which is a standard for all British Airways lavatories.
British Airways toilet
About an hour before landing, dutyfree shop was offered.
View before landing
View of Qantas A380 and Cathay Pacific Boeing 777 at LHR Terminal 3
We landed at London Heathrow Terminal 5 ahead of schedule and as business class passengers, we were the first ones to disembark.
CONCLUSION
I have to say that I was really impressed with the food service on this flight since I did not expect that BA would be serving a choice of hot and cold breakfast. Of course, the meal tasted very good and the crew were friendly. Unfortunately, the screens were small and that they did not even show any short programs. The two lavatories was a plus. Overall, this was a very nice flight on British Airways with its great food and friendly crew!
Related Posts:
SAS Business Class, Prague to Stockholm
Aegean Business Class, Athens to Larnaca
Last month, Mike and I traveled to Kathmandu, Nepal for the first time to meet our travel partner Helena, owner of Helena India Travels. We are sending our first group to Nepal in autumn and it was a great opportunity to meet her as well as the owners of the hotels where our group would be staying at. We were offered complimentary five nights stay by Mingma, the Nepalese owner of Chhahari Retreat and needless to say, we enjoyed every single day of our stay not only because of the nice room and excellent food in the restaurant but moreso because each one of them treated us like their own family. As for our flight, Mike and I used our remaining American Airlines Advantage miles to fly in first class from Europe to the Indian Sub continent, just before the devaluation in March, which is 80K miles return per person. Here's the full trip report of our trip to Nepal and I hope that thru this, more people would consider traveling to this wonderful country in the future!
Review: British Airways Business Class, Stockholm-London
Review: Etihad A380 First Apartment, London-Abu Dhabi
Review: Al Dhabi Lounge, T1 Abu Dhabi Airport (AUH)
Review: Qatar Airways Business Class, Abu Dhabi-Doha
Review: Qatar Airways Business Class, Doha-Kathmandu
Review: Chhahari Resort, Kathmandu
Review: Yeti Airlines to the Himalayas
Top Attractions in Nepal
Review: Executive Lounge, Kathmandu International Airport (KTM)
Review: Qatar Airways Business Class, Kathmandu-Doha
Review: Qatar Airways A380 First Class, Doha-Paris
Review: Hilton Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport
Review: Cathay Pacific First & Business Class Lounge, T2 (CDG)
Review: British Airways Business Class, Paris-London
Review: Hilton London Heathrow Airport
Review: British Airways Business Class, London-Stockholm
Flight: BA 785
Departure time in Stockholm: 8:45 (actual 8:39)
Arrival time in London: 10:35 (actual 10:21)
Equipment: Airbus A321
Seat: 1A
Duration: 2h 42m
Date of flight: May 25, 2016
*This is an award travel, Business Class flight #101
British Airways flights depart from Terminal 2 of Stockholm Arlanda Airport together with airlines like KLM, Finnair and Air Berlin. We arrived at the terminal about 2 hours before our 8:45am flight and went straight to the check in counter for business class passengers.
Check in process went smoothly at counter 20 and after receiving our boarding passes on this flight as well as the Etihad flight from London to Abu Dhabi, we directly headed to the Aurora Executive Lounge to have some breakfast.
The cabin has a total of 20 seats from rows 1 to 5 in a 2-2 configuration excluding the middle seat. On that morning flight to London, 13 of the seats were occupied.
Sally, one of the 2 flight attendants working in the business class cabin welcomed us and offered to hang our jackets. Later, the captain came on the PA to welcome us onboard and to advice us of our flight time of 2 hours and 10 minutes which was much shorter than the expected 2 hours 50minutes.
Shortly after take off, breakfast service commenced and there was a choice between a hot and cold breakfast which was a good thing. Mike and I ended up choosing the warm option.
The food was actually very tasty. Mike specially loved the sweets which was some sort of cookies. Refill of drinks were also done during the meal service.
Lavatory
About an hour before landing, dutyfree shop was offered.
CONCLUSION
I have to say that I was really impressed with the food service on this flight since I did not expect that BA would be serving a choice of hot and cold breakfast. Of course, the meal tasted very good and the crew were friendly. Unfortunately, the screens were small and that they did not even show any short programs. The two lavatories was a plus. Overall, this was a very nice flight on British Airways with its great food and friendly crew!
Related Posts:
SAS Business Class, Prague to Stockholm
Aegean Business Class, Athens to Larnaca