Review: British Airways Business Class, London Heathrow-Vienna

British Airways business class meal, London Heathrow to Vienna

Flight: BA706
Departure time in London Heathrow (LHR): 19:15
Arrival time in Vienna (VIE): 22:30
Aircraft: Airbus A321 (G-EUYT)
Seat: 1C 
Duration: 2h 15m
Date of flight: August 20, 2018
*This is a revenue ticket (complimentary upgrade), Business Class flight #168


Video from my YouTube Channel 📺


Airline Lounge

Having oneworld Emerald status, it meant I could visit all of the 4 oneworld lounges in Heathrow Terminal 3. My first stop (and my favorite) was the Cathay Pacific First and Business Class Lounge where I was able to enjoy their Dim Sum Basket and Panna Cotta for my lunch 😋

Cathay Pacific First Class Lounge

Cathay Pacific First Class Lounge Dining Area

Then I went to the American Airlines International First Class Lounge. I was not planning to eat but when I saw that they had the Crying Tiger Beef on the Ala Carte menu, I did not hesitate and ordered it.

The Crying Tiger Beef was delicious 😋

My third lounge was the British Airways Galleries First. I remember visiting the lounge in 2015 where they still had the Concorde Dining Room with Ala Carte service so I was surprised to know that they had discontinued it. The buffet looked great though, offering chicken wings and meatballs among others.

British Airways Galleries First buffet

My last stop was the Qantas London Lounge which opened in November 2017. I had planned to order their famous Salt and Pepper Squid as I was not able to enjoy it during my visit to the Qantas First Class Lounge in LAX in April so I was in the lounge by 6pm just in time for the opening of the dining area.

Salt & Pepper Squid 😋😋

Upstairs was the cocktail bar with a lovely chandelier 😍

The departure gate for my flight to Vienna was shown at 6:30pm so a few minutes later, I slowly made my way to the gate.

Boarding, Gate 3

Gate 3 boarding area

As the gate agent scanned my boarding pass, a beep sound followed and moments later, she was giving me my new boarding pass with my new seat 1C 👍 It was actually my first upgrade after achieving Gold status so it was cool.

Aircraft, Airbus A321 (G-EUYT Speedybird)

British Airways Airbus A321 named Speedybird ✈

Cabin

British Airways logo

The business class cabin consists of seats from rows 1 to 5 in a 2-2 configuration with the middle seat being blocked. On this flight, 2 of the 20 seats were vacant.

Seat, 1C

 My seat 1C is an aisle.

Blocked middle seat

High Life magazine, duty free catalogue, safety instruction card

Food and drink menu (for economy class passengers)

Cockpit

From my seat, I could see the captain 😉

At 7:05pm, boarding was completed and a couple of minutes later, the captain came on the PA to welcome us onboard and to inform us of our flight time of 2 hours, among others. A few minutes later, hot towels were offered.

Inflight Safety Video

Around 7:18pm, the inflight safety video was played and seven minutes later, we began our pushback. Take off went smoothly at 7:42pm.

Airshow

Airshow enroute to Vienna

Dining

Moments after the seatbelt sign was turned off around 7:57pm, dinner service began.

Chicken Salad

There was a choice between a Chicken Salad and a Mozarella and Tomato Panini and I chose the former which was served in a tray together with the dessert. The salad was actually very good. I was also offered bread.

For my drinks, I settled for a glass of cranberry juice. Coffee and tea were also offered although I declined.

Lavatory

There is one business class lavatory located in front.

Landing at Vienna Airport

Around 9:58pm, the captain was back on the PA to give us updated flight inforamtion including the current temperature of 27 degrees in Vienna and that we would be landing at 10:30pm.

Bus to the terminal.

We landed in Vienna Airport around 10:29pm, a minute ahead of schedule although we parked on a remote stand and we had to take a bus to the terminal. There was no separate bus for business class passengers either.

CONCLUSION

This was definitely an unexpected upgrade as I was already convinced to fly in economy class on this 2-hour flight to Vienna. I guess my Gold status played a big role. There are a lot of good things about this flight including the friendly crew, the very good chicken salad and comfortable seat with the middle seat being blocked. My seat 1C was not the best seat though during boarding as the seat is located directly after the passengers turn right as they board. The fact that we landed and parked on a remote stand was not that good either, although luckily it was not raining. Overall, it was a very nice flight and I´d gladly fly again with British Airways.

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