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 😋
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.
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.
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.
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
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)
Cabin
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
Cockpit
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
Airshow
Dining
Moments after the seatbelt sign was turned off around 7:57pm, dinner service began.
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.
Lavatory
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.
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.
Comments
Post a Comment