Read the forum code of contact
By: 31st August 2006 at 18:26 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Super report so far Phil. I look forward to the next bit of it:D.
By: 31st August 2006 at 19:07 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Excellent report so far! :D
By: 1st September 2006 at 07:00 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Great report.Good pics too!!!
By: 1st September 2006 at 19:00 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Part 2
Following on from Part 1 here's the return leg: Enjoy!
----------------------------------------------------
BA2751
Zurich Kloten (ZRH-LSZH) - London Gatwick (LGW-EGKK)
31st August
G-GFFI - Boeing 737-500
History:
G-GFFI British Airways 2000-11-09
LX-LGS Luxair - Luxembourg Airlines 1995-09-15
DEP: (1130)/ 1148 actual
ARR: (1210)/ 1242 actual
Duration: (01:40)
Seat: 15F
----------------------------------------------------
After a great holiday, waking up to views like this...
What a view!
It was time to return to the UK. After an early wake up a seamless combination of buses and inter-city trains got us from Interlaken to Zurich Flughafen with no fuss! The train station at the airport is below ground so it was a ride up the escalators (which take baggage trolleys on them even though they're stepped...pointless info there :D:D) and a fair treck through the sprawling check-in concourse to get to the BA desks. They were operating a system wherby everyone checked in at the self check in machines with the help of a member of staff then moved along to the desks to drop off bags. The woman helping us was very quick and jumped straight through it - pressing the wrong button for 'no bags'! Didn't seem to make a difference anyway so hey!
That done we passed through a typically fast and efficient passport check then had a croissant and coffee whilst watching a Thai A340 prepare for departure. Duty free next, but because we were going from the satellite pier 'E' we still hadn't been through security, so a wasted shop when we got to the till :(.
Thai A340
The gate was called by this time so it was a quick hop on the transit train to the pier, which is a fair way out from the terminal, unlike at STN for example.
British Airways A319 operating the Heathrow service
Security was a breeze and we finally got some duty free :p. Then we went to gate 64E and boarded, after a small wait. There was another passport check before the actual boarding desk, where our boarding cards were stamped by an immigration official, before being taken 1 metre later by the gate agent! (Is this something to do with transit passengers or omething...?).
Boarding card stub
As I came down the airbridge (glass again) I was delighted to see "FI" on the nose wheel door, meaning G-GFFI, a 737-500. We were greeted and sat down. I noticed the interior looking tired and a bit dirty on the floor, though not as much as on the outbound on -TB.
"Wilkommen Zum Fussball" dba Fokker 100
Turkish A310
The captain made an announcement shortly after to introduce the crew of Charlie and John on the flight deck and Barry (Purser), Becky (Line trainer) and Harrison or Harry (Being assessed?). As per usual the Purser would be looking after the Club Europe cabin with the other two in Euro Traveller. We then sat on the ground for 10 minutes warming up with the sun on me, until the captain announced that we were departing on a SE runway so would have to wait for 20 minutes to get a slot. Those minutes soon passed and we pushed back and taxiied while the crew did the safety demo. We then sat on the runway for a few minutes and then commenced another powerful take-off roll.
Soon after the crew came round with the drinks/meal service. This was far better than on the outbound; the purser made an announcement explaining what was available. The snack was a choice of muesli bar or a bag of nuts and I had the bar as the nuts had run out by the time they got to row 15 and a Coke to go with it (in a cup this time!). During this service Becky
was pushing the trolley when Harry was getting something out of it from the bottom - and he got a nasty bump on the head! Ouch!
Front cover scan of last month's 'High Life' magazine
Drink and muesli bar
The remainder of the flight was pleasant enough, with the duty free/high life shop service again offered, with a much better take up this time around. The crew were far more friendly than on the outbound and very welcoming, joking and making conversation as they did the service with the passengers (though I'm not convinced on being called 'Matey' :D:D). As we crossed the channel the captain gave some more info on our route so far and the weather in Gatwick, a mild 19 deg. 15 minutes later he was back on again to inform us that we were entering a holding pattern for 10 minutes. As we turned I got an amazing close up view of another BA 737 beneath us! Wow!
Soonish after takeoff from Zurich
Then we came into land, over Weir-Wood reservoir and East Grinstead and onto 26L (as if that means anything to any of you up north :p) I got a video of the landing - not the greatest quality but... judge the landing for yourself!
Click Here (Won't embed)
Video of arrival on 26L
It was a rapid taxi back up towards the terminal and onto stand 551, beneath one of the huge pillars that support the Pier 6 bridge, though sadly not crossing it this time :(. I made sure to thank the crew for their job - it was great and made all the difference. Then out into baggage reclaim and away - but hopefully not for long :D
GB Airways A321 with BA 777-200
G-GFFI on stand at LGW
Thanks for reading, I've enjoyed writing it and hope you've enjoyed reading it! Please let me know what you think!
Phil
By: 1st September 2006 at 22:16 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Loved it Phil. Well Done :D
By: 4th September 2006 at 16:07 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Thanks for the comments guys!
By: 4th September 2006 at 16:30 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Really good thanks - im going to Florence (Bologna) with BA from Gatwick next year
By: 5th September 2006 at 08:28 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-if I may just interject...
the picture of an airport with the caption 'again' underneath looks surprisingly like unique rather than any of the Parisian airports.
And as for the extra Passport check, not totally sure why the Swiss do it, but it gets done before all flights from Switzerland to the UK, and to the UK only.
By: 5th September 2006 at 08:39 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-if I may just interject...the picture of an airport with the caption 'again' underneath looks surprisingly like unique rather than any of the Parisian airports.
Cheers for the info on the passport checks, just struck me as a bit strange;)
As for the airport I'm pretty certain it isn't a Parisian one, as I took it after we'd turned over Paris - anyone any ideas :confused:
Cheers Bhoy
By: 5th September 2006 at 08:40 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Really good thanks - im going to Florence (Bologna) with BA from Gatwick next year
Enjoy your trip!
P.S. Gatwick is LGW not LGN ;)
:D
By: 5th September 2006 at 09:01 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Sorry, it is a Parisian Airport. It's Orly.
By: 6th September 2006 at 08:26 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-I work in a travel agency and we use the designators of LGN (Gatwick North) and LGS (Gatwick South)
Posts: 1,614
By: philgatwick05 - 31st August 2006 at 18:14
In May of this year we decided to book a holiday in Switzerland as it was a place we'd never visited before and there's plenty to see and do. Having booked accomodation for 6 nights it was then down to me to book the flights. I checked out the budget airlines and sites such as expedia and amadeus, and BA from Gatwick was the cheapest and most convenient - so I
booked and looked forward to the trip!
*Disclaimer* The photos aren't that great :D but they're just to give you an idea rather than be any great artwork!----------------------------------------------------
BA2750
London Gatwick (LGW-EGKK) - Zurich Kloten (ZRH-LSZH)
25th August
G-GBTB - Boeing 737-400 (Photo Tom Fellows)
History:
G-GBTB British Airways 1996-10-22
OO-LTS Air Provence International 1996-02-02
OO-LTS Euro Belgian Airlines (EBA) 1994-04-01
G-BVHB British Airways 1993-12-02
DEP: (0815)/ 0831 actual
ARR: (1055)/ 1051 actual
Duration: (01:20)
Seat: 4F
----------------------------------------------------
We'd checked in online the morning before on ba.com to save some time and preselected our seats.
Online check in boarding pass
The early departure time meant an equally early start and we set off for Gatwick at 0530, anticipating some queues and delays at the airport following the increased security. Our fears were borne out when we entered the packed check in area and worked out where Zone F was for the fast bag drop. We joined a queue snaking round, realising 'fast' it was not! However the queue moved reasonably speedily and there were plenty of BA staff on hand to ensure everyone was in the right place and calling forward those whose flights were departing soon.
There was even one BA staff member cracking jokes and keeping everyone entertained; there were others running around like headless chickens! Finally we dropped our bags off and joined the longer queue for security. In no time at all we were through it and it was speeded up by staff in the queue preparing people and handing out bags to enter pockets into. Almost everyone was thoroughly but I was just waved through which seemed a bit strange! The flight was showing as boarding in the departure lounge from Gate 45 - I was pleased to see this as Gate 45 means a remote stand and a bus journey around the airport. Gate 45 is split up into 6 smaller lounges and BA2750 was going from 'E'. We had a few minutes wait until the bus departed, and I watched the guy manning the entrance struggling as people just walked straight past him! I heard then from his radio that the flight was "29 down...still in security", but a few minutes later the first bus went out full. As anticipated we got a tour round plenty of North Terminal stands, passing many BA 737s and 777-200s. I was disappointed to pass G-GFFF (737-500) as I was hoping to get this. We arrived at stand 64L and I was pleasantly suprised to see G-GBTB as the flight was scheduled as a 737-500.
Stand 64L as seen from seat 4F
We boarded by the plane's own front airstairs and passed through the small club europe cabin to get to row 4. As we waited for the rest of the passengers I flicked through "High Life" magazine - which is better than most airline's. The interior was tired looking and the seats fairly comfortable, although mine was stuck in a slightly reclined position.
At 0831 we pushed back and the engines started. The captain and first officer, Sean Bowler and Rob Pennant (not to sure on those) introduced themselves and the cabin crew of Kerry, Julie and Hilary, while telling us of the expected cruising altitude of 27,000 ft and flight time of 01:10. On our way to 26L we taxiied past many a/c, including G-VTOP, a 744 just landed, and an Aurigny which may have had our very own member "OneLeft" was off to Guernsy. It was a quick takeoff and soon we were climbing out towards the south coast over Brighton area.
South Coast
Almost immediately we were given a cold bacon roll, which was quite nice but would have been better warm, and afterwards offered a drink. I went for an OJ but was disappointed to be given a carton and no glass. The captain came over the speaker and told us we were making a turn over Paris and indeed we did.
Cold bacon roll
Paris
...again.
Soon the rubbish was collected and the duty free offered (they call it High Life Shopping) but this had a poor take-up. Before we landed I took a trip to the toilet at the back and saw the rear rows were almost completely empty - certainly a load that wouldn't have filled a 737-500. I couldn't use the toilet as they'd been locked for landing. The "10 mins to land" call was given and the crew rushed around right up to the last minute before a bumpy touchdown.
On short finals
We taxiied past some US metal onto our gate, between 2 Edelweiss A320s and were quickly off the plane, on the transit train and in the arrivals area of the main terminal building. The set up reminded me a lot of Stansted.
United and Continental (AA not in picture)
Edelweiss
Overall the flight was good, though I felt the crew were slightly unfriendly and cold, and the service was, as expected, not brilliant. Gatwick wasn't as bad as it could have been, and the long queues moved quickly. On the whole BA and BAA staff were great at dealing with it and highly professional and helpful. The flight itself was 'good' but certainly not 'great'.
Part two coming...
Please let me know what you think!