#16807 by drnoble
21 Dec 2006, 00:44
A view from the other side... BA/GB Airways on a North African B&S route...

LGW-RAK
Wednesday 13th December 2006
BA6922 (operated by GB Airways)

An opportunity for a few days R&R in North Africa presented itself and so I found myself travelling to LGW via West Coast Main Line and the Southern railways link between Watford Junction and Gatwick, both on time, all connections made and an efficient journey.
LGW North terminal at first sight seemed rather busy in Zone F, the BA Europe/North Africa check-in area, and having checked in and selected a seat online, I was a little sceptical of the ‘fast’ bit of the bag drop, but the queue did move quickly and it only took 10 minutes. I did enquire after Club World availability, with plenty of ads in the queues encouraging passengers to upgrade, but there was none.
Security was quick and efficient, and the departure lounge and shopping zone was quiet and civilized; the flight was showing a 20 minute delay, so plenty of time to peruse the bookstalls and to get a very acceptable Croque-Monsieur at Chez Andre, whilst observing the movements on the aprons and runway.
When I had eaten, I found the gate announced as 111, which meant my first visit across the airbridge, and a chance for a photo or two.
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Arrival at the gate showed our plane to be an A321, G-TTIA, a slight surprise as online check-in showed an A319- had I checked, I’d have realised that GB Airways only have A320s and A321s, so evidently a misprint.
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Not a sight to be seen a few years ago, I'm sure...!
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I was in 10A and one of the last to board, preferring to stay in the lounge and avoid the scrums, and probably as well- it was a full and quite noisy flight- some young children and some excitable Moroccans in equal measure. My first impression was of an ungenerous seat pitch, but my recent experiences in VS PE and UC do tend to spoil one!
We pushed back almost 30 minutes late, and taxied to 26L, where take-off was efficient and smooth, though the low cloud base meant there were few opportunities for pictures. Things improved over the Channel, and Jersey and the Normandy coast near Mont St Michel were clear.
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I was glad to be able to blot out all the background passenger noise with my QC2s and iPod- never had I been more grateful of them!
The first- and as it turned out, only- drinks run was 45 mins into the flight, and we were served both a soft drink and wine for the meal to come- just as well the meal didn’t come for another 30 mins or so, as my bottle of red needed a lot of warming up, having arrived at a temperature more suitable for white! The IFE was limited to some trailers and then a showing of ‘The Queen’ with Helen Mirren; though I had seen this on my way back from DXB in October, it was entertaining enough to watch a second time.
The meal was pleasant enough, chicken in an ‘onion jus’ with the usual accessories, though it was in fact the cheese and biscuits that I enjoyed most at the end.
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Our route took us over Northern Spain, including Asturias airport...
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...and the Cantabrian mountains.
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The descent was commenced as dusk was enveloping Morocco, and it was dark by the time the plane overflew RAK before executing a turn to land on Rwy10. For some reason, one of my ears refused to pop until much later- though the descent seemed to be pretty gentle.
We taxied the short distance to a stand, before being bussed to the terminal, and a very leisurely passport control, by which time most of the luggage had arrived. Then the fun began. It not being possible to buy Moroccan Dirhams in advance, I went to the Bureau de change, where I was then redirected to the ATM, which brought up communication errors with all my cards; back to the Bureau de change; he pointed out a second ATM, this to refused to give me any money, this time just spitting my card out! I asked a nearby security guard, and he appeared very disinterested, but fortunately my French is fluent enough for me to persevere and he directed me to the other terminal and the departure area; this had an ATM that at least accepted one of my cards and I was able to get enough Dirhams to set out for the taxis and the next adventure of haggling with the taxi drivers for a lift to my hotel!


Return Journey,
RAK-LGW
Wednesday 20th December 2006
BA6923 (operated by GB Airways)

A week in warm (though not overly hot) Marrakech soon came to a close, and time to return to the somewhat chillier UK. Now practised in the art of haggling, both for taxis and in the souks, I declined the ‘hotel taxi’ and managed to reduce the quoted price of 100 dirhams to 40 dirhams (about £2.50). Online check in was not available for this flight, and having stocked up on Christmas presents, I felt that my suitcase was ‘on the heavy side’. I was in plenty of time for the flight, and had to wait about 10 minutes for the BA check-in desk to open; it didn’t take long to get a starboard window seat (9F)- which I reckoned was the exit row on the A321- and there was no problem with my case at all, fortunately. Equipped with a Royal Air Maroc boarding card (could they not supply any BA boarding cards?), passport control/security was very quick indeed.
The departure area was pretty small and pretty crowded- two small duty free shops which did not accept Dirhams and a buffet café to rival the international catering zone at Baginton airport, Coventry ;) . I purchased a bottle of water, found a seat near the gates and settled into my book whilst a range of flights to Toulouse, Luton (Ryanair), Frankfurt, Gatwick (Easyjet), Manchester (Thomas Cook) boarded. By noon, my flight still had not been called, and the gate display system (which seemed to be a series of LED overdoor signs programmed by hand from a remote control by the gate staff) showed nothing; I then had an explore and found a further gate area, gate 5 which was showing the London flight; when I asked any of the staff if the flight was running late, they didn’t know! At 12.20, the scheduled departure time, the flight was called and two busloads of passengers were boarded.
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G-TTOF was an A320, which had flown in from Heathrow, so my hope of extra legroom was dashed; the window also had some internal smears which no amount of work with a damp tissue would fix, so some of my photos suffered as a result, unfortunately.
The flight was about two-thirds full and we pushed back about 30 minutes late, due to some fog and delays on the outbound sector (I later learned that this fog had caused a lot of cancellations of domestic BA flights at LHR), but I should pay tribute to the flight deck crew who came over the PA four times during the flight and were very informative, rather more than normal, about the flight plan and routing and what to see out of the window (on both sides!).
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I decided not to opt for the film, ‘Flicka’ and stuck to my book, iPod and QC2s, as the flight routing took us up the west coast of Morocco, over Tangier, with good views of Gibraltar...
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...then over central Spain and Madrid, sadly just missing the optimum photo opportunity of Barajas airport as my camera was buried by my feet.
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I was also unable to rescue it for the meal, which was an acceptable Shepherds Pie, with Broccoli and baby carrots, Harrogate spa still water, a wholemeal roll, a ‘Cheeky Eats’ chocolate and vanilla sponge, cheese (Ilchester Cheddar Chuckle) and biscuits. Wine was an undramatic Merlot, Domaine Peirière from Paul Sapin, again served far too cold- it lived between my thighs for a while to try and address this, but is it too much to ask for coach class to have wine served even near the right temperature?!

After Madrid, the cloud set in and there were no views to be had over Bilbao and the Bay of Biscay until just about the Brest peninsula and then only fleetingly.
The cloud cleared over the English Channel and there were excellent views of Brighton and Beachy Head to be had as we turned inland over Shoreham.
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Our informative flight deck crew even gave us a detailed breakdown of the Mayfield approach to 26L!
Pockets of mist were evident as final approach crossed the M23 and then a smooth touchdown, followed by some very aggressive braking- is it my imagination or does the A320/321 vibrate far more when braking on the runway than the 737- from my limited experience?
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We taxied to gate 111, the same as our departure by chance but sadly not a good cricketing omen, as events in Perth proved [:#] At least a chance to cross the airbridge,
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take some atmospheric shots of the sunset...
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...and do battle with the Gatwick Express, a taxi across central London five days before Christmas and the West Coast main line (made by two minutes!).

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