A nice early start on the day to allow time for the endless road works at Reading - the overhead sign warning that the M4 was closed between J11 and J8 proved to be a hoax - and after a relatively quick journey from South Wales we were parked up in the T5 Long Term Parking and on the bus to the Terminal.
Went straight over to pick up our pre-ordered Euros and then bumped into the other 2 member of our group.
As it was still too early for bag drop off, we killed time over coffee and a bun.
After a while, we dropped off our luggage without any problems and were quickly through passport control and security. Yours truly had the dubious honour of hearing the 'Ping' going through the scanner. No idea why but I seem to get picked on every time while my wife, with all the metalwork in her shoulder and upper arm goes through with nary a sound.
Boarding was eventually called and everyone was on board and we were ready to go on time only to be held back by ATC. Evidently, because of the mist and fog, they were using longer gaps between aircraft. I understand that for incoming but it does seem strange for departing flights.
Eventually pushed back after 10 minutes, did a 180 and joined the queue for 09R. That took almost 15 minutes while a number of heavies left for the far corners of the world.
Climb out was a bit gnarly but we were soon above the lower bank of clouds and it smoothed out a bit.
The crew were friendly enough (well, most. One of them really did not seem to be enjoying her job) and well up to their usual efficiency (even Ms Misery) and it did not take too long before they came around with lunch which consisted of a lemon chicken wrap which I found quite tasty, especially as it was being washed down by a rather delicious Chilean Cabernet. The other 3 in the group thought is was bland and tasteless.
Flying into a headwind, no time was made up but we were soon on the ground and queuing for Passport control. Luggage came through very quickly and we were on the train into Munich within about 20 minutes of landing.
The aircraft was one of the refurbished/new A320s on which I had prebooked an overwing exit row. Just for interest, the gap between seats on the exit rows is no different to the other rows so not really worth pre-booking.
The new thinner seats were quite comfortable and certainly were spacious enough in terms of leg room. I'm not tall but there were a couple of tall people sitting near to us and they seemed to be quite comfortable.
The flight was almost full and there was a bit shuffling around with people trying to get their luggage into the overhead bins. I purposely say 'luggage' as it is becoming normal now for people to bring on large suitcases/bags rather than using the checked baggage option.
Typical though, we had the only overhead monitor which was not working properly so could not really follow flight progress.
I can never find where to allocate ratings in these TRs so here goes:
Ground staff: 4/5
Aircraft (cleanliness; smartness; etc ) : 5/5
CC: 3.5/5
Food/Drink: 3/5
Last edited by welsheagle on 01 Dec 2014, 13:41, edited 1 time in total.
