#907333 by ColOrd
17 Jul 2015, 10:17
So several months ago I had the daft idea to try out the new Eurostar service to Marseille but thought lets do it in a day trip, if just for the love of travel and the journey rather than wanting to spend time in Marseille.

The Eurostar product for these Marseille trips is much enhanced for First Class, the crew were flawless, food pretty good and we had all the drink we wanted, a bottle of Champers was on our table shortly after they had cleared tables from the meal service...possibly because we were on staff tickets but who knows :-) .

Flights from Marseille weren't very well timed as my travelling companion had to make it back to Leeds, at a reasonable hour (Hahhaha...more on this later) and I was insistent we flew BA as I was hoping we would get a refurbished config and at 6'6 I am not keen on the LCCs.

A quick nip on a TGV back up to Lyon and we could do the BA363 back to Heathrow and up to Cambridgeshire for me and Leeds for him quite easily on the 2135 so it was all booked and plans set!

The TGV was fine, first class is just a bigger seat and more spacious coach bur for €13 vs €8 in Standard I know which we chose, again the staff travel facilities do have their uses!!

The TGV was a about 10 late into Lyon and we had to make a quick dash to the airport on the tram, which I found ironic that at €15 was more expensive than our First Class trip from Marseille!!

Inbound was a bit late which was fine at first as we were cutting it fine to make it anyway! Lyon airport signage within terminal 1 was not particularly clear and the facilities were not particularly great either airside or landslide! The plane hadnt even landed by the time we were cleared through security so I did get the chance to pick up some smellies in Duty Free.

Boarding commenced with preboards, BaEC status and then general boarding which was just a total scrum to be honest, the girl didn't seem bothered to enforce the boarding by rows which she called.

On the plane the CC didn't even greet me, I know they say this is to speed boarding but I was struggling to see why BA have any value.

Turning right and it was a refitted example, apparently they are all done now. This must have been a very recent example as the carpets were pristine and the cabin had that new smell to it.

We were in row 28 which is always me own weird preference, I find you get a bit extra leg room compared to normal rows and saves paying for exit rows, and you get served first!

Captain made a very impassioned request that people needed to hurry up and sit down as due to the inbound delay we had to be airbourne within 9 mins or we would loose our ATC slot through France!

9 mins came and went and the captain apologised and said that we were going to be sat there for another 25 mins as we had lost the slot and the refiled flight plan was for a 2015 departure, a whole hour later than planned as there was bad thunderstorms over northern France, and we would be expecting turbulence.

I had plenty of time to enjoy BA's new seats! I didn't fide them too bad to be honest, leg room was good and the cabin looked nice with the mood lighting.

Eventually we took off and the crew were into action, pleasant but a following the motions sort of service, there was no sparkle or interaction really with passengers. The roll was nice but small and after the champers and lots and lots of Eurostar wine I just wanted a water!

The expected turbulence didn't materialise except for about 3-4 jolts about half way through.

Few delays on landing at LHR stacked over Kent but soon in and approached from the west so a lovely view of Windsor castle.

Then more of a farce as there was a problem with the jet bridge which took ages to come on which the captain did apologise for, I had a bit of a chat with the CC in the back galley while waiting and the cleaners were already in so the rear door was open which after the sweltering 38 degrees from Marseille and Lyon the cool breeze coming in was lush!!

Finally off, got to use my new chipped passport and was through the Egates in terminal three very quickly! Did manage to catch a glimpse of the 787 for HKG and the Lagos 346 as we were walking through!

On Heathrow Express and the few extra quid for First Class really pays off, the one:one seating us unusual but it gives for such a haven when you gave just stepped off a plane!

We ended up making the 2330 train from Kings Cross, my friend sadly now not with an ETA back to Leeds of 0230, verses 2345 had we made our original train! I was tucked up in bed in Peterbough reading V-Flyer by 0030 though ;-)

On reflection the captain was good at keeping us informed, but the crew just lacked personality! Both of us are VS converts and BA just lacked the sparkle and personality that VS do.

Glad to be back on Little Red on Monday for a trip to Edinburgh though!
Attachments
image.jpg
image.jpg (261.19 KiB) Viewed 2195 times
image.jpg
image.jpg (406.41 KiB) Viewed 2195 times
image.jpg
image.jpg (247.87 KiB) Viewed 2195 times
#907337 by Hamster
17 Jul 2015, 10:32
Thanks for the TR and the photos!

Did you go standard premier or business premier on the Eurostar? The food does looks more substantial than SP to Paris! Do you know if there is a BP lounge at Marseille?

I think all of the short haul BA planes have been refurbished apart from maybe 1 or 2 A319's (and all the 767's!)
#907338 by hiljil
17 Jul 2015, 10:39
Thank you for the TR . I began to get quite apprehensive on your behalf as the tale unfurled !

Loved the picture of Windsor Castle. Wonder if Prince Philip was below looking up at you and telling the plane to " **** off " !!! :-O :blush:
#907340 by ColOrd
17 Jul 2015, 10:58
We were quite apprehensive I tell ya when we missed that first slot as the crew were moaning in the back about already being on a 12 hour shift!!

It's Standard Prem only on the non Paris/Brussells trains as they are a leisure product, but the food is of a higher standard as you said, closer to the BP product. I haven't done BP for years to be honest but I assume they still get free champers? You don't generally at on the Marseille train in their SP I think that was just cos we were special! They did let yes keep the glasses too!

There is an SNCF first class lounge at Marseille which you can use, apparently I didn't seek it out or use it as we had a few bits of shopping and photos to do!!
Virgin Atlantic

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 8 guests

Itinerary Calendar