#908451 by TimCrawley
11 Aug 2015, 15:23
As a few are doing the ex-EU flights out of BRU I thought it worth another of these brief trip reports ....

Last one was SN, this time on BA. OLCI no problem, drove to the airport and used the interparking reserved area (fun and games getting in as they reclosed the gate before I could drive through, should have used a LHD car for this!).

Bag drop a bit of a mess as 4 desks open for everything and the Club Europe queue was longest of the lot (the two fast bag drop queues were just so slow but got through after 15 minutes). Unlike SN flight they already supplied gate number though - B01 so first one on the concourse.

Airport very busy but Passport control was smooth enough as they were quick processing and had at least one extra desk open than usual but as before was certainly delays with people using smartphone boarding passes as they still seemed to be sharing the readers for those 1 per two desks.

Security lines quite short too but I still used the fast track to the left (just scan boarding pass at automatic gate) but then got caught by a family cutting lines from adjacent line who blocked it all up while the pushchair refused to collapse properly - luckily they got it done eventually without any bruised fingers.

As I had driven up I had missed my coffee and sandwich on the train so I grabbed a sandwich and drink at the bar by the smoking room half way down the concourse - prices not too bad and the toasted ham & mozzarella roll was very tasty, as usual.

I went back towards B01 gate to try the lounge as hadn't bothered going in so many years - up spiral staircase on left or use lifts right opposite gate. Wish I hadn't bothered. BA lounge is spacious and comfortable with computers and printer for internet access but food offering negligible (just cereal, toast and a few yoghurts .... nothing hot and not even croissants!). Bit naff as even the diamond lounge had croissants, meat & cheese etc visible as you walked past. Decent coffee machine and good choice of teas too, good range of beers and soft drinks too plus some nice tasting wine to sip at but I wouldn't ever pay seperately to use this lounge but it's pretty okay if included in your ticket price.

If you saw my earlier SN report then you'll know their plane is already there at the gate over 60 minutes before but BA to LHR, as with Easyjet flights to LGW from here, are part way through a very tight schedule - so I had booked my Taxicode pickup at LHR for 12:45, 35 minutes after 12:10 expected landing on this well padded flight (75 mins for a 45-50 minute actual flying time). This turned out to be a good plan as the incoming didn't make the gate until 11:30 for the 11:55 departure, delays on earlier Geneva legs which couldn't get made up on outward from LHR to BRU. Then it went tech for a minor issue so we didn't board until 12:10 with pushback around 12:30 - everyone had two bags, it seemed, flight was full in economy and only 1 spare in business (next to me, so I had the whole row of 3). so quite grumpy passengers as most had one bag under the seat as overheads couldn't cope - and I took one large underseat bag on centre of 'my' row to help out plus got a spare 10yo daughter (very well behaved) for the flight on the spare seat so some folks could pack more stuff in further back too!

Seats are comfortable enough in business but obviously same as economy just with the middle seat of 3 on each side having the extra tray / armrest.

In flight meal (simple ham salad with some nice grilled veg) was perfectly fine, drinks service certainly decently done for such a busy flight and the crew were calm and friendly.

Smooth flight and good info throughout from the flight deck on progress, CC stayed on very good form despite the delay and luggage difficulties, pilot apologised and explained about late arrival plus that they had a small tech issue on the ground which they had to check on before loading us aboard.

Flight time was just under 45 minutes, quite normal for this 75 minute scheduled flight, and luckily we weren't stacked at LHR so made up some of the lost time. Onto a very decent gate at T5 so nothing like as far to walk as SN flight to reach passport control. That was fairly busy, the priority lane for business is only for non-EU passports so went for the E-gates and got through quite quickly after only 2 attempts with my passport.

Still didn't make it out front until 13:10 so was glad the driver had been booked for 12:45!

M25 and M23 were a nightmare so over 90 minutes to Creepy Crawley, so was very glad my connecting VS flight to LAS wasn't until following day.

Overall the flight was good with only the small delay to grumble about!

Oops, did I really say brief trip report ....

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