We stayed at the Novotel at LHR the night before as it was a very early flight, this hotel is nice, comfortable and close. We ordered a car to pick us up and take us to T2 this is only 9, which I thought was very cheap, a lot better than the bus and direct!!
We arrived at T2 just after 0500, to find complete chaos at the terminal, they were announcing flights they were checking in and for anyone else to wait upstairs. we managed to find the Business Class check in where there were just 2 people ahead of us, but had a problem checking in, they had E Tickets but were told they needed paper, this took about 15-20mins, we had already done OLCI and were processed in under a minute.
We fought our way to security and went to Travelex to pick up our Euros, there was only one person serving and 4 people in front of us, there was a guy sorting money out but not serving, we were waiting for about 20mins, I got my money but there was a problem with V-Monkey's so he told them to forget it, as out flight had been called and we hadn't gone through security and the lines were very busy and no fast track in place [n]
We went through security and our flight was on final call, we spoke to the security to see if we could jump the line as our flight was boarding, he said that he would move us to the front, with tuts and moans from others. We got through and had to run to gate 6! (I don't do running!) No time to use the lounge, but OS use LH lounge by gate 3. We got to the gate and most of the pax had boarded. We walked down the jetway and the FA was busy talking to another pax, she just waved us on board. We settled in to row 1 and thought what a rush that was, but glad we made the flight. The FA looking after the Business Class cabin and welcoming people on board looked tired and rather bored, she wasn't checking any boarding cards and just waved people on and didn't smile or say hello! [V]
We waited some more and it came apparent that we were waiting for one more family, they boarded to find they weren't sitting together, this guy seemed to have about 3 wives along with children, some got upgraded to Business as it wasn't full. Then he started shouting that he wasn't sitting with his wife and children....blah blah blah this took about another 15mins and they were going to off load him as he wouldn't sit down. They managed to move some people in Y to accommodate them. The FA response was, you should of checked in online and arrived at the plane earlier.
Doors closed at 0630 and the safety demo was shown on the TV screens, well for about 5mins of it, the FA had forgot to put the screens down! We didn't get any welcome drinks, just newspapers. (I was looking forward to at least an OJ)We took off with no waiting (best thing about T2 is that you are close to the runway) and we were on our way to sunny Vienna.
We were served a hot breakfast which was really nice and lots of it!! [y] We had crepes with a mushroom sauce, fresh fruit salad, ham and egg with cr_me fresh, hot pastries and bread rolls, and coffee (which was very nice apart from the size of the cup!)
Rest of the flight was rather uneventful, by the time we finished breakfast we were descending in to Vienna, we made the time up and landed at 0920 (10mins early) We were of course one of the first off the plane and headed to security, which was chaos we must of landed just after a package flight as it was heaving for EU and non EU pax! The EU line moved fairly quickly and got through in about 10mins. V-Monkey and his Aussie PP took about double that. I headed to the baggage hall, I waited for the belt to start up which took about 10mins and my case was the first to come through and V-Monkey's was second [^][^] This is the first time ever that this has happened! Bags collected, V-Monkey had joined me and we headed to meet our driver to take us to our hotel.
Overall a VERY disappointing flight, even though it is a short flight I thought the service was awful and patchy, she clearly didn't like the early flight, but food was very nice though.
V-Monkey will be writing the return TR.
