Last time we took this flight (November - see here) there was a real debacle with the luggage upon arrival at LHR. This time, when we checked in we were helped by a really lovely woman who, by her name tag, was a supervisor. She helped us get seats we wanted that had been blocked off during OLCI (11e&f). I asked if there was priority baggage and mentioned that last time we took this flight it didn't work out for us. She said there was and she would make sure our bags were tagged correctly. Whatever she did worked b/c they were the second and third bag out at LHR.
We knew the lounge only had snacks so we stopped at a restaurant in the airport to eat. I can't remember the name of it - the place and the food were not particularly memorable. Not bad, just nothing special. We went to the lounge for a short while and while there I took a copy of a magazine - can't remember, either Vogue or Harper's Bazaar. The woman from the lounge desk came in and told everyone that we should head to the gate as the flight was very light and the captain was hoping to get away early.
We all headed to the gate and boarded. Then we sat for a while. Forget taking off early, we took of late. It wasn't due to the weather as it was a perfectly calm sunny day. I don't have any idea what the reason was - not because they didn't announce it, but rather b/c I could not hear a word the captain was saying. He just wasn't speaking loudly enough so we could only make out every 10th or so word.
The seat next to me was empty and so once the seatbelt sign was off I had my carry-on bag on the seat. It's just a totebag, not a whole suitcase or anything. I had put my jeans folded up on top of the bag (I had changed into some cotton yoga pants to sleep) and then placed the magazine from the lounge on top of them. In other words, this was clearly someone's stuff, not just a magazine discarded on an empty seat. The reason I mention this is that when I woke up in the middle of the night the magazine was gone. I was kind of annoyed, but I thought maybe whoever was reading it would put it back by the morning. Not so. This really annoyed me. MrStars told me I was ridiculous for being annoyed, but I felt like it was really inappropriate for someone to take it, as how could they know whether I had bought it in a shop or gotten it free. Had I bought it in a shop I really would have been annoyed as I had barely read more than a few pages and was planning to read it during the descent into LHR.
Other then that bit of annoyance the flight was wholly uneventful and I slept most of it. No fast track was given out as apparently fast track at T4 closes half an hour before our flight lands. Iris was inevitably short so we were waiting on immigration lines for the first time in a while. As mentioned early our bags were quick out and soon we were on our way home.
