V-Flyer

This was quite a short-notice trip when I realised that I had almost enough Avios to take advantage of the new Special Reward Miles which BA are offering. On top of that, I had more than enough Priority points with Holiday Inns for 3 free nights. The hardest part of the decision was where we should go. We had been threatening to go to Berlin for some time now so even that was fairly quickly decided. The wife spoke to her sister and brother-in-law and they came along for the ride and to make sure that we did not get up to any mischief.

The day before we were due to fly, I hovered over the keyboard and checked in as OCI opened but still only managed sequence numbers 13 and 14 (but at least we got the emergency exit seats).

Arrived at T5 nice and early and had a very pleasant lady deal very efficiently at the bag drop counter and then through to Security. Needless to say, it beeped and I got the whole treatment. Could not understand why as I had removed everything metal but the guy giving me the once-over said that I was one of the unlucky random selections. Not a problem as the security crew were very cheerful and pleasant and we were soon through.

Had a stroll around the shops and then headed off to the pub for a drink. We decided against eating as we thought, being a lunch time flight, we would get a sandwich or a wrap on board. Bad mistake.

Anyway, off to the gate and we were one of the first on the A319, welcomed by the CC and off down the aisle to find our seats. No problems there - plenty of leg room and width.

One of the crew came along just before push-back and gave us the run-down about the responsibilities of sitting in exit seats and asked us please to pay attention to the safety display. All done in a friendly, efficient manner.

The doors were closed and after a brief message from the front office - in which the Captain thanked everyone for boarding do promptly - we pushed back 5 minutes ahead of schedule.

We then had the long taxi for 27L but a relatively short wait before getting take-off clearance to begin what seemed to be a slow climb to FL370.

The crew were soon released and the 'lunch' service began. although the flight was almost full, the crew had soon finished dishing out drinks and a silly little packet of some crisp-type things which did nothing to quell any hunger pangs. I must say that the curtain which seperates the peasants in the back from the well-heeled in the front does nothing to prevent the arome of the Club Class meals wafting down the length of the aircraft. It also did not help rumbling tums when a number of trays were carried down to the rear for the crew to enjoy.

The duty free trolley made its way through the cabin and we were then left in peace to enjoy a remarkably smooth flight.

Landing at Tegel was from the east, performed smoothly and we parked in front of Gate 5 still 5 minutes early.

For anyone who has not flown into Tegel before, they are certainly organised. Off the plane straight into Immigration where there were 3 officers on duty. Past them and there was the carousel specifically for that gate. Our luggage took a while to come off (we planned to take it in the cabin but some of the wife's toiletries were just a little over the 100mls max so they had to go into the hold) but still a lot quicker than LHR. Once they were through, it was a quick dash into arrivals and a quick bite (and that all important first Weiss beer before getting a taxi into town to wait for the others to arrive on the later flight.

To sum up, the ground crew at LHR and onboard were excellent (even the Captain was at the door to say goodbye), the A319 was spotlessly clean, the service was good although the content was rubbish but then I had paid peanuts for the flight, the flight itself was super smooth and Berlin lived up to all I expected.