when i booked this flight the price quoted in the manage your booking section of the BA website was a good price (£80 I think
) so i decided to treat myself as my birthday was the day after the flight.I booked the flights at the beginning of Febuary so as to get a good price and was originally booked on the the BA325 from CDG however at the begining of March I had an e-mail from BA to say thet the 325 was no longer going to be flying the route, after checking my booking online I found that they had changed my flight from Paris CDG to Paris Orly.
being that CDG is easier to get to I phoned BA Exec Club (which i had joined to claim the miles for this trip) and after a short phone call I was re-booked on to the 323 from CDG.
After a nice day in Paris I made my way To CDG to check in
Check in was deserted and although i had secured SEQ2 on my iphone the night before i went to the desk to get my proper boarding pass.
After Check in i proceeded to fast track security to find that the 3 people in front of me were taking teir time to remove their shoes belts etc. and so it may have been quicker to go through the 'normal' lines
After setting off the alarms (again! I dont know why it is always me who goes bleep
) I had a leisurely browse in Duty Free and then made my way to the American Airlines Admirals Lounge which is underneath the remote gates at Terminal 2A.Although the lounge has no windows it was a pleasant enough area with a small selection of Food & drinks Pictured here Here & Here (sorry not a good picture)
I sat in a quiet area of the lounge pictured here and read some of my book before finding a PC (in it's own little booth in the Business Centre) to look at the new posts on V-Flyer.
Just before boarding was announced i made my way to a very crowded gate area to await boarding of the A319 which had just arrived a little bit behind schedule.
Boarding commenced a few minutes late and the ground staff decided to call Priority Boarding Club Europe and Rows 22 down through 11 all at the same time
only leaving 4 rows waiting
This created a Mass Rush at the gate and made it look like a full Budget flight with everyone fighting for the window.
on boarding there were people storing their bags in the fromt lockers and then making their way to a seat at the back
(why do people do that?) so i placed my bag under the seat in-front and then couldn't help laughing when an American gentleman boarded and tried to get a case that was twice the size of the locker in over his head which was entertaining until the crew told him it wasn't going to fit and placed it in the wardrobe at the front.Take off was around 5 mins late and felt a little 'sporty' as the flight was full (I do like full power take off's)
the crew were friendly and service started as soon as we had stopped climbing.
Dinner was a salad with a warm bread roll Pictured here and was OK but i may have been happier with the sandwich offered in Y.
we then had some great views of the Channel and coming in to England and then a few moments later a nice view of LGW and then Big Ben and the London Eye and the Dome whilst circling for LHR.
The crew then started the Terminal 5 Arrival Video detailing what to do on disembarkation (passport control/Flight Connections etc) as we went back over LGW and central London again.
after a few moments going around and around we left the hold and flew over the Farnbrough area and then had a great view of Windsor Castle on Approach to the Northern runway at LHR.
once we had landed the pilot announced that there was an aircraft just leaving our gate so we would have to wait a few moments until we could continue to the gate.
a few moments later we made our way to the south side of T5 and as soon as the breaks were on the whole of Economy stood up at the same time before the seatbelt sign was switched off
it took ages for the ground staff to get the jet-way attached to the door and the door opened.
After leaving the aircraft (making sure i left before any of the Y section) i made my way to Passport Control and went through one of the automatic gates (not IRIS) as the entire que was heading for the manned desks and i was out of T5 in 10 mins
but then had a 20 min wait for the T5 Long stay car park bus
Once I had got back to my Car parked on the side of the runway I was just getting in to my car as a Thai 747-400 landed and blew out a tyre in front of me with a very big BANG
I nearly had a heart attack 
Other than that a nice flight although a bit full and a good experience of the AA lounge at CDG and of arriving back in to LHR T5
Chris H
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