Review of British Airways flight London → Lyon in Economy

MY BRITISH AIRWAYS ANALYSIS THROUGHOUT 2012-2019

Hello Everyone and welcome to this flight between Lyon and London, a routine that was about 7 years long.

I usually left from Heathrow, I had to go to the funerals of someone close to me, so it was a last minute flight and I did enjoy the cheaper fares from gatwick (BA opens also a route to Lyon from Gatwick in the winter for the Ski season).

You may have noticed I lived for a good couple of years abroad.
I have kept some pictures, emails and documentation of the flights throughout the years, and I have been flying on the same route, at identical periods (Christmas, Summer holidays, Easter…).

I thought I could do something different, instead of posting FR sporadically I am suggesting to pick up one flight per year, so that we are able to compare and note the evolution of the product offered by BA.

My aim is here to analyse the evolution of service legacies have offered over the years. 

For the 2012 report it is HERE
For the 2013 report it is HERE
For the 2013 incident report it is HERE 
For the 2014 report it is HERE 
For the 2015 report it is HERE 
For the 2016 report it is HERE 
For the 2017 report it is HERE 
For the 2018 report it is HERE 
For the 2019 report it is HERE 

At the time, the fare included (for free):
A checked in luggage in the haul
A cabin luggage
Seat selection
Complimentary meal and drinks (incl alcohol)
 

For the quality and level of service detailed above, the average price ticket I paid of a SINGLE flight on the LYS - LHR is:

£56 for 2012
£49,6 for 2013 (including a flight redeemed with Avios)
£57 for 2014 (including a flight redeemed with Avios)
£65 for 2015 (including a flight redeemed with Avios)
£50 for 2016 (including a flight redeemed with Avios)
£52 for 2017 (including a flight redeemed with Avios)
£17 for 2018 (including 3 flights redeemed with Avios) - hence the lower average ticket price
£94 for 2019 (including a flight redeemed with Avios)

the routine

TIme for a quick visit to London!

Avios Miles earned with this flight: None
Status earned: None

I Booked this flight thanks to my miles I earned from previous flights with Latam in Latin America and British Airways, which came in handy, especially for Christmas time when the fares are usually crazy! The good thing with British Airways is that redeeming miles for European fights is doable and reasonable unlike Air France/KLM that asks almost as much as a long haul flight. A checkec-in luggage in the haul is also available.

British Airways has a well designed and user- friendly app, where you can check the status of your flight; choose seats and of course check in online and get your boarding pass.

 After years and years of flying this route, I got used to depart from Terminal 3 (Lyon was one of the very few destinations not to have be moved from Terminal 3) but for a first time the flight was leaving from the all-British Airways/Iberia Terminal 5.

at london heathrow airport

I arrived at the airport early enough to have time to check in and with the Piccadilly line.

I am not sure what to make of the self bag drop stations, you basically do for free what an airline personel used to do for you (next time why don't the passengers place their luggage in the hull too?).

After a busy security checks, I arrived into this large and grand Terminal 5 shoping area.

The boarding happened from the main terminal building today, gate A6.
As usual boarding happened in groups (really dislike the idea) and the ground staff shouting at you to get the passports ready please!

Our bird today

Aircraft: Airbus A319-141
Registration: G-EUPH
Engines: 2x IAE V25200
Age: 19 Years
Layout: Y143

on board the a319

The AvGEEK bit
One of the 42 A319s of British Airways, that the airline received in 2 batches: in 1999 and in 2012. The type is mainly seen on mainland destinations or immediate neighbouring countries.

The crew assigned to the cabin today seemed ok.

Captain made the usual pre-flight annouce for this flight.
We started push back soon after.

Crew performed safety briefing in the old fashion way - one of the rare Speedbirds unit not to have the cabin screens. 

As advised by the crew, here is the safety card!

We started taxiing next to Terminals 5 buildings then terminal 2 towards the runway 26R.
We had to wait for a good 15 min as you can see, 6 planes were waiting to take off before us.

We finally took off about 25 min behind schedule.

 Although the aircraft is old, the cabin was fully refurbished with the newest BA leather seats, and extremly rare now on BA, were reclining and adjustable head rests.

 The cabin was a "newer" cabin which features a restricted legroom and non reclining seats - a true downgrade to the low cost models.
Wifi is slowly being rolled out through the A320 airbus family but this particular aircraft wasn't equipped

 The magasines offered were the famous High Life magasine, the Shopping magasine and the BA Business seperate paper.

The magasine offers a section of travel articles, and coporate news. The BA Business one is usually very good/, quite inspirational for other airlines I should say.

Regretably, as usualy, British Airways does not display any information about its fleets, just the route network.
The coverage of european destinations is impressive however the domestic market could be developped further.

 The crew started the service shortly after take off.

I chose the tukey sandwich, sparkling water and a kikatt provided by M&S for £8.20. The good old to fly o serve of BA is now replaced with to fly to charge.. It is such a shame to see a national carrier going down this route; they even made a cost saving action on the print on the paper napkin and the plastic glass (that don't mention BA anymore).

The rest of the light was uneventful. 

We approached Lyon Saint Exupery arport after another 40 min of flights and made our way to the final on the runway 18L

The landing was very very smooth, so congrats to the captain!

at lyon saint exupery airport

 As usual, we arrived at the new building terminal 1B (previously at Terminal 1A).

In conclusion it was a good experience with Sppedbird and especially because i didn't pay for it ;'-)