Review of British Airways flight from Paris to London in Economy

Report No: 2019-205E

After my first international flight from Istanbul Airport, it was time to return to DC. I have not touched my original DC-Paris booking and utilized it sequentially even though I have added Istanbul to this short trip. This report would be the first report of the third part of this serie. It would be a classic British Airways Euro Traveller report as I have reported similar flights many times in the past. However, in this report, I would include details about my first visit to the Cathay Pacific Lounge in Paris which is actually one of the best OW Business lounges in Europe.

Just a reminder that as I have already reported the first flight and a similar one to the second, I had used the chance to video report the first part of this serie for a test of YouTube flight-reports that I would start to post soon but things didn't go as well as I expected. It's really hard to capture good quality videos on a phone camera so I won't compile them as a video and present it to you, but I would share some parts of the flights as a video as well. Because that some photos were taken from the videos, they are not in their usual quality. However, these reports are complete Flight-Reports and I apologize for the bad photo qualities in some images and give the signal that I would start video-reporting soon as I have the chance to buy a motion camera. Once again, thanks for your understanding.

The routing for this serie would look like this
First Part

Second Part

Third Part

Pax for this flight

Club Europe: %95-100 [Club Europe until row 6]
Euro Traveller: %95-100 

ONLINE CHECK-IN

Even though, this was my connecting flight, I had to do a separate online check-in for the next two flights as there were operated by a different airline and in a different reservation.

I had sticked to my pre-reserved emergency exit row seat for the first flight

And, I was able to select seat 30A for free due to my British Airways Executive Club Silver status for the next flight. My pre-reserved seat was 32K.

PARIS CHARLES DE GAULLE AIRPORT - CDG

After arriving to Terminal 1, it's time to head to Terminal 2A for my next flight. I should clear security in T1 gates 10-18 to access the green transfer shuttle which leads to Terminal 2 as a Non-Schengen path. 

At the security checkpoint over there, I had first tried to scan my mobile boarding pass to the AccesNo1 device but it didn't work, as there was nobody at the flight connections service desk; I had waited my turn at the regular line which was 10-15 minutes.

Something interesting had happened at the security checkpoint. At first there was two lanes open but after the number of passengers in the line have decreased, one of the lanes were closed and all passengers were directed to the other remaining open lane. One of the passengers ( an old women heading to Ireland ) insisted to use the closing lane as there were less people at that lane. She first put her belongings to the trays at the closing lane, then the security officers told once more that the lane is closed and she must head to the open lane. The lady hasn't listened. Just after I passed the metal detector. The lady jumped in front of the passenger behind me and put her belongings to the X-Ray device without excusing anyone. This time the security agents were trying to send her back to the end of the queue as she lost her turn. As I could talk French, I've heard the chief on duty being so angry and the other security officers were relaxed and enjoying the funny situation. There was a audience of 20-25 people watching that Irish lady but I didn't stay for the rest of the comedy and headed to the transfer bus.

After another verification of my boarding pass, I was admitted to the waiting hall for the transfer bus.

After a short wait of 9 minutes; the bus arrived and I had arrived to Terminal 2A within 7-8 minutes. The bus was not crowded and there were 2 passengers in total including myself. The other passenger was a lady that was also heading to Washington but after a standby not cleared onboard the direct United flight, she was struggling to catch the Air France flight which was going to depart within an hour. Luckily, that flight got delayed and she was able to make that flight.

And I'm finally in Terminal 2A.

And I'm going to head to the lounge to have lunch.

Cathay Pacific LOUNGE - PARIS CHARLES DE GAULLE AIRPORT

As there are oneworld two lounges in Terminal 2A/C in Paris; I was first planning to do some lounge hopping between the Admirals Club and the CX Lounge but I have discovered that the Admirals Club closed after the last AA departure. However, the Cathay Pacific Lounge was one of the best outstation lounges that I have visited in Europe.

The available press. There was a media room and a computer room as well which are not photographed.

The salad bar

Main courses

Desserts, fruits and breads available

Some cheese and some nuts

And drinks that were available

One of the best part of CX lounges that there are noodle bars where you could order a noodle of your choice and the chef prepares it for you. I was given a pager after my order and my order was ready within 3 minutes. Unlike like the CX lounges in LHR and SFO, the noodle bar is available for BA passengers in Paris.

I had opted for the wonton noodles which were delicious.

One of the other positive points about this lounge is that the lounge has a magnificent view of the apron.

And, I was able to spot one of my friends from back home.

As well as this Royal Jordanian A319.

And our aircraft alongside with the El Al 772.

During my visit at the lounge, I have realized that I wouldn't have time for a shower in Heathrow so I asked if I could used the showers. I was quickly given the key of one of the shower rooms and had a great shower. The shower rooms were spacious and was definitely better than those in the Galleries Lounge at Heathrow

FIDS

Before boarding would begun, an announcement at the lounge had been made that our flight would be shortly boarding, at that time I have left the lounge while passengers on the next BA flight was arriving to the lounge.

GATE AREA & BOARDING

Boarding had started on time with two gates being used. Gate A44 was used for priority passengers and gate A45 for others.

Priorities were respected during boarding. As I hadn't seen an agent at check-in, after scanning my boarding pass the machine beeped and red light appeared. My passport was scanned and my visa to the USA was checked and then I was admitted onboard.

As passengers requiring assistance was boarding at the same time, the ground staff asked us to wait at the jet bridge for a while. 5 minutes later, we were invited onboard G-EUPW.

The door

BA 315 PARIS CHARLES DE GAULLE AIRPORT TO London Heathrow AIRPORT

After being welcomed by the crew, I had headed to my seat 10F in the emergency exit row. As I mentioned in my previous reports, the emergency exit rows of BA shorthaul aircraft have a decent legroom and they have an ideal comfort for shorthaul flights.

As I took my seat, I have noticed the construction going on at the apron and the Emirates A380 being push-backed.

Just a highlight of the literature today onboard. Overhead monitors were not working as usual and there was no route map available today. The safety demo was made manually by the crew.

For those who want to browse the Marks&Spencer onboard menu, you could click on this line to view the menu of January-April 2019. 

And we have pushed back on time as the Aeroflot 737-800 had arrived to Terminal 2C.
For all of the flight, I have taken a nap so I won't be able to share take-off photos and photos from the air.

I had just woke up before our landing to Heathrow. We had landed 25 minutes before our scheduled arrival time.

Some BA widebodies at Terminal 5C.

British Airways 787

British Airways 777 sisters

And another British Airways 777

Later on, we had parked to gate C53.

The seatbelt signs were switched off shortly. Then, I have said goodbye to the crew and left the aircraft.

London Heathrow AIRPORT - LHR

After deboarding our A319, the first visible aircraft was this BA 777-200 which was parked at gate C54.

Free newspapers were available at the gate.

As we had arrived to C gates, I have checked the FIDS for my next flight and I learned that it was going to depart from B gates.

So, after a welcome from Tim Peake; I have headed to the walkway as I made my way to Terminal 5B.

So, the journey would continue soon in the next report.
This report has came to an end. Thanks for reading and hope to see you in another report.