Review of British Airways flight from Rome to London in Economy

INTRO

Hello everyone! Ciao a tutti!
Last November my sister turned 18, therefore I decided to buy a plane ticket for both as b-day present. After evaluating many different European cities (Paris, Bruxelles, Barcelona…) I chose London. Having spent two months there last Summer, it would have been an occasion to be her "guide".
By the end of October I searched the flights. Thanks to SkyScanner I found the best solution: British Airways for the outbound flight to London-Gatwick and Vueling for the return flight.
I chose the first weekend of March to be free with university exams.

7th March Roma Fiumicino - London Gatwick with British Airways A319 (YOU ARE HERE)
10th March London Gatwick - Roma Fiumicino with Vueling A320

British Airways allows online check-in 24 hours before the departure time
The day before the flight we chose our seats (17E and 17F) and printed our BPs

AT THE AIRPORT

Having just the hand-luggage we planned to be at the airport around 15, one hour and half before the departure time (16:25)
Our dad brought us to FCO and left us in front of Terminal 3
T3 hosts most of the airlines operating at FCO, except for Alitalia and its partners, hosted at T1

We proceeded straight to the security checkpoint
The waiting time was just one minute and the control itself took around 2 minutes

While domestic and Schenghen flights depart from B, C and D boarding areas, extra-Schenghen operations are all handled at E boarding area

Passport control made in no time thanks to the eGates

As it happens in many European airports, the security area is followed by a large duty free area
Passengers are obliged to pass through it to reach the departure lounge

The gate number is showed a few minutes before actual boarding time

Lower level of the departure lounge

Having around one hour before boarding, we decided to go upstairs for a coffee

Even if the departure lounge is great (it still smells new since its opening in December '16), it lacks of good spotting points
Alitalia A320 and Saudi Arabian A319 parked at gates E11-24
In the background an Emirates A380 tail can be spotted

A bit later, Alitalia A320 and BlueAir 737

Our gate, E16, was called at 15:45, 40 minutes before departure
It is located in the new pier, opened with the departure lounge

Alitalia Lounge Piazza del Popolo

As other European hubs (like MUC or ZRH) EU-Secure arriving passengers desembark directly in the departure lounge
This explains the exit gates at the end of the pier

Our gate is located in the middle of the pier

Even if the boarding time was close, we had to wait arriving passengers to desembark from LGW

London, here we come!

Our A319 for today's flight:
G-DBCH, delivered to bmi in Febraury 2006 (13.1 years old) and to British Airways in June 2012

Norwegian.com 737 and easyJet A320 parked at gate D area

Being in the 5th group, we had to wait a little before boarding

Going down the jetway

Our bird

The pier

Alitalia A320, I-BIKD named Maestrale

Almost onboard

Some technical stuff

AZ A320 and departure lounge building behind

THE FLIGHT

Flight details
Airline: British Airways
Flight Number: BA2541
Departure: Roma Fiumicino - FCO
Scheduled Departure Time: 16:25
Actual Departure Time: 16:30
Arrival: London Gatwick - LGW
Scheduled Arrival Time: 18:00
Actual Arrival Time: 18:04
Flight Time: 2h 34m
Travel Date: Thursday March 7th
Class: Euro Traveller
Seat: 17E
Aircraft: Airbus A319
Registration: G-DBCH

Cabin door shot
I really like BA's livery

Fuselage shot

I gave the Flight Report Form to the Purser and I made my way to my seat, 17E
My sister had 17F, the window seat
The boarding finished on time

The view from 17F

As I had read many times, the legroom was a bit small, but enough for a 2-hour flight

After the pushback we waited for about 5 minutes
We taxied to RWY7/25, usually used for takeoffs at FCO
Roman coastline after TO

The cabin while we reached cruise altitude

Crossing Alps

Since in the morning I had to wake up early for the university, I fell asleep
I woke up while approaching Anglia

English countryside while we descended to LGW

Apart from usual boring English weather, there was a quite strong cross-wind

And after a bumpy landing…

…welcome to London!

Taxiing to the gate took a bit of time
The initial planned gate was changed and we waited around 5 minutes in a remote stand
Passing under North Terminal bridge, connecting the departure lounge to Pier 6

Approaching gate 12, in the South Terminal

Turkish Airlines 737 next to us

While desembarking I asked the Purser about the Flight Report
She invited me to greet the Captain and F/O in the flight deck
They didn't fill the paper, but no matter, they were kind as well

Bye bye G-DBCH!

Going upstairs for the exit

Last view of our bird

Fortunately the gate we arrived to is quite close to the main building

Apron's view
Turkish Airline 737 and British Airways A320s

Her Majesty the Queen kindly welcomes you to London

We headed straight to passport control
While I made it in a couple of minutes, my sister had some issues with the eGate, and was sent to a regular desk
Unfortunately, an Italian family with 3 kids was in front of her
They had just IDs (Italian one is just a piece of paper) and the border guard had to put their details manually
It took around 10 minutes :P
After exiting the customs we change some money and proceeded to the railway station
In about half a hour we reached Victoria Station and another half a hour to our hotel in Bayswater
Arrivals hall

Railway station entrance