Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome on board this Middle East Airlines flight bound for London Heathrow. Our flying time will be 5 hours and 10 mins operated by an Airbus A320, please fasten your seat-belts and enjoy this flight-report!
Aircraft: Airbus A320-232
Registration: OD-MRS
Departure Airport: Beirut Hariri Airport
Arrival Airport: London Heathrow
It is a rainy morning in Beirut, and it is 5:45AM, here I find myself at the airport to begin my journey to London, noting that this is Lebanon's only commercial airport. There is my bird! OD-MRS. I personally call it Oh! The Mrs.
Naturally before starting my flights from Beirut, I routinely go to the Cedar Lounge, where I can find a variety of Lebanese and Intercontinental breakfast in the morning, you really don't feel in an airport, but maybe having breakfast in a very luxurious hotel! Well done MEA!
And the famous Lebanese Labneh! So refreshing.
I am not going to make you hungry right now, not just yet, wait till you see MEA's generous economy class meal!
Another shot of the ramp before heading to gate 13.
Here she is! Getting refuelled and energised prior her flight to London. Such a damsel this MRS!
Boarding started, respecting Sky Priority lanes. One last shot of her sister OD-MRN (nicknamed Nancy) before stepping on board.
Welcome on board Cedarjet! Naturally MEA's boarding music is running in the morning, relaxing and calm.
Off we go, push and start approved, engines will start after pushback is complete.
And there we are taxiing to the runway, winds were calm, MEA201 had clearance for runway 21 for departure.
Wait a sec, that's MEA's youngest big sister! OD-MEE bound for Paris CDG. I wish I was on board this bird.
One last shot of this beauty (aircraft also featured by Jamil Itani on his flight from DXB to BEY).
V1, Rotate, positive rate gear up! We're airborne!
While entering the Lebanese airspace, we're leaving this beautiful country behind.
One other wide angle shot.
Beirut is in sight, Good-bye beautiful city, will miss you!
And there we are climbing and soaring above the clouds.
Enter text here…
Just before reaching our cruising altitude, breakfast was served! I opted for the Omelette this time, I usually don't eat eggs on a plane, but coming from MEA's catering and from Beirut Airport, I know how good they are and how much they care about about feeding their valued customers.
That's for economy class! Such a generous meal for a medium-haul, don't you all agree?
After the meal, I decided to watch a movie, and then a second, noting that MEA offers around 25 international movies, and around 5 arabic movies, in addition to TV series, etc. This can be improved in the point of view of a frequent traveler, but for a short flight like this, it isn't really an issue. Only thing is that the choice is limited, but they offer the last released movies, alongside with a few classics.
A view of Switzerland below.
Approaching London to land, the flight almost comes to an end, but London that day was extremely windy! Many go arounds that day.
And there a shot of London!
And here we are in terminal 3, parked.
One last shot of the MRS! Good bye MEA, it has been a pleasure.
Hi CaptainElie, thanks for this nice and well-written report.
Great shot of BEY on departure...the water looks beautiful. You also got some great views of London on arrival, which is always something I love about flying into LHR. One of the perks on being put into holding patterns awaiting landing is nice views.
The lounge does look quite nice and the portion of the meal is quite generous, as you mention. The IFE system looks to be a bit old, but then again, most European carriers flying between BEY and Europe don't have IFE at all, with the exception of BA. I believe BA fly their Club World-equipped mid-haul A321s between between BEY and LHR, which also have IFE and have fully flat seats in J.
The beauty of FR is everyone is entitled to his/her opinion--each person's experience is personal and the ratings should reflect that. It's good that you are justifying the ratings and that is a good argument, though, again there's the example of BA mid-haul A321s on similar routes, which does offer a similar hard-product experience--or better in the case if the J cabin. Often, when I see 10/10 across the board (which is not the case here, but is often seen on MEA reports) it is difficult to take seriously because it means that it is the best possible product on a route and better than all competition. Sometimes that's true on some routes--sometimes it's not.
That being said, I'm understand your explanations of ratings for the flight to a certain degree, but I don't quite understand the 10s across the board for the lounge. For example, you rated the Services 10/10--to me that would mean there is a Spa and other "exceptional" types of serviced like that, which you do not normally see in a business class lounge. Maybe there are and you just didn't mention them?
Thanks for sharing!