Review of British Airways flight Birmingham Lyon in Economy

Airline British Airways
Flight BAXXXX
Class Economy
Seat XXA
Aircraft Embraer ERJ145
Flight time 01:35
Take-off 09 Oct 06, 15:10
Arrival at 09 Oct 06, 17:45
BA   #65 out of 96 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 960 reviews
ChrisB
By GOLD 292
Published on 5th December 2021

back from scotland


Hello Everyone and welcome to this special and old old report!

Spoiler: if you want to see some nice historical aerial views of Lyon, look at the end of the FR!

This report is special to me as I think this was my second flight on my own, and happened when I was a teenager to visit an old friend of mine that was studying in Scotland. 


Routing


I can't remember how much we paid, all I remember is that I bought online for the first time!
It really felt like new technology, I wasn't even sure that the booking was real!!
I will try to find the boarding pass and booking documents I am sure that I put it somewhere. 


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at birmingham international airport


I arrived from Glasgow with my previous flight operated, if I remember correctly with a B737. Regretfully, I don't have that many pictures to publish a FR, just two so I'll skip it.


I remember I had enough time to go outside the airport for just a quick picture. I am not blurring the faces, as this was about more than 15 years ago!


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And going back again through security.


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Lyon and Birmingham are twin cities, is it the reason why there was a direct flight? Not sure but this doesn't exist anymore.

British Airwas had strenghtened its regional operation under the brand "BA connect" at the time, and it was just a few years before British Airways sold the branch that will become Flybe.


onboard the erj145


Aircraft: Embraer ERJ145-EU
Registration: G-EMBC
Engines: 2x AN AE 3007
Age: XXXX Years
Layout: Y45


I have not taken any pictures from the outside, I was a bit "scared" to be told off. However I do remember vividly the BA CONNECT livery of the embraer.
I have found this video on youtube to give you an idea 



And also this video on youtube too about the BA CONNECT livery - I know it is from a flight simulation game but I couldn't find anything better I am afraid.



A picture from inside the plane


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And take off (screenshots from the video I recorded at take off)


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rotate towards the clouds


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Bye bye BiIRRRRMingham!


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I can't remember much about the service, I just remember I had a snack and a canned coke.


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Can you see London? The big green square is Hyde Park of course, and on the foreground you can clearly see London Heathrow airport with the two parallel runways


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Entering the English chanel area


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Goodbye the UK (not for long!)


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Hello France!


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And Paris


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The clouds later cleared above Burgondy


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Viaduc of Mussy!


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The Mont d'Or and Beaujolais


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And here is the Capital (of Gauls!)


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The presqu'Ile and Fourviere basilica on the foreground


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The bit where the Saone and Rhone rivers meet, now called "confluence" but back then was still seedy and dodgy.
For the Lyonnais this might trigger some memories: a presqu'ile without confluence, just one tower at Part-Dieu business district… 


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Verdict

British Airways

7.5/10
Cabin7.5
Cabin crew7.5
Entertainment/wifi7.5
Meal/catering7.5

Birmingham - BHX

7.5/10
Efficiency7.5
Access7.5
Services7.5
Cleanliness7.5

Lyon - LYS

7.5/10
Efficiency7.5
Access7.5
Services7.5
Cleanliness7.5

Conclusion

I can't really appreciate and judge such an old flight, and especially with nowadays standards and criteria.
I left it at 7,5 for every mark. But this flight is still vivid as it was the firt time i was booking a flight with my money on my own!

Related

5 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 588277 by
    flyLars 56 Comments
    Hello Chris,
    What a nice report that absolutely belongs to the past! The Embraer ERJ145 is quite a nice aircraft and it is very sad to see her getting retired all over the planet. Also big legacy carriers as BA and LH have started to centralize all their routes so they can bundle them up at their hubs, which means that routes like BHX-LYS aren't possible anymore on BA.
    Thanks again and hope to see more of these!
    • Comment 588280 by
      ChrisB GOLD AUTHOR 3392 Comments
      Hi Lars,

      thanks so much for your comment.
      This is my oldest flights that I have pictures of, and I think one of the oldest on this site (before 2010, not so many besides Concorde flights).
      I agree with your analyse, but you could also say, in other words that now point to point routes like this one were given up and left for low-cost to take over.
      • Comment 588289 by
        flyLars 56 Comments
        It is very cool indeed that these reports are among the oldest in this database. For sure the Low-Cost-Carrier like EasyJet and Ryanair have taken great advantage of the hub-centralization of the Legacy Carriers and they found their P2P niches. Though I think that at the moment no carrier serves BHX-LYS, would nevertheless fit into EasyJets portfolio haha.
  • Comment 588300 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6668 Comments
    Oh wow I didn't remember BA having E145s, and even less flying from regional airports in the UK to regional airports in France. Always thought that was more of a BMI or Eastern Airways thing. Anymore there are barely even BA flights from any airport in France to London since the beginning of the pandemic. Sad that we have less service now than 2005!

    Thanks for sharing!
    • Comment 588322 by
      ChrisB GOLD AUTHOR 3392 Comments
      Thanks Kevin for the comment, always nice!
      Yes sad this golden times are long gone..
      I am kind of lucky as there are still direct flights from Lys as it is still a fairly big airport...
      The same way that seeing a long haul aircraft on their domestic market is becoming rare, unlike what I have experienced in 2006!

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