Review of British Airways flight London → Zurich in Business

THE ROUTING

TRANSIT LHR

For us the the transit was seamless, it was another story for those arriving and staying in the UK (see previous report)

It was easy, clearly indicated and best, there was barely anybody. Fast and efficient, as it always should be :)

south galleries lounges ba

As the gates are only announced an hour before the flight we decided to go to the same lounge as we were two weeks ago as we quite liked it
The hostess was friendly enough to inform us that the plane would leave from this terminal but she couldn't tell from which gate.
The lounge was crowded, I didn't take any pictures, but you can also find them on the outbound report :)
We ordered a bit of food online:

Service was quick and efficient:

And the food really good.
We stayed at the lounge until the gate was announced. The WifI worked but was super slow.
At the exit of the lounge, there are those lovely planes, the Tristar is one of my old time favorite. Sad that I wasn't able to fly on that bird.

There is also a 747-100:

Back to the terminal:

the flight

The terminal was pretty quiet and there wasn't much activity around our gate:

Our flight arrived on time from WRO at 02:00PM the catering is there, no delay has been announced.

But, and this was a bit confusing, our crew was waiting outside the airplane.

And nothing happens. I see the plane coordinator going up and down to and from the plane, speak with the crew, but nothing moves. It is now 3PM there is a delay set for 3:1 5 now but it seems impossible to leave at that time.
It is really weird, if the plane has a slot usually the crew is on board, if there is a bomb alert, nobody is around the plane, if there is a technical problem, the crew is also on board.
Then the "what is happening" continues with that 32neo:

And this 320 IB:

According to FR24, they both landed at 02:45 and 15 minutes later, there are still not connected to any jetbridge.
It is now 03:15, our plane is further pushed to 03:45 and still the two Airbus around are not connected.

As the plane coordinator passes by, I asked her if she wouldn't mind telling me what's happening.

Remember when we arrived, the whole immigration system in the UK was dead leading to endless cues at immigration. Those queues were now that big that there wasn't anymore room to acccomodate inbound passengers. There was a one km queue to immigration and a 4H wait at that time.

The airport authorities decided to keep people onboard the plane until there was some space for the passengers to start queuing.

The passengers aboard our plane were still in 01H15 after docking. The Iberia and the 321neo could unboard 01H30 after they reached the stand.
This is why we had to wait, for the inbound people to leave the plane.

At 03H20 they were allowed to do so and we could eventually board at 03H35. Let's head to the plane!

The "Instant Porte" :)

After a warm welcome, we discovered this cabin that is different than on the neos:

There is a table on the middle seat:

And all seats are reclinable on board that plane:

The recline, however, is the same as on the neo:

It seemed the pitch was a bit better:

Even if the cabin looks nicer, this is still not a business class for me.
IB is now connected to a jetbridge:

We finally left our gate at 04PM

CX A350:

Virgin A330:

777-300 JAL:

Dreamliner XiamenAir no passengers, only freight:

Gone but not missed :)

SAS 320neo:

321neo Aer Lingus:

A350 SQ:

Soon our turn:

Take off at 4H35… at least :)

Off we go:

The WiFi works:

The coast:

An afternoon tea is the catering tonight, the choice was between chicken/curry + shrimps sandwiches or cheese and veggies. We took the first option. It came with a scone, clotted cream and strawberry jam plus a dessert.

Without the leads:

I took a tea and some water:

Then we flew over CDG:

The flight was as smooth as it could be:

We started the descend close to the German border:

Almost back in Switzerland:

We landed at 06:45, "only" 55 minutes late. Not that bad.

Our shadow:

We docked at terminal E:

The A340 is also a lovely bird:

zrh

After a long day, we arrived in ZRH !

Heading to the train:

It was quiet a walk, since our plane docked at the other side of the terminal.

The immigration was a breeze, through automated passport controls:

The luggage delivery hall:

Where our bags were already waiting for us. Impressive.
My uncle was waiting for us to drive us back to France, usually it takes a solid hour, that evening it took us 02H15, traffic jam everywhere.

To conclude a little bonus about the Dead Sea:

the dead, dead sea:

The Dead Sea, in the summer, is more or less like a lake without wind: no wave, just flat water:

Palestine is one the opposite bank:

Here the Jordan rivers finishes its run into the Dead Sea.

the dead, not so dead sea

But there are also days in the summer, when it's windy where the lake is no more a lake but a sea. It is nowhere as close as what the Pacific or a real sea could produce as waves, but remember, this is a salty lake. A drop of this water in your eyes and you can't see anything anymore until you put a lot of fresh water on it.

Those days, bathing can be really dangereous. The salt concentration, in regular sea water is usually between 2 and 4%. Here we are around 28%.

dead sea sunset

Sunset at Dead Sea are amongst the most beautiful sunsets in the world. I'll let you judge by yourself:

So peaceful: