Dublin Airport
So I made the choice for this one to "rough it" in Dublin Airport Terminal 2 until the early hours of the morning to maximise my time in the Lounge I was able to access using OneWorld travel status. It wasn't as bad as some experiences as I was able to nap off a few hours on a comfortable seat in a closed café which about 25 other people took the same idea on.
A somewhat deserted Dublin Airport walkway between Terminal's 1 & 2 at 03:50am in the morning.
I moved over from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 (where BA fly from) and passed through the Fast Track Security lane at 4am, ready for a 10:40am flight to LHR. I passed through security in minutes before moving onward to the Lounge, getting there as soon as it opened for business!
Entering the Airport Lounge, I bagged a seat and went to grab some food for breakfast. Overall it looked like a nice lounge with a nice selection of cold options for breakfast. Only criticism is the lack of hot food. The T1 Lounge at Dublin doesn't offer hot food at all. For my first helping (I was there a fair few hours) included: cookies, a pastry, a yoghurt, orange juice and hot tea.
The T1 Lounge at Dublin experience. Not fancy, but it offers the essentials.
Big shocker for me was the Shower Facility, the toilets had a shower cubicle that you could just use. I did pre-check it with the lady at the lounge check in, and yes you could just use it. There were towels and miniature shower gels available. Overall a very nice facility, though I used it early in the day, so I don't know how it would look later in the day after some other people use it.
I then went over to my Gate after a good few hours of relaxing, my Airbus A321-ceo turned up on time, but then as soon as it parked up there was a delay of nearly 4 hours as London airspace was closed due to the Queen's Funeral that day, if there were delayed long haul flights requiring a priority to land, our plane was probably delayed in Dublin.
Reactions were mixed by the 200 odd people on this flight. Some were really unhappy, some were worried about connecting flights… I calmly asked about the flight going from this gate and whether it would be going, with two YES answers, I opted to back track to the Lounge, where I was welcomed back in and decided to pass the time with another nap and some more snacks!
British Airways BA827 (DUB-LHR)
Boarding the flight began about 13:40pm, ready for a 14:10pm departure. Our Airbus A321-ceo, my first flight on a BA A321-ceo since February 2020, we had an open board through the forward door. Luckily I was in Boarding Group 2 so my seat at the back was unoccupied for some photos and filming when I got on. This flight was originally marketed as an Airbus A321-neo, but a plane change had occurred for the better in my opinion.
The Airbus A321 on this flight was G-EUXI, delivered to BA brand new in August 2005 and flown with the airline for the last 17 years. The aircraft didn't fly during the pandemic being stored at London Heathrow from March to October 2020 then it was stored in Madrid Barajas from October 2020 to May 2022 when it returned to service. From 2005 to 2014 the Airbus A321 in the BA fleet was laid out to carry 188 passengers, but the 2014 cabin upgrades increased this figure to 218 passengers.
Today we were flying on 2005 built Airbus A321 G-EUXI
Unlike the newer Airbus A321-neo (which I flew in late 2021) the "Classic" Airbus A321-ceo in the BA Fleet carry the slightly better seating through the entire cabin. The front rows carry extra legroom at a premium if you are required to pay for seating. But the seats are good for short flights, I've got no major complaints. BA doesn't offer its High Life or Business Life magazines in the aircraft anymore, but the chic mood lighting remains in full swing!
My seat for this flight was Seat 36A, I had chosen this seat when my flight was slated to be an A321-neo so I could experience I high powered take off from the rear. This A321-ceo would later deliver as you'll see! Me and my seat mate were able to enjoy an empty middle seat on this rather full flight, so that was a cool bonus!
Long time no see! The cabin of the Airbus A321-ceo of British Airways, BA finally returned their fleet into service in 2022.
Our flight was quickly boarded, the crew had been also stuck at Dublin Airport and not allowed to leave the A321 during their extended stay, so they all wanted to get back to London Heathrow! We pushed back and it also appeared we got expedited across the Airport as we jumped the que of Aer Lingus and Ryanair planes also preparing to depart Dublin that afternoon.
After taking off from Dublin we made the one hour flight over to London Heathrow, crossing the Irish Sea and across Wales and the Midlands before heading South towards London, our flight was going to be landing over London on this particular day. Over all the flight was pretty uneventful. I used the free Wi-Fi offering to track the flight and enjoyed the usual free snack and water BA offers now on their Euro Traveller product.
Overall it was a pretty standard BA flight, some amazing views of London city centre were visible on the arrival into LHR.
We were about one minute from arriving into London Heathrow, when the plane's engines suddenly roared to life and the plane began a quick climb and hard left bank over LHR and towards the village of Datchet.
It took me almost 300 flights in 22 years, but I finally got myself a Go-Around! The crew didn't specify why we did the go-around, but my guess is the previous plane didn't leave the runway in time- which occurs quite regularly at London Heathrow & Gatwick!
The best bit was I had caught it all on film with my Go-Pro, so I have a permanent record of the event!
We flew away from London Heathrow, back over the city centre before turning back onto finals, making it back in again. Safe and sound with no major issues. Overall, I won't be forgetting this flight in a hurry, its going in my personal history books!
We taxied around to Terminal 5 at London Heathrow (The home of British Airways!). We parked on stand at the Southern End of Terminal 5 right under the view of the South Galleries Lounge, which would be my next stop. I was again one of the last passengers off. I still had a good 4 hours until my flight to Vienna that evening, so I thought I would "beeline" over to the Flight Connections as I had checked in online prior.
A unique set up to the Airbus A321 which you won't see on the Airbus A319 or A320. Emergency exits over the mid-rear fuselage.
