#62 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings.
967 reviews
Welcome to the 7th segment of this long 8-part series of reviews taking us across the Atlantic, above the Arctic circle, and then back to southern California again.
In this review, we'll be heading back to the U.S. via London-Heathrow on British Airways, as we often do. Nothing terribly exciting, just a short 1-hour hop on an A320.
Reviews in this series:
We arrived at the airport a little over 2 hours before departure.
Unsurprisingly, the BA ticket counters weren't yet open. That's definitely one thing I don't like about BA/IB short-haul outstations–the counters only open 2 hours before departure, which just makes everything rushed.
And of course there was already a long line forming before the counters even opened.
While we waited for the ticket counters to open, we headed to the fun aviation-themed playground outside between Terminals 2 and 3. Our son enjoyed running around and playing before the long day of flights. I really love how kid-friendly Scandinavian airports are.
Once we got back to the BA counters, there was a long line in both the Priority/Business lane and the Economy lane. Luckily, the Business class lane, to which we had access with our oneworld Emerald status, moved relatively fast.
We then headed upstairs to security, which was quick through the Fast Track lanes.
After security, we made an obligatory pit stop at the lego store, then made our way to the Eventyr Lounge, a third-party lounge to which qualifying British Airways passengers have access.
Upon entering, I was immediately impressed by how large, open, and light-filled the space was. The decor is simple, yet elegant and modern–very Scandinavian.
And there are great panoramic views of the tarmac
The food & beverage options were mostly basic, but I did find that there were more drink options than the SAS Business lounge.
The Eventyr lounge was pleasantly uncrowded on this Saturday morning.
We watched our aircraft pull in to the gate, just below where we were sitting in the lounge. Nice to know we didn't have far to go to get to the gate!
The aircraft taking us to Heathrow, G-EUYV, is one of the newer A320s delivered to BA in 2014, prior to A320neos beginning to arrive.
Knowing we didn't have far to go, we headed to the gate only a few minutes prior to boarding time. We queued up in the section for priority boarding Groups 1 to 3.
No pre-boarding for families this time–this is always hit or miss in outstations. No bother as we had Group 1 boarding with Emerald status.
Passing through the Club Europe cabin, where the only physical difference with Economy is a blocked middle seat…well, it's usually blocked—I recently wrote up an experience where BA filled up the middle seats in Club on one of our flights: You can find it here.
Most BA A320s have a capacity of 180-seats (there are a few with 177-seats). In this dense configuration, seats in front of the over-wing exit rows have a seat pitch of 30" (76cm), while seats behind the over-wing exits (rows 13-30) have only 29" (74cm) seat pitch, which is barely better than most low-cost carriers, which usually have the bare-minimum 28" pitch.
Despite the tight spacing, the cabin is quite nice and modern and the Collins Aerospace Pinnacle seats are higher-end and better padded than most other short-haul slimline seat models. It's very rare to have adjustable headrests in short-haul Economy these days.
The 29" seat pitch behind the exit rows is definitely tight, but the design of the seat with the seat-back literature pocked at eye level maximises knee-clearance, as you'll only find the safety card on the lower seat pocket.
BA's short-haul fleet is outfitted with Wi-Fi and every seat has power throughout the A320 family fleet, with the exception of a handful of ex-BMI A319s, on which I'd previously written up a review, which you can find here.
The buy-on-board food menu can be found in the upper seat pocket. The prices aren't terrible and there's a decent amount of variety.
Boarding wrapped up on time, and doors were closed shortly after. We pushed back from the gate a few minutes ahead of schedule.
A very short taxi time once again, and we were off.
On climb out of CPH, we got a close-up view of the Øresund Bridge, which links Denmark and Sweden.
Looking back at CPH.
Once we reached 10,000 ft in altitude, the Wi-Fi and in-seat power were turned on.
On short-haul, Wi-Fi messaging-only packages begin at £1.99, while full browse & stream packages start at £4.99 for 1 hour, or £6.99 for the full flight. That's about double the the price for full-flight Wi-Fi as on our recent SAS flights.
Economy passengers on short-haul flights receive a complimentary bottle of water and a small snack–this is a relatively new development within the last few years, as previously there was no complimentary service in Economy.
The lovely cabin crew gave my son a chocolate breakfast bar they had left over from the inbound flight in addition to his snack.
For those who may want to purchase something more to eat or drink, the buy-on-board menu can also be found through the Wi-Fi portal.
At about 1h20m of flight time, before we knew it, we were making our descent and doing the usual holding pattern circles over London.
We were once again treated to spectacular aerial views on central London's most famous monuments and landmarks.
It was a tad hazy, but still made for great views.
We landed on time and had a short taxi to Terminal 5.
We parked at Terminal 5A where we headed directly to Transit security to connect to our flight home to the U.S.
Another pleasant short-haul BA flight. Though we fly in Club Europe more often than not, the Economy experience it's bad. The seats are the same as Club--unless you get a NEO with more basic slimline seats behind the over-wing exits--with just a bit less legroom, depending on where you're sitting. The complimentary service is nothing to write home about, but at least it exists--something, many European carriers can't say since moving to buy-on-board models in order to compete with LCCs. I also find BA's buy-on-board menu to be quite decent with a good variety of fresh options and alcoholic beverages.
Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 3 avis concernant 2 compagnies sur la ligne Copenhagen (CPH) → London (LHR).
La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est British Airways avec 7.3/10.
La durée moyenne des vols est de 1 heures et 55 minutes.
More information
8 Comments
I hope you had success ensuring all the pieces made it to SAN^^
The Eventyr Lounge is quite “interesting” in design. Not sure what the inspiration was for those wood circles throughout with bar seating around the edges.
Another low load factor on this flight, that whole row in front of you was empty. Overall, within the context of the universal reduction in European service, BA doesn’t look that bad and certainly well ahead of LH group.
Haha surprisingly yes! Since they've been home though, they've been mixed up with the bazillion other mystery lego pieces hah
Yeah no idea, there might be some Scandinavian context I don't understand. But either way i like it...keeps the space separated while staying open.
May be that it was a Saturday in October...low-tourism travel and no business travel on Saturdays
Agreed. As far as European legacy carriers go, for shorthaul service I'd put AF/KL first, then BA, then LHG and SK, then the really bare bones IB/TP types
Thanks for your comments!
It’s nice to see that BA has pinnacle seats for all cabins unlike some other aircraft, with slimline seats!
The service seems pretty regular for a 1-hour flight, a snack, and a bottle of water. The purchasable items are quite expensive as usual though.
Yes, they do on all of the CEOs, it's just the NEOs they have the different seats in the back.
Exactly, pretty average for intra-European...not great, but not the worst.
Thanks for stopping by!
Login to post a comment.