Review of British Airways flight San Diego → London in Premium Eco

introduction

The second half of my journey from London to San Diego and back. I'd just spent a few weeks gallivanting around the American Southwest and was back to San Diego for my flight home.

I had flown Club World on the way out and my compromise was to be in World Traveller Plus on the way back - this was an overnight flight and I had a few days off afterwards so this felt like a good compromise.

the airport

I arrived at the airport at about 15:15 having dropped off my car hire. Amazingly I had got it down to 34 miles remaining in the tank which was ideal for the full-empty condition I was after!

A bit of a long queue for check-in meant that it was not until 16:30 before I was through security. A pulled pork sandwich was my choice of evening sustenance at Stone Brewing - good portion, tasty and the slightly inflated airport price was justified.

I spent the rest of the time sitting watching flights land from between Gates 35 and 36. Before long the inbound flight was landing at 17:30 but I knew I still had a while before it would be time to board.

By about 19:00 I was at the departure gate and making my way back down the same jet bridge I had arrived on just over two weeks prior. The sky was already looking fairly ominous just like it was at Heathrow…

… and by the time I had taken my seat in 21A the rain was hammering down on the outside of the aircraft. I felt sorry for the ground crew who were getting absolutely drenched by this spring downpour. Huge clouds of mist and wind were being blown inland from the bay and it looked absolutely grim.

the flight

Seat 21A is a regular World Traveller Plus seat. I saw the menu which was so uninspiring I decided to not partake in the evening meal options and tried to get to sleep as quickly as possible. A good set of earplugs and a fairly rubbish eye mask helped and hindered sleep respectively, but I got a decent rest before I woke up somewhere close to Ireland. Unfortunately whilst I got some rest I was very achey from a seat with 38" pitch.

I declined breakfast but took advantage of an orange juice and a breakfast bar of some variety. Not pictured - I'd switched off my phone for the flight and it did not switch back on until we were coming in to land at Heathrow. Annoying!

On arrival we parked up at T5B and I took advantage of being near the exit door to get out of the airport as quickly as possible. Once again a speedy walk through the foot tunnel got me to near the front of the queue for border control and the bags were on the carousel by the time I arrived. On this early Tuesday afternoon in spring I was home within an hour and fifteen minutes of arrival at the gate.