Review of British Airways flight from Edinburgh to London in Economy

overview

Hello everyone, welcome back to another flight report!
I was on a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland. Today, I'll be flying back home to Hong Kong. Since there are no non-stop flights between Edinburgh and Hong Kong, I had to transfer at London Heathrow Terminal 5. This trip report features my domestic flight where I fly from Edinburgh to London.

Aircraft: G-TNEA (Airbus A321-251NX)
Age of aircraft as of flight: 0.4 years
Flight number: BA1447
Scheduled flight time: 17:35 - 19:00 (UTC) | 1h25m
Actual flight time: 17:51 - 19:00 (UTC) | 1h09m
Seat: 6A (Euro Traveler/ Economy)

If you wonder why I chose British Airways to Hong Kong instead of other choices, please read this section of the first flight report of this journey, as the tickets were booked together as well.

This flight allows me to bring 7kg of carry-on bag and 23kg of luggage. Seats are only available for choosing after check-in is opened, that is, 24 hours before the departure. This makes it lucky for me as I get to check in my international flight 3-4 hours before other passengers can. Passengers can pay to choose for their seats beforehand, which makes me very nervous about the seat choice. Luckily and eventually, I can choose a window seat for myself, and it's coincidentally the first row of Economy seats (since they're available).

arrival at the airport

I took the tram from Edinburgh to the Airport. The journey was around 40 minutes, and tickets were at around 7.50 pounds (adults single). Storage space for luggage is provided. I would say that the tram is a fun and relaxing way to travel to the airport, as some great views can be enjoyed on the way as well.

I then arrived at the check-in hall. I arrived way too early (3-4 hours before takeoff), so I had to wait for an hour until check-in begins. I went up one level and grabbed some food at the cafes right before security. There are 3 cafes/ restaurants.
(P.S. this flight report is written and published at Edinburgh Airport while I waited for check-in to open haha).

The British Airways check-in desks are located at zone B of the check-in hall. Different lines were arranged for domestic and international passengers, as well as passengers of different classes. The queues were not too crowded, so check-in was completed efficiently.

Fascinatingly, the check-in desks in Edinburgh Airport were quit tiny, and passengers had to put their suitcases up the belt behind the desks themselves, which is something quite new for me. The check-in staff nearly forgot to put on the luggage tag on one of the suitcases, which could have been disastrous.

Security was then conducted at one floor up, along with international passengers, meaning we share the same queue. Some spare time should be reserved for security, as there might be some waiting. Also, it is easy to have your tray of carry-on items being rejected by the ground staff. These rejected trays would have to be queued and be scanned again, which might be time consuming. Make sure you follow their instructions (e.g. scan boots, put computer in separate tray, follow liquid items restrictions etc)

After security, I then checked my Flightradar24, but only realising that our aircraft had just taken off from London Heathrow as BA1446. I was somehow worried about whether we would arrive on time.

With more than one hour until boarding, I walked around the souvenir shops as well as did some plane spotting within the terminal.

boarding

And at around boarding time, I saw our aircraft, G-TNEA, landing and taxiing to the gate. The time was around 16:50.

I proceeded to my gate, gate 4, and found quite a lot of passengers waiting to board. Boarding started at around 17:15, where Club Europe passengers were given the priority to board. 

And as per usual, I forgot to take pictures of my flight at the gate (sorry!). I then proceeded to the jet bridge. Back row passengers had to board from stairs towards the rear of the aircraft. There has been some queue forming at the bridge. 

cabin and seat

The aircraft I'm flying on is G-TNEA, an Airbus A321-251NX delivered to British Airways in October 2023, making it only 0.4 years old as of the time of the flight! 

The aircraft features 220 seats in total, which include 84 seats with headrest and 136 standard Economy seats. After inquiring the cabin crew, I learnt that the 84 seats could be configured for a maximum of 56 business class seats by blocking out the middle seat, or the curtain can be moved forward and these seats can be sold as Economy.
At the time of my flight, the curtains were between rows 5 and 6, meaning business class only applied to rows 1-5 and 20 seats were assigned to that.

My seat was 6A, which an Economy seat at the first row. It is also a window seat on the left.

The seat design was the same as those in Business class. There is a storage compartment, a large tray table (larger than the Economy seats behind), as well as a seat pocket underneath. The USB outlet and power outlet are located underneath the seat. A coat hook is also featured on the side of the seat in front, which I think is pretty useless.

The leg room is said to be 30.4 inches, which is still fine for me (around 5'7"), considering this is a domestic hop lasting for an hour. There is padding on the seat as well as an adjustable headrest (can't be moved vertically). I don't think I can stay in this seat for too long, let's say on longer inter-European flights that could last for 4-5 hours.

In addition, the cabin separation curtain is directly in front of the passenger for the first row of Economy seats. The curtain is closed up during the flight, so it might be bothering for certain passengers.

I was lucky enough that seat 6B was unoccupied, so I got to enjoy the Business seating in the Economy cabin as well (evil laughing noises)

A purchasable snacks and drinks menu of "High Life Cafe", safety card, and 4 papers bags can be found in the compartments as well.

taxi and takeoff

We began pushback at around 17:40, 5 minutes later than the scheduled takeoff time. We then taxied to runway 06 and took off at 17:51, before turning North and West. The weather was mostly cloudy so little can be seen on the ground.

In addition, the sun has already set at takeoff time, but the lights were only dimmed, but not completely turned off! This makes it very difficult to take photos, as I often capture the reflections of the brighter cabin instead of the outside environment. My front selection of seat allows me to see the engine, but I had to turn backwards so you could see the reflection of the passenger behind me (SORRY!). 

snack service

10-15 minutes after takeoff, the snack service is provided. All Economy passengers are provided with a tiny pack of smoky barbecue crunch, and as per usual, a nice bottle of Harrogate water. This "smoky barbecue crunch" are deep-fried small vegetable pieces which are crunchy.

Taste wise, this thing can barely go wrong. However, that is quite little to offer as I have downed this whole thing in a minute :) BA can also try to offer one more option of snack, alike the other flight I've flown on from London to Edinburgh. I guess that's the standard of European Economy service.

On the other hand, Business passengers were offered with a hot meal. I believe I heard the sounds of metal cutlery up front.

Also, snacks and drinks were available for purchase on-spot, where flight attendants would push the cart around and asking passengers whether they want to purchase. Passengers can pay with credit card. The full menu is attached below.

in-flight

Since it was quite cloudy, and the cabin was too bright, I could barely see anything on the ground, which makes this flight quite boring.

The cabin separation curtain was closed up during the flight.

There was an incident that occurred during the flight, where a flight attendant serving a glass of champagne in the Business cabin tripped over, and the champagne was poured over the suit of the passenger on seat 6D (aisle seat, also first row of Economy). The flight attendant apologized and brought tissues, as well as another drink.

I went and walked around the cabin. The galley and lavatory for Economy passengers are located at the rear of the aircraft. It is mostly clean.

It is at that moment I asked the cabin crew about how the cabin was configured. They kindly told me that the cabin separation curtains could move forwards and backwards depending on how many seats being sold in Business and Economy class. As seen, the standard Economy seats are changed into Business padding seats between rows 14 and 15.

landing

We then approached London Heathrow with a complicated holding pattern, and flying over the city centre. Then we landed on runway 27L at 19:00, which is our scheduled landing time. We then taxied to gate 502 of Terminal 5 and started deboarding at 19:08.

transfer

Given arriving slightly behind schedule, I was afraid I couldn't catch my next flight to Hong Kong, as I was unclear of the transfer procedures and thought I had to go through the long queues of security again. So I ran through the transfer counters. Surprisingly, the only procedure I did was to get my boarding pass scanned, and then I found myself in the departures hall. I really appreciate the simplicity of procedures when transferring from domestic to international in Heathrow T5.

This marks the end of my flight BA1447. Please stay tuned for the final trip report of this journey, where I would fly back to Hong Kong.

My trip in edinburgh (bonus)

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