Review of British Airways flight from London to Toulouse in Business

Introduction

Hello and welcome to the 3rd and final review in this new series of Flight-Reports!

Like every summer, we were headed from San Diego back to Europe for a few months. After a few days' stop in New York, we continued on our journey with the usual connection at London Heathrow. 

Having arrived about 20 minutes early from JFK, we had plenty of time to head to the lounge to wait for our next flight. 

Routing

Transit & Lounge

Our Transatlantic flight arrived at one of the Terminal 5 satellite concourse, like the vast majority of BA widebody flights, so we took the underground train to the main Terminal 5 building to pass through transit security and go to the lounge. 

As usual, there are Fast Track lanes in the transit area downstairs, but once you arrive upstairs at the security lanes, there are no dedicated Fast Track lanes. As I've said in many other reviews, we always try to go for the further lane on the right or on the left as those have new machines that allow you to keep all liquids and gels in cabin baggage, which saves a ton of time. Even if the queue is a bit longer, in my experience, the far lanes with the new machines always move much faster. 

Luckily, that day the lanes weren't too busy and we got through to airside in just a few minutes. 

As usual we headed back downstairs to then go back upstairs again to the BA South Lounges, where the First Lounge is located. 

The First Lounge can be accessed with oneworld Emerald status or if flying First class on a oneworld airline. Those flying in BA First class have access to the more-exclusive Concorde Lounge. 

We headed out to the terrace area of the First Lounge, which offers nice tarmac views and lots of natural light, though beware on warm days it can get rather hot there as you're essentially sitting in a greenhouse. 

We ended up not staying very long because, to my surprise, the children's play area no longer existed. It has been there just a few months earlier the last time we flew through, but had since been converted into an employee break room. It's a shame to have entirely gotten rid of a play area as this was convenient for many families and gave the children a space to play separate from other lounge patrons. I imagine it's going to get louder in the main lounge now with kids running around…not smart BA!

Understandably, my 5-year-old was bummed that they took away the playroom, so I decided that we'd head to the Business Lounge upstairs as I knew there was a playroom there. 

It had been years since I'd been upstairs to the Club Lounge, I'd almost forgotten about this beautiful huge A380 model! I want it!

The Business Lounge definitely has denser seating and was more crowded than the First Lounge. I don't remember it being this dense before, but it may have always been like this and it was just an impression I got in coming directly from the more-pleasant First Lounge.

Despite it being more crowded, we had no trouble finding seats in a quiet corner near the children's playroom. The area was mostly other families with younger kids, who were all perfectly well-behaved. 

Ok first things first…drinks! Yep, definitely a downgrade from the champagne in the First Lounge, but perfectly acceptable. 

There's also less variety of food than in the First Lounge and the plates are oddly much smaller. 

Nevertheless, there's a decent amount of fresh and hot options, consistent with what I'd expect from a Business class lounge. 

I thought the Bottega display in the main central buffet area was quite nice. 

Being that I skipped breakfast on the inbound from New York, I was hungry so fixed myself a mini English breakfast. Tomatoes and black pudding were some items missing that are available in the First Lounge. 

The playroom is much larger than the now-closed playroom in the First Lounge, but seemed to have less toys and didn't have a TV playing cartoons like the First Lounge had. It's still a cool space and has much cooler decor than the other one did. 

I have no idea if this Playstation actually works. I wasn't able to figure out, but I'm not great with technology in general hah. 

As we still had plenty of time before boarding, I went downstairs to the Elemis spa for a shower, which I'd reserved through the BA menu on the QR codes at each table.

Passing this beauty on the way down. 

The shower rooms are convenient, but in need of a Refresh. The Elemis spa itself it currently undergoing renovations, so I imagine they'll update the showers afterwards. 

Boarding

We left the lounge about 10 minutes before boarding was due to begin as the gate was located on the opposite side of the terminal. 

Boarding was about to begin as we arrived at the gate. 

We were allowed to pre-board as BA allow family boarding for those travelling with children 5 years old and under. 

Often when we pre-board at Heathrow, we are scanned through but held a few minutes in another waiting area behind the gate podiums. This always allows a bit of time to get some nice views of our aircraft. 

Once boarding actually begins, those in the pre-boarding staging area then proceed down the escalators or lifts one level to the jetbridge. 

We were the first on board and I was surprised to see 9 rows of Business class on today's flight down to Toulouse! 

These cabins may be over a decade old, but they still look fresh and modern.

As our aircraft was an A320 CEO rather than a NEO, there were still cocktail tables between seats in Club Europe. BA famously got rid of the tables on all NEOs to save weight, but have since introduced a new cabin on all 2024 and newer A320/321neo deliveries, bringing back the central tables. 

There are two 110v power outlet + USB-A combo units for every 3 seats, meaning each passenger in Club has access to a power unit since middle seats are blocked. Only the forward rows that can be converted to Business have the AC power sockets, all rows behind the overwing exits have just USB-A ports. 

Seat pitch isn't great at 30-31 inches, but it's better than the 28-29 inches further back in Economy. 

The Flight

Boarding wrapped up on time and we pushed back from the gate for an on-time departure. 

Things were running smoothly at Heathrow on this sunny and calm early summer day so taxi time was short and we were off. 

Normally power is turned on as the aircraft reaches cruising altitude but that did not happen. 

It turned out just to be my power unit that was broken–all the other ones were on as normal. So I just used the one on my son's side…yes, I have battery anxiety, I can't help it 😅

While my power socket didn't work, the Wi-Fi did.

Full browsing and streaming packages begin at 4.99 GBP for 1 hour or 6.99 for the whole flight. On a 1.5 hour flight like this where the Wi-Fi is only available for about an hour, the 4.99 package makes the most sense. 

Instant messaging packages begin at 1.99 for 1 hour. Messaging is free for members of BA's Executive Club frequent flyer programme. 

Economy passengers may also browse the High Life Café buy-on-board food and drink menu through the Wi-Fi portal—this feature is free and does not require purchasing any Wi-Fi packages, of course. 

As we began our English Channel crossing, the in-flight service began. 

Afternoon flights under two hours departing outside of normal meal hours receive a lighter "afternoon tea" service. It's typical afternoon tea fare with finger sandwiches, a scone, jam and clotted cream, and a piece of cake. A nice light snack perfectly adapted for short flights between meal times. 

My son's child meal was basically the same thing, but with simpler sandwiches. 

Cabin crew were very attentive and kept drinks filled throughout the flight. 

There's no in-flight entertainment on BA narrowbodies so make sure to download some content or bring reading materials, unless you want to pay for the Wi-Fi. It's not a huge deal on these shorter flights, but the narrowbody fleet does operate some  5 hour+ sectors. 

Soon we were beginning our descent over the rolling hills and farmlands of the southwestern French countryside…home sweet home 💗

It's always cool to fly in and out of Toulouse as an AvGeek and see the huge Airbus Balugas and all the new aircraft on the flightline. 

I spy Delta's new Los Angeles 2028 special livery. Funny that I'd seen the current Delta "Team USA" Olympics livery just a few hours earlier at Heathrow. 

Welcome to Toulouse Blagnac Airport. 

It's always nice coming off the plane and seeing these huge posters highlighting the major sites in our beautiful region.