Manchester to Heathrow

Wednesday 28th March 2007
Manchester (MAN) – Heathrow (LHR)
British Airways
BA1387
ETD 08:15
ETA 09:25

Boeing 757-236
G-CPEM ‘Blue Peter’
Seat 23A

Check-In
To take advantage of BA’s check in system, we checked in 24 hours prior to our estimated departure time online. The system was quick, easy and we even got the option to reserve our seats. The alternative to the online check in was using the BA kiosks in the Terminal at, Manchester International Airport.

Arrival at Manchester
After leaving the house at 05:30 we arrived at Manchester’s Terminal 3, just before 06:15 and made the short walk to BA’s Fast Bag Drop. The queue was minimal and within 5 minutes, we were checking in the 2 suitcases, bound for London Heathrow-Terminal 1. Unfortunately the security queue wasn’t so short, but within 20 minutes-I was been searched by a member of Manchester’s Airport Staff, Yes… I was one of those people who ‘beeps’ and slows the whole system down…Turn’s out it was my shoes. This was only the second time I’d been through Terminal 3 at MAN, but yet I’ve been searched twice. I picked up my bag and laptop and headed over to the main seating area to watch the Manchester movements. But, I saw nothing for 30-40 minutes, apart from a KLM 737 at the far side of the airport, around the hold for Runway 24L. I’m not sure if it was an emergency, or there was another emergency inbound that I missed, but shortly after 07:20 the movements all started to rush in, and that’s when I saw our aircraft, British Airways ‘Blue Peter’ Boeing 757-200.

Departure
Boarding started fairly late, around 08:05 which caused a slight delay to our departure from Stand 42. As we were one of the first to board, there were plenty of the complimentary ‘Daily Mail’ newspapers, so I quickly took one and continued towards the aircraft door. I quickly sat down in my seat, 23A and waited for the other passengers. The aircraft should have originally been an Airbus A320 but as a large amount of people wanted to fly on this flight (1 of 8 daily) the aircraft had been upgraded in size.

We pushed back from the Stand and started both engines, and made a fast taxi to F1 Runway 24R, were we waited for a company A319 to touch down and then continued taxi to VA1 Runway 24L, were we would be holding behind a Monarch B752 and First Choice B752.

In-Flight
After an interesting takeoff through low fog, we heading South-East toward HON (Birmingham) and climbed FL190 for our estimated flight time of 35minutes. After settling in to the comfortable leather seats, the cabin crew started to serve drinks and a light snack. For the drink, I opted for an ice cold, Apple Juice and the light snack was one of BAs ‘All Day Deli’s’ or in simple words, a Sausage sandwich.

The FO (First Officer) who was flying this leg, then made a PA saying that we are about to hit Heathrow’s morning rush, and would normally hold for 20 minutes, but today the controllers have said just said there will be no holding and have just cleared us to descend further, and then he said we will be landing in 10 minutes on Runway 27L, Runway 27L, Runway 27L, Runway 27L…I think he liked to say Runway 27L.

Approach
It has to be said, the ILS for 27L is one of the best in the world, I managed to see, the Main City, the River Thames, the London Eye and even the new Wembley stadium. As we descended with the glideslope we seemed to be going very fast, but I imagine this was because of the high traffic levels around the London area.

The landing…well what can I say, It was the hardest I’ve ever experienced, we flared too much and then the pilot just lowered the nose, and bang-we hit the ground. The decrease in speed was amazing, and shortly we vacated very sharply onto the taxiway.

After taxiing for around 5 minutes, the first officer made another PA, this time saying “ATC have told us to hold our current position, I don’t know why because it’s clear ahead…but I’m sure we will find out soon.” Another 10 minutes later, we were updated on the situation, we couldn’t move because we had arrived earlier than planned our stand still had an aircraft on that was going, “Up North.”

We continued our taxi, and shortly ended up at the gate, at London-Heathrow Terminal 1

Service: 8 out of 10-All though it was an extremely short flight, the cabin atmosphere was happy and more than I expected.

Drinks and Food: 7 out of 10-BA have a large selection of drinks available on Domestic flights, and the food was nice, even though I’m not a big sausage fan!

I.F.E: 0 out of 10-There was no in-flight entertainment fitted on this Boeing 757-200. I wasn’t expecting there to be in the back on the seats, but when I flew to LGW last year with BA, there was a few TV’s around the Airbus A319 which showed the progress of the aircraft.

Value for Money: 9 out of 10-For ₤60 return, you can’t really go wrong.

Conclusion: BA really do offer a great service at an affordable price. The only thing that disturbed me on the flight was 3 women who were going from Manchester to India (Via Heathrow) who were very loud indeed. I would recommend BA to anyone!

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-z13qDpTVQ

-My next Trip Report is Heathrow to Dubai-