An interesting LGW-MAN-LGW

Very last minute booking for this, made only on Sunday evening but for a very good fare of £60 return. The return flight certainly was more than interesting, although there was a delay.

BA2906
G-GBTA

Scheduled Departure Time : 1045
Actual Departure Time : 1115

Sched Arr Time : 1145
Act Arr Time : 1147

Check in was nice and efficient, even though I had to be checked in manually rather than use the self-service machines. I was assigned window seat 13A & immediately afterwards I headed to security control, which was reasonabally busy, but none the less I was through within 10 minutes. Departure lounge is really nice at the North Terminal and is far more open that the one at the South Terminal. The lounge was fairly busy, with the majority of flights going to the USA at that time of day, yet there was also a First Choice flight to Kefallinia so there were lots of small children as well :rolleyes:

I took a seat overlooking the apron & took the following with my cheap & small digi camera:

BA2906 was called to board at Gate 55, the domestic gate, at 1015 after the plane had arrived back from Edinburgh. We were departing from door C within the gate area, and shortly after arriving there we were invited to board. Before leaving for the airport, I did an ACARS check to see what plane was operating the early flight to Edinburgh, because that plane then does the BA2906. It came up with G-GBTA & it was right, which was slightly disappointing given that I’d been on it before.

Boarding was completed at 1100, a full 25 minutes after starting to board because the flight was full (all 147 seats), to my surprise. Pushback soon began & the crew did the safety demo as the engines were started and the flaps lowered. We then taxied quite quickly up taxiway ‘J’ to the end of 08R and after the ‘dings’, telling the crew to be seated, we lined up and took off.

We climbed to FL240 over London and LHR and the crew served up our snack, which consisted of a fruit muesli bar plus complimentary drinks. The rest of the flight was routine and shortly afterwards we entered DAYNE2A arrival for Manchester, landing on Runway 24R only a few minutes later than planned. We seemed to use the whole of the runway for some reason, vacating at the last exit.

BA2911
G-DOCA

Scheduled Departure Time : 1930
Actual Departure Time : 2145

Sched Arr Time : 2030
Act Arr Time : 2221

All seemed well as I checked in for the flight. The departure boards said ‘Departing 1930’, which obviously is good. I sat in the T3 departure area and read the paper etc…, before moving seats to near the window. From there, I could see a Jet2 757, now identified as G-LSAC, surrounded by fire engines at the end of 06R/start of 24L. Nothing too serious, I thought, but at 1900, an announcement was made for passengers travelling to Heathrow, Gatwick & Edinburgh. It said that the flights had been delayed due to ‘operational reasons’ & that the next information would be at the scheduled departure time of 1930.

Time passed and the Jet2 still didn’t move and it must’ve been about 1915 when an announcement said that the flight from Gatwick to take us back had been diverted to Birmingham ( :rolleyes:) , and the Heathrow flight had been diverted into Liverpool to refuel. It then sunk in that we would not be going anywhere for quite a while, which was true as it was another hour before we heard anything else, when a departure time of 2125 was issued and that the flight from Gatwick (via Birmingham!) had left BHX at 2010 and would arrive at MAN at 2050.

The BA2912 from Gatwick arrived at 2020 to operate the 2045 BA2913 to LGW, so many people on the 2911 rushed up to the gate, only to be told that this was not their flight. 🙁 . It was to be another 35 minutes before our 737 landed on 06R.

The BA2913 left pretty much on time with 78 PAX on board & as it was pushing back, we were called to gate 148 for immediate boarding, which wasn’t immediate at all. 😉 . The flight was about 2/3 s full and I had seat 17C on the aisle, which didn’t bother me at all. I just wanted to get home. Boarding started at 2120 & was very swift and efficient, meaning that we could push back at 2135. There were 5 cabin crew onboard and, once again, the safety demo was performed as we taxied to 06L. The pilot came on during the taxi-out, saying that our flight time was 45 minutes and that the reason for the delay was a runway closure at MAN & a refuelling delay at BHX, which we all knew already.

The cabin lights were turned off and we sped off down the runway at 2145 & into the air, turning south after takeoff. The cabin service began shortly afterwards, with an ‘All Day Deli’ box being given out, consisting off a Ham, Cheese & Coleslaw sandwich, a ‘Breakaway’ bar and a ‘tub’ of water. The rest of the flight was as standard, with the descent starting just before five past ten. THe first officer said we would be landing in 30 minutes, but he came on just a few minutes later to announce that ATC had been kind and given us a straight in approach to 08R, so the “Cabin Crew 15 minutes to landing” announcement was made & the seatbelt sign switched on.

Sure enough, we arrived at Gatwick just after 2220, 1 hour 50 minutes later than scheduled. Having said that, I can’t complain because it wasn’t BA’s fault & they kept us well informed throughout the evening. We taxied up to stand 554 to end another day for G-DOCA, which had been to Hassi Messaoud earlier in the day.

All in all, I thought BA were very good, even though there was a delay.

Hope you liked:),

Tom