We had booked our Christmas holiday back in February, flying on British Airways for the first time in years. We chose BA because of SN’s axing of their morning MAN-BRU flight on Christmas Eve – flying via LHR would mean getting to BRU earlier than flying non-stop from MAN.
We spent the few days before the holiday hoping that the fog would lift and that we would make it to Brussels the way we had booked, rather than flying to AMS and getting the train to Brugge via Antwerp.
Thankfully BA started the domestic and international flights the day before we were due to fly, so we had nothing to worry about and it was nice to see the 757s arriving at MAN again!
We were staying at Bewley’s Hotel near the airport and it was a short walk to terminal three, where all BA flights depart from.
Terminal Three at Manchester, largely used by British Airways.
We checked in at a self service check in kiosk, which are very handy and much better than the conventional desks. We checked in through to Brussels and then went to drop off our two bags at fast bag drop off.
The check in assistant told us that our flight – due to leave at 08:10, would now leave at 10:00 because the crew had arrived at 10pm the night before and must have a minimum of twelve hours rest before they fly again. Fair enough, that still left plenty of time to connect in LHR.
We went through security, had a bacon sandwich in the departures area, and then headed to the gates to spot.
bmibaby 737 waits for its passengers.
This BA A321 was flying a ski charter to Salzburg. Alongside was a bmi A321 flying a ski charter to Turin. We watched those two aircraft leave and then went to the other end of the departures area.
US Airways A330 arriving.
Travelcity 747 arrives.
I was hoping for a 757, as I’d never flown on one before. We kept checking the screen for the gate number, it took ages to show but then it came up as gate 142, so we headed off to the gate to board the aircraft.
By: T5 - 7th January 2007 at 21:43
Ah.. my apologies for the misunderstanding.
I also forgot to mention that I flew on G-BPEE back in August 2005. Seat 34A. 😉
By: Comet - 7th January 2007 at 15:49
Thanks for the comments T5.
I think you misunderstood about the swearing – I never said we swore at any of the airport staff, we were complaining among ourselves and swore a bit, we didn’t swear at anyone. We were not very happy, to make an understatement. All the shops had closed – we had not received any of our clothes (at that point we did not know whether we would get our clothes bag or our shoe bag back) including some very expensive new ones and with all the limitations on hand luggage we had not got any essentials with us at all. That was the fault of BA, no one else, as they did all the handling for the flights we were on. Other than that we were very happy with BA on all our flights.
By: T5 - 6th January 2007 at 19:13
Great report and great photographs, too.
I must say though, whatever the problem, nobody is ever going to take you seriously if you resort to swearing. Despite the frustration a lost case can cause, these things do occasionally happen. Obviously you want to vent your anger, but I’d probably try and remain a little calmer next time!
When British Airways lost my case in December 2003, I was very unhappy. I was on a flight from Gatwick to Edinburgh, yet the bag somehow went to Manchester, and then had to be flown onto Edinburgh later in the day. The staff at Edinburgh provided me with the very limited information they had, and, like you, they didn’t know the whereabouts of the bag at the time, but were very apologetic and took my phone number to keep me updated. I was called at least 3 times during the day to be told various bits of news. 12 hours later, my bag turned up at my hotel in Edinburgh (with about 20 pieces of paper attached to it!) and British Airways reimbursed me 11 pounds for “essential items” I had purchased that day, fearing that I’d never see my case again.
But changing the subject slightly, I flew out of Terminal 4 last Sunday, on KL1018 to Amsterdam. I was impressed that the airline accepted my 28kg suitcase (and didn’t charge excess baggage)! I was kind of reluctant to travel though. 30 minutes before the flight left, I was still stood at the check-in area, debating whether or not I wanted to go. I very nearly didn’t! For once, I was really impressed with the airport. I had a bit of a dash, but within 5 minutes, I had cleared security and had boarded the aircraft. I was knackered!
By: Newforest - 6th January 2007 at 18:39
Our missing bag finally arrived back in Scarborough last night.
From not showing up on the baggage trace on 24th December, to being found in LHR terminal four on 27th December, to having a flight from BRU-LHR on 30th December and finally from LHR-MAN on 1st January, that damned bag has had more BA flights in the past few days than we have.
You were lucky! CNN yesterday showed the corridor yesterday at LHR with hundreds of lost bags awaiting their owners. If you are one of them, this link is where you might get reunited!
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/flightops/public/en_gb?p_faqid=2456
By: Comet - 3rd January 2007 at 14:22
Thanks for the comments – the return flight report is being prepared, the photos have been resized, I just have to upload ’em onto Photobucket now:D
That bag could have earned us a free flight if we’d enrolled it into the frequent flyer programme 😀
By: Manston Airport - 2nd January 2007 at 22:52
Nice report there Lousie cant wait for the next one:D
James
By: chrism20 - 2nd January 2007 at 18:08
Excellent report, Comet. 🙂 BA are an excellent airline, shame about your baggage!
Maybe OneLeft can give some reason. Can you give a reason as to why then Comet flew BA1387 she got the ‘breakfast wrap’, but when I flew on BA1389 I only got a cereal bar? Is there a cut off time for ‘proper’ food? 😉
The BA meal policy can be found on this link https://ukprepin.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/ukprepin.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=2195&p_created=1141992493&p_sid=zd7GvHqi&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPSZwX3NvcnRfYnk9JnBfZ3JpZHNvcnQ9MjoyJnBfcm93X2NudD0xNDImcF9wcm9kcz0mcF9jYXRzPSZwX3B2PSZwX2N2PSZwX3NlYXJjaF90eXBlPWFuc3dlcnMuc2VhcmNoX25sJnBfcGFnZT0yJnBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9Y3VzdG9tZXIgb2Ygc2l6ZQ**&p_li=&p_topview=1
If the flight is delayed it should still get the meal that was planned as it is ordered in advance
By: chrism20 - 2nd January 2007 at 14:44
From not showing up on the baggage trace on 24th December, to being found in LHR terminal four on 27th December, to having a flight from BRU-LHR on 30th December and finally from LHR-MAN on 1st January, that damned bag has had more BA flights in the past few days than we have.
You should have enrolled it in the exec club – think miles! 😀
By: Comet - 2nd January 2007 at 11:22
Our missing bag finally arrived back in Scarborough last night.
From not showing up on the baggage trace on 24th December, to being found in LHR terminal four on 27th December, to having a flight from BRU-LHR on 30th December and finally from LHR-MAN on 1st January, that damned bag has had more BA flights in the past few days than we have.
By: LBARULES - 29th December 2006 at 22:32
Hiya Tom,
I’m not 100% on this but I thought flights departing before 9am got a proper breakfast.
Still need OneLeft though :p
Just had another look. The flight was supposed to depart at 08:10, so you are probably right!
By: Newforest - 29th December 2006 at 21:26
They didn’t seem to mind, the steward saw me taking the photos of the moving map and he didn’t say anything. I’ve never had problems taking photos on a plane, at any stage of the flight. I didn’t know there was any rule against it?
Sorry, probably a forum drift, I seem to remember a recent thread where photographers were banned, but it may have referred to reporters only and of course, I can’t find the thread now.
Carry on!
By: Comet - 29th December 2006 at 18:55
Sorry about your problems, but an interesting report, so B.A. don’t mind you taking photos on board?:D
They didn’t seem to mind, the steward saw me taking the photos of the moving map and he didn’t say anything. I’ve never had problems taking photos on a plane, at any stage of the flight. I didn’t know there was any rule against it?
By: philgatwick05 - 29th December 2006 at 17:59
Maybe OneLeft can give some reason. Can you give a reason as to why then Comet flew BA1387 she got the ‘breakfast wrap’, but when I flew on BA1389 I only got a cereal bar? Is there a cut off time for ‘proper’ food? 😉
Hiya Tom,
I’m not 100% on this but I thought flights departing before 9am got a proper breakfast.
Still need OneLeft though :p
By: LBARULES - 29th December 2006 at 12:14
Excellent report, Comet. 🙂 BA are an excellent airline, shame about your baggage!
Maybe OneLeft can give some reason. Can you give a reason as to why then Comet flew BA1387 she got the ‘breakfast wrap’, but when I flew on BA1389 I only got a cereal bar? Is there a cut off time for ‘proper’ food? 😉
By: Comet - 29th December 2006 at 10:59
Thanks for the comments. We were having a really great day until we got to the baggage reclaim in BRU, the crews of both our flights had been excellent, the food on board had been nice and the planes had been nice.
I think the higher number of crew on the A319 helped, the plane was full and if there had been less cabin crew then not everyone would have had their wrap or drink, they were kept busy and everyone had the choice of a snack and a drink, which was great on such a short flight.
We are still trying to trace bag number two, I have a reference number to check the progress online but at the moment it says that the airline is still trying to trace it.
By: caz66 - 29th December 2006 at 00:30
Im glad to see good old watford on your screen showing wear you are, nice report
By: OneLeft - 28th December 2006 at 21:54
Is five FA’s for an A319 not overkill? I thought the mimum/average was 3 or 4
Depends on the length of the flight and the Club load Andrew. On LHR BRU it varies between 4 and 6 for a 319.
1L.
By: philgatwick05 - 28th December 2006 at 18:39
Very informative report – a lovely read and great photos to accompany it 🙂
By: Newforest - 28th December 2006 at 16:35
Sorry about your problems, but an interesting report, so B.A. don’t mind you taking photos on board?:D
By: Comet - 28th December 2006 at 16:14
We climbed through cloud.
Inside the A319.
Turning on course.
We were offered the choice of a chicken tikka wrap of a veggie wrap. We chose chicken tikka and orange juice. It was very nice.
Wrap.
Crossing into Belgium!
The Captain told us it would be misty in BRU. We intended to go straight to Brugge rather than eat at the airport. We did not know what would be happening later!
Info from the moving map:
19,000 feet altitude
420mph ground speed
-24C
159 miles from BRU.
As we descended to BRU we encountered slight turbulence before touching down at 14:46. It was a good landing and we taxied to the B terminal.
Beside us we saw a Brussels Airlines-painted 737.
Brussels Airlines 737. Cheap and tacky looking, bloody hideous.
We went to baggage reclaim. Hardly any baggage came off flight BA394. Our baggage had failed to arrive, and many others from the flight were in the same boat. We went to the claims area and queued. When we were finally seen, we were told that one bag was at LHR and would be on the flight BA398 which landed at 6pm. The other was missing. We were not happy at BA, I won’t repeat some of our comments.
We had to wait for a few hours which delayed us getting to Brugge. We had a pizza slice at Pizza Hut and then my Mum went to go back into the baggage hall to wait for the flight.
I waited among those who were meeting relatives as my Mum came through with our one case. The flight bag had not arrived, some on the flight received no luggage at all. It was a very bad situation, we could not replace the stuff we had lost because it was Christmas.
I don’t know what the other people thought about our angry comments about BA but maybe we can always hope they did not understand English swearing!
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December 28, 2006 at 3:36 pm