BA LHR-AMS-LHR

[ba887]

Hi this is my 1st post on these forums so here goes.

My family and i managed to find a really good last minute deal to Amsterdam with BA (£72) and only 1 week before we left anywho here goes.

20th Augaust 2003
BA430
A319-131
G-EUPH
Seat 11A

we arrived at heathrow after a short 10 minute taxi journey and entered the ( V. Normal) crowded T4. I explained to my parents that we could checkin electronically so we went over to the machines and put the credit card in; bad news: you ahve to be in a maximum group of 3 people (we were 4). so we went to checkin and lined up for about 5 minutes (short line for the eurotravellers). the lady there was extremely kind and gave us boarding passes with a tip to see the anne frank house in Amsterdam. Afterwords we wizzed through another (surprisingly) empty line for security. Once we were checked my sister and I went to Starbucks I think it was to watch some of the planes behind it it was great for seeing takeoffs but as my mums crappy digital camera was so crap i only took a few pix of the parked BA planes here they are




After awhile we left and joined up with our parents again. BA430 was saying go to gate (i cant remember) so we went all the way to the gate (which had no windows)(and was opposite a JFK flight). then the call for boarding was made and we made are way around this long twisty airbridge and boarded. On the plane its said G-EUPH and the cabin seemed to be in very good condition we walked passed club europe (why would anyone pay for this you just get a few inches more legroom and apperently a wider seat, teh only good thing i think is better food) and found our seats i was in 11A my sister 11B and my mum in 11C my Dad however had to sit in 10C. Then the doors were shut and the preliminary safety video was shown as well as teh always nice captains speech. then we pushed back and had a bumpy taxi to RWY 27R where we had a roling takeoff (the last flight i had been on was a year before on a virgin a340-300(TR coming) and so teh a319's take off performance wa great). after takeoff we assended to a altitude of 24,000 feet where th cabin crew rushed about serving the all day deli's.

also i took a pic over the channel

and of the cabin from my seat

The meal was a really good ham and cheese sandwich with a water cup.
The general cabin noise was quite a lot noisier to my a340 experience (although i dont really care about the noise)
The seats were extremely comfortable and legroom better than BA or VS long haul. middle seast have funny folding tables so taht the 2 outer seats can be converted to Club Europe.
The interiors were also very clean and the cabin crew nice for such a short flight.
Unfortunetly this great flight had to come to an end (must have been the shortest flight i have been on), so teh seat belt signs were turned on and we began our desent over the channel to Schiphol. we than had a very smooth landing and i watched the spoilers deploy. a quick taxi to the gate and we ahd arrived in Amsterdam.

Checkin-10(Due to the checkin lady)
Boarding-9(2 lines 1 for economy and one for club)
Comfort-9(the seats were the most comfortable seats i have sat on in ages)
Food-9(the sandwich was slightly too small)
F/A's-8(we didnt see them much due to the length of the flight but they were nice when we did see them)
Overall:90%

[ba887]

G-EUPZ
A319-131
BA439
Seat 6F

We arrived in AMS via the train from the central station. and took awhile to find our way to teh one world alliance checkin desks. the lady checked us in and gave us seats 5E/F and 6E/F. We than went through security and entered the large shopping mall type area. i bought a ba 742 model with the paithanini tail. Thane we made our way to the gate i left my family to wonder around this massive airport and managed to get to a peir with lots of old NWA aircraft as i only see NWA aircraft at LGW i rarely see them, i couldnt take any photos though i think the airport authorities were watching because the blinds suddenly shut so you could hardly see the planes . so i wandered back to my family and arrived at the gate (which was the same gate as the one we were at before). the aircraft was late and arrived 20 mins late (nobody cared for such a short flight) while we were waiting i managed to take a photo of a futura tail

Finally the aircraft arrived

and we boarded i managed to get a look in the cockpit and was greeted by to nice pilots who talked to me about BAV however the captain didnt really want me there and kind of ignored me lol. When i arrived at my seat i took a few pics of the aircraft out of the window.



In the plane we watched a safety video and then again another speech from the captain who said we would be taxiiing to the far away runway and so we began teh long taxi to the runway (20 minutes!) then rather than lining up or holding short we turned and parked the captain came over the PA and said we ahd to go back and offload someones baggae due to a bomb threat!! another 20 mins later we were back at the gate half an hour later the bags had been uploaded and we were waiting for more fuel the fuel arrived and reported to teh captain a scratch on the baggage door so again we waited for teh machanichs who arrived; basically the delay lasted 1 hour and we sat in the cabin throughhout with people missing onward connectiosn to the USA. finally we started up again and taxiid to the active where we did a rolling takeoff and we were up in the air service was quick I chose the Tuna sandwich (I think?)

It wasnt great to me and the veggie option (a pannini) looked alot better.
heres a pic over the channel

soon we were descending and our holiday was cut to a halt . we alnded and taxiid again to the same gate at LHR.

Checkin-9(would have gotten 10 if the lady had been a bit nicer even though she was nice anyway)
Boarding-6(it was a free for all)
Comfort-7(the seats were less comfortable)
Food-6(
F/A's-8(we didnt see them much due to the length of the flight but they were nice when we did see them)
Overall:72%

[PHF2ATL]

Good report! Nice pictures!

[matt1168]

Great report! I can tell you'll do just fine here!

[ba887]

thanks matt.

I have got 2 more trip reports coming up this year on a ba lgw-bcn-lgw and a trip to hkg. thanks guys for all the replies.

[uy707]

Report good to read and filled with many interesting details
Alain