- Moderator
- #1
My day started in Leeds where I caught the 12.45 TransPennine Express service direct to Manchester Airport. After a 90 minutes train ride I arrived at the airport. My flight with BA was departing from Terminal 3 which was the first time I used that particular terminal at Manchester. It took me a 15–20-minute walk to get to T3 to drop my checked bag off. After about 15 minutes waiting in a check in queue my bag was dropped off and I preceded through security using the fast-track lane thanks to my ticket. This made the security experience a lot quicker as the normal queue was quite long, Terminal 3 is mostly Ryanair flights with only BA and Loganair being the other airlines that operate from there. Once through security I headed into the terminal and headed straight to the Escape lounge which is the lounge BA use at Manchester. The lounge was very busy but I was able to find a spot and get a late lunch/early dinner. The food options were decent enough and I decided to go with minced beef pie, mustard mash potato and mushy peas. Other options were pasta, soup and a selection of sandwiches and pastries were available for dessert.
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After my stay at the lounge, it was time to head to my gate, gate 142 and wait to board my aircraft which was G-EUPW a 24-year-old Airbus A319. Boarding started but didn’t, they did that annoying boarding but not boarding where we ended up stood in the jet bridge for about 10 minutes waiting to board the aircraft thankfully it wasn’t that warm in the jet bridge. After our wait we were let on and I took my seat in 4F. I lucked out as had no seat neighbour so had all 3 seats to myself. We pushed back and departed about 25 minutes after our departure time, had a long taxi and departed for Heathrow on runway 23L.
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The service was begun not long after take-off as the flight time itself was only 35 minutes. In economy they were served a snack and bottle of water only as with such a short flight there was no time for the buy on board service that you get normally with BA short haul. I’ve not flown this route before so I wasn’t sure what sort of inflight service I’d get in business class but was pleasantly surprised when the crew served me with an afternoon tea tray and a beer to wash it down and I had to wash it down quickly as it wasn’t long before we were coming into land at Heathrow Airport.
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We landed on runway 9L and preceded to taxi to Terminal 5, BAs home at Heathrow. We disembarked at a bus gate which for me as an avgeek is my favourite option and then were bussed to the domestic baggage hall before I preceded to leave the terminal and find the bus to my hotel the Ibis on Bath road where I spent the night before catching my flight to Finland with Finnair on their A350. I’ll cover that in another review.
Overall, it was an excellent flight. Terminal 3 at Manchester isn’t the best experience but then it wasn’t the worst either. Hopefully BA will move to the better T2 eventually. The British Airways crew and service though more than made up for it and as usual were excellent. I’ve flown with BA a couple of times now and never had a bad flight with them and in my avgeek view the flight is a better option than using the train especially if you want to go to Heathrow.
View media item 19414
View media item 19415
After my stay at the lounge, it was time to head to my gate, gate 142 and wait to board my aircraft which was G-EUPW a 24-year-old Airbus A319. Boarding started but didn’t, they did that annoying boarding but not boarding where we ended up stood in the jet bridge for about 10 minutes waiting to board the aircraft thankfully it wasn’t that warm in the jet bridge. After our wait we were let on and I took my seat in 4F. I lucked out as had no seat neighbour so had all 3 seats to myself. We pushed back and departed about 25 minutes after our departure time, had a long taxi and departed for Heathrow on runway 23L.
View media item 19416
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View media item 19418
The service was begun not long after take-off as the flight time itself was only 35 minutes. In economy they were served a snack and bottle of water only as with such a short flight there was no time for the buy on board service that you get normally with BA short haul. I’ve not flown this route before so I wasn’t sure what sort of inflight service I’d get in business class but was pleasantly surprised when the crew served me with an afternoon tea tray and a beer to wash it down and I had to wash it down quickly as it wasn’t long before we were coming into land at Heathrow Airport.
View media item 19419
View media item 19420
View media item 19421
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We landed on runway 9L and preceded to taxi to Terminal 5, BAs home at Heathrow. We disembarked at a bus gate which for me as an avgeek is my favourite option and then were bussed to the domestic baggage hall before I preceded to leave the terminal and find the bus to my hotel the Ibis on Bath road where I spent the night before catching my flight to Finland with Finnair on their A350. I’ll cover that in another review.
Overall, it was an excellent flight. Terminal 3 at Manchester isn’t the best experience but then it wasn’t the worst either. Hopefully BA will move to the better T2 eventually. The British Airways crew and service though more than made up for it and as usual were excellent. I’ve flown with BA a couple of times now and never had a bad flight with them and in my avgeek view the flight is a better option than using the train especially if you want to go to Heathrow.
