Düsseldorf International

It was a busy day in my office with a meeting which lasted much longer than planned. This means, I left my office much later as I had planned but at least I was able to change from my business outfit with jacket and tie into a more casual outfit for the trip.

British Airways uses the Hugo-Junkers-Lounge which is not only very busy at this time of the day but the lounge had also no shower facilities and was undergoing a renovation. In so far, it was more convenient to exchange my business outfit for a more casual outfit in my office than in the lavatories of a lounge.

I had a rental car which I filled up before returning it at the Sixt outlet at Düsseldorf International Airport. The station was busy but only one person was in charge scanning the returned rental cars, while one member of staff was asking if everything was okay. Since I was a little bit in a rush I did not wait until it was my turn as there were several other cars to be served before me. This was no problem as the invoice for the rental will be mailed to me anyway.

I walked over to the skybridge towards the main terminal and toward the check in counters of British Airways. Five counters were open, three of the five counters were serving passengers in Economy Class, one counter was a baggage drop counter for those passengers who already had checked in online but needed to check bags and one counter was serving passenger flying Club Europe as British Airways called its European Business Class and for those holding elite status in any of the oneworld airlines. All counters were busy but there was only one passenger queuing at the Club Europe counter. Unfortunately it took some time before the lady in front of me was checked in and in the end it might have been faster to use the Economy Class Counters, though the lines there were longer.

I had checked in online and was only traveling with hand luggage, but wanted to ask if I could change seats since I had seat 1 C and I dislike the seats in the first row as one in unable to store hand luggage in front of me. Alas it was not possible as Club Europe was full on this flight and everybody had checked in.

I received my boarding pass with a sticker for fast lane.

This time the fast lane was not in use and boarding passes were only checked before approaching the security check point and there were no lines at all. The security checkpoint was also empty and the dedicated checkpoint for passengers in Premium Cabins as well as holding elite status in one of the frequent flyer programs of the airlines departing at this terminal was empty as were all other lines. But as usual nobody verifies if one is allowed to use the dedicated line. Staff was okay, one agent was a bit harsh and he must have been in the armed forces as he was using a tone appropriate for soldiers in barracks but not passengers of an airline let alone those flying in premium cabins. The other agents were a bit more welcoming.

Might it as it be, I passed security quickly and took the escalator upstairs to the Hugo Junkers Lounge used by British Airways. My boarding was checked by the lounge agent at the entrance of the lounge. The lounge is also used by other airlines and also a lounge in the Priority Pass network. The lounge was very busy and quite full, but I was able to get a seat at one the chairs close to the buffet. I grabbed a few bites from the buffet. Available were small hamburgers, small bifteki burgers, sandwiches, donuts and sweats. Wine and spirits were also offered but they ran out of wine glasses.  I moved later closer to the entrance since this was a better place for working with a laptop and checking mails.

I had often experienced that British Airways boards their flights out of Düsseldorf ahead of schedule and therefore decided to walk down to the gate ten minutes prior to scheduled boarding. I had to pass immigration, where no one was queuing. At the gate the first boarding announcement was already made and there was already a queue for priority and regular boarding. Boarding started close to seven minutes ahead of scheduled boarding time

02 October 2013
DUS – LHR
[Dusseldorf International – London Heathrow]
BA 943 (British Airways); Airbus A 319 (G-EUPD)
Gate B 35
18:05 – 18:25 [effective 18:04 – 18:21]
Business Class
Seat 1 C

Out flight today was the Airbus A 319 painted in the “Olympic Dove” colour scheme; also referred to as “Golden Bird” as the special livery was using a gold colour scheme rather than the red-blue colour scheme of British Airways. The Airbus A 319-131 joined the fleet of British Airways on December 10, 1999 after its maiden flight on November 19, 1999. It was powered by two IAE V2522-A5 engines as indicated by the ”31” in the 131 with a thrust of 22000 lbf or 98 kN. At this time British Airways had a fleet of 33 Airbus A 319

I was among the first passengers to board the plane but quite late in regard to Club Europe. Luckily the overhead bin above the first rows was not yet occupied and so I was able to store my carry on there.

Compared to Lufthansa, British Airways has older seats which could be converted to a slightly wider seat by modifying the middle seat in each row. This allows BA to adjust the Club Europe cabin size to meet the demand of any specific flight. On the left hand of the short haul planes (seats A-C) the middle seat (B) squishes, leaving wider A C seats while on the right hand side (seats D-F) all seats are expanded. Only the window seats (A / F) and aisle seats (C / D) are sold. The curtain is moved forward or backwards accordingly up to row 9 on the Airbus A 319. Seat pitch is 31 inch while seat pitch is 19 inch (compared to 17 inch in Euro Traveller).

What is important to know, the first left hand side seats behind of the Euro Traveller cabin are also squished to provide additional aisle clearance immediately behind the curtain, making this the best seats in Euro Traveller.
Unfortunately this will soon come to an end as British Airways switches to seats similar to those use by Lufthansa.

The plane filled with passengers. We had a few no-shows and after all other passengers had boarded the waitlist was cleared and another three passengers joined us as well as a non-revenue passengers on the jump seat in the front galley.

The captain welcomed us on board and gave us information about the flight time to London and the weather we could expect in London this evening. He also announced the safety video, which was shown after he finished his speech. Sometimes the speech of the captain is translated into German or the flight deck did it in German themselves, but not so this time. The safety video was started and while it was shown we were pushed back and began to taxi to the runway.

We took off in Eastern direction before we made a 180 turn towards Duisburg and the Dutch border.

Once the seat belt sign was switched off a hot towel service was done and immigration card for the UK distributed. After the towels were collected the meal and 15 minutes after we left Düsseldorf the meal service started. Today we could enjoy smoked salmon with lettuce and avocado. Rolls were also offered. I choose champagne with the meal. Unlike Lufthansa, British Airways is still serving Champagne (Pommery) even on Intra European flights. The meal service was done from the cart and the main dish came with a small pudding.

I was addressed by name during meal service by the flight attendant serving the Club Europe Cabin. After all passengers were served another beverage round was done, this time tea and coffee as well as all other beverages were offered. I opted for a tea this time. My tray was also cleared after I had finished the meal.
The captain came on the microphone and announced the first step into the final descend into London Heathrow. He expects an on time arrival without need to fly waiting patterns. The remaining flight time would be 20 minutes.

It was a smooth flight with mostly clear sky. The service was okay, friendly and most of the time attentive.

Finally the used plates and cups from the last beverage service were collected and the crew began to prepare the cabin for our arrival at LHR. We approached London from the East and touched down on runway 09 L at 18:15 ahead of time but had to taxi quite a while before we finally reached our gate at the main terminal at 18:21

The jet way was attached to the plane and we had a gate very close to flight connection centre and immigration. The ePass machined worked and I could use the self-immigration facilities and entered the UK in less than five minutes after I had left the plane despite there were some people queuing at the machines. But they could not use it and were directed to the main line, which was much longer. With no luggage to collect I headed straight to the bus stop and I was again lucky as a bus was just pulling up as I arrived there and I was on my way to the Sheraton in less than minutes after I left the plane which I consider as quite good.

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