On July 20, I had the pleasure of letting British Airways take me back home to Oslo from London Heathrow (LHR), after what had been two amazing days of spotting. This would be my first flight with British Airways in 10 years, the last being in 2013.
Despite the experiences of others and all the negative parts of British Airways I had been told, I was pleasantly surprised to find my flight was beyond phenomenal. Let’s get into the details.
Flight Details – British Airways BA770
Flight-number: BA770
Route: London Heathrow (LHR) – Oslo Gardermoen (OSL)
Aircraft & registration: Airbus A320, G-EUUH
Aircraft age: 20 years old
Seat number: 23A
Check-in experience
My entire terminal experience started already at Myrtle Avenue, where I made my way to Hatton Cross for the underground to Terminal 3. The underground service took less than five minutes overall, but getting to the terminal building didn’t.
One major drawback in getting to the terminal buildings by rail, in this case T1, T2 and T3 in particular, is what feels like an endless, distant maze. Getting from the undergound station to the entry doors of Terminal 3 took me no less than 15 minutes.
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As I eventually did make my way to the terminal building, I made my way to the British Airways check-in desks as I couldn’t check in online.
I was met by a lovely staff member who checked my passport, handed me my boarding-pass and let me check my bag for free, leaving me with no excess bag except my backpack to carry around until the end of the flight.
Terminal 3 – A proper time-killer
By the time I had gone through security, there was roughly two hours to kill before boarding commenced. As every other avgeek and aircraft enthusiast would do, I had a stroll around the different areas of the terminal.
In some parts, this offered absolutely breathtaking views, close up on some of the most modern widebodies and narrow-bodies out there.
The terminal building itself does appear a bit dated, but also contains more modern-looking areas around the entire building. Wether this is a progressive upgrade of the whole terminal is unknown to me, but the entire terminal could look a hundred times better and more modern if that is the case.
The boarding experience
I did, ironically enough, find myself in one of the kiosks just outside my gate upon the announcement of that being today’s gate, hence making it a walk of less than a minute from my position. The gate was number 25, located in the north-pier of T3.
The boarding process was quick and easy, and by that I mean group-by-group priority, with the groups going 1 through 3, and 3 through 6, a two-segment boarding process.
Upon arrival at the aircraft, I was greeted by two lovely crew members who both had a smile on their face, appeared energetic and ready to fly. I made my way down the aisle to seat 23A which I had pre-booked upon ordering my ticket.
The seat – Tight but comfortable
As I sat down, my immediate though was none other than “wow, this is pushing on my legs”. Me being 188cm tall, I don’t usually have a lot of legroom in densely configured aircraft unless I find myself in the front of the aircraft.
Though the legroom being a tight fit, the padded seats were extremely comfortable, and the comfort increased massively when I realized my regular, non-special economy-class seat had an adjustable headrest, something I didn’t even find in Iberia’s Business Class back in December – Is this reality?
For a late-evening flight which arrives just shy of midnight in Oslo, this changed my entire view on the seat completely.
As long as I can sleep a bit, legroom doesn’t matter. However, it shall be mentioned that I had the middle seat of my row free, making for the opportunity to slightly extend my legs for more space.
In-flight
We departed off of London Heathrow’s runway 27R a bit after schedule due to traffic, but once we were airborne, the surprises continued!
The cabin crew announced over the PA that a complimentary snack & drink-service was to take place shortly. To me, this came as a huge surprise seeing as I found myself in regular economy, with no pre-paid extras or services.
Though small, the bag of sour cream & chive pretzels and 250ml bottle of water was more than enough to really suprise me on a flight of such duration, this late in the evening.
In addition to the complimentary service, the cabin crew were quick to arrange the buy-onboard services, where I also treated myself to a light meal consisting of Japanese-style noodles and a bag of salted chickpeas, for just £7 GBP.
Arrival
Per what I mentioned about a bit of sleep earlier, this is exactly what I managed to get until about 30 minutes prior to landing in Oslo. With the sun setting on the horizon throughout the flight, views were filled with a night-lit south-coast upon entering mainland Norway, before we made our final approach over the city centre of Oslo.
We eventually touched down a few minutes before schedule on Oslo Gardermoen’s Runway 01-Right, and taxiied in to stand 49, or gate F19 as it’s called inside the terminal.
Just after parking, I was welcomed into the flight-deck of G-EUUH where I met two lovely pilots who were really invested into my passion for aviation, and ended up discussing aviation and the Airbus’ systems for a good 15 minutes – an absolute amazing end and an even greater motivational boost in my path towards becoming an airline pilot!
Final notes
My final notes on this flight will contain the outtakes I found to be most important to me during this flight, those being;
The ground-to-air experience: British Airways was nothing but utterly amazing from the very start of my journey at Terminal 3, and with excellent ground staff, customer service and my experience being nothing but amazing on this end, the ground-to-air experience of mine with British Airways will not go unnoticed to others.
The inflight experience: Such a devoted, friendly and helpful set of crew is something I haven’t experienced since my last flight with the now ceased carrier Flyr, and is something I never thought I would find again unless flying with some of the most prestige airlines out there.
For reference, between my last Flyr-flight and this British Airways flight, I have been on 20 flights and neither of them have matched that hospitality and amazing service until now.
Lastly, I would like to thank British Airways for the hospitality provided from point A to point B, both on ground and in-air. My expectations based on the reviews I have been provided, have really been turned around, and I will be reccomending British Airways in the future, when the time for it comes.
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 to Oslo (OSL), aboard a British Airways Airbus A320.){kind=link}