2014-03 Edinburgh Daytrip - BA vs VS

2014-03 Edinburgh Daytrip - BA vs VS

Route, courtesy of gcmap.com

This simple day trip came about thanks to Gabriel mentioning, at a previous A.net meeting, that all BA Avios redemptions could include a free domestic connection (or to be more precise, a maximum of two legs). When I booked my trip to Madrid (http://signol.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/easyjet-v-iberia-j-madrid-daytrip.html) I had no further plans, so I booked a connection to Edinburgh for a random day 6 months ahead, with the thinking that I could take it or leave it. A little later I realised that Virgin Atlantic Little Red domestic services were performing relatively poorly, so probably wouldn't last much beyond their contractual obligation, so if I wanted to try them I'd better do it sooner rather than later. So I used some of my declining stash of VS miles to book a one way back to London for 3750 miles and £15 cash for the "taxes". I prebooked train tickets to and from London using Red Spotted Hanky points, standard out and First on the way back. So quite simply this turned into the cheapest ever day trip I've done, costing the £15 and two off peak Tube journeys.

I made my way to Heathrow in the morning, leaving home when I'd usually be going to work (my wife has Wednesdays off to look after the children anyway) and walked to the station, after picking up a cheeky breakfast at Subway.

Legroom in Standard

On the train

Breakfast

Unfortunately the train stopped for almost an hour on the way, which wasn't a major problem as I'd built in some delay time, but did mean that my time at Heathrow wasn't quite so leisurely. I couldn't attempt a lounge entry based on the ticket being on an Iberia Business :( But at least the "Delay Repay" scheme meant that I got 50% of the fare back as the train was between 30 and 59 minutes late. I eventually arrived at Liverpool St and made my way to the tube. I'm certainly looking forward to Crossrail, as this will make the journey to Heathrow so much easier.

Hatton Cross tiling

Escalators up to T5

T5 check in hall

FIDS

Post security

I quickly bought some lunch from Boots and ate it by the gate, as plenty of people were already here.

Date: 19/03/2014
Flight: BA1448
Route: LHR-EDI
Aircraft: G-EUPT
Seat: 3F (Economy)

At gate. Our plane was the far left

Walking down one of the longest jetbridges ever

Neighbour

Legroom shot

View from my seat, 3F

We were told about the new rules about electronic devices, namely that everything small can be used non-stop, including cameras!

Pushback

Taxiing

Tails

More BA tails at T1 - Philip (OA260) had just arrived from BHD

We taxiied along the north side of the central area and took our place in line to take off on runway 27R. 

Car parks

More car parks

A4 and M25

Slough

Someone down there likes baseball!

Heathrow in the distance

LTN airport

In the haze top centre you can just about see Stansted. Shows how close it is to Luton!

STN zoomed in

Rockingham motor racing circuit

The service then began. There was the regular bar service, and a choice of snacks.

G&T

Clouds

Our progress on the overhead TVs

More clouds on descent

The Firth of Forth

Close enough to see the waves

As good a shot as I could get of the bridges

Touchdown

Taxi in

On stand

My ride, from the terminal

I'd arranged with my friend Léonard, aka EastAfSpot, to meet at the airport during my short layover. First thing was to take a look at the new tram line that now runs from the airport into the city (at the time it was just doing final testing).

Airport tram station

A tram arriving

A tram at the station

Then we headed inside to find a hot drink.

Selfies

After a long chat, and thanks Léonard for the kind gifts!, it was time to head back through security. There were quite a lot of people queuing, but eventually it was my turn. My bag was chosen for secondary screening, which took ages to wait as there were some others before also needing screening. The suspicious item? The haggis that Léonard had just given me! I then headed to the lounge for a very quick snack as my flight was about to board.

The Aspire Lounge was still being built.

The Servisair lounge, which was all that was left, was a small room the size of my kitchen, with a cordoned off area of the Costa cafe seating outside. I quickly grabbed a drink of juice and a pastry, and headed to my gate.

Boarding was already underway, so I joined the queue and headed to board. The first thing I noticed was the overriding colour of purple from the lighting.

Date: 19/03/2014
Flight: VS3010
Route: EDI-LHR
Aircraft: EI-EZW
Seat: 2F (Economy)

Legroom

Safety card

View from my seat

Neighbour heading to LCY

Takeoff was pretty standard for a lightly loaded A320 - I'd estimate the load factor at about 50%.

The service was a small pack of "Plane" crisps, as well as a bar - I had another G&T.

Starting to get dark

View from my seat, 2F

A nice touch was that the crew came round offering these sweets to everyone

I think that's Liverpool

Liverpool again

Birmingham from above

We started the descent from just south of Birmingham, turning to the left over Barnet then a straight in approach over the city of London. It was a clear night, so the view was spectacular - you could see the difference between the white lit buildings and office windows, and the yellow streetlights. Before long we'd touched down and taxied in.

Windows error on the screen

Empty Terminal 1

Onto the tube, back to Liverpool St, and the train back to Norwich.

To conclude, comparing the two airlines, BA did feel more classy, VS more laid back and friendly. Overall, I would probably choose based on price or schedule - though that since this week's announcement of the closure of VS's service, this does leave BA with a monopoly on the route.

And finally, as a bonus, my arriving and departing flights, courtesy of Léonard: