In February 2019 Mr A and I flew over to Northern Ireland to visit my relatives. Easyjet flies from Gatwick to Belfast Aldergrove airport, but we prefer to fly into George Best Belfast City Airport (“BHD”), so our choice was between British Airways (“BA”) and Aer Lingus (“EI”), both of which fly from Heathrow (“LHR”). We decided to fly BA because EI doesn’t offer a Business Class on the route and because we would earn frequent flyer points on BA.  There are plenty of people who say the premium for a Business Class fare on a short route is a waste, particularly because the BA ‘premium’ product isn’t up to much.  Here’s what I thought…

Just like on its flights across continental Europe, BA calls its domestic business class “Club Europe”.  The return fare I got on BA’s website was £325 each. I didn’t check, but I think the return economy fare would be around £100.  For the extra money you get catering on board and a free luggage allowance, but the seat on the plane is no different to economy, except that the middle seat is kept empty, to give more space. But the real benefit is the ability to access BA’s Business lounges before the flight. Terminal 5 at LHR has a North and a South lounge (which they call “Galleries”).  Our flight hadn’t yet been given a gate, so I asked a BA rep which we should use. She said the North Gallery was smaller and tended to be more crowded, so we made our way to the South Gallery.  It’s a large, bright lounge with views of the airfield and plenty of food and beverage stations. It was pretty busy around 12 noon, but we were still able to find a comfy sofa for just the 2 of us.  We helped ourselves to a cappuccino (from a machine, not barista-made) and a croissant, and later we asked for some Champagne and orange juice. Other alcoholic drinks are available to self-serve, but Champagne is only on request. Relaxing in the lounge, reading the (supplied) Sunday newspapers is my perfect way to prepare for a flight, and, for me, makes the premium fare worth it.

We boarded flight BA1416 at 12:40. It was an Airbus A320, registered G-EUYL. We were in seats 5D and 5F and we had to ask a FA for help stowing our bags because the overhead bins were almost full. It seems some economy pax stick their bags in Business on the way down the back!  We pushed back from the star 5 minutes early at 12:55, and at 13:13 we took off from runway 27R.

A friendly crew began serving lunch and drinks soon after take-off.  We didn’t have a menu, so the FA came to each passenger in turn to tell them the choice available, walked to the galley and then came back with the chosen dish. So although this was very personal service, it wasn’t very efficient. It was good that we still had a choice of dishes, even though we were in the 5th and last row of the cabin. My beef salad with horseradish cream was actually pretty tasty; the beef was lean and finely sliced, so it was very tender in the mouth.  It came with a pathetic-looking side said of lettuce, half a cherry tomato and parmesan shavings, as well as a mediocre sugar-laden dessert of some sort.  I drank Champagne and orange juice with my meal and later I ordered a coffee, which never arrived.  We landed at 14:04 and were on stand 10 minutes early at 14:10.  I must note that the flight was pretty comfortable because the man in front of me didn’t recline his seat.

Our return flight a few days later was the BA1423, scheduled to depart at 08:35 and once again we accessed the BA lounge before the flight.  It was my first time in this lounge and I was quite impressed with its spaciousness, and with its large windows with views across the apron to the runway and to Belfast harbour beyond, including the iconic Harland & Wolf shipbuilding cranes.

The coffee machine was broken, so we had to make do with self-made instant coffee, which we had with a croissant, before we boarded the plane at 08:05, pretty much directly from the lounge. This flight was operated by the slightly smaller Airbus A319, registered G-EUPM.  Everyone boarded smoothly and doors were closed at 08:15 and we pushed back from the stand 10 minutes early at 08:25.

Once again we were offered a choice of meal; I went for the “English” breakfast of bacon, scrambled eggs, sausage, mushroom and tomato. It wasn’t too bad, but I would have liked some ketchup with it to counteract the dryness. There were also some cubes of melon and a croissant with ‘Tiptree’ strawberry jam, and a cup of coffee.

One thing I really like about BA is that their pilots always make announcements to the passengers before, during and after the flight.  On this flight I thought that pre-departure the pilot should have warned us that immediately after take-off he would decrease thrust significantly for noise abatement purposes, as we flew over central Belfast. Whilst I knew what was going on, there could have been nervous passengers on board who could have been alarmed by the sudden decrease in engine noise.

We landed at LHR at 09:42 and were on stand at Terminal 5 at 09:47, some 10 minutes ahead of schedule.   Good time-keeping is very important to the shortfall business traveller, so well done BA, for both my flights landing early.  One potential draw-back for the modern flyer though is that there’s no on-board wifi (and no in-seat power).

Overall I was satisfied with my flights (7.5/10) and thought my fare represented good value.