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To Munich and Beyond! Part Three: British to Germany

A trip report documenting visiting Katie in early 2011

1. Purpose and Planning
2. Away We Go
3. British to Germany
4. Einer kalten Tag in München
5. Naturwissenschaft und Technik
6. Munich, Y U No Open?
7. Up in the Air!

The bus dropped us off a short walk from the main terminal at Glasgow Airport. Being socialist Scotland, the luggage trolleys are free, so we dumped our suitcases on one and headed for the building. As we reached the British Airways check-in area, we were encouraged to use the Self Service Check-In Machines, but Bart, a BA check-in agent, was there to assist us by telling us the flight number we needed to find our reservation. Having printed our boarding passes and attached some luggage tags to our suitcases, we wheeled our trolley towards the club luggage drop.

Bart then pointed us back towards the line that the proles were using, but we pointed out that we were travelling in Club Europe, and he changed his mind. While he’d held us back, the club desk had asked somebody across from the economy queue, though he hadn’t quite reached the desk before Bart told him to stop, and put us in front of him. On the one hand, we wouldn’t have minded waiting the few minutes to check this guy in, but on the other hand, screw him, we’re travelling business class and we don’t want to wait for the hoi polloi.

My brother’s brand new passport caused some amusement for the check-in agent, for it was of a design she’d never seen before or heard anything about. She expressed her surprise that the passport agency wouldn’t inform the people who’d actually need to check them when they redesign things like that. Having dropped our luggage and received our boarding passes, we headed up through security where, perhaps surprisingly, I escaped my usual pat-down.

I have a tradition at Glasgow Airport of ignoring the shops and walking up to the end of the international tier where there’s a large window that overlooks the runway and enables some aircraft viewing. As my brother had never flown from Glasgow before, I took him up there, and we marvelled at the complete lack of aircraft. Eventually we got bored of that, and since we had lounge access, we headed for the UK tier and the BA lounge.

We got to the door of the lounge just as several thousand self-important people left, all heading for their flight to London Gatwick. I felt slightly like a door-man as they all passed me holding the door open, none of them thanking me for it. It was ok, though, as the departure of the Gatwick flight left the lounge almost entirely empty, and with a couple of hours left until our flight to Heathrow, we’d do our best to take advantage of that.

In terms of food selection, there wasn’t much. Some Kettle chips, shortbread, that sort of thing. The beer choices didn’t do much for my brother, though he still managed a few (and, I’m not ashamed to admit, we pilfered some for him to consume later). I was perfectly happy with the bottle of Bacardi and the inexcusably small cans of Coke. We also took the opportunity to try Gin and Tonic for the first time, before deciding it was disgusting.

Ruairidh doesn’t fly as often as I do. Prior to this, his only experience in the air had been an EasyJet return to London, and so as the clock ticked closer towards the boarding time on our boarding passes he started to get nervous. He’d been watching lots of old episodes of Airline recently, and knew how strict EasyJet were about not letting you on if you turned up late. Of course, our flight had been delayed slightly, and the lady at the desk had told us when we’d arrived in the lounge that they’d make an announcement when boarding was ready. Still, to appease my brother’s nerves, and since we’d probably consumed enough alcohol and crisps, we packed up and headed to the gate where we got to stand around for about 15 minutes before we finally got to board.

Flight: BA1489 GLA-LHR
Date: 3rd January 2011
Scheduled Departure: 1605
Scheduled Arrival:1725
Equipment:Airbus A320
Class:UK Domestic
Seats:1A (Ruairidh) and 1B (me)
Miles: 345 flown, 0 earned (redemption flight)

The last time I’d flown this route, it was with BMI. Let’s see what the differences were. Well, I got a tiny can of coke and a chocolate bar with BA, as opposed to nothing, and sitting in the front rows gave me slight extra legroom. So that’s a plus, really. Still wasn’t a super pleasant flight, stuck in a middle seat. Only really notable thing about this flight was looking out the window to my left and seeing full dark, but looking out the window to my right and seeing full light. That was cool.

On our arrival at Heathrow, we had no idea where we were going. Terminal five is pretty cool looking though, and we eventually reached a lounge. After gaining entry, we headed to the cinema section, which was deserted, and had a few more drinks, a little bit of food, and as much delicious, delicious ice cream as we could stuff in our gullets. Quite a lot, it seems.

Ruairidh once more took advantage of a number of drinks he’d never tried before, many of which he’d never try again, and by the time we left the lounge there were a large number of half full glasses placed strategically around the cinema so that the lounge dragons wouldn’t know they were all from two people.

Eventually our couple of hours in the lounge were over, and we once more packed up and headed to the gate.

Flight: BA958 LHR-MUC
Date: 3rd January 2011
Scheduled Departure: 1940
Scheduled Arrival:2230
Equipment:Airbus A319
Class:Club Europe
Seats:1D (me) and 1F (Ruairidh)
Miles: 585 flown, 0 earned (redemption flight)

We were warmly welcomed on board, and between the two of us we made up 50% of the people in the Club Europe cabin, and European Traveller wasn’t much busier. There was a basic airshow system that showed us where we were at throughout the flight, and also showed us the safety video. We were given a chicken salad for dinner, which was actually rather tasty even as a non-salad eater.

And, sadly, after only 90 minutes or so, our business class experience ended, and we landed at Munich airport. Immigration was quick, with us being first off the plane. Luggage took another ten minutes or so, and we were finally on the S-Bahn into town. Tune in next week, kids, for our adventures in Munich.

Related posts:

1. To Munich and Beyond! Part Seven: Up in the Air!
2. To Munich and Beyond! Part Two: Away We Go.
3. To Munich and Beyond! Part Four: Einer Kalten Tag in München
4. To Munich and Beyond! Part Six: Munich, Y U No Open?
5. To Munich and Beyond! Part Five: Naturwissenschaft und Technik

A trip report documenting visiting Katie in early 2011 Purpose and Planning Away We Go British to Germany Einer kalten Tag in München Naturwissenschaft und Technik Munich, Y U No...