Review : British Airways Club Europe - London-Paris, Airbus A319

After my gourmet break in the British Airways lounge, I head to the boarding gate located near the lounge.

Boarding

The boarding is rather well organized in zones with dedicated lanes and flight attendants who check the eligibility of passengers to use each lane.

Zone 1 includes Club Europe passengers (their Business Class) as well as BAEC Gold and Oneworld Emerald passengers
Zone 2 includes BAEC Silver, Bronze and Oneworld Sapphire and Ruby passengers
Zones 3 to 5 for other passengers

The process is very efficient, the documents are checked beforehand and the boarding is done through automatic gates that have been proven to speed up the boarding.

Once passed these gates, I find myself stuck in the feeder for long minutes waiting for the cabin to be ready. An irritating practice, but I imagine that it must be of interest to the airline…

Cabin and welcome

The reception is charming and I head to my seat.

Like all European airlines, British Airways operates a single-cabin service on medium-haul routes, with the middle seat blocked in Club Europe. On the other hand, unlike other legacies, the British airline continues to put a complementary tablet on the blocked seat, which gives a more premium feel to the experience.

The pitch is very small. Unlike Air France, KLM or Lufthansa, which have a higher pitch for the top 10 rows of their medium-haul cabin, British Airways has not made this choice.

Before take-off, a real hot oshibori is distributed to the passengers.

Service and catering

The service is very attentive and above all, it is carried out with pleasure by a steward who is getting old but who still does his job with passion. There is even a choice between two salads, one modestly called “ham and cheese” and the other vegetarian.

I opt for the ham and cheese which was actually a great parma ham with mozzarella.

For drinks, I choose champagne which, and it’s a shame, is not served cold enough. It’s not a great reference, but it’s totally sufficient on a medium-haul flight like this.

The Business Class cabin is only composed of three rows (full on this flight) and yet the quality of the service makes that after passing by me (I am in 02C) the beginning of the descent is announced. Nevertheless, the steward continues his service very professionally.

Arrival and disembarkation

The descent and landing go smoothly. I would like to point out that the announcements coming from the cockpit are very clear without drowning the passenger with information.

I go to the immigration, passed in two minutes (why is the priority track closed) and go to the baggage claim.

As I expected, my baggage does not arrive on the conveyor belt, and I go to the British Airways baggage service desk. The attendant, very charming by the way, creates my delayed baggage file and scrupulously notes my successive addresses – Indeed, I spend less than 24 hours at home before sleeping at CDG for my flight to Chicago the day after. We agree that the baggage service would call me anyway when the baggage is located.

So I leave the airport lightly towards my home.

Bottom line

A very good flight on British Airways, with a very friendly crew who love their job… It’s a change! The baggage situation is not really due to British Airways, so I don’t blame them… Especially since they managed the suite with a masterful hand.