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British Airways has two daily flights between London Heathrow and Larnaca in Cyprus – one that leaves at around 7:20am and the other which leaves at around 11:30am. The first flight is the one I try to avoid if I possibly can because it’s easily the worst of the two options – to catch it I have to get up way earlier than I’d ideally like to and, as if that wasn’t bad enough, it’s operated by an Airbus A320…the workhorse of British Airways’ short-haul fleet and a lot less comfortable than the 767 which operates the later flight.
Still, despite my dislike of the earlier flight, circumstances conspired to ensure that this was the flight I was going to have to catch – I needed to be in Cyprus before the stores closed and the later flight was around 50% more expensive….I just had to suck it up (#firstworldproblems).
British Airways Economy Class – Airbus A320
I’ve been on a lot of British Airways A320 flights in the past and I’ve reviewed them a few times too (here and here for example) but I’ve never been on a 4.5+ hour flight on a British Airways A320 before…and I wasn’t really looking forward to it.
The British Airways A320’s Economy Class (Euro Traveller) Cabin is set out in a 3-3 layout…..
British Airways A320 Economy Class (Euro Traveller)
…and is fitted with the slimline seats we’re seeing on more and more aircraft nowadays:
British Airways A320 Economy Class (Euro Traveller)
British Airways A320 Economy Class (Euro Traveller)
For short-hop flights I don’t mind these seats too much but they’re definitely not a seat I’d readily choose for longer flights – they’re simply too hard.
I’d been lucky enough to get an exit row seat (although it took an ExpertFlyer alert to help me grab it – none were available when I booked) so at least I had more leg room that just about everyone else in the aircraft…including the passengers in Business Class:
British Airways A320 Economy Class Exit Row Seats (Euro Traveller)
Despite my 6ft frame and long legs I had a decent amount of room between my knees and the seat in front of me (even with a newspaper and a Macbook Air in the seat-back pocket)….
British Airways A320 Economy Class (Euro Traveller)
…but it still didn’t compare to the amount of room I would have had in an exit row seat on the later flight:
British Airways 767 Economy Class (Euro Traveller)
There was a good amount of storage around the seat (for an Economy Class cabin) with a seat-back pocket and another magazine/newspaper holder (which could easily hold and iPad or other similarly sized portable device):
British Airways A320 Economy Class (Euro Traveller)
British Airways Short-Haul Economy Class Food
This was my first flight on British Airways since the announcement that hot meals are no longer going to be served on the longest short-haul flights that the airline operates (of which this was one) so I was interested to see what would be provided.
The first thing I noticed was that we weren’t offered a snack before the food was served. This may have been due to the early nature of the flight but, on the later departure to Larnaca, British Airways have traditionally offered a small pack of mixed nuts, crackers and sesame noodles:
Still, I can’t really say that I found this to be an issue as I was never really a fan of the mixed nut bag anyway.
Around an hour into the flight the new food offering reached the exit row seats and I got my first look at what British Airways now serves on it’s longest short-haul flights in Economy Class:
British Airways A320 Economy Class (Euro Traveller)
Unless you had pre-ordered a special meal there was no choice…it was and egg and bacon sandwich or nothing.
British Airways A320 Economy Class (Euro Traveller)
British Airways A320 Economy Class (Euro Traveller)
I was (and still am) a big critic of the decision to remove hot meals from the longest short-haul flights (I see it as yet another chepening of the BA brand) but, to be fair to the airline, that’s a reasonable quality yoghurt that was provided (organic) and the sandwich wasn’t bad at all.
Having not flown this route at this time of day for over 20 years I don’t really have much to compare the meal too (I don’t know what the hot breakfast option used to be) but, as I don’t have the greatest of appetites in the morning and as I’d had a bit to eat in the British Airways Galleries Club Lounge before I boarded, the sandwich was good enough for me.
Having said that, I knew roughly what to expect (food-wise) on this flight, but anyone who hadn’t eaten before boarding (expecting more than this sandwich on the flight) would probably have been pretty hungry by the time we landed.
Service
I’ve been getting luckier with my British Airways crews of late and this was another crew that smiled and interacted with passengers in a nice, polite way.
It’s often claimed that a big reason why a lot of American Airlines flight attendants are surly is their older age but, as if I didn’t know it already, this crew proved that to be nonsense.
On this flight we had a number of flight attendants who were clearly at the more senior age levels but who had absolutely no trouble being cordial and polite to passengers and who didn’t act as if every request from a passenger was interrupting their magazine reading time.
Age has nothing to do with poor or bad service….bad service comes from bad flight attendants, period.
Bottom Line
I don’t like the seats in the British Airways A320 and I much prefer the exit rows on the 767s that operate on the Heathrow – Larnaca route so I shall continue to do everything possible to avoid the early flight in the future.
For short flights from London to Paris, Copenhagen, Milan etc… the A320 seats are ok and bearable….but they’re definitely not comfortable enough for flights any longer than that. By the time we disembarked at Larnaca I was definitely ready to get off the aircraft, stretch my legs and get some feeling back into my posterior…and that’s not something I’ve noticed in all the times I’ve flown on the 767.
The food was fine in quality and taste (for airline food) but it certainly wouldn’t be enough for anyone who’s come from home without breakfast and walked straight on to the aircraft – eat before you arrive or make the most of whatever lounge access you have would be my advice.
Overall the flight was perfectly ok if a bit uncomfortable. My biggest gripe with the whole experience was one that I seem to have with British Airways on just about every occasion I fly with them – the airlines’ gate agents have no idea how to board an aircraft. Once again Business Class passengers and every British Airways and OneWorld status holding passenger were called to board at once and, once again, it was like a cattle stampede.
What British Airways clearly cannot communicate to its gate agents is this: If everyone has “priority” then no one has priority….and that’s not exactly a hard concept to grasp is it?
