Review: British Airways Euro Traveller A319 (MXP-LHR)

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For my last flight on my current trip, I flew from Milan’s Malpensa airport to London on a British Airways Airbus A319 aircraft in their Euro Traveller (Economy Class) cabin. I was still reasonably tired after my overnight flight from JFK to Milan on an American Airlines 767 (although I would have been considerably more tired had I not been in Business Class!) and I hadn’t found the Sala Montale Lounge at Milan Malpensa particularly comfortable. I was looking forward to my own bed!

I’d checked in online the day before and, somewhat amusingly, had been offered the chance to upgrade to Club Europe for €180. I admire British Airways’ attempts to eek out every last cent/euro cent/penny from their passengers but I’d have to take leave of my senses before I paid €180 to move from an exit row seat to a Club Europe seat.

The flight is 90 minutes long and I have more leg room in my exit seat than they have in Club Europe, why would I move?

Boarding

Boarding was called in the lounge 45 minutes before the departure time and, as I had two carry-ons and was in an exit row (so no bags allowed under the seat) I sped down to the gate to find boarding already in process – that’s early for a intra-European flight.

Luckily there were only a handful of passengers at the gate so I was somewhere around the 5th on board. That meant I got the overhead space I needed….and that was just as well because, by the time boarding was finished, the cabin crew were scrabbling around the cabin trying to find somewhere to fit the late comers hand baggage.

Cabin/Seat

The British Airways Airbus A319 is very hard to tell apart from their A320 and, as such, is set out in the same way….a 3-3 layout in Euro Traveller.

Seat map courtesy of SeatGuru

British Airways Euro Traveller A319 – Cabin

The exit rows have ample leg room and, to my mind, are the best seats on the aircraft.

British Airways Euro Traveller A319 – Exit row seating

Compare that to the regular seats just a row behind:

British Airways Euro Traveller A319 – Economy Class regular seating

I tried to take the photos from as similar an angle as possible but, if you don’t see a big difference, you’ll just have to trust me….the exit rows are a lot more roomy.

Here’s a view of the regular Economy Class seats from a different view:

British Airways Euro Traveller A319 – Economy Class regular seating

And, just for comparison, here’s what the Club Europe seats look like on the A319:

British Airways Euro Traveller A319 – Club Europe seating

If you’re wondering what the difference in leg room is…there isn’t any. You get the middle seat blocked in Club Europe but, if you care about leg room, that’s not much good to you so you’re better off with the masses in Euro Traveller as long as you can book an exit row.

I’m 6ft tall and have reasonably long legs (apparently) and I find the exit rows on these aircraft to be just fine.

Plenty of room for my knees….

British Airways Euro Traveller A319 – Economy Class leg room

…and plenty of room if I want to stretch my legs out:

British Airways Euro Traveller A319 – Economy Class leg room

Food & Drink

One of the better things about British Airways is that they haven’t lowered themselves to charging for food and drink on their flights…at least not yet. To be honest its one of the few things left that separates their European operations from those of a low-cost carrier.

On this flight there was a choice of a chicken & bacon roll or a vegetarian salad…I went for the roll…..

British Airways Euro Traveller A319 – Food

….and a mocha iced bun:

British Airways Euro Traveller A319 – Food

There wasn’t a lot of it but it was included in the price of the ticket and this was only a 90 minute flight….so it’s tough to complain.

All the usual drinks were on offer (and were included with the price of the ticket), sodas, juices, alcoholic drinks (beer, wine etc…) and the drink that British Airways does best….tea.

Service

I’ve been getting lucky with my British Airways cabin crews recently as this was another friendly group that went about their duties efficiently and with a smile.

We had taken off at 11:34 (not bad for a scheduled departure time of 11:25) and the crew were coming around with food and drinks at 11:45. That’s pretty good.

It’s very hard to critique the service you get when you’re only in the air for 90 minutes but I saw the crew helping passengers with their carry on baggage, they were greeting passengers with a smile at the door and they served food/drinks quickly….and cleared up just as quickly. They worked well. You can’t ask for much more than that on a flight like this.

Bottom Line

Not a bad flight at all. The crew was good, we weren’t delayed by weather, air traffic control or by anyone going on strike…all around I consider that a success.

I still don’t see why anyone would ever pay to sit in Club Europe on a flight like this (as long as there was an exit row seat you can book) but each to their own 🙂