Return transatlantic trip into London City went well. It was a different crew, but equally cheery as on the outbound. Something about this flight just makes folks happy. Flight time was a bit longer than in the bigger planes, and the A318 had a lot more motion, frequently just smooth little bumps, but it was fine. The seats do recline flat with plenty of space, but are not quite as comfortable as the normal BA business class seats due to the fixed headrests which are relatively large and firm. I found mine to be a very poor substrate for the pillow and would much rather have been without it. But all was forgiven for the final stages.
The flight time put us into London an well ahead of schedule. With Heathrow, this could still mean you spend ages holding due to congestion once you get close. With our flight, it meant we landed well ahead of schedule. The pilots seemed rightly smug about this. Oddly, we had to take a bus after deplaning. The world's shortest airport bus ride. Nearly all of the gates at City stretch out to the east of the arrivals hall, but this flight's gate is on the other side, leaving no way to get to passport control except possibly walking the wrong way through baggage claim first. So the bus journeys a couple hundred meters east from the parking spot and unloads right into passport control. I would have preferred to walk it after the flight, but no such option. Passport went quickly, even though I was last in line, and just as I was getting out the bags came. Standard procedure at heathrow would have been: 10 minutes taxiing (or more), a few minutes getting off the plane, possibly a 10-minute bus ride, or a 10-minute escalator-fest getting from 5B to 5A, another 5-minute walk to wait in line, etc. If I'm exiting heathrow an hour after the wheels first touch ground, it's a good day. Normally from wheels first touching down to walking in my front door takes 2-3 hours, two being a very lucky combination of events. On this trip:
06:39 wheels touch down
06:58 I am getting in a cab
07:16 I am walking in my front door
Total of only 37 minutes from first contact with the ground to being home.
4 comments:
i am stunned that you were in a cab in under 20 minutes.
i usually can't do that flying domestic into ORD, unless i've done only a carryon and there's no wait for a cab.
Yeah, London City is great. I try to use it whenever possible when flying into europe as well.
Small airports are da bomb. GSP (Greemville Spartanburg) used to have a chain link fence adjacent to the parking lot that read "beware prop wash" when I first moved to SC. It's expanded to 2 terminals and 20 gates, but still is a nice little airport.
LCY and GSP give frequent travelers disdain for colossal hubs like JFK, ORD, ATL, HKG, LAX and Heathrow.
The sad thing is, I used to really like ORD, before the security bullshit. It was quite pleasant to go there and be able to wander the terminals and meet someone arriving at their gate. I have very fond memories of being warmly greeted by grandparents or friends right off the plane. When my oldest was 1, before his first big flight, I even took him to O'Hare to look at the planes together. Flying has gotten so much less civilized. Airports should be exciting pieces of large-scale infrastructure instead of the demoralizing prisons they're trying to become.
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