This post is part of a series reviewing our 2015 Anniversary trip to Europe. For a full list of the posts in this series, and for an overview of the trip, check out the index page.
After the delay at LHR we took a short bus ride to the tarmac to embark on the last leg of our flight itinerary.
British Airways Airbus A320
This flight would take us to Euroairport (BSL/MLH/EAP), the strange airport with 3 different codes, on French soil, built by the Swiss. Since British Airways short haul flights within Europe have 2 cabins, the ticketing code on our boarding pass for this leg was for business class; even though our entire booking was a first class award through American Airlines. Intra-Europe business class with British Airways is called Club Europe.
Club Europe seats on this plane are standard size, but with the middle seat in the 3-3 configuration blocked off with a little table thing. If you can’t get a bigger seat in the premium cabin, at least you get elbow room. On our particular flight I think everyone in the front of the plane had their own 3 seat row to themselves.
After we boarded, the mechanical delay continued for 20-30 minutes, but at last we got an explanation: The captain came across the PA and explained that the problem was due to a minor failure of the landing gear. A non-critical failure had occurred on the plane’s previous flight and it needed to be checked out thoroughly. The captain’s explanation and apology were so eloquent that Nicoleen and I both noticed it. We joked that his speech almost made the ~4 hour delay worthwhile!
The meal service
Our flight was just over an hour so we weren’t expecting a meal service. We figured we might get some snacks at best. Boy were we wrong! The front cabin flight attendant came around and gave us a choice of a meat and cheese plate or a hot English breakfast.
I opted for the meat and cheese plate, which came with a roll, a yogurt parfait, and coffee. I enjoyed it very much!
Nicoleen thought the eggs, croissant, and bacon described to her when she asked about the hot English breakfast sounded good. What she didn’t expect were the mushrooms, fried tomato, and veal sausage. I happily relieved her of her unwanted breakfast assortments. Nicoleen enjoyed the eggs, fruit, and little jars of jam . . . but she was very offended at being served mushrooms for breakfast, and she somehow harbors negative memories of the delectable meal pictured here:
My after-breakfast Johnnie Walker Black Label and Diet Coke
After the breakfast was concluded there was enough time to squeeze in a quick round of beverage requests. As the culmination of over 24 hours of first class traveling, I couldn’t resist one last chance to avail myself of the rare and exciting, complimentary alcoholic beverage.
Overall
We really had no expectations for this short flight. If anything, we figured the business class service would feel like a step down after 3 consecutive first class flights. The fact that they managed to pack in a full meal service on our 1 hour 35 minute flight was enough to impress us. The food quality, polite and attentive service, and thorough explanation of the delay sealed the deal. An honest and believable apology by an airline employee goes a long way. If not the highlight of our itinerary, this short Club Europe flight left us with a very positive impression of British Airways!
The approach to Basel. I was very excited to return to mainland Europe!
It should be a pretty exciting trip, especially considering it’s almost free! We’ll get the full report from Derek after the vacation, including how he flew and stayed for free using value tactics!
