After traversing the never ending lines of Heathrow Airport’s flight connections I raced to my gate as if death was chasing me. I made it just as the BA staff were announcing the start of boarding. I made it! I may not have had the three hours planned to use bathroom, eat and send messages home but I was instantly relieved to have made my flight when it had seemed precarious only a few hours earlier.
Boarding was efficient and everyone was seated and belted in ready for departure with five minutes to spare. It was inevitable though that at this moment Heathrow Air Control decided to restructure its runways due to an afternoon wind change, resulting in our plane sitting almost one and a half hours on the tarmac. My mad dash now seemed a little ridiculous and I wondered why we had to wait it out on the fully booked plane rather than the comfort and facilities of Heathrow Airport. Nonetheless, I was on the plane, staff were friendly and soon I would be eating dinner before a sleep all the way to Bangkok.
Dinner was served late in the flight with my side of the plane seeming to always be 10 minutes behind the others. Watching everyone else eat, my stomach grumbled. This seemed to be a re-occuring pattern on this flight. My side again was delayed for the breakfast service with all the weary, hungry passengers watching again as the other half happily enjoyed their meals. Their trays were even collected before our food was quickly thrusted at us by the staff who had lost their happy, helpful charm just hours into the flight. After receiving my meal, I was then rushed to eat and enjoy it as we were soon to begin our decent into Bangkok. The meals themselves were as good as plane food can be. I enjoyed my pesto pasta dinner and full English breakfast. Maybe the suspense to receive both made it all the more tasty.
The seats were very comfortable and supported a great sleep for the duration of the flight. The plane was clean with the exception of the carpet outside the lavatory being wet underfoot and I did not want to delve deeper into why. The staff began out as helpful and as “BA” as ever, however they lost their charm throughout the flight and all looked completely drained on arrival into Bangkok. Many seemed to appear more relieved than most passengers to have the flight over. They did however provide great information on the local Bangkok area, including taxi prices into town which was then supported by their ground staff who were ready to direct all passengers to their connecting flights.
All opinions are subjective to the writers personal travel experience. The writer travelled at her own expense.