An Autumn Escape (part 2: Sweden to London)

After the last flights, we spent a nice, serene four days in Stockholm.  We went to the zoo and to the Vasa museum.  The Vasa museum was particularly noteworthy; the ship had capsized on its maiden voyage in 1628 and then sat preserved for over 300 years before being raised and then having a museum built around it.  This post will be relatively short, as it’s a bit of a repeat of the previous post, with only two major differences: 1) we’re only going as far as London and 2) we’re travelling in Club Europe (BA business class).  Krister and I were booked on two different tickets.  This is the first leg of my trip to the US; for Krister, this is just the return portion of his outbound ticket on BA775 on 21 October 2020.

Upon arriving at the airport, we were a bit confused because there was a priority/Club Europe line that spilled out into the walkway and an economy line that was almost empty.  There were three gate agents working, but the people ahead of us were having some problem, so it was moving very slowly.  Krister and I considered trying our luck by standing in the regular line but figured we should stand where we’re supposed to.  In fact, a man was in the priority line but moved to the regular line.  When he got to the front of the line, he was held there while the priority line was cleared out because “they have been waiting longer”, so it probably would’ve changed nothing anyway (which is good line management, in my opinion).

There was only a small security line, but it was not very well managed: the premium security line was poorly sign-posted.  There were a handful of people trying to sprint through to catch the Turkish Airlines flight that was leaving soon, but the people in a rush didn’t really seem to know what was going on.  Upon clearing security, the Schengen exit passport control was well-signposted, but the lounges were not.  The lounge near passport control was permanently closed (pre-COVID).  Krister opted to get a cardamom bun and cappuccino from the nearby café. I made the trek to the other side of the terminal to check out the lounge (just for you guys!)  If not for the Oneworld website’s airport lounge tool, I would not have known BA passengers even had access to a lounge; truly not a well-advertised benefit here.  The lounge on offer was the Menzies Aurora Lounge, which was open with a somewhat limited service.  It was next door to the SAS lounge, which was closed (and being refurbished).

On offer in the Menzies lounge was a small buffet consisting of yogurt, cold pasta salad, cold tuna salad, and a selection of free soft drinks and pour-your-own beer and wine.  The décor was alright with the big light fixtures, but the chairs were not particularly comfortable and the tables not particularly sturdy.  However, since the lounge was on the opposite side of the terminal, I only had about 20 minutes in the lounge before it was time to head to passport control. 

When we reached the boarding gate, it turned out to be a “holding pen” gate, as Krister (un)affectionately calls it.  Our boarding passes were scanned, and we were then crammed into an area with not enough seating (and definitely not enough space for social distancing…), so neither Krister nor I (nor anyone else…) was particularly pleased.  They again boarded by row number, in groups of 5 rows.  We had seats 12D and 12F, which might sound familiar…  This plane, however, was not precisely the same one.  This one was registered as G-EUUD, so it was our last plane’s (ever so slightly) younger sister!

For regular readers of the blog, you’ll know that, in Europe, business class is just economy class with a blocked off middle seat.  In rows 1-10 on BA flights, you also get a little pop-up table.  12 rows of Club Europe is, in fact, the maximum possible on BA’s A320, which corresponded to 48 total Club Europe seats (wow!) and 108 Euro Traveller seats.  On the flights to Stockholm, Club Europe was mostly empty, but would’ve cost >$200 to upgrade.  On this flight, I got an upgrade for Krister for only $50; I don’t know; airplane pricing is weird.  I understand the logic though behind a variably-sized business class because the demand really does vary wildly not only by route but by everything.  But, in summary, on this flight, row 12 was Club Europe, whereas last flight it was Euro Traveller. 

Once the plane was fully loaded, we took off promptly (again no traffic on the apron).  Shortly after takeoff, the meal service began.  As part of BA’s steps to minimize contact (and probably to cut costs), their in-flight premium meals are served in pre-packaged Do&Co boxes.  There was a choice of a chicken and coleslaw or a tomato and mozzarella sandwich box.

The side dishes of a bulgur wheat salad and a chocolate mousse were similar to their pre-COVID offerings.  The (relatively bland) sandwich was a downgrade from the previous hot meal, but it was on par with a typical UK supermarket sandwich.  The addition of a small Harrogate water bottle definitely gave it the feeling of a (relatively upscale) grocery store meal deal.  I wasn’t the biggest fan of the coleslaw or the salad, but these just don’t hit my taste preferences.  Krister enjoyed the sides though.  Because of the food boxes, but individualized drinks, the food came first, and the drinks came about 10 minutes later.  I went for a tiny white wine bottle, and Krister went for some tea.  He actually managed two teas during the flight.  A general note for flights during COVID time: while there isn’t the same service where they walk up and back, you can order most of the normal menu of things on demand with the flight attendant button.  The service was fairly attentive under the circumstances, done by one of BA’s mixed-fleet crews, who were probably about the same age as Krister and me, haha. 

Like on the previous aircraft, WiFi and power sockets were available, but unlike on some other airlines, no free WiFi was available for Club Europe passengers (apparently only in intercontinental First Class is WiFi free on BA). 

Upon landing, the aircraft was deplaned by row front to back like the other flights.  We landed about 30 minutes early again because of the low level of traffic at Heathrow.  Interestingly, no one asked for the passenger locator form at Heathrow; we just walked through the passport gates and on to baggage claim.

In summary, this Club Europe flight wasn’t bad at all, given the pandemic restrictions. The ground experience in Stockholm was lacking, from check-in to lounge to boarding (1/5).  The seat was the second best set of Club Europe seats on the plane in terms of leg room (after row 1), but the lack of tray table and minimal divider from Euro Traveller was a bit of a bummer (4/5).  The sandwich box was on par with a supermarket meal deal (3/5).  The service on the flight was efficient, but it was a bit strange to get the drinks after the meal (4/5).  The in-flight entertainment offering was alright (3/5) with the paid WiFi.  Overall, the flight gets a (15/25), which is not the best, but not awful. 

From a points perspective, this flight generated substantially more points for both Krister and me than the previous flight.  We both got 40 tier points since the flight was in Club Europe.  In addition, we earned 890 base Avios for the flight and 445 (50%) ‘cabin bonus’ Avios for flying in Club. Had this flight been part of my AA ticket from the beginning, I would’ve gotten only 223 (25%) ‘cabin bonus’ Avios.  In addition, Krister earned 890 (100%) ‘tier bonus’ Avios from his Gold status, and I earned 445 (50%) Avios from my Silver status.

Edit: Dec 3, 2020. Because this flight was added later and showed up as a BA flight number, it didn’t automatically credit correctly to BA, so I had to manually request credit for it. The automatic system didn’t work because there was no way to supply a BA flight number with an AA ticket number and flight reference. However, I filled in the manual form the evening of Dec 2, 2020 and provided the appropriate details and documents. The request was processed and then the posted this morning (Dec 3, 2020).