Hi everoyne, welcome back to another review. Today we're doing a short hop from Porto to London aboard BA's A321 in European Business. As this was another flight taken on our recent holiday, we get the plus of seeing an extra meal! BA have received predominantly negative press in recent times, from the changes to their rewards program to cutting costs (dinner/lunch becoming afternoon tea comes to mind) to hostile/disinterested cabin crew. This is only my second ever time flying BA with the only other trip being from Vancouver to London in what was an extemely empty A380 back in 2019. I do recall receiving little to no real attention back then, but that was before my inner aviation enthusiast kicked in. I was looking forward to seeing how a short haul journey aboard BA would be like, and to be honest I was pleasantly surprised by this experience. Let's go!
After spending nearly a week in Lisbon/Porto, the weather gods seemed to share the sadness of us leaving by ending what was a wonderful few days of sunshine. It was extremely gloomy and you could barely see anything around you.
The taxi ride lasted only ten minutes and soon we pulled up at the airport. It was already beginning to get quite busy.
Once inside, we headed over to BA's checkin desks at the very left side of the terminal. To my surprise, I saw United check-in areas. I assumed they would primarily fly between Lisbon, but it's always nice to see international carriers abroad in non-capital cities.
Right next to the United desks were our BA ones. Despite having priority access with Business tickets, the line was still quite long since only one agent was manning the desk. After around 20 minutes, it was our turn and the agent was absolutely delightful and so helpful. Having paid around 180 pounds for this flight, we were definitely not about to shill out an extra 40 pound each to select our seats. Shame on you BA, that's nearly 1/4 of the ticket price. When asking if we could be seated together, we were informed only the last row of business AKA the emergency exit seats were available, no problem for us! We were later see that this meant we each got our own two seats since the last row of business has only 2 seats on each side of the cabin and EU business is literally economy seats with the middle seat empty, allowing us to communicate through the aisle. The agent was also happy to credit my girlfriend to her Cathay account, above everything she always kept a big smile and I had to share my appreciation of her attitude when leaving, something she really loved! She didn't mention anything about a lounge, nor did I ask. I'm still unsure if lounge access comes with our ticket, but we didn't end up going to one after security anyways (a little bit of arguing occurred so no mood to hang out together for a while:)))) ).
After dealing with tax refund, we headed over to security and through fast track. I had a coffee in my hand and was ready to dump all liquids when I was informed I didn't need to. The same procedure happened at Heathrow when our trip ended so I was wondering whether this is a new rule where liquids are no longer required to be disposed? Anyways, I was happy to keep. my fuel with me!
Immediately after checkin, I spotted the United 757-200 heading to Newark shortly after our flight. Although not their biggest fan, it is something special to spot the only transatlantic bird in the entire airport.
We then proceeded down to our gate where we soon realized would be a bus one. The only real area of criticism I had this entire journey would take place here, and it's not really down to BA but rather the Porto airport procedures. After checking our documents, we were allowed past the gate agent and into a waiting area. Not only did the wait take around 50 minutes, we had to wait until every single passenger checked past the initial agent before being allowed onto the bus. Although this is also the procedure at places such as Doha, the waiting area is significantly smaller here and soon became extremely cramped. Furthermore, despite the agent calling for groups 1-3 to board the buses first, there was no real way to enforce this as one long line had been formed with a passengers from all groups. Needless to say, the scene soon became rather chaotic.
This was the line that was initially formed when we first passed through, but imagine around 244 passengers cramped in this area.
What felt like many moons later, our shuttle bus finally arrived.
On the bright side, being on the lower deck gave a closer shot of the United bird.
After literally being shoved into the corner on the bus, we finally took off on a TWO MINUTE ride to our plane. I swear there were empty jetways within the vicinity. In addition, you really weren't feeling any type of priority when being shoved into a hot bus with everyone else. I had to put my legs on top of my small suitcase while seated so the gentleman beside me could cramp up in the adjacent seat. It seemed no one wanted to sit down but rather stand, which also meant we had to work our way past everyone to reach the back of the bus. This of course also meant we were last to disembark and joined the long line up to the plane. Nice views though!
Finally aboard, this was the first shot of our plane. My sincerest apologies for the blurs, I must've been hit from behind or something. The entire cabin is created of two 3-3 rows, and the seats differ in no way between the classes. The only difference is business leaves the middle seats empty.
As mentioned during checkin, we were at the emergency exit rows which meant only two seats on each side. We both took the aisle seat to ease conversation. I did end up being very up close with the crew member who sat in the jumpseat directly to my right, that was a fun and awkward experience.
Here's a better picture of the cabin facing forward.
There is no IFE but wifi was available. I had some important work I needed to attend to which coincided with the duration of this flight, so I ended up purchasing the wifi package for 8 pounds. Incredibly, the wifi worked for approximately a total of 7 minutes and never connected again, can I get my money back please.
If you look below you can notice the charger ports which remained functional once airbourne.
There were no welcome drinks, which wasn’t a problem since by now we had been delayed for a while, and I was still recovering from the bruise I picked up from the shuttle bus journey. Our captain also came on the PA and apologized for the airport delay and hopes he could make it up in air.
After a short taxi, we blasted off at 11:32, 17 minutes behind schedule. I wasn’t sure what, if any, food would be like on this flight. If I learned anything from US carriers on 1-2 hour hops, would be nothing more than a drink and snack service. Further bolstered by BA’s recent negative reviews, expectations were low. Shortly after takeoff, and my short-lived romance with the jumpseat crew member concluded, a drink cart was pushed through the cabin. I asked for a coke zero and some sparkling wine. To my delight, two cans were provided and a very generous pour. What added to the surprise was the smell of cooked food flowing from the front galley, and I began seeing trays of full meals being handed to the front row. Awesome!
Before getting to me, I was able to grab a view of what the gentleman in front of me was having, and it didn’t look half bad. When the crew got to us, we were given the option of a tortellini, a cold cut salad, or Barbecue chicken. Haven seen the cold salad passed to a nearby passenger, I wasn’t too thrilled to try it. I went with the tortellini, and my girlfriend the chicken.
When food was passed over, it smelled incredible and more than enough for a short flight. Accompanying the main meal was a bread roll, butter, a lemon crumble dessert, and a quinoa salad, with the latter being by far the star. Never have I been a fan of quinoa, too healthy for my liking, but this was incredible. The tortellini tasted alright, but after trying my girlfriend’s chicken it was clear she had the winner. After adding some salt and pepper my pasta did taste better, but all things considered a delightful surprise. The crumble wasn’t great though, but everything else (including the incredible crew) more than made that moot.
The crew then pushed the beverage cart back and I went with another glass of sparkling wine and some sparkling water. Another generous pour!
After meal service concluded, we only had around 40 minutes of flight time remaining. Around this time, the lead stewardess walked through down the business cabin with a glorious smile on her face holding a bottle of sparkling wine and offering refills to anyone interested. Of course, another glass for me please!
Soon, the captain came back on the PA and announced our descent. When I assumed I would have my still mostly full glass of sparkline wine removed, the crew came by with plastic cups so we could pour the remainder of our beverages, and we could still enjoy them whilst they took the glassware away. What a great touch, surprised more airlines haven’t considered or implemented this practice!
Before long, we touched down into a cloudy Gatwick airport, 25 minutes behind schedule (I guess we didn’t end up making up that lost time!). There was a FastTrack section at customs but we didn’t notice it until it was almost our turn anyways. I’m curious to know whether we’re only able to access FastTrack at the departure airport or also the arrival one.
I also managed to spot a oneworld livery BA jet on my way out.
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