Round The World and other travels

Flight Log 11 : BA73

Abu Dhabi (AUH) - Muscat (MCT)

When I'd checked in on-line for this flight, there had been a wide choice of available seats in the F cabin, had I felt any inclination to move out of my pre-assigned 1K. (Unlikely, I know, but I always like to look! ) It was all the more surprising on boarding, then, to find the cabin almost full of passengers who'd chosen to stay aboard during the stop at Abu Dhabi. (I find it slightly surprising that more F passengers don't pre-assign their seats - or were there a lot of op-ups, perhaps?) The cabin had an untidy, in-use look, which is not what I expect to find when settling down in First. I was not shown to my seat and, most unusually, I received no attention from the cabin crew at all for at least ten minutes, as they all appeared to be pre-occupied with other matters. I decided to hang my jacket myself, on the hook provided in the seat area. At long last, one of the cabin crew gave me a friendly greeting and brought me a glass of Champagne and some cashew nuts, after checking that it was OK to serve bubbly on the ground at AUH. The cabin was far too hot; I hoped it was a broken APU and that things would get better once the main engines were started. There was also a wailing infant in the cabin that seemed utterly inconsolable, possibly due to the heat   The Captain announced an expected flight time of 41 minutes, which somehow seemed very precise.

We pushed back early at 2028, but it was quite a long taxi and we didn't take off until 2045. Unfortunately, and surprisingly, there was no noticeable improvement in the cabin temperature. I was served a further glass of Champagne, which also appeared to be suffering from the heat, and a glass of water (minus the ice that I'd asked for). The canapés were the same as on my BAH-DOH-BAH run, but were presented on a large round plate together with the chilli sauce. Sadly, they were nowhere near as nice : the vol-au-vent, for example, had a soggy, limp texture.

We touched down at 2123 and reached our parking position four minutes later. In complete contrast to my thoroughly enjoyable night out in Bahrain, this short hop hadn't gone very well at all. With the untidy and overheated cabin, otherwise-occupied crew, warm drinks, soggy food and a screamer howling its head off, this wasn't much of a premium experience   I sincerely hoped that my next flight in BA First, in around ten days time, would be a great deal better. My one consolation was that this flight renewed my BA Gold Card for another year.

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