Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
January 2006 : Flight Log : BA6899
Gibraltar (GIB) - London Heathrow (LHR)
After fully
partaking of the various offerings in the GIB Lounge
which, the group felt, resembled something between a retirement home
and a waiting room for a timeshare presentation, we boarded our A320
at about 1940. Based on my experiences over the last year or so,
this early boarding seems to be standard procedure for GB Airways
and I certainly don't have any complaints. I settled into 4A and
once again had GregM as my seat-mate in 4C. With
darkness now fallen and the Rock illuminated by spotlights, it was a
most spectacular sight as we taxied round to the end of the
runway, crossing the main road in the process. I wondered if it
would be a case of engines screaming, brakes on and then released
with a jolt. This wasn't to be necessary, but I think we definitely
were using full thrust as we lifted into the darkness at 2020. We
had only just re-crossed the roadway and therefore had lots of room
to spare before things got nerve-wracking!
The cabin service began with hot
towels, followed by drinks and nibbles. What to have? Er, let me see
... how about Champagne? After a decent interval (i.e. allowing time
for refills
), dinner was
served. I chose the lamb option, the other choice being a pasta
dish. It proved to be a tasty lamb casserole with potatoes and
vegetables, served with warm bread rolls, cheesecake for dessert and
cheese and biscuits to round things off. There was a rather unusual
white chocolate mint to go with coffee. In a nice touch that was
much appreciated, the crew offered a second round of hot towels as
soon as the trays had been cleared away. This brought another of
those memorable moments when reality appeared to have been
temporarily suspended, as GregM demonstrated his preferred
"behind the ears" technique.
At this stage, a highly innovative turn of events followed as flyclub decided to apply for a vacancy as cabin crew trainee and ended up getting the job! Such was the creditable level of proficiency demonstrated that our other host decided "Hey, I want to see if I can do that too!" All this brought a certain degree of symmetry to the day : we had been flown down to Gib by an FTer and now FTers were trying their hand at cabin service on the return leg. Much merriment ensued, no doubt to the puzzlement of those behind the curtain.
All too soon, we were making our
approach into LHR for a 2147 touch-down and an ahead-of-schedule
2152 arrival, concluding a wonderful day out. Champagne bottle count
at 2150 : 16 
Date: Sat 21 Jan 2006
Aircraft : Airbus A320
Scheduled dep : 2015
Actual departure : 2011
Scheduled arrival : 2210
Actual arrival : 1144
Cabin : Club Europe (Business Class)
Seat : 1A
Linked reports from same trip :-
Gibraltar Fun-day
Flight Log BA6898