If you’ve read my last two articles, you’ll know I’ve been a bit light on flying this year. I’ve made quite a few plans for trips this year around going to the Middle East, not counting on a war breaking out. Whilst, at the time of writing, the war is technically over and travel has resumed, it’s going to take a while before I’m able to justify a work trip back out to the region again. So, the dry spell of not flying continues, at least it did until this week. With exactly 6 days notice, I got an email from a client asking me if I could return to a ship I’ve been on before for some training work, this time in Marseille, France. With the exception of the odd occasion where I had to book an emergency flight, due to missing a flight, I don’t think I’ve ever planned a trip with less than a few week’s notice, certainly not six day’s notice! When it actually came to booking it was only 4 days because it took 2 days for the company to organise a purchase order to confirm the trip. The requirement for the job was 3 days work, Tuesday through Thursday, in Marseille with very little notice. Probably not the most exciting trip for the aviation geek, but at least it was getting on an airplane again.
Booking
Naturally, the second I got an email I was onto Google flights and researching possible options. As with any trip I look at the most affordable and direct option, this was easyJet and British Airways. Surprisingly, both very similar in pricing, both flying direct. This gave me a budget to work too and a bit of timing, so I started looking for other options, ideally trying to fly on star alliance if possible. Of course, there would be no direct flights to France on star alliance, so it would have to be an indirect route. Options came up with everything from flying via Frankfurt, Brussels and Zürich. All of these would have been good as they are airlines within the Lufthansa group and would give me the maximum number of points to my Star Alliance account. Naturally to make the most points out of this I would want to fly in business class and at the time of looking on a Tuesday, the prices were around about £500 return. The full price ticket on easyJet or British Airways was going to be about £350, so I could easily justify the extra £150 to get myself a business class ticket and get the extra points. There were 2 options that looked particularly good, first one being Swiss air via Zürich and the second one being Brussels airlines via Brussels of course. But then I had to wait for the company to issue a purchase order before I could actually go ahead and book these flights. As each day went by the price went up and up and by time I got to Thursday, the day of actual booking, the price had gone over £1000. This made it prohibitively expensive.
So, I reluctantly went back to easyJet or British Airways to see what options were there. It was only then that it struck me that I still have a British Airways AMEX voucher to use up. I hurriedly started looking for British Airways options and found that there was a perfect flight on the Monday evening getting in late, ideal as that would maximise my day’s work on Monday, and get me in late enough to get to a hotel and go to bed. The return flight was not ideal, the evening flight to Marseille gets in at about 10pm and then that plane stays overnight to go back at 7:20 the next morning. So, my BA option was to go Monday evening, stay in a hotel Monday night, then Tuesday morning I’ll transfer to the ship, where I would stay on board for two nights. Then Thursday evening transfer back to the airport hotel, for a very early flight Friday morning, to get me home for a full day of work on Friday. To be absolutely honest, the easyJet option would’ve got me back on the Thursday night, but I had a very good reason for choosing the BA option.
The BA flight with the voucher was going to cost me 17,000 Avios points, half the normal Avios points thanks to the voucher. And £40 in cash on top of that. The easyJet flight, which surprisingly hadn’t gone up by much, was going to cost me £350. Even taking into account the extra night in the hotel, it was still far cheaper to go with British Airways. And I was very keen to use up my voucher as it was going to expire the next month. So the flight was booked, both ways in business class, for only £40 and 17,000 Avios, making good use of my soon to expire AMEX voucher. The next thing to do was find a hotel, I looked around and there were plenty of options. In the end, wishing to stay loyal to my various hotel chains, I found a Holiday Inn that was a reasonable price and had a free shuttle from the main airport, so I went with that. All of this was booked on a Thursday for the first fight being on the Monday after. I was quite lucky to get both the pricing and the avios seat availability that close to flying. But it just goes to show that sometimes if there are empty seats on a plane, they will take you.
Outbound flight
Having spent a lot of time, effort and money trying to get away from British Airways, I found myself once again flying with them. This flight was from Heathrow to Marseille, with a slight catch, that I almost didn’t notice until fairly last minute. This flight goes from terminal 3. Those who are not familiar British Airways, their main terminal is terminal 5. But I have in the past taken a number of flights from terminal 3, so I was familiar with it. Generally, I like T3 as it does offer the opportunity to lounge hop, with BA, Qantas, American and Cathay Pacific lounges to choose from. As I was flying in business class and not away for long, also with it being the height of summer and very hot, I didn’t need many clothes. So, with a small roller suitcase and my laptop bag, I booked a local taxi to the airport. I was thinking to myself I haven’t given the local taxis a try for a while, they’re terrible at picking me up from the airport, but never really had a problem getting to the airport and they do tend to be very affordable. I soon learned my lesson and reminded myself why didn’t like the local taxi firms at all. The taxi was early, but no issue he was happy to wait until I was ready. It was a prius, so not the most comfortable of rides, but again I did pay for the lowest budget car. Then came the driving, the guy was constantly dabbing his accelerator making it a very jerky motion sat in the back, very uncomfortable. He was completely unable to keep a consistent speed with the car in front. When he did get a clear bit of road, he simply floored it. I clocked him nearly double the speed limit on several occasions. All in all, a very unpleasant ride and I almost felt sick, but I’ve arrived. (note since first writing, the taxi company did email me for feedback, you’ll be glad to know I was brutally honest). Glad to be out of the taxi I headed into terminal 3 and being hand luggage only, I went straight up to fast-track security. I went straight through there, given they have the new machines and nothing had to come out of my bags, I was in and out in a matter of minutes. Time from taxi to walking up to the lounge was 10 minutes.
Given this was an evening flight, I quite fancied a drink, so I decided to head to Qantas for their gin bar. However, it was not to be, I was told at the entrance that all the lounges are busy today and they weren’t allowing you to lounge hop, so I had to go to my home lounge. Not the first time I’ve encountered this at T3, so somewhat reluctantly, I headed off to the British Airways lounge. Upon arrival I suddenly realised that I have never been to the business class side of the British Airways lounge at this terminal before. I’ve had quite a few flights out of T3, although not many on BA. But with American, Cathay or Finnair I would always use any other lounge rather than BA. On the few occasions I was flying BA I was also a Gold member, so had access to the First lounge. This was not to be today, I am sad to say that I’m now a bronze member (not surprising given I’ve stopped flying One World mostly) and therefore do not get any lounge privileges whatsoever. This has also impacted my seating choice, which I’ll come back to later.
So, I headed into the business class lounge and was pleasantly surprised to find it quite open and quiet. There was plenty of space, a choice of seating and further down you could find places where you can sit and view what’s going on out on the tarmac. There was a good selection of food, British Airways do seem to have upped their game with their food choices in the airport lounges. There was a choice of hot and cold snacks hot meals, soup, cheeseboard and salads to choose from. As well as this there was a special hot dog stand with someone making hotdogs fresh for you with various toppings on offer. I’m not the biggest fan of hot dogs, I decided to give this one a miss. There was also plenty of wine, beer and spirits, including white and rosé Prosecco. Of which the latter I helped myself to a glass of. In the hot meal selection, there was some chicken wings that were completely and utterly morish, I kept going back for more. Couldn’t help myself. After a restful time in the lounge, it was time to head out to the gate. Only about a 5 minute walk from the lounge, I arrived and they called boarding on time. Starting with group 0, which no one responded to and then group 1 which I was in. For this trip I was in 1A. Since this is my first trip flying since I became a bronze member, I had to learn what the new rules are for booking seats. Even in business class you still have to pay if you want to reserve a seat more than 7 days before your flight. This flight I’d booked only 4 days before, so I was inside my window, but row 1 was blocked out as that’s there for gold and above if they want to take it. Originally, I was booked in row 3, but row 1 became available at about 48 hours before check-in, so I managed to nab one.
Once I boarded, I settled into my usual ritual of getting my noise cancelling headphones and iPad out, and waited for boarding to be completed, followed by taxi and take-off. Soon after take-off I was offered a drink, so I went for gin and tonic. The crew were very generous and brought me several miniature bottles along with plenty of tonic, of which a number ended up in my bag to enjoy later in the week.
Dinner was a little disappointing as the main course was salmon and mashed potatoes, and I really am not a fan of eating fish. The vegetarian meal didn’t appeal either, but they did have a beef salad. As I’d already eaten in the lounge, I didn’t need much to eat, but I thought I’d get the beef salad to try, and it was actually very nice. The flight being 1½ hours long gave plenty of time to enjoy the meal and a drink and relax before we headed down into Marseille. All in all, the crew were very pleasant and attentive, could’ve had more to drink if I wanted to, they even brought me a little snack to go with my drink after the meal was cleared away.
The holiday Inn Marseille Airport
It was very quick to get into the country, in fact rather unusually I went through and just used a machine, which I’ve not done in Europe before since before Brexit. Following the instructions I had been emailed from the hotel about how to find the hotel pick up point, I wondered outside and found a small bus stop. There was a buzzer system there which basically phoned the hotel and once I got through, I requested a pick up and it was there in 10 minutes. Once checked in, I headed to my room to go to bed. This Holiday Inn, I don’t know quite what I was expecting, but I felt a bit like it was lacking something. Honestly felt like a Holiday Inn Express, of which there was one of those across the road. It felt very functional and clinical, not warm and inviting like some of the newer hotels. I think it was just dated and needed a bit of updating. But it had working air-conditioning and a comfy bed, so I settled down to sleep. The next day I took an Uber down to the dockyard where I was boarded on the ship. I spent 3 days working on the ship, with 2 nights sleeping in a very luxurious 5-star cabin before the end of my trip.
The return trip
Back to the airport
My journey home was an exact reverse of my journey there, I took an Uber back to the airport, direct to the Holiday Inn. This time early evening on the Thursday, ready for my very early flight on Friday morning. There was time for a meal, so I booked into the hotel restaurant and was pleasantly surprised by the quality. Not fitting with the rest of the hotel’s distinctly budget feeling, the restaurant offered exceptionally good quality food and I very much enjoyed my 3 course meal. After “most” of a good night’s sleep, I’ve booked my passage on the shuttle the next morning for 5:20am, this is for a 7:20am take-off. Given I was already at the airport, I could afford to push timings a bit and get there a little bit later than I would normally. The shuttle was on time and I was dropped off at the airport very quickly. I looked at my watch once I cleared security and headed to the lounge, and it was 5:31 so just over 10 minutes from hotel to clearing security.
Marseille Airport
For what is a reasonably small regional airport, i.e. pretty much all short haul flights around Europe, I was very impressed with Marseille Airport. It had a modern feel to it with a nice big, cavernous roof and plenty of shops and facilities. In security the scanners were the new type, so again nothing out of your bag, which is always nice to get through. The signage was a little confusing, and I must admit I hadn’t done enough research on lounge location before I got there. I followed signs to the lounge, when I walked in it was pointed out that I was in the Schengen area and I needed to go through passport control to the non-Schengen area. I’ve noticed many airports do this differently, some airports like to clear you last minute before you get to the gate, while other airports have entire zones of shops and restaurants when you get past passport control, all depending on how many flights they have.
This was one of those airports where once you cleared passport control there were shops, restaurants and of course another lounge for me to visit on the other side. The lounge itself was very nice, plenty of seating choices lots of different types of seats for relaxing or working in. The lounge itself was located right in the centre of the building, so no nice views to look at. One window by the eating area was in a central courtyard, so at least there was some natural light in there but nothing to look at. The other side of windows ran along the back of the gate area, so the only purpose of those is to sit there and look down on the people that aren’t in the lounge, which is always fun. The lounge was empty at this time of day, but I needed breakfast, so I headed to the food area. There was a good selection of cold food items, usual continental breakfast spread. Of course there were pastries, given this is France, which were actually very good and tasted like they were freshly baked that day. The only hot offering, oddly, was some scrambled eggs, but nothing like toast or anything to go with them. I had a pastry and relaxed here while I waited for the flight.
Return flight
When it came to boarding, it turned out my flight was exactly the gate that the viewing area around the other side was overlooking. I headed around to wait for boarding, and they very soon called groups 0 and 1 together, so I was boarded. Possibly due to my new lower status of bronze, I didn’t get the best seat choice. I was in 4F today, but I didn’t have anyone next to me and of course there’s always an empty seed with a tray in the middle. I was particularly impressed with the breakfast offering on the plane. I had only eaten a pastry and a bit of bread in the lounge, and that was well over an hour ago, so I thought I’d give the full English breakfast a try. There was also a choice of an omelette. It was actually very impressive, the full English consistent of bacon, egg, sausage, mushrooms, and tomato. But that wasn’t all on the tray, there was a warm croissant, a yoghurt, a fruit cup and a fruit breakfast cereal bar. All in all, I’d say it was a feast, way more food than I’ve ever needed to have for breakfast. And it all tasted good! One little thing that’s bugged me about cooked breakfast on planes before is the sausages, they are normally a little undercooked, but this one was well cooked and very nice.
So, by time we were over mid France I was absolutely stuffed and quite happy to have a bit of a doze until we landed. I did notice this flight was particularly full of Americans. I guess the main route for an American to visit Marseille is to fly with American or British Airways, connecting through London to get to there. Mainly I guess as it doesn’t seem to have many long-haul routes. There’s been a lot of bad press about standards dropping on BA, but I found the crew to be very pleasant and helpful, offering plenty of top ups of drinks when I wanted to and the breakfast was very thorough, I would’ve been happy with that breakfast on a long-haul flight. We landed into Heathrow a little early and had to wait for our gate to be vacated so that we could get in for an on-time arrival. Coming back through T3 was incredibly simple, given such an early hour of the flight, not many people there, so we were straight through the passport machines, and I managed to beat my Taxi pick up in getting to the arrivals area. This time I’d booked Addison Lee, a bit more expensive, but very professional. They meet you in the arrivals area with a sign.
Bottom line
Whilst my main mission this year is to try and keep some kind of status with Star Alliance, it was going to be a complete waste not to use my British Airways AMEX voucher before it expired in August, and this last-minute trip provided a perfect opportunity. As I said there’s been a lot of complaining about BA recently, and I’ve no idea what it’s like for an economy passenger, but travelling club Europe on a 2-hour flight was incredibly pleasant. My only complaint, which is entirely my problem, is the food on the outbound leg was very fish based and I don’t eat fish. It would be nice to have a warm meat dish instead of a cold beef salad. But the ticket had come with lounge access, and I had made sure I ate in the lounge before I got on the plane, so it’s not the end of the world. Again, the return trip was absolutely lovely and the breakfast was massive, in fact I didn’t even eat all of it, I kept the cereal bar to take home for later that day. So, the final word for me is British Airways club Europe seems to be doing a perfectly good service.
