Review: British Airways A320 Club Europe London-Paris
Intro
After landing the night prior at 11 pm from London Heathrow onboard Club Europe, I spent 5 hours dealing with the family emergency at hand. The next morning, having not slept (3 am), I found a flight to Paris Charles De Gaulle on Avios. Seeing as I had a confirmed Polaris flight booked out of CDG the day after, I had to find a way to get there. The only flight that would get me in that day was the 6 am out of Edinburgh (brutal). Sleepless, it was time to endure.
I was too tired to review the EDI-LHR leg; hence the main review in this report is the London Heathrow to Charles De Gaulle.
So, how was Club Europe? This flight was nothing short of exceptional (truly exceptional). The cabin crew was sensationally friendly, Nahara in the B gates lounge was sublime, and the whole BA experience left me wanting more. There was one issue, which I'll explain during this review.
Route-London (LHR)-Paris (CDG)
Seat- 11A
Flight Number- BA308
Aircraft- Airbus A320
Date- June 26th 2024
Flight Time- 1 Hour 8 Minutes
Price Paid- 15,000 Avios+189 GBP (2 legs)
How I Booked
Booking last-minute summer travel is a pain in the buttocks (granted, this last-minute situation isn't the airline's fault 😅). Ordinarily, there are 5 daily flights connecting Edinburgh and Paris, but all of them were sold out for that day (economy as well; I just wanted to get to Paris). However, I know from experience that BA releases last-minute Business Class awards through Avios on short-haul legs, and guess what? They happened to have one seat left (no economy available). For a total of 15K avios+fees, I managed to book EDI-LHR-CDG in Club Europe, which is not bad.
EDI-LHR
Arriving at the airport in Edinburgh, I certainly felt the effects of the night prior, having not slept. However, I knew that "I just had to get on the plane"; at least, that's what I had told myself.
Checking in with the staff at 4:30 am, it happened to be bustling at Edinburgh International Airport.
In no time, the agent had me checked in, and it was off to the British Airways Lounge in Edinburgh. I was quite pleased with the lounge, and you can check out the whole review here.
Finishing up in the lounge, it was soon time to board the flight over to Edinburgh. For obvious reasons (having not slept), I slept from the second I got onboard until we were at the gate in London. It got to the point where the cabin crew had to actually wake me up in London; it was that bad.
An hour and a half later, we taxiied into A gates 8 minutes early. Not bad, British Airways!
Around London Heathrow
Once the short process to get off of the plane was complete, I had about 7 hours to kill until my flight to Paris. Unfortunately, BA only released Avios seats on one of the later flights that day to Paris, meaning it was time to do some lounge hopping.
I headed over to Galleries North, still exhausted, and decided to have some breakfast. As I was enjoying my breakfast, I pulled up the seat map of BA308 over to Paris (departing in 2 hours) and saw that they had released two more rows of business (3 seats available). I thought to myself, why don’t I try to ask if I can get on that flight? However, with a line of 25+ people and 2 customer service reps in the Galleries North, my childhood instincts kicked in to take the train over to the B gates lounge.
The B Gates lounge is a quick 2-minute train ride away from A gates and features much fewer people than any of the lounges at B gates. Arriving at the lounge, I immediately headed over to the customer service desk, where there happened to be zero people waiting. This is how the exchange went:
Me: “Hi, I am so sorry to bother you. I am supposed to fly to Paris later today, and I saw there were a couple of seats available on BA308. Is there any chance I could switch on an award booking”
Nahara: “Usually, no, but let me call and talk to a supervisor.”
So, Nahara called and sat there until I heard that she was asking if “Flow Forward had been enabled.” She told me to go take a seat, so I went over and grabbed a bacon sandwich at one of the stations.
10 minutes later, Nahara had been able to change to BA308. Talk about some exceptional service. Even though I didn’t have any bags, she used the flow forward to my advantage, thus allowing me more time at the Park Hyatt in Paris (more on that soon).
As my plane was set to board, I made the walk back to A gates to head over to Galleries South before my flight. I never liked this lounge much because, as a kid, my family never went there (only the lounges in the North).
Boarding
By 10:35 am, boarding had begun, and business class passengers and OW Emerald passengers were invited to board first. With a cabin of 44 business class seats (wow), I happened to be one of the last ones onboard that day.
I love Heathrow and the views😮, it’ll never get old.
The Seat/Cabin
Stepping onboard, I came face to face with the monstrosity of business class on this short flight over to Charles De Gaulle. I made my way back to seat 11A, which not only happened to be an exit row but also didn’t have anybody next to me.
An exit row is very pleasant for Club Europe, as Club Europe and Economy are frankly the same, but with a blocked middle seat. I have noticed more and more recently that British Airways sometimes provides the tray table in business on top of the middle seat, and other times not.
The legroom was quite good, in-seat power was provided, and everything was perfect for this short run. I might have been tired, but I had also just redeemed my points for the Park Hyatt in Paris; I was excited!
Departure
You could tell it was summer travel as a certain excitement filled the air, the sun was shining, and everyone was roaring for Paris. By 11:00 am, boarding was completely wrapped up, and the captain came on to announce our flight time of 42 minutes down south today.
Shortly after, we pushed back and taxiied our way out to 9R for this morning's departure. Interestingly, all four of my British Airways flights featured 9R/9L on this trip…
20 minutes later (it’s really quite far away from T5), we were wheels up to Paris!!!
IFE+WIFI
As discussed in the previous flight, British Airways offers wifi on almost all of their aircraft, but they do not offer in-flight entertainment. I was happy to find reasonable prices for the flight today at 4.99 GBP, but considering it’s 40 minutes, I can go without it…
Meal Service
Once we hit 10,000 feet, the cabin crew quickly snapped into action to distribute a meal to all 44 passengers. The choices for the day were two different types of salad, which isn’t really my thing (no menus were provided on this flight). However, 20 minutes after departure, we began our descent into Paris. The only issue is that the cabin crew was still giving out food and drinks to row 9 😅. Talk about a short flight.
Eventually, they made it to my row and profusely apologized. I asked for a glass of champagne, and they ended up pouring me two with a cheeky smile, saying, “Enjoy Paris.” Talk about great service!
For those flying economy, there should be a High Life Cafe magazine in the seatback in front of you. I snapped some quick pictures for those interested, as the menu looks very good.
Arrival
Quickly polishing off a couple of glasses of champagne, the cabin crew came around to make sure everything was in order for landing. The crew impressed me on this flight, as I have to imagine that serving drinks and a meal to 42/44 passengers is quite the challenge on a 40-minute flight.
We ended up touching down at 1:13 pm local time on a beautiful day in Paris. Just then it hit me, I haven’t been to Paris in a very, very long time. So many memories I have of France as a whole, some good and others that can’t be shared 🥴.
6 minutes later, we pulled into a gate at Terminal 2C. The cabin crew bid us farewell, and it was off to immigration, which has absolutely 0 line whatsoever. The plane to Uber was a grand total of 9 minutes based on images. Not bad at all.
Final Thoughts
What a fantastic flight all around with British Airways. However, it wasn’t just the onboard experience that was exceptional; it was Nahara in the lounge who was able to switch me to an earlier flight due to Flow Forward that really set the scene. From a kid I have always loved this airline, stepping onboard you know that 98% of the time the cabin crew are going to be a delight and this flight was no exception. With an open row in an emergency exit row in Club Europe, I was more than comfortable for the 40-minute flight down to Paris. Thanks, BA, for once again shining ❤️
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