Tier Point Run to Inverness in Nov 2022: Day 1 – Inverness (INV) to London (LHR)

I may have forgotten from previous trips, but there was a Fastrack security line at Inverness airport, which leads to a boarding pass check and then the opportunity to go through a special door! This door has to be formally opened by the security guard – it’s almost as impressive as going through Millionaire’s Door at Heathrow T5! It didn’t save that much time to be honest, but its a nice little perk.

Once through security I decided to pop into the Aspire Lounge, which is also amusing due to its limited size/capacity. The staff insisted on offering table service. I assume a hangover from covid days. It was a little embarrassing when I said I didn’t want anything.

Boarding commenced in good time. Whilst I was waiting in the queue I saw the cabin crew come through the gate area having just disembarked the aircraft. I had a brief exchange with the CSL; just confirming that I had indeed had plenty of time to get through security.

Back onboard into seat 01F and the miserable weather continued on our way back down to Heathrow. We pushed back a little later than scheduled but nothing of any significance. Although the flight was declared as “full”, seats 01C and 01D were both free. Nice for me and the guy in seat 01A!

Since the airport is so small, it didn’t take long for us to hit the runway and before I even realised, we were up into the air heading south.

Lunch on the way down to Heathrow comprised a choice of two cold salads. I chose the aubergine in a red pepper sauce with a lentil salad, which was phenomenal! It was truly one of the best meals I have ever had on a BA short haul flight. Impressive.

On both flights I was provided with a printed menu, which I thought was pretty good as well. Most of the time, printed menus are not provided, so that was definitely a positive sign for BA’s short haul offering.

Arrival into Heathrow was entertaining. We arrived early and as is common nowadays, there wasn’t a gate free. The gate we were due to use should have been freed up 5 mins earlier, but the aircraft was still there. The captain tried to negotiate the use of a different (available) gate, but we ended up hanging around for about 20 mins before we finally ended up at an international gate (A17 I think).

The BA captain wasn’t very communicative during this time. He gave us one update after it became apparent that our gate wasn’t available. But then there was nothing for a good 20 mins, until after we had reached Gate A17 and had concluded we weren’t going to be using the jet bridge. He finally declared that we would have to offload via the rear stairs and on to buses. They must have known that when they were told to head to an international gate, so why not just tell us? It just makes BA look like they don’t know what they are doing. It doesn’t leave a good impression.

Once into arrivals, it was a quick trip via the PODs back to POD Parking and off home via the M4 and A34. It was good to get home after a longish day. I also look forward to doing the same again tomorrow!

Follow the whole story here: Tier Point Run to Inverness in Nov 2022