Tier Point Run to Sofia in Jan 2024: Day 1 – Sofia SOF to London Heathrow LHR

By Nige on Sun 14 Jan 2024 at 20:21
Type: Post
Story: Tier Point Run to Sofia in Jan 2024
Tags: British Airways | LHR | London Heathrow | SOF | Sofia | Trips

I took the opportunity of having a chat with the Vickster by phone whilst I waited for Gate 3 to open to passengers.

She had Garin and Irma around for tea and cake, with their little one Lucas, who is a real handful. Sounded like she had a great time.

It wasn’t long before the gate was open and we were allowed into the holding pen. Feels like a third home this place – very sad!

Flight: BA0891 Equip: A320
Sched Depart: 19:20 Actual: 19:19
Sched Arrival: 20:55 Actual: 21:02
Takeoff: 19:32 Landing: 20:44

On into seat 01D again and the cabin crew were a bit surprised to see me and two other guys who were also doing a B2B. The guy next to me on the outbound was also next to me on the way back.

As I waited for everyone to board, I was reminded how ignorant people are when carrying luggage as to where it really is if its on their back. I nearly had a black eye on a number of occasions.

We also had a few more B2B passengers come on board. There must have been at least 10 rows in CE today. I overheard one guy say “..all these sad buggers…” I thought, yep that’s us!

All passengers were on board 15 mins before departure, but we had to wait until our scheduled departure time before pushing back.

The captain advised that the jet stream was strong for the flight back to Heathrow, so it was going to take 3 hrs 15 mins to get home.

As soon as we had taken off, I joined the queue for the loo and had a chat with the cabin crew. They weren’t as gen’d up on TP runs as some.

Drinks service provided a still water with ice and those nuts which are so tasty.

The meal service comprised a Ruby curry which was delicious. Again, the salad starter was edible, the pudding gorgeous and the cheese was more traditional. Overall, a decent evening meal.

We hit a little bit of turbulence on the way into London, although it didn’t last long enough for the captain to decide he needed to constrain our movement in the cabin.

We arrived into Gate 5 at Heathrow T3 a little later than we had hoped.

Firstly, there was a delay due to an aircraft at our gate needing to be deiced, so that delayed us a little.

Naturally, the stand guidance wasn’t turned on when we got there either. Then it took a while for the air bridge to be positioned correctly.

We got back ok – that’s the most important thing!

Quickly off through the rabbit warren that is T3 and finally scooted through automated passport control – it’s a doddle nowadays. Although there were huge queues in non-UK passport control.

I whizzed out and back to the T2/T3 tube station – I had to wait 5 mins for a tube, but that only took about 3 mins to reach Hatton Cross.

It was a tad chilly, but a lot warmer than in Sofia, so after a short walk back to the hotel, I used my digital key to get into room 745.

I managed to get an upgrade into a Deluxe King room. Hopefully, I’ll get a good night’s sleep ahead of doing all this again tomorrow!

Follow the whole story here: Tier Point Run to Sofia in Jan 2024