Tier Point Run to Sofia in Jan 2024: Day 3 – London Heathrow LHR to Sofia SOF

By Nige on Sun 28 Jan 2024 at 16:43
Type: Post
Story: Tier Point Run to Sofia in Jan 2024
Tags: British Airways | LHR | London Heathrow | SOF | Sofia | Trips

After arriving at Heathrow T3, I headed straight up to Fast Track Security which was empty, so there was no delay heading through the the new 3D scanners.

Into the departures area and I decided I may as well just head into the BA lounge. I was offered an invite into First Dining, which I accepted. In the end, I just ordered some toast, butter and marmalade.

The gate was announced relatively late, which normally means that it’s a proper gate rather than a bus gate. About 45 mins prior to departure, the gate was confirmed as Gate 9.

I was there within a few mins of the announcement, and there were only a couple of passengers ahead of me.

Flight: BA0890 Equip: A320
Sched Depart: 13:20 Actual: 13:18
Sched Arrival: 18:30 Actual: 18:24
Takeoff: 13:39 Landing: 18:21

We were hanging around the boarding door when two regulars appeared. I don’t think I have been on board a flight to Sofia recently, when there hasn’t been at least one other passenger that I recognised.

I was in seat 01F. The guy next to me was on the same flights as me in Nov, and the guy in seat 01A was on the same flights as me two weeks ago in mid-Jan.

The hard-core TP Runners were on their travels again. Interestingly, there’s limited acknowledgement of each other.

I get the impression we all think it’s probably rude to ignore one another, but we also don’t want engage for too long.

We pushed back only a few mins behind schedule, and it wasn’t long before we were waiting to hit runway 27R.

On the way to the runway, I got a good view of the HGI at Hatton Cross, with a couple of BA aircraft in the foreground.

Drinks service was fairly tardy compared to recent flights, but the cabin crew made up for it with a welcome back on board.

I’d forgotten that they guy in seat 01A seemed to have the ability to consume significant and varied alcohols, starting off (today) with what appeared to be G&Ts.

Good to see a different menu today. I went for the North Atlantic cod, which was beautifully flaky. It came with mushy peas and tartare sauce – both very tasty.

The starter was mozzarella salad, which is a classic starter. Personally, I’m not a big fan, but I tried a bit and it was OK.

The cabin crew reported that there was no bread loaded, so passengers received double rashers of crackers with brie and red Leicester. That chutney is so tasty…

The pudding was a chocolate mousse, which was nice enough.

Nice selection of treats were available in the galley. I helped myself to a couple of Lindor.

We made good progress and arrived into Gate B3 on time.

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