Tier Point Run to Sofia in Jun 2023: Day 2 – Sofia SOF to London LHR

After deplaning I loitered at Gate C1 waiting to be accepted into the gate pen. We must have been hanging around in there for a good 15 mins before being allowed back on to the aircraft.

Whilst there, I talked to a number of other TP runners, comparing the number of runs we had done (or had planned) to/from Sofia. Normal geeky stuff for frequent flyers.

I met a couple who had flown out for hill walking and had been disappointed all week due to the bad weather.  But on the bright side they had booked a hire car as part of a BA holiday, so at least they were getting double tier points!

I think I must have counted at least 6 passengers doing the B2B.  All the front row and 2 of the second row were seated in the same place on the aircraft.  Of them at least 4 I recognised from last weekend.  Sad buggers the lot of them.

We were running an hour and a quarter late.  The target time for pushing back was an hour after the scheduled departure time.  Hoping we might be able to constrain the lateness to an hour; as it was last week. The captain suggested that we might be arriving into Heathrow by about 22:30.

The ground crew did a great job at turning the aircraft around in good time. We were on board and pushing back at around 21:10.

Meal service provided the same options as last week. This time I went for the pasta which was large ravioli. It was nice but the pasta was a little stodgy and didn’t have enough sauce. I didn’t eat much of dinner this week.

More nice sunsets on the way home. Amazing to think it would be the longest day on Wed when we go to Queens Club for the tennis.

We landed about the time the captain original forecast we would land. We taxied for about 10 mins: would we end up on a remote stand at T5 again? In the end we arrived into Gate 303, but as with all BA flight arrivals nowadays, a number of issues arose on the ground!

1. Firstly we had to wait 5 mins or so for another aircraft to navigate onto Gate 305R.
2. Next the stand guidance wasn’t on. Had to wait another 5 mins or so.
3. Then the captain blamed the positioning of the jet bridge for him not being able to see the stand guidance, but then, out of nowhere it became visible (even though as far as I could see) the jet bridge didn’t move.
4. Once on the stand, the jet bridge took 5 mins to get to he aircraft. We opened the door and the crew were told that the jet bridge wasn’t close enough and to re-close the door.
5. Another 5 mins later and the jet bridge was finally close enough. The door was opened and we deplaned! Hurrah!
6. Only to find that BA couldn’t open the glass doors to allow us access into the arrivals flow. That held us up by another 5 mins. They finally escorted us around a different route where they were able to open a door that would take us into the arrivals flow.

Finally into passport control which was empty and no one in the Seek Assistance queue. That was probably the easiest aspect on my BA arrival into Heathrow T3 today!

Follow the whole story here: Tier Point Run to Sofia in Jun 2023