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

Having mentioned to the cabin crew about seeing them again in 45 mins or so, the crew told me I wasn’t the only one doing a B2B.

I teamed up with Dan and Gary, who were also on B2Bs.

Although we parked up at B7, the air bridge wasn’t attached, so we were forced down the stairs towards two buses.

I asked the main despatcher about a potential shortcut, who asked us to stand on one side.

We were hoping to avoid the bus entirely, but at the last minute, we were advised we would have to go to Arrivals, then out and back in.

Luckily, Gary had done the B2B last night, so he knew exactly what he was doing. So, Dan and I entered “Follow Gary” mode!

We waited for ages on the bus. We managed to force our way just inside the front right door, which was perfect for heading into the terminal after our 5 min drive to Non-Schengen Arrivals.

A short walk and we found Immigration/Passport Control empty, so that was fine. That took us into baggage reclaim, through customs, and once landside, we could see the entrance to security ahead and to the left of us.

There wasn’t much of a queue for the boarding pass scanners, then it was up the escalator into the proper queue for security.

Classic situation where multiple scanners with separate queues forced us into working out which queue had the fewest passengers.

Dan and I were still in “Follow Gary” mode, and Gary chose well for us. Two of us got through in about 5 mins. One of us had a bag selected for a secondary check, so that delayed us by another 5 mins.

Once through, we were soon into familiar territory near the gates, and the final passport check only took a few mins.

Boarding was almost complete when we joined the queue at Gate B7, but we had made it.

This was one of those situations where I would have ended up running between queues, just because of it all being new. However, with Gary’s experience, it turned into one of the most relaxing B2Bs I have done in a long time.

Interestingly, we boarded via the airbridge, so I can only assume that non-schengen passengers can’t easily get through to immigration if arriving from Gate B7.

On into seat 01A, the front of the aircraft appeared to be full of GGLs who had come out for a do last night. Party animals!

I was offered a menu. The second one today! It was the menu that features roast chicken with pigs in blankets. I knew what I would be having for lunch! I was hoping lunch might be more edible than breakfast on the way out!

The size of the lunch tray appeared to be square rather than rectangular. I don’t think I had seen that previously?

The chicken dinner was very tasty. BA provided one of those odd starters again, which I bypassed.

Pudding was nice – a chocolate mousse. Always a winner. The cheese and chutney were good as well.

The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful. I could tell the champers was flowing easily for the GGL party behind me.

We arrived into Gate 26 at Terminal 3, but it took an age to get the air bridge moving. Not sure why there was such a delay, but we must have been standing in the aisle waiting for about 10 mins.

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