Tier Point Run to Sofia in Nov 2024: Day 21 – Sofia SOF to London Heathrow LHR

By Nige on November 29, 2024 at 8:26 pm
Type: Post
Story: Tier Point Run to Sofia in Nov 2024 Category: Travel
Tags: British Airways | LHR | London Heathrow | SOF | Sofia | Trips

I met my favourite despatcher at the top of the airbridge next to the glass door. She must have seen lots of passengers waiting in the same place over the previous 6 months or so, hoping to be allowed through into the gate area.

She always has a beaming smile, and she confirmed she was working tomorrow as well.

At the gate, I met a guy who was playing the system better than I am. He was taking advantage of double TPs on holidays, combining them with Qatar trips to interesting places.

By April, he would be a new member of the GGL club and would be commenting on all the riff-raff that really shouldn’t be allowed in the CCR!

It was a pleasure to share some stories with him.

Back on into seat 01F, and I was looking forward to getting into bed. Another BA lamb shoulder to enjoy before then!

From what the captain said, it sounded like we needed a bit of de-icing before heading to the runway.

A menu was handed out before pushing back. Looked like another tasty lamb shoulder was on the cards on the way back to Heathrow!

We pushed back a few mins late, and taxiing did take a bit longer with the requirement for de-icing.

Up in the air by 8:55pm local time. Flight was expected to be around 3 hours, so ETA was 10pm. Hopefully, I would be back to the hotel by 10:30pm.

The cabin crew were great again. Although it was interesting to notice the subtle differences in approach to service.

Dinner was good. The piece of lamb shoulder was a lot smaller than previously enjoyed. I thought these things were meticulously controlled!

Perhaps they were cutting back to cover the cost of the Christmas chocolate!

I caught up with the Suits podcast. The Vickster and I have talked about starting it all again so that we can watch the Suits episode as Patrick and Sarah do before each podcast episode.

The flight didn’t seem to drag as much as the last couple of returns did. But it was a very bumpy landing!

We arrived at Gate 04 at Terminal 3. We had to wait 10 mins for some equipment to be moved (or a marshall would be needed to guide us on to stand as suggested by the captain). To me that sounded like a cover for someone needed to turn on the stand guidance!

Even though I jogged through to Arrivals and down to the tube, I think I just missed a train. That led to a delay of over 10 mins. What a disaster!

Once back at the Hilton Garden Inn, I accessed my room using my digital key and I was looking forward to getting into bed!

Tier Point Run to Sofia in Nov 2024