Tier Point Run to Sofia in Nov 2024: Day 22 – London Heathrow LHR to Sofia SOF

By Nige on November 30, 2024 at 10:00 am
Type: Post
Story: Tier Point Run to Sofia in Nov 2024 Category: Travel
Tags: British Airways | LHR | London Heathrow | SOF | Sofia | Trips

I finally got into bed at 11pm last night, so I had almost five hours of kip planned.

I set two alarms: my watch for 3:45am and my phone for 3:46am. My phone woke me up. Not quite as much of a start as the last time, but a start nonetheless.

My watch alarm finally went off at 3:55am. I was not quite sure of the cause for the delay, or perhaps it went off on time, but didn’t wake me? Who knows.

I checked out and paid for my parking, then headed to the tube station. It didn’t feel too cold, and it was at least dry.

I left my rucksack in the boot of my car – I couldn’t see the point of lugging it around Sofia airport.

As normal, T3 was fairly quiet, and by the time I reached Security, the early birds were already through.

I did a quick walk up to the end of T3 to get some steps in, and then I queued up with 30+ other passengers, waiting to get into the BA Lounge.

Two coffees later, and i was ready to head to Gate 25 for my flight to Sofia. I guess this was the start of Lap 6!

Gate 25 wasn’t your typical gate for T3, with a holding area. It’s more akin to normal gates, which was a bit unexpected, to be honest.

They called for boarding, and about 30 passengers had their boarding passes checked and allowed through into a really small area without any seats.

The subsequent doors to access the aircraft remained locked, so passengers ended up crammed into this small area with nowhere to go.

Obviously, we Brits have to respect our position in the queue, even though there was some standing space available. It was a bit bizarre to be honest.

I guess at least they allowed Group 0 passengers through first!

I saw the two guys that (along with Dan) I did a B2B with last Sat morning. It was getting to be a regular crowd!

Finally, the doors were opened, and the pressure of so many passengers crammed into a tight area was relieved. On into seat 01F.

Only about 8 rows of business class today.

Nice welcome from the Asian cabin crew lead, Kathy. Nice young lady who clearly took pride in her work.

Slightly different breakfast this morning: a hash brown was swapped for baked beans, but not the Heinz variety. Poor swap, in my opinion.

Rather than push the trolley up the aisle to serve breakfast, the crew served from the galley. That’s a lot more convenient for all concerned.

The dirty aircraft windows were starting to annoy me. They prevent half decent photos being taken.

The other thing I noticed about all of these A320s that I have flown on in Nov was how the flow of water from the tap in the bathroom varied between aircraft.

On some, as soon as you pressed the tap, the water started to flow, and flow for a good amount of time, whereas on others, it only started after holding the tap for a good second or so. The time that the water stayed on varied as well. I would have thought they would all be set up the same way.

Got a beautiful view of the mountains on the starboard side, with snow just on the tips.

Lovely views of a snowy Sofia city on final approach into the airport.

We arrived at Gate B5, and the airbridge was connected.

Now, there are two regular senior despatchers that work at Sofia Terminal 2. I know them both, but I don’t know their names. They both have black hair. I’ll refer to them as Despatcher One and Despatcher Two.

The cabin crew advised Despatcher One that three of us were getting back on board, and she confirmed with us that we knew the procedure to follow.

We waited next to the glass door and all went smoothly.

Tier Point Run to Sofia in Nov 2024