Weekend in Seville in Mar 2023: Day 5 – Seville (SVQ) to London (LGW)

From the hotel, we dragged our trolley bags down towards the cathedral to pick up a taxi to head to the airport. It was about 5pm and it was still warm, so we tried to stick to the shade of the buildings.

The taxi rank was full of taxis, so no problem in picking one up. The driver we ended up with was a pretty careful, slow driver but his turns were exaggerated, which meant he ended up in the lane further out than he started in!

It was pretty busy on the roads, but we arrived at the airport within about 25 mins. In to the terminal building, found BA check in desks were 31-33 and there was a large queue for economy. No one was in the Club Europe queue, so we started the queue. Ref to Sam’s theoretical question as to whether we were technically in a queue or not, being that we were at the front.

We watched staff come and go, but within 10 mins we were invited to check in. All pretty quick and we were soon heading into fast track security. Sam got caught in security by a few things like bangles and kitchen sinks etc.

From there, we walked through duty free with our eyes closed.

The next challenge was to find the lounge, which was not easy. There were no signs until you stumbled over the lounge itself. We resorted to asking a number of members of staff before we confirmed where the lounge was.

For those interested, it’s located opposite Gate B14. It’s fairly basic, but good enough to kill 40 mins.

We were due to depart from Gate C23, which is the other side of Passport Control. So we left the lounge about 40 mins before departure.

We arrived at the gate just as the final passengers were exiting the inbound aircraft. I managed to wangle my way to the front of the priority boarding queue, whilst others were not paying attention.

The others joined me in the queue as they arrived at the gate.

Interestingly, we ended up in a discussion with a Spanish member of BA long-haul crew.

We talked about how BA’s brand value was being diluted by the removal of experienced crew on high salaries with teenagers being paid a pittence. Those same newbies who prefer to spend time on their phones rather than interact with customers.

On board into seats 2D and 2F. They were originally the front row, but BA changed the aircraft to a standard configuration A321, so for the first time in a long time, we weren’t in the first row. Luckily it was only a 2 hour flight.

We pushed back about 15 mins behind schedule, but that was expected. Should arrive about on time.

Take off was smooth enough and not long after the drinks service started.

Meal service was not long after. Vick went for the beef stroganoff and I had the ravioli. Both were excellent.

The rest of the flight was a bit of a blur. We both dozed and the flight seemed to pass fairly quickly. Quite often on these final flights home, they seem to drag. Happy to be ready to get home now.

Follow the whole story here: Weekend in Seville in Mar 2023