I had to take a day out of a beautiful holiday in the French Alps for a work meeting in the UK, giving me the opportunity to review British Airways in Euro Traveller from Lyon to London Heathrow (0655hrs) and return to Lyon (2045 hrs) on the one day. Thought it was worthwhile to write up, as I had struggled to get up to date info about the oneWorld lounge in Lyon, which as you will read below does exist and is OK.
To get to Lyon airport from the centre of town, I took the Rhone express tram from Gare de Lyon Part-Dieu (the main train station in Lyon). The tram was very efficient, but very crowded at 0530hrs (they only run trams every 30 minutes in the early morning). To save time on the day of travel and 2 euros, I bought a return ticket through the Android app, but I think I will just buy the ticket at the station next time. It cost 25.90 Euros for a return, however charged me twice (the app hung the first time after taking my credit card details). Also, the tickets only show up on the app if you have a data or wifi connection (free on the tram), so worth taking a screenshot of the ticket in case you get stuck. After the tram, a quick 5 minute walk at the airport from the tram stop to terminal 1.
Security was quite quick and relatively pleasant at 0600hrs, followed by a very quick and cursory passport control.
British Airways use a private lounge called the Hegoa lounge at Lyon airport (on the right after security and passport control) which was functional but nothing special. See Hegoa lounges - Aéroport de Lyon for details. Interestingly, the ba.com lounge locations website links to a oneworld website states that “This lounge is currently under construction and is due to open in March 2013”, but it is definitely open now! Open to Qantas Platinum (and presumably Qantas Gold). It reminded me of the regional QantasLink lounges (eg. Port Macquarie/Coffs Harbour) – about 30 single lounge seats, 12 small tables with 2 chairs, and a bench for laptops. Basic breakfast items – coffee machine, tea, yoghurt, fruit salad, croissants (dry!), bread rolls, juices, soft drinks, spirits (!). No calls for the flight, however you can hear the general airport calls, and the lounge emptied upon the Lyon flight being called.
Boarding was quite a mess. They called business class and elite frequent flyers, at which time about 40 people joined the 2 queues on offer. Most had their boarding pass on their phone and only 1 of the attendants had a scanner (the other was taking paper boarding passes only), so lots of delay. Once we got our passes scanned there was another 10 minute delay in the airbridge, after which we boarded. The overhead lockers filled very quickly (as they do on USA airlines) – I would definitely advise to get to boarding at the start if you have bulky hand luggage.
The approx. 80 minute flight in Euro Traveller class was pleasant in a modern A320 aircraft. The legroom in row 13 was quite adequate, until the person in front reclined after which it was almost impossible to read a newspaper. The staff were pleasant. Breakfast consisted of choice of coffee/tea/juice/sparkling/still water; and a pack consisting of a cold croissant with ham and goats cheese (fresh and quite tasty), which also had a 100ml OJ, and a plastic pack of 20 ml of chilled milk (a nice touch!) for coffee/tea. The flight left 10 minutes late and arrived 15 minutes late. Overhead screens showed the flight map, no entertainment otherwise.
Heathrow at 0745hrs on a Monday morning was not unexpectedly horrendous. There was a quick disembarkation, however the queue for non-UK/EU passport holders took 60 minutes, with several USA flights arriving around the same time. I was denied fast track arrivals even with platinum Qantas FF … I was told that you need a paper invitation, I certainly wasn’t given one on the plane and don’t know if I was entitled to one (of note, no problem showing FF card at Heathrow for the return flight for fast track departures). There were signs saying that Australian passport holders can register at https://www.gov.uk/registered-traveller for quicker processing, however this costs 70 pounds a year so only for the frequent traveller to the UK.
Then a 10 minute walk to the Heathrow express (36 pounds return which seems very expensive but quicker than the tube) which was crowded at 0845hrs, and after a quick 15 minute ride to the mayhem of Paddington and the Underground!
The return experience was much more pleasant, starting with a near-empty Heathrow Express at 1820hrs back to Heathrow T3. Fast-track departures was very quick. At the BA first lounge (fairly quiet except for Euro football with Britons stunned as they were being beaten by Iceland), had a shower and dinner – interestingly, in a change from my last visit, the first class dining room is open to all OneWorld Emerald FF regardless of if you are flying first class or not. I had the burger with chips (pretty good but smallish) followed by vanilla ice cream with a cake from the buffet, but they also had gnocchi and chicken madras curry. Not on par with Qantas Sydney First lounge by any means, but fine. Heathrow T3 have a good boarding system whereby you show boarding pass and passport to enter the gate lounge, then a separate call to enter the airbridge. Seems to avoid the usual mad scramble. Departed on time at 2045hrs, uneventful flight and offered dinner of bacon or salad sandwich, and the usual drinks including free alcohol. Lyon airport was very quiet. Only 1 passport controller at immigration, who only gave a cursory look at my passport and waved me through. Boarded the last tram (2400hrs) to Gare de Lyon Part Dieu.
So in summary the short flights were fine with a newish aircraft and reasonable leg room and adequate food/drink, and definitely made more pleasant by priority boarding and lounge access (though don’t get excited about the Lyon lounge).
To get to Lyon airport from the centre of town, I took the Rhone express tram from Gare de Lyon Part-Dieu (the main train station in Lyon). The tram was very efficient, but very crowded at 0530hrs (they only run trams every 30 minutes in the early morning). To save time on the day of travel and 2 euros, I bought a return ticket through the Android app, but I think I will just buy the ticket at the station next time. It cost 25.90 Euros for a return, however charged me twice (the app hung the first time after taking my credit card details). Also, the tickets only show up on the app if you have a data or wifi connection (free on the tram), so worth taking a screenshot of the ticket in case you get stuck. After the tram, a quick 5 minute walk at the airport from the tram stop to terminal 1.
Security was quite quick and relatively pleasant at 0600hrs, followed by a very quick and cursory passport control.
British Airways use a private lounge called the Hegoa lounge at Lyon airport (on the right after security and passport control) which was functional but nothing special. See Hegoa lounges - Aéroport de Lyon for details. Interestingly, the ba.com lounge locations website links to a oneworld website states that “This lounge is currently under construction and is due to open in March 2013”, but it is definitely open now! Open to Qantas Platinum (and presumably Qantas Gold). It reminded me of the regional QantasLink lounges (eg. Port Macquarie/Coffs Harbour) – about 30 single lounge seats, 12 small tables with 2 chairs, and a bench for laptops. Basic breakfast items – coffee machine, tea, yoghurt, fruit salad, croissants (dry!), bread rolls, juices, soft drinks, spirits (!). No calls for the flight, however you can hear the general airport calls, and the lounge emptied upon the Lyon flight being called.
Boarding was quite a mess. They called business class and elite frequent flyers, at which time about 40 people joined the 2 queues on offer. Most had their boarding pass on their phone and only 1 of the attendants had a scanner (the other was taking paper boarding passes only), so lots of delay. Once we got our passes scanned there was another 10 minute delay in the airbridge, after which we boarded. The overhead lockers filled very quickly (as they do on USA airlines) – I would definitely advise to get to boarding at the start if you have bulky hand luggage.
The approx. 80 minute flight in Euro Traveller class was pleasant in a modern A320 aircraft. The legroom in row 13 was quite adequate, until the person in front reclined after which it was almost impossible to read a newspaper. The staff were pleasant. Breakfast consisted of choice of coffee/tea/juice/sparkling/still water; and a pack consisting of a cold croissant with ham and goats cheese (fresh and quite tasty), which also had a 100ml OJ, and a plastic pack of 20 ml of chilled milk (a nice touch!) for coffee/tea. The flight left 10 minutes late and arrived 15 minutes late. Overhead screens showed the flight map, no entertainment otherwise.
Heathrow at 0745hrs on a Monday morning was not unexpectedly horrendous. There was a quick disembarkation, however the queue for non-UK/EU passport holders took 60 minutes, with several USA flights arriving around the same time. I was denied fast track arrivals even with platinum Qantas FF … I was told that you need a paper invitation, I certainly wasn’t given one on the plane and don’t know if I was entitled to one (of note, no problem showing FF card at Heathrow for the return flight for fast track departures). There were signs saying that Australian passport holders can register at https://www.gov.uk/registered-traveller for quicker processing, however this costs 70 pounds a year so only for the frequent traveller to the UK.
Then a 10 minute walk to the Heathrow express (36 pounds return which seems very expensive but quicker than the tube) which was crowded at 0845hrs, and after a quick 15 minute ride to the mayhem of Paddington and the Underground!
The return experience was much more pleasant, starting with a near-empty Heathrow Express at 1820hrs back to Heathrow T3. Fast-track departures was very quick. At the BA first lounge (fairly quiet except for Euro football with Britons stunned as they were being beaten by Iceland), had a shower and dinner – interestingly, in a change from my last visit, the first class dining room is open to all OneWorld Emerald FF regardless of if you are flying first class or not. I had the burger with chips (pretty good but smallish) followed by vanilla ice cream with a cake from the buffet, but they also had gnocchi and chicken madras curry. Not on par with Qantas Sydney First lounge by any means, but fine. Heathrow T3 have a good boarding system whereby you show boarding pass and passport to enter the gate lounge, then a separate call to enter the airbridge. Seems to avoid the usual mad scramble. Departed on time at 2045hrs, uneventful flight and offered dinner of bacon or salad sandwich, and the usual drinks including free alcohol. Lyon airport was very quiet. Only 1 passport controller at immigration, who only gave a cursory look at my passport and waved me through. Boarded the last tram (2400hrs) to Gare de Lyon Part Dieu.
So in summary the short flights were fine with a newish aircraft and reasonable leg room and adequate food/drink, and definitely made more pleasant by priority boarding and lounge access (though don’t get excited about the Lyon lounge).
