Trip Report: British Airways Venice to London Business Class
Flying British Airways Venice to London Business Class, fell into the bargain basement category of Business Class flights. It cost an extra fiver (yes, £5 GBP!) to travel in Business Class as opposed to economy, thanks to a quirk of the one way pricing out of Italy. But just what does that five quid buy you on top of the £65 base fare? Remember BA is now effectively a Low Cost carrier in economy now, with buy at seat food and drinks. Whereas Business Class includes free flowing cocktails, champagne, a three course dinner (at least, according to BA's website) as well as lounge access, with more food and drinks. And exactly the same seat as economy on the Airbus A319 I was flying in.
The seats throughout the aircraft are in a 3-3 configuration, but in business class, only seats A, C, D and E are used, with a tray table in between used for cocktails. Club Europe is essentially separated from the rest of the cabin by a moveable curtain. It moves backwards and forwards, dependent on the number of business class passengers, and on this flight there were no less than ten rows of Business Class - and overhearing the comments most passengers had taken advantage of the 'upgrade for a fiver' option.
Boat to Venice Airport
Getting back to London started in the mist and murk of a two hour boat trip to Venice airport. Yes, you did read that right. Although there is a bus to Venice airport, it is much more and experience to take the admittedly much slower ferry to the airport, and on the ways I could pass the Banksy mural of a young migrant child in a life jacket.
From the centre of Venice at the Piazzale Roma you can take the Aerobus, which takes about 12 minutes. Or, the waterbus, which takes about an hour. Be aware that the boat departs form St Marks Square, which takes about 45 minutes to walk from Piazzale Roma. The basic fare for one vaporetto journey is €7.50.
The boat is lovely though, and goes past some of the smaller islands, which shows how Venice was founded, with just some small huts on the mud banks, before becoming the city it is now.
Arriving this way at the airport is a wonderful experience, and it is almost a shock to glide past the runway on the water, and then walk into the very modern airport terminal.
British Airways Venice Airport Lounge and check in
The rather modern looking Venice Marco Polo airport was built just a few years back, and opened in 2002, but it is already at full capacity. In mid summer it can seem to burst at the seams, but midday, on a cold wet Tuesday, it is rather more civilised.
I had already checked in online, into seat 1A, which was right in front of the bulkhead, which gives a lot of room, and which means you get served first. Being a oneworld Emerald cardholder meant I could book this prime seat for free, however I couldn't print my boarding card online. I went to the machine at the airport to print it, and it informed me there had been a seating change, and I was turfed out of row 1, and instead dumped into row 8.
This would later have bad implications, but at the time I wasn't too concerned, and used the very efficient fast-track security, then I headed up the escalators to the airport run Marco Polo lounge where I was welcomed by the lounge staff.
Next up, the Venice Airport British Airways Lounge.
At Venice BA use the generic Marco Polo lounge, which had a revamp last year, and it isn't too bad at all. Indeed, the only major problem is that it is used by every airline under the sun, and when the two main longhaul airlines at the airport - Qatar and Emirates - have departures at the same time, it is crammed with passengers all trying to get in their pre-flight dining, before boarding a 14 hour flight. To say it was busy would be an understatement.
Generally airport-run lounges aren't very good, and when I was here a few years ago I was unimpressed by the lounge - flying as I was at the time on bmi. However, the lounge has had a revamp in the past couple of years, and the food in particular was very good. The Marco Polo lounge in Venice left me impressed with what could be achieved.
As I walked in immediately to the left were some work booths, where I could enjoy the very fast wifi. But the lounge itself was huge.
At the far end there was even a conservatory, and a small open air viewing terrace to admire the fog, and Emirates and Qatar widebody aircraft about to depart.
The Marco Polo lounge in Venice is known as the land of the pastries - and so it proved. Pretty much any food known to man - and quite a few that were not - were wrapped in fluffy pasty and expertly cooked.
The deserts meanwhile were designed to keep you full for this flight, and quite probably the next; if you are flying to Australia that is, which quite a few passengers seemed to be.
For the short hop to London, it was more than excellent.
The lounge was clearly designed for self service, but at some point someone had clearly had to impose some rules about the bar.
And that means there is now a rather strange rope over the end of the food counter where the self-serve bar fridge is, and you have to ask the assistant who is waiting there for a drink. There is also a rather hastily created 'no self service' sign by the Prosecco.
British Airways Venice to Gatwick A319
Time to board, after a bit of a scrum at passport control. The UK isn't in the passport-free Schengen area, but Italy is, and hence everyone slowly inched through immigration, before another queue to board.
I was initially seated at the front in seats 1A , right in front of the bulkhead, which had a lot of space. However, this was already taken by someone who turned out to be the local MP: hence I walked back to row 8.
Certainly Row 1 is much better on short flights, as you get served first, as I found on the short hop from Leeds to Heathrow a few months back.
I got once again experience BA's new, retrofitted black leather seats, which are more pleasant than the old ones, and also come with a small tray table in seat B which acts as the cocktail tray.
There is of course no wifi, and no inflight entertainment other than the moving map.
British Airways Club Europe service and meals
As it was inching around to 5pm, I had high hopes of a hot dinner on board: however, the flight leaves 5 minutes before the set time for hot food to be served on board, so once again I got to 'enjoy' BA's afternoon tea service. Again, I hoped for the BA Ploughman's Lunch which is quite substantial. Indeed, the variant made at Gatwick is slightly better than the Heathrow variant now that BA have increased the size and quantity of inflight meals around Europe.
However, at row 7 the Ploughman's ran out. I asked incase there were any other spares loaded - but no. Being turfed out of row 1 meant I had instead the delight of BA's selection of two open sandwiches.
Now, they aren't too bad at all. There is a cheese one, with a bit of dried out cheese and lettuce which had seen better days. And one with a slab of tuna and a thin smear of pesto. And a slice of coconut 'impossible pie'. Incase you don't know what this is, I do recommend looking it up. It's very good - but not quite what I was looking for. Plus a French macaroon. This was one of the best parts of the plate, with a delicate meringue-based confection made with plenty of granulated sugar.
There was also a tub of strawberries and blueberries.
And a small warm scone, with Cornish clotted cream and strawberry jam.
Much to the amusement of the woman next to me I put the cream on top of the jam, in the usual Cornish fashion.
Drinks on the shorthaul Business Class British Airways Club Europe bar are of course still free - unlike back in economy.
Alas, due to the vast numbers of people in Business Class, there was a strict ration of one bottle of Champagne each.
However, the cocktails were free flowing, so I had a Bloody Mary, and then a couple of bottles of wine to while away the minutes until we landed at Gatwick. Just so I could fortify myself for the train journey in the rain to London Victoria.
British Airways have a fairly pleasant Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand at the moment, from the Lighthouse winery.
Drinking it, I could almost believe I was at the vineyard, at Akaroa harbour on New Zealand's Banks Peninsula. Instead of fumbling for an Oyster Card to get the train back via Croydon.
British Airways Club Europe review
So is shorthaul Business Class British Airways Club Europe worth the money? Yes, definitely, if you only pay a fiver for it. Now, this isn't usually the case, and you could expect to pay several hundred pound more.
But for the money, consider it brings free drinks, a snack (alas, I can't really consider what was served an 'evening meal') and lounge access, plus a full serve of Frequent Flyer miles and Tier Points, it's was definitely worth it.
See the full Trip Report: British Airways Venice to London Business Class video:
Lux-traveller paid its own way for this Trip Report: British Airways Venice to London Business Class, and travelled incognito.
| Trip Report: British Airways Venice to London Business Class | |
|---|---|
Lux-traveller.com rating:7 out of10  | |
| Seats: | 4 - Standard economy seats with a little more space |
| Food: | 6 - Surprisingly good |
| Service: | 7 - Decent, not exceptional |
| IFE: | n/a - None |
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