British Airways (Gatwick South to Malta) – Third Time

Back to an A320 for this British Airways flight from Gatwick South to Malta, the third and final (well, for the foreseeable future) of my trips to the islands. This is aircraft G-GATK which was for ten years part of the Wizzair fleet, and before that it was operated by ACES Colombia.

Boarding was efficient at Gatwick, with customers being called through by order of priority. There was a problem with the number of bags being taken on board and it was a full flight, so the ground staff did ask passengers if they’d put their luggage in the hold. There was a remarkable variety of reasons why customers refused, such as “my medicines are in here”, “my book is in the bag” and my favourite one of them all, “no, I’m here first, get someone else to put their bag in the hold”. The customer said it with a powerful sense of entitlement if nothing else…. I don’t use the overhead lockers, which makes matters easier for me. Boarding was made harder for the crew by the lack of assistance from customers, but I think they’re more than used to it by now.

There’s an inevitable Groundhog Day feel to this, it’s of course the same menu as I had on the flight last week.

I’m not particularly keen on the British Airways Full English breakfast, so I didn’t even try to change my option for the sake of having a different photo….. I was, to my knowledge, the only person who went for the meat platter, other passengers went for the cooked breakfast options. It’s not startlingly exciting, but it’s a reliable and comfortable cold option.

Service was professional and efficient throughout, with customers served from the front to the back of the cabin and the crew were available with top-ups of drinks. The cabin was clean, one of the airline’s inconsistencies, and the disembarkation was speedy. The only slight delay was that we had landed just after an easyJet service, which meant that there was about a 20-minute delay at border control.