#920045 by Sealink
15 Apr 2016, 23:44
Another return home flight! This time my last trip from Hannover to London.

I’ll start with some pictures and my thoughts on Hannover and some of the places I visited, before describing the flight.

Who would have thought that just over an hour on BA 979 from Hannover would represent the very best service I have experienced on BA… ever!

So, the weather was great!

Hannover was much busier than I expected and while quite interesting it didn’t feel terribly ‘touristy’. I was also a bit under the weather so that probably influenced my enjoyment.

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I had arrived at the Suite Novotel at midnight, and check-in was efficient, with no credit card requested (this hotel was booked/paid via BA Holidays).

I headed up to the room on the 6th floor.

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The room was huge (for the price paid) but quite functional.

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The next morning I faffed about until about noon before heading down to the lobby and out into town.

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The hotel from the outside.

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Hannover looked a bit bleak at first…

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It always nice to see how our European neighbours shop…

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But a wander down some streets presented some surprises.

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There was a big demonstration taking place in the city, or a football match. I didn’t feel like hanging around, and had already discovered that the town of Hamlyn was very close… I would head there to learn about the Pied Piper.

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Hannover station was bustling, trains to Hameln were every 30 minutes, and I noted, most running ‘a few minutes late’ – c’mon Deutsche Bahn!!

Believe it or not, I didn’t quite understand the local ticketing system, with the DB machines offering tickets for different local areas and anyway, I ended up with the wrong ticket. I didn’t want to fall foul of a penalty fare, so jumped off at a little place called Springe, and bought a ticket for the next train to Hameln.

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By the way, this was one of the local trains (S-Bahn).
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Hameln station was lovely.
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As was the town… the German town from fairytales…

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There were beautiful buildings around every corner…

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And evil looking statues…
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But back to the buildings…
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Anyway, you get the idea, Hameln was lovely.
And apparently there are, in their history books, accounts of a time when all the children in the locality disappeared…

AND THEN THIS HAPPENED

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I WILL NOT FORGET THIS, GERMANY.

I headed back to Hannover on a pretty empty train.

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Next day, I didn’t do much. I was still fighting a cold so spent the morning watching Modern Family on Netflix, (not available on Netflix UK).

I checked out and had a few drinks in the hotel bar,

Headed to the train station and waited for my train back to the airport.

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It had a nice retro feel, and I was slightly amazed at the number of flights going to Turkey.
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The lounge used by BA is before security, and is pretty non-descript.

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There was one member of staff who was very pleasant.

There was nothing else to do but a bit of plane spotting….

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A Turkish Airlines jet arrived and looked stunning.

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You can just make it out behind the Freebird one…

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No, me either.
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I headed to the gate where some semblance of priority boarding was made.

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The aircraft had the ‘Dove’ scheme, you can just see the scheme from this pic of our FlyBe neighbour…

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Usual Club Europe / Economy seat.

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A shame that the mini-table was stained. I have noticed this a few times before on BA.

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My slight OCD kicked in…

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However, the cabin services manager was superb.

He addressed all CE passengers by name – that hasn’t happened on any of my BA flights, ever.

The currency collection charity announcement was much more heartfelt than I have ever heard- adding how much would be raised if everyone donated just 50p.

Pre-dinner champagne was presented like this: (notice that I used the hot towel to clean the table. You’re welcome BA!!!)

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Dinner was a hearty Turkey Caesar salad. (With more Champagne).
Again, when he took my order, he addressed me by name.

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Quite a nice dessert.

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We flew through a storm cloud and seatbelt signs were switched on. I noticed a few flashes of lightning, before seeing London below.

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We arrived at Pier B in T5 (Grrrr.) but thankfully T5 Border Control was on form and fast. Although AGAIN, passengers don’t understand how it works and numerous people got stuck in the automatic e-readers.

This was the last of my numerous weekend breaks – I still hope to post my other journeys home from Bilbao, Iceland and Gothenburg.

But D, the BA cabin services manager provided the best service I have ever had on BA, and naturally an email to BA to say that was sent.



But next up is a trip to Scotland that co-incides with the Edinburgh FlyerTalk (!!!) meet up. My journey will include the sleeper to Scotland, FlyBe to Kirkwall, a ferry to the mainland, Eastern Airways to Aberdeen, a train to Edinburgh and Ryanair Business First to Stansted.
Last edited by Sealink on 16 Apr 2016, 07:32, edited 1 time in total.
#920054 by tomthumb
16 Apr 2016, 08:51
Great trip report and pictures
#920056 by hiljil
16 Apr 2016, 09:27
Thank you. A brilliant informative read as always.
#920064 by TimCrawley
16 Apr 2016, 10:06
A stunning trip report, thanks a lot for posting - some reminders of my time in HAJ and a big reminder that I still haven't gone back to Hameln in far too long (always seem to get sidetracked by a schutzenfest, altstadtfest or some other German excuse for a fest of beer & sausages).
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