After a short wander and shop, it was time to try the T3 galleries. last time I fly from here, it was the servisair lounge as the new galleries were not open (real disappointment). The new galleries are in what was the old United lounge area. There is a separate First and Club lounge with a spar as well. The Club Galleries was almost empty when I got there, and it stayed like that for the whole time I was in there. There is the usual deli offerings and alcoholic beverages - the thai chicken curry was very good (as usual). There was a huge number of computers, free printing facilities and free WiFi. The best thing is that it has large windows, offering an excellent view of the runway and for most of the time, a VS A340-300 being turned around. Overall, I thought it was better than the T5 Galleries offerings.
The flight was called to Gate 24 - as previously discussed this is a multi-gate holding area for the bus transfer to the plane. There was a short wait - the flight came up as boarding at 14:40 (for a 15:30 departure) - in the end boarding actually started at 15:10. The bus ride was very short, and luckily it wasn't raining when we got off - not sure what they will do in bad weather. Club Europe was only about a third full, whereas EuroTraveller seemed very busy. The person behind me had an injured foot, so I think hed been moved to club - his travelling companion was in EuroTraveller still. She sat down next to him and then mentioned this to the CC - she was then told in very blunt language to get down the back and into the correct cabin. I understand why she had to move, but I would have thought this could have been handled a bit better.
Short taxi before take off. The seat belt signs stayed on for almost the first 40 minutes or so - lots of turbulence (not as bad as the MCO-LGW flight) which was not that pleasant. No drinks service (either as a result or that has been cut) and straight to 'Afternoon Tea' - this is always a disappointment. Two small triangle sandwiches (one cream cheese, one chicken salad), piece of hot mushroom quiche and a small hot scone. Offered tea/coffee, to which I responded 'champagne please!'. After this offering, I dozed for a bit and it was then time to land at Lisbon (the airport there appears to have been upgraded a bit and I do like the automated gates for those with chipped passports).
The best bit of this trip was the opportunity to try the new Galleries in T3 - it was very pleasant when I was in there, although it may get busy in the evening when you have the Hong Kong, Bangkok and Sydney flights all leaving around the same time. At least BA have taken the opportunity to ensure that those who don't get in to T5 have a good experience (although if I was travelling long haul in First, I would be disappointed that I didn't get the Concord Room experience!).
