BA8107 MAN-LHR 28 AUG 12 (DOMESTIC)

after a day in Manchester and a full tour of Concorde it was time to return to London. this flight at the time I booked through british airways was BD582 and was later re-numbered to BA8107 operated be BMI.

as i could not check in online for this flight i attempted to check in at a self service kiosk at MAN this then stated that i could not be checked in at a terminal and instructed me to go to a British Airways desk.

so I went over to the BA check in desk and handed over my booking details. the agent looked at this and said that as BMI were operating the flight i would have to check in with them.

so third time lucky i went to the BD check in desk and was checked in and advised that boarding would start on time. (I didn't mention that i had already been notified through trip it on my phone that the flight would be delayed.)

security at MAN was very quick with no queue at all. and i was quickly in to the departure lounge.

at the time boarding should have commenced there was an announcement made that this flight would be delayed wait for further announcements.

45 minutes later than scheduled boarding started on to a BRITISH AIRWAYS airbus A319.
noting that this flight was a BMI operated flight and i could not check in with BA i was quite surprised to see that the aircraft operating this flight was in BA livery with a BA crew.
the aircraft was G-DBCI so was an x BMI airbus that has recently been re-sparyed white and re-fitted inside.
the interior was nice and light with new thinner seats.

Cabin

G-DBCI cabin

Seats (row 22)

G-DBCI seats row 22

the crew on this flight were friendly making conversation and asking how my day had been.
they said that this was their first day operating this aircraft as they were a BA crew and explained that the delay was due to having to get a standby first officer after the one scheduled went home sick before their LHR-MAN flight before this sector.

after takeoff the seatbelt signs were switched off and remained off until we were over London although the flight was in the words of the crew 'a bit rocky' my can of coke would not stay on the tray table with the turbulence (the other reason i choose the back row. this was a great ride )

on landing in London the crew made the usual announcement "welcome to Heathrow Terminal 5" and only corrected themselves when we took a right turn past the control tower and terminal 3 when they made another announcement we will be arriving at T1.

this flight was a lot better than the outbound as the service was very quick and the crew very friendly and talking to all of the passengers.
it is sad to see that BD are disappearing but BA made a good job on this flight so will be the benchmark for VS to beat when they start flying the route in March which will be my next trip to Manchester.

Those ex BMI A319's actually look pretty good compared to the BA ones. Still think the BMI brown looks the best though!

even the crew were saying that the ex-BD planes were nicer and lighter than their 'own' fleet