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Needed 85 TP (annoying number!) by today, so thanks to a BA pal, managed a
Hotline day-trip price (out in CE, back in Y) to Tirana for GBP180.Couldn’t do OLCI for the return: I was guessing it was because of the inbound
airport, but normally it says “you have to go to a desk” or something, but there
was simply no option to attempt to check in (HBO).Hours before leaving (last Friday), the traditional “your flight might be delayed” message…
Arrived T5 around 0545h and it was pretty busy, even fast-track! Also my first time in
Galleries (N) for ages: it seemed more…demure? Also busy, but my main issue was that
almost all charging points seem to have disappeared? Where they used to be between chairs is
now a gap for carry-on bags. Found an “entertainment” section at the very very back next to the
kids’ play area: of 3 sockets, 1 worked. Food was actually pretty decent (another +1 for the pain
au raisin that someone mentioned the other day!).The departure board was packed with cancellations (this was the very rainy morning) so I was
already waiving my potential Silver status goodbye…but we boarded only a few minutes late.As regards the seat, following the sage advice here (@LD27 and others!); I originally picked
row 4. However, on doing OLCI, I’d been turfed INTO row 2?! Didn’t mind, but did notice that
the seat I’d originally picked (then blocked on the chart) was empty, so not sure what that
was about…Mushroom frittata was fine. Signed in for free BA messaging service, but the only
message I sent never arrived. The “fun” part was a MASSIVE lightning strike on the side of the
aircraft exactly opposite my seat: the pilot did explain all was well, but quite a few minutes
later (to be fair, he was no doubt busy dodging the storm). Still, it shut up the whingeing child
for a while. Silver linings, and all that.I’d say arriving in and leaving TIA airport was the fastest experience EVER: around 30 seconds from
entering the door to security to actually leaving the building. EU/UK passports can use the machines,
which were completely empty, you turn the corner and…outside! Bus was 4€/400 lek to centre. Not
that I went in many places, but everywhere seemed to accept euros, at an exchange rate of 100 lek.
I wouldn’t believe the euphemistic online “it takes 30 mins. to the centre”…it was about 1 hour there
and 1 hour 20 back, due mainly to the appalling exit and entry areas of the airport, which are all
under construction.The drive into the centre was quite grim. Areas of barren wasteland punctuated with a brand new factory. It reminded me a little of some parts of Spain from a few decades ago, or perhaps northern Morocco, around Nador. Drop-off is bang in the centre: I had about 2 hours, so did the main square, the (beautiful) Orthodox cathedral and Albanian beer (v. decent)! There were quite a few tourist-oriented restaurants around with set Albanian lunch menus for 15-17€. However, 2 minutes away from the main square, there were popular kebab-style places with open-air seating with set lunch for about 4 pounds.
Back in the airport, the line for Club was totally ignored – just one long line of everyone. Luckily
I nipped into a second line that was just opening, but it would’ve been slow otherwise. As I couldn’t
choose a seat for the return, I was given 9E BUT I forgot to mention that when doing OLCI for the outbound,
I was offered an upgrade on the return for GBP90, which I happily took for the TP. I was even more grateful
for this as I had to work onboard on the return.The airport is clearly a work in process, but they’re definitely trying: decoration in Albanian heritage-style, but
also construction areas still visible! Took me a while to find the highly-concealed lounge: lounge in the singular, because it was the same one for every single airline. Although windowless, it was actually more than decent, with
a few traditional Albanian dishes for food + local wine and extremely good coffee.Second traditional BA message “your flight will be late”: less than an hour (the Ryanairs on the board were 5+ hours),
so all good. Seat fine, curtain had been “extended” to include my row (CE was small on outbound: 5 rows and not full).
Have to say on both flights there were whole families coming up and down the aircraft to use the front loos. More
concerning was a toddler consistently walking through the curtain alone, when the flight was really quite bumpy. One
passenger complained, to which the attendant replied “I’ll have a word, but there’s only so much I can do”. Have to admit I was a little excited when the menu was handed round with “thai prawn curry” on it. Then 5 minutes later, “here’s the REAL menu”, and it was pasta…Still, not bad.Arrival v easy, T5 quick and painless.
A slightly tiring day, but as soon as Silver kicks in, the entire amount spent will be recovered
in one fell swoop as I reserve our seats for our next trip!Sounds like a fun trip. Thanks for the review. Now just need to find someone who works for BA to open up hotline tickets.
I think it’s often well-priced booking in advance, but I’d left my decision until very late in the
day. In the past I’ve done a CDG day-trip and that was bordering on pleasant! Would also
look at LUX at some point.What are hotline tickets???
What are hotline tickets???
Tickets via a BA staff-member family & friends portal.
Out of interest why is row 4 preferable to row 2? Row 2 gets served first surely.
Out of interest why is row 4 preferable to row 2? Row 2 gets served first surely.
There have just been a few comments in the Chat recently about people
reserving row 2 but then being bumped out of it by “the system”: the (fairly light-hearted) talk was
about whether it was better to hedge bets rather than risk going from 2 to 9!Sounds an intriguing day out @Michael, rather more so than when I did MAN-LHR return to the same end, and didn’t even leave LHR 😂
Would David Essex call the plane you flew on a Silver Dream Machine, I wonder …
Sounds an intriguing day out @Michael, rather more so than when I did MAN-LHR return to the same end, and didn’t even leave LHR 😂
Would David Essex call the plane you flew on a Silver Dream Machine, I wonder …
…or maybe he’d dedicate Oh, What a Circus to the BA IT team!!
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