What’s it like flying from London to Sofia in Club Europe on British Airways?

I was obliged to head off to Bulgaria for work and British Airways were my choice for the flight to Sofia. After arriving into T5, I needed to transfer to T3, which means the glorious (not!) bus transfer from terminal to terminal that Heathrow is famous for.

Avios award seats became available the day before travel, so I snapped one up for myself. The alternative was playing standby roulette and I’m just not a fan.

Cathay Pacific First Class Lounge

Once through security, I camped out in the Cathay Pacific First Class lounge. For me, it is simply the best place to wait around in T3 if you have oneworld status.

The dining room was heaving so they brought mine (and others) food out to the seats. As a big fan of the Asian selections, I delighted in the meal. It was also the last time I would be in this lounge for quite some time, so it was a farewell of sorts.

BA892 – London Heathrow to Sofia (LHR-SOF)
17 June 2024
Airbus A320 – G-EUUR
Seat: Club Europe 1A
Departure: 14:00 Arrival: 19:10

Boarding is a strange thing, isn’t it? You line up, get your Passport checked against your boarding pass, go through and down the aerobridge to be met by friendly crew welcoming you on board. You then sit and wait for boarding to finish.

Today’s Menu

Menus were handed out, and I find it amusing how there’s always a dish or drink with the wavy lines around it. “Pick me, pick me!” it seems to say, and it’s probably what they have loaded most of.

After the safety demonstration, we trundled off to the runway, passing the lonely Concorde, forever facing the runway and never to take to the sky again.

Is It Lunch or Dinner to Sofia?

Our plane was going somewhere and we were soon up in the bright summer sky above England. Drinks were served and I selected the Mushroom, asparagus and white wine pie, with spring greens and garden peas. The menus are written to be attractive, clearly.

While I waited for my meal and chowed down on the surprisingly delightful snack mix, I pondered the BA method. They provide four courses on the flight to Sofia, yet they manage to do it in the most cost effective and space saving way possible. Meals aren’t delivered course by course (as they once were) – instead you get it all at once.

Not being a philistine, I opened with the starter, billed as “Green beans, Parmesan and sesame salad, miso dressing”, moved on to the pie, next had dessert (“Honey roasted apricots, mascarpone, crumble”) and finished with the cheese (“Blackstone Vintage Cheddar and Cricket St Thomas Camembert with sticky fig relish and crackers”).

The pie was very average, I thought, while the rest was quite good. A shame, as I look forward to the mains and they usually don’t disappoint. All of it was washed down with drinks including a Twinings Green tea. Later on I felt like snacking on something, so I was able to procure some crisps which never fail to make me happy. We landed in Sofia a bit late nearer 8pm than the 7:10pm advertised time.

Overall Thoughts

I don’t usually do many longer European hops on British Airways, so it was nice to get a hot meal. When flying the short Dublin to London route, it’s always a cold salad and while it is not the chilled chicken of the past, it’s still no hot meal.

Everything apart from the middle of the road pie was very good as usual. I didn’t even mind arriving a little late as it meant a few more minutes in that Cathay Pacific lounge before flight.

What do you think of the service on board the plane to Sofia? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by Alan Wilson via Wikimedia Commons.