June 2024. For our first visit to the United States of America since the COVID-19 pandemic, we flew to New Orleans via London Heathrow with British Airways. After two days of exploring NOLA, Amtrak‘s Crescent overnight train brought us from Louisiana to New York, where we we stayed one night only before flying home.

After grabbing a quick bite to eat during our transfer in Terminal 5 at London Heathrow we were ready for our final flight back home to Brussels.

During the waiting at the gate one of the gate agents came around checking for big carry-on bags. As the flight was very full we where forced to gate-check our carry-on bags. This was the first gate check of the four British Airways flights, so I didn’t mind as much. The agent was also very nice and apologetic about it, offering everyone that gate checked their bags a priority boarding spot. (presumably more for having the time to load the bags rather than a true gesture, but still).

Flight BA394
From London Heathrow (LHR) 11:55 (14:02) to Brussels (BRU) 14:05 (15:39)
Flight Time 0 hours 38 minutes
Airbus A320neo G-TTNB
Delivered to British Airways in april 2018

As soon as we boarded we could feel the plane was very warm inside, despite it being an overcast and rainy day. We took our seats in one of the front rows of the economy class cabin. They where the same comfortable leather seats with an adjustable headrest as on our flight from Brussels to London. The main difference being that the neo offered a full 110 volt power plug besides a USB plug to charge your electronics, located under the seat.

Soon we heard an announcement of the captain explaining us why the cabin of the aircraft was so hot.

The APU (Auxiliary Power Unit, a small engine in the tail of the plane to deliver energy while on the ground) was out of service on the aircraft, thus they had no power to switch on the air-conditioning. They also had to wait for a Ground Power unit to be available to be able to start one engine before being able to taxi to the runway.

As unfortunately more than one plane was suffering the same defect and due to a lack of ground staff to operate the equipment we had to wait quite a while before it was our turn. As a solution they opened the rear doors of the aircraft to provide some cooling draft in the cabin. The cabin crew also came around with the complimentary bottle of water and snack during the ground delay, to ease the waiting.

After two hours of waiting it was our turn, the engine was started and we were pushed back. We queued in the usual Heathrow queue before taking off. The flight itself was rather unremarkable, it was a very short hop across the English Channel to Brussels. As we already received our drink and snack on the ground there was no further in-flight service.

As our bags where gate-checked in Heathrow we had to head to the baggage carrousel in Brussels to wait for our bag to show it, which it luckily did.

All in all British Airways provided another solid flight. It’s unfortunate to have had a two-hour delay due to a defective APU and lack of ground equipment and staff to solve it. The crew however was very informative and apologetic and tried everything in their power to improve the situation.

From New Orleans to New York on Amtrak’s Crescent – USA 2024

1. REVIEW | British Airways Brussels to London Heathrow.
2. REVIEW | British Airways World Traveller London Heathrow to New Orleans.
3. NEW ORLEANS | Streetcars, Garden District, Algiers Point, Riverfront, Jackson Square.
4. REVIEW | Louisiana State Museums – the Presbytère and the Cabildo, in New Orleans.
5. NEW ORLEANS | French Quarter ft. Bourbon Street.
6. REVIEW | voco St. James Hotel.
7. NEW ORLEANS | Riverwalk and Riverfront at the Mississippi River.
8. REVIEW | The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana.
9. USA | A Sunday and a Monday in New Orleans, Louisiana.
10. REVIEW | Amtrak’s Crescent overnight sleeper train from New Orleans to New York in a roomette.
11. REVIEW | Hyatt Herald Square.
12. REVIEW | SUMMIT One Vanderbilt panorama / observation deck in New York City.
13. NEW YORK | The High Line and Little Island.
14. A look inside the TWA Hotel at New York’s JFK Airport.
15. USA | 25 hours in New York City.
16. REVIEW | British Airways New York JFK to London Heathrow in World Traveller.