Flight Report : BA 762 London Heathrow - Oslo

BA 762 cover image

...
...

Back in 2018, I had a really good summer road trip from Oslo up as north as Trondheim. So when the opportunity came up again to visit Norway, I was all on board!
However, southern Norway is a different animal altogether. There aren't tall mountains here like in my previous trip, but many locals come to enjoy their summer homes by the coast. My objective is to check out the coastline and its white wooden house towns.
Ideally, I hoped to find a flight from London to Kristiansand, a large city in southern Norway. However, there isn't any connectivity to London, not even on low-cost airlines, so I had to find my way to Oslo first and then take the bus.
Oslo is actually not that far from London, and BA only charged 12,750 avios one-way for a reward seat, which includes a checked bag. However, I noticed on the booking this flight leaves from Terminal 3, not their main hub at Terminal 5.
Check-in was quite smooth online the day before and it was a quick bag drop at the terminal. Soon, I was air-side looking for a bite. However, typical of Heathrow, the boarding gate doesn't show until quite close to departure so I explored around the terminal a bit waiting to know where to go.

Today's gate turned out to be at a corner just behind the shops and next to the Cathay lounge. We first scanned our boarding pass and showed our IDs to enter the seating area, then we boarded directly without any further checks.

We departed slightly behind schedule at 1:12pm and went around the airport to our take-off position at the eastern end.

We took off towards the west 15 minutes later and with a right window, I hoped to see London in the distance as we looped around to continue northeast towards Norway.

From Oslo, I still have a long bus ride south towards Arendal in southern Norway. However, with the last bus leaving at 7pm, I was worried any delays or long immigration lines would jeopardize that connection, and to complicate matters, the bus leaves from the main station in the city, and not from the airport.
Luckily, I was able to secure the first row in Economy, so I can dash off the plane and be among the first to clear immigration.

On these short-haul flights, BA serves a complimentary bottle of water and small snack.

I couldn't make out London's skyline, but could soon see the English coastline.

With the plane continuing above the North Sea, I turned my attention to the paid-for menu to check out their prices. I had a bite already in the terminal so was looking forward to eating upon arrival instead.
Prices were not too bad and the coffee seemed reasonable (for London prices).

Today's flight is on a fairly full A319, so it was great that I checked my hand carry so didn't need to worry about finding overhead space.

About an hour later, I could make out the Norwegian coast and we'll soon land!

We flew west of the city from the south and looped around for landing. Oslo's airport is north of the city.

We touched down at 4:05pm and parked at the gate 8 minutes later for an on-time arrival. This included a brief stop on the tarmac as a departing SAS plane passed beside us. There wasn't much activity in this part of the terminal though, but I was a little surprised Ryanair would be next to us. I thought they would use a remote stand to save money?

It's a long walk to immigration though, but at least there were plenty of windows to do some plane spotting!

Oslo's airport is quite spacious and nice. Immigration didn't take long to process and there was a huge duty-free shop just before the baggage carousels.

It was a short wait for my bag and I exited into the arrivals hall just shy of 5pm. There are 2 train types that head into the city and I chose the cheaper Vy regional trains for NOK 129, which took less than half an hour to reach the main station. I was even able to make the earlier bus to Arendal!

BA delivered another on-time flight. I quite like redeeming avios since these tickets include a checked bag, something Air Canada does not offer. Even with program changes and devaluation in recent years, today's redemption rate is still quite decent and not too expensive.



... ...
Back in 2018, I had a really good summer road trip from Oslo up as north as Trondheim. So when the opportunity came up again to visit Norway, I was all on board! However, southern Norway is a different animal altogether. There aren't tall mountains here like in my previous trip, but many locals come to enjoy their summer homes by the coast. My objective is to check out the coastline and its white wooden house towns. Ideally, I hoped to find a flight from London to Kristiansand, a large city in southern Norway. However, there isn't any connectivity to London, not even on low-cost airlines, so I had to find my way to Oslo first and then take the bus. Oslo is actually not that far from London, and BA only charged 12,750 avios one-way for a reward seat, which includes a checked bag. However, I noticed on the booking this flight leaves from Terminal 3, not their main hub at Terminal 5. Check-in was quite smooth online the day before and it was a quick bag drop at the terminal. Soon, I was air-side looking for a bite. However, typical of Heathrow, the boarding gate doesn't show until quite close to departure so I explored around the terminal a bit waiting to know where to go. Today's gate turned out to be at a corner just behind the shops and next to the Cathay lounge. We first scanned our boarding pass and showed our IDs to enter the seating area, then we boarded directly without any further checks. We departed slightly behind schedule at 1:12pm and went around the airport to our take-off position at the eastern end. We took off towards the west 15 minutes later and with a right window, I hoped to see London in the distance as we looped around to continue northeast towards Norway. From Oslo, I still have a long bus ride south towards Arendal in southern Norway. However, with the last bus leaving at 7pm, I was worried any delays or long immigration lines would jeopardize that connection, and to complicate matters, the bus leaves from the main station in the city, and not from the airport. Luckily, I was able to secure the first row in Economy, so I can dash off the plane and be among the first to clear immigration. On these short-haul flights, BA serves a complimentary bottle of water and small snack. I couldn't make out London's skyline, but could soon see the English coastline. With the plane continuing above the North Sea, I turned my attention to the paid-for menu to check out their prices. I had a bite already in the terminal so was looking forward to eating upon arrival instead. Prices were not too bad and the coffee seemed reasonable (for London prices). Today's flight is on a fairly full A319, so it was great that I checked my hand carry so didn't need to worry about finding overhead space. About an hour later, I could make out the Norwegian coast and we'll soon land! We flew west of the city from the south and looped around for landing. Oslo's airport is north of the city. We touched down at 4:05pm and parked at the gate 8 minutes later for an on-time arrival. This included a brief stop on the tarmac as a departing SAS plane passed beside us. There wasn't much activity in this part of the terminal though, but I was a little surprised Ryanair would be next to us. I thought they would use a remote stand to save money? It's a long walk to immigration though, but at least there were plenty of windows to do some plane spotting! Oslo's airport is quite spacious and nice. Immigration didn't take long to process and there was a huge duty-free shop just before the baggage carousels. It was a short wait for my bag and I exited into the arrivals hall just shy of 5pm. There are 2 train types that head into the city and I chose the cheaper Vy regional trains for NOK 129, which took less than half an hour to reach the main station. I was even able to make the earlier bus to Arendal! BA delivered another on-time flight. I quite like redeeming avios since these tickets include a checked bag, something Air Canada does not offer. Even with program changes and devaluation in recent years, today's redemption rate is still quite decent and not too expensive.