One of the hardest flights for me to find reward availability on was this flight on British Airways Marrakech – London. Through some flexible searching, I was able to locate two award seats on Alaska Mileage Plan, eventually connecting onwards to British Airways First Class London Vancouver. How would this North Africa – Europe award redemption rate in terms of features and service? Read on to find out…

---

This post is one chapter on our trip to Iceland, the United Kingdom and Morocco. This trip was redeemed through Alaska Mileage Plan and enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.

If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.

---

---

Review: British Airways Club Europe Business Class, Airbus 320, Marrakech Menara International Airport – London Gatwick Airport

After enjoying some time in the Pearl Lounge Marrakech that was included in our award ticket, we departed for the gate at about fifty minutes before the flight. Boarding was set to commence at 12:50 PM as posted on the boarding card.

British Airways
BA 2667 – Business Class (U)
RAK – LGW (Marrakesh – London Gatwick)
Sept 16, 2018
1:30 PM – 5:00 PM
Booked: Airbus 320
Flown: Airbus 320 

After a last security screening checkpoint, we boarded along with priority boarding for all Club Europe and One World Bronze and higher members. The priority boarding wasn’t too successful as we were allowed on to the non air conditioned jet bridge and stood there in the heat for a good 5 – 7 minutes. It was long enough that the economy passengers that had filtered in behind us had started breaking out into choir like song in order to kill the time.

There seemed to be a lot of One World travellers since most early boarders streamed past us as they filtered towards the back of the plane.

On Board British Airways Club Europe:

On board, we found our seats in 4A / 4C. The British Airways Club Europe is the typical economy class seat in a 3 – 3 configuration with a blocked middle seat.

I still don’t know or understand how the European carriers get away with economy class seating in a business class cabin for a 3 ½ hour flight or longer in some cases.

I thought it was interesting that when I paid for the seat assignments for this flight, they were offering business class seats assignments all the way back to row 7 A/C. It turns out they didn’t sell more than 4 rows of business class today since we were in the last row of business class in Seats 4A/4C.

It was also interesting to see that they were 2 families of 4 persons that were occupying 8 business seats in the cabin of 14.

There was no pre-departure beverage offered and we pushed back fairly quickly after all had boarded. I happened to see some airframes from Air Caribe and RyanAir as we left.

Departing Marrakech:

We departed eastward on Runway 10. I took a few last photographs of Marrakech and the Medina as we climbed out of the world of dis-order towards the world of order.

The Meal: A Lunch

As we got underway, printed lunch menus were offered. The menus offered a new Club Europe menu that was globally inspired and showcasing the best of the British Isles; whatever that meant.

I started with a proper glass of wine that was actually cold, along with almonds. The almonds were served in a packet without a dish.

For lunch, I had Anti Pasti with macaroni pasta with Parmesan velouté and roasted chestnut mushrooms, along with a “celebration of British Cheese”. I was still feeling delicate at this point. I thought that I might have a mild bug from the driving and the way I was feeling. I didn’t know if I could measure up to such a rich dish but it really hit the spot. I had this with a Chatron et Trébuchet 2016, AOC M con-Villages, Burgundy France white wine.

Decompressing from that long car ride, I continued on with the Tanqueray and Fever Tree Indian Tonic Water as we cross the Gibraltar straights onwards towards the UK.

As we approached, the landing cards were were passed out. Most of the cabin seemingly being UK / EU residents didn’t need one. The contrast of landscape between Africa and the United Kingdom was apparent when we were on approach to landing. Everything was green.

Overall, the British Airways Club Europe service was a reasonable and comfortable flight that was complimented by fairly good catering and drinks that were tasty and cold.

My Thoughts on British Airways Club Europe:

Award availability was quite difficult if near impossible to find on this British Airways route. Despite this, there aren’t many benefits to fly Club Europe versus economy class. The only real improvements are open bar, a small meal, and a lounge that you may already have access to with the right credit card. Despite this, the service was pleasant and I’d consider flying British Airways again to Marrakech over the experiences we had with Iberia.

---

If you have flown British Airways between London and Marrakech, do you have any insights as to why the route has such limited award availability?

---