TRAVEL TEST

WHAT: British Airways flight BA001 (Concorde’s old number!) on an Airbus A350 – the first flight back to the US after 600 days of the travel ban. From £424 return economy; £2,686 return Club World (business). ba.com/ newyork

WHERE: Heathrow to New York, in Club World.

EXPERIENCE: My first flight anywhere for over two years – and what a way to break my duck.

Terminal 5 looked completely normal apart from the very apparent mask-wearing, with only one or two not following the rules.

Despite the pre-flight form filling and app downloading, check-in was a breeze and the security stuff just as easy.

A celebratory glass of bubbly followed and by 8.50am – right on time – we had taken to the skies.

Our A350 was very comfortable and on a clear, sunny November morning the views were spectacular, which reminded me how much I’d missed being able to jet off on holiday.

The Club World seats have more new gadgets than James Bond’s Q.

Three stood out – the large touch-screen TV, the huge mirror (which I shouldn’t have looked into at the end of our seven-hour flight) and the car-like seat belt.

Masks were still de rigueur if you weren’t eating or drinking, which, to be honest, I mostly was (the food was excellent and the drinks endless).

But, to my surprise, it didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would.

The film and box set selection was good and if, like me, you are used to like flicking through BA’S excellent High Life mag, don’t worry – if you can’t find a copy next to your seat it’s still available online to read, which I did. VERDICT: It might not quite be Concorde but it’s as close as I’m ever going to get – and it was still a supersonic ride.