FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - I've Grown accustomed to your Nose - A RTW in F On OneWorld
Old Jan 1, 2014, 2:39 am
  #50  
Moomba
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: London, UK
Programs: AA 2MM - PLT, BA GGL, SPG Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 6,221
Part 10 AY J SIN-HEL BA J HEL-LHR

I made my way first to the BA lounge to see if they could print my HEL-LHR BP. No dice, she said I would need to get it in Helsinki.

I then went over to the QF lounge that was quite empty and grabbed a water and sat for the next couple of hours.


QF Lounge SIN


QF Lounge SIN

The agent said the lounge would close at 23:00 but boarding for my flight was scheduled to start at 23:10. A little before 23:00 I left and made the slow walk down to the D gates. On the way I noticed the transit area that had an AY desk. I decided to see the agent could print my missing BP. He typed away and confirmed my bag was tagged through to London and was able to print my BP.

I went on down to the gate and went through security and then my BP was swiped by a lounge agent. Boarding had already commenced so I was able to walk straight on down to the plane.

Flight AY0082 SIN-HEL Seat 6L (Business)
Aircraft: B340-300
Departure time: 23:55


On board the senior cabin crew directed me to the other side and I walked down to my seat. I realised immediately that the seat was the same as the MH 333 I had been on two nights earlier.


AY J Seat


AY J Seat

I was offered champagne, water or OJ. No prizes for guessing my choice.


Pre-flight Bubbly

An amenity kit with socks, shades and earplugs was handed out. Other items were available on request including, deodorant, toothbrush and paste, moisturiser etc. Headphones and a bottle of water were distributed. Papers, magazines were offered and the menus were handed out. The senior made her welcome announcement and stated a flying time of 12 hours.

We pushed back at 23:55 with 17 passengers in J of a possible 38. The seat next to me was free.
We took off at 00:10 and once the belt sign was off the crew came around taking meal orders. I had pre-ordered and the crew confirmed my choice.







Menu

I set up some music to listen to on the IFE and was again disappointed to find I couldn’t listen to my music and watch the flight map display.

IFE Flight Details Display

The meal table was set with a cloth first and then the crew delivered the meal with everything on the tray at once. Bread was offered but there was nowhere to put it as the tray was so full. I went with garlic bread again.


Midnight Meal Tray

The salad was nice and fresh and my prawn jalfrezi was tasty but only had 4 prawns in it.

Prawn Jalfrezi

The crew came back with plenty of wine top ups of the pinot grigio I was drinking and also offered more bread or crackers to have with the cheese. The crew were very good at keeping glasses topped up and offering more bread etc.
After I had finished the main and cheese the crew asked if I would like coffee and ice cream. I decided to finish up with some coffee and chocolate ice cream from hagen daz.

After the meal I decided to end with a night cap of the nice port they had on board.

I was trying to stay awake until at least 22:00 HEL time so I watched a movie before succumbing to sleep. I set the seat into angled bed mode and ducked under the duvet that crew had prepared for me.

The lights were turned on around 2 hours and 15 minutes before landing in preparation for the breakfast service. I think I made comment of how early they did this on my last AY long haul report. Hot towels were handed out and then the tables were once again set with a cloth. The tray with the complete meal was laid out again and juice and breads were offered.

I decided to go with the hot option and some muesli with yoghurt to start. Coffee was offered afterward and refills of juice and coffee were made during the meal.


Breakfast Tray


Hot Breakfast

The trays were cleared away at least 90 minutes before landing.

The crew were quite good on this flight with the one serving me being quite chatty however I don’t believe my name was used once during the flight.

We landed at 06:04 and pulled up to the gate. Door two was used and the crew held back the econ passengers until the J cabin had emptied.
Security was empty and there were at least 6 units manned ready to process the flight. I was through in no time and walked into the AY lounge at 06:11.

I grabbed an apple juice and a latte and caught up on my emails whilst waiting for the last flight of the trip.


AY J Lounge HEL Coffee & Juice

Around 40 minutes before the flight I moved out of the lounge and wandered down to the gate.
People with children who knew the drill were already lined up at the priority boarding lane. At around 07:30 they started boarding those with families, OneWorld elites and J passengers all at the same time.
I wandered up and joined the queue and then down on to the plane.

Flight BA0795 HEL-LHR Seat 2F (Business)
Aircraft: A320
Departure time: 07:55


On board I was directed to my seat and I stashed my bag in the overhead and sat down.

The captain announced a flying time of 2 hours and 40 minutes down to Heathrow Terminal 5. I thought that is odd I was sure this flight terminated at Terminal 3.

No drinks were offered on the ground and we pushed back at 07:54 before a short taxi to the runway.

There were 12 passengers in Club but the back was quite full. A hot towel was handed out after the belt sign was turned off. I had started to doze and wasn’t hungry at all so didn’t fight it.

The breakfast service started and I was tapped on the shoulder and asked if I wanted to eat. I said no thanks and went back to snooze mode.

Around 90 minutes into the flight I awoke and asked the crew for a tea with lemon that was delivered shortly afterward. I also asked for an immigrations card that hadn’t been offered up to this point.

The flight was pretty uneventful and we only had to circle over London for 10 minutes before starting our approach.

We touched down at 09:00 and the Captain welcomed us to Heathrow and corrected his earlier mistake announcing that we would be going to T3 and would be bussed to the terminal building.

The busses were waiting for us and after we pulled up the stairs were pulled up to the plane. It was wet and horrible outside and I asked myself why I continue to live in this country as I thanked the crew and walked out into the rain.

The first bus left after all the Club passengers were on board and took us to the terminal. Unlike other bus operations there was still quite a hike from where the bus lets you off to the immigration hall. There seemed to be a mass of people all heading for immigration and this was joined by people coming from the other end of the terminal as we made it to the final stretch. I dreaded to think what the queues were going to be like. I was surprised to see the hall not that busy and the fast track queue was virtually empty. The queue dragon asked for my slip and I said I didn’t have one I flew Club on a Euro with BA and they don’t give them to you and kept walking.

An agent was free in 30 seconds and I walked up to her. I asked if I still needed to fill in these forms and she said I did. I said but for four years I have not needed to as I was using IRIS. She said that was the way it works. Stupid UK immigration have to be the biggest bunch of fools on the planet. As you can tell I am still angry that they disbanded the perfectly functional IRIS system at UK entry points.

Once through I made my way down to wait for my bag. The belt started to move about 10 minutes later and then went around for a good 3 minutes before the first bag appeared. Mine was amongst the first dozen out.
It was then just a matter of my train and cab home and I was done for this portion of my journey.

Despite the multitude of flights in this report I still have only flown the first two sectors of the round the world ticket. You will have to wait until late Jan / early Feb before this tale can continue.

Happy contrails everyone.

Last edited by Moomba; Apr 16, 2014 at 8:10 am
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