After all the repositioning and obsessive CX binging, it was finally time for the main course - my first ever DONE RTW! Yes, why, oh why would someone start it off with BA? Well by the time I bothered to ticket it only BA was selling the ticket so it had to be CAI-LHR instead of the other (I believe more popular) option of CAI-DOH as the first sector.
The first sense of trouble started with the inability to perform OLCI. It took a very long time for my uber to show up to the hotel, and the ETA kept ticking backwards...okay, I told myself, I don't have a checked bag and I should be fine, but only when I looked at the BA app that says counters close at T-70
before departure at CAI...OMG let's say that I used google translate to type 'please help me, I am late' in Arabic to my driver and he just shrugged his shoulders with the terrible Cairo traffic in front of us enroute.
I reached Cairo Airport with two minutes to spare and literally ran into the building. At CAI when you enter there is a security check where you had to show your e-ticket. I left it in my bag and sent it into the scanner already, but the security guy could probably see my desperation and just let me go through.
Fortunately, the BA counters were right in front, and they weren't packing up or closing either. There was no one and the agents were all there ready to welcome me...I'm like...okay...
There was a CW counter where the lady expressed some signs of disbelief when she pulled up my itinerary, but quickly relief again when I asked her only to check me in on the first sector as I would change the rest after arriving at LHR.
Within moments I was done and went through security at a completely deserted Cairo Airport T2. Indeed the airport was sparkling new and I found it quite impressive. Apologies for no pictures as I was huffing and panting and security was around everywhere in the 'landside' areas.
After weathering through some sketchy corridors I arrived at the lounge shared by all carriers. It was again very quiet as I think our BA flight may have been the only departure. Anyway, this was my first time at CAI but I have heard that it is a huge step up from the previous T1 lounge area. Here are some snaps:
Essentially there is a lobby area with the reception desk, workstations, a (not open) duty free store, a buffet bar and some seating; it opened into two sitting rooms with tarmac views, which I was able to see our petite chariot parked at the nearby gate:
As an HKer it is always nostalgic to see a BA plane, if only the union jack was somewhere around too. Anyway, I had a quick dose of sugar and coffee before it was time to head to the gate.
Boarding was a complete mess with extra security and no priority boarding. I was worried that my overhead bin would be taken already but fortunately that wasn't the case. The CSM greeted me at the door and I turned right to see my 'throne' seat of 1A immediately (this pic taken later inflight):
This is a rare species across the BA Club World offerings as it is an ex-BMI plane. Off the shelf it is known as B/E Thompson Vantage which I found to have quite ample storage space but the padding was hard and uncomfortable, could have been the age of the plane as well. I was soon offered newspapers, PDB and the menu by the CC working in J which seemed to be Cairo-based. She did all the service well but lacked any smiles or personality, and there was absolutely no name-calling unlike on CX.
The first officer came on the PA thanking us for boarding efficiently and indeed we pushed ahead of schedule and made our way to the runway, only that it took like forever and we rolled away around 50 minutes past departure time. A pity that it was rather cloudy so there was no chance of more glimpses of the pyramids:
Amenity kits were then distributed along with a drink run with nuts for which I opted for a glass of Buck's Fizz. All of these were...meh
We were hitting a lot of chop for most of the time and the service was done at a painfully slow pace, although I can't blame the crew for that. I didn't use the AVOD too much but screened myself The BFG (without paying much attention) if only for some ambient background noise. Here's what the menu had to offer:
The salmon was rather tasty and the side salad not so much. Also, note the large size of the tray table.
The CSM then brought me the entree of which I chose steak, which was surprisingly edible and with texture if only a bit too spicy/overdoused with sauce. I cannot recall clearly but there may or may not have been drink runs throughout, let's say the presence of the CC were not very high.
Afterwards, it was indeed cheese OR cake so...cake it was. Surprisingly the chocolate and orange flavors mixed together well and I liked it a lot. I was offered coffee to go with it and wrapped up the meal with the hotel chocolat pralines on the tray.
Once we were done with the meal, it was already 2+ hours into the flight and we were about to make landfall in Continental Europe. The size of the screen was rather impressive, by the way. Some pax slept all the way and the rest reclined downwards after they were done with their meals, and bottled water was distributed.
Since the IFE was indeed not impressive, I settled on some more traditional forms of IFE which included stuff like this:
I wasn't really keen on sleeping so here's some more cabin shots, of course, it was very representative of BA especially the third one
I must have dozed a bit or the flight went by fast enough, a simple drink run of juice/water was offered and we soon began our descent into LHR. The crew were chatting in the galley for the entire time except for that and was not intrusive tho not inaudible still from my row 1 seat.
Well this being BA I did not have too much expectations but the crew were really rather meh on this sector, I'm not sure if MF + based crew contributed to that (it indeed did as the WW crew I had on LHR-SFO afterwards were quite nice ^)
The seat, although badly padded (I was borderline aching when in the flat bed position) offered impressive working space - you can see I was patching on my rerouting sheet to give to the ticketing agent once I hit the ground and all that
We held for a bit and approached LHR from the East which meant the traditional spectacular approach over London, and we landed and arrived at T5 around 15 minutes behind schedule for which the FO profusely apologized.
I then quickly dashed over on the HEX to T3 for the CX ticketing desk to reissue my RTW.