Okay, okay, how can an FTer stay at a chain hotel without status??
Well there were a few reasons that I stayed at the GH even as a Hyatt nobody. Most importantly, the event I had to attend the next day was just around the corner so I could leave my stuff at the hotel and grab them before I leave for the airport; I had confidence in the consistency/quality of Hyatt while if I stayed with Hilton...well the variance of Hilton properties are similar with the variety of brands and properties they have to offer, so...
...all this BS aside, most importantly I was able to snag a room at the GH using my Chase UR and a small co-pay for which I found reasonable, while every single other property nearby (Hilton/SPG etc) were charging celestial rates (as my friends say, this is SF!). In the end I think I got a great value for almost 3.5cpm.
Anyway, not much to write, I arrived and checked in, caught up on a bit of work and soon winded down and went to bed. The room was very comfortable, well appointed and very amply sized.
Anyway, a lot of amenities were available but had to be requested. After seeing how this works, I think I understand why some people say airlines going for dine-on-demand actually do it to reduce costs. The only let down may have been the limited options and availability for room service as it was not 24/7, I couldn't get any food at midnight.
The next morning I woke up to a rather gorgeous view...I think I can be touristy for a bit!
A lobby shot just before I left:
So fast forward to the afternoon the next day, I was done with what I had to do and this time, I don't want the close call at Cairo to happen again, so I got a rideshare to SFO way way way in advance, basically once I was done.
As I have expressed my concern initially when this RTW craze kicked off, this sector would be the true '
highlight', a long haul flight in Y. WHY...well again this SF detour was reliant on the award gods and they were not merciful tonight. Nothing opened in J/W nor were POUG/AUPs available, in fact they were both zeroed out this being a Thursday night and over spring break.
Is it fate's intention that asks me to stick with CX? Despite my efforts to avoid snafus, I got hit with a terrible, terrible headache suddenly in the car on the way to SFO. Luckily I was still in my suit so at least the friendly check-in agent at the F check-in counter for BA probably just thought I was an overworked proletariat......I was legitimately worried that I would pass out or get offloaded etc and even started thinking freaking about all the back-to-back QR segments thereafter that I would get into big trouble if I missed...
Anyway, the agent advised that I could head either the BA or CX lounge(!) and stamped my BP with clearance for priority security. It still took long (and I may have scared the elderly lady flying in F in front by losing grip and slamming my bag on the floor multiple times) but anyway, I was soon on my way to the lounge.
The last three pictures basically encompasses the entirety of the BA F lounge at SFO. Yep it was that sad, a rather claustrophobic room overlooking the tarmac on one side and surrounded by very tall walls on all other sides. Snack offerings were only marginally better than the epic dump known as the ORD BA F lounge...
I munched on the sandwiches and light bites and had a soda to pump in sugar but nope, it didn't help, I was still spinning all around inside..I may have thought that it would be too scary for the other occupants in the F lounge to closely witness the scenario of me passing out so I ventured out to the larger area outside, or the J lounge it is known. What a scene,
every single seat was taken. I felt like I was walking through a movie set as everyone was seated and I must have looked clueless walking along the corridor.
The lounge attendants were helpful enough to usher me to a seat that became available, but I was still feeling terrible, so I decided to head to the familiar HKG-like settings of the CX lounge in a last attempt to revive myself before the horrors struck.
You'll see this at the entrance of the 'corridor of lounges' at this wing of the airport and that's where the CX lounge is located. Interesting enough JAL chose a guy to be the signpost...
Ah...the...familiarity...! If only I was on my regular 11A in CX J tonight
As if my trauma wasn't enough, the agent wanted to card me. Oh puhhhleeaseee, just let me in...I must have mumbled something as I was let through and ended up at a shower room. The SFO CX lounge really carries the Foster & Partners theme which was what CX adopted before they switched to studioilse, and today the NRT, CDG and FRA lounges still carry the similar theme present here (and of course, The Wing at HKG).
Anyway, I only wanted to sleep onboard so I thought it was a bad idea to have my hair wet, so I ended up only changing and passed on the shower. I think I must have regained enough consciousness, so here are some shots of the CX SFO lounge:
Just a bit before boarding time, I traded in my voucher given at the reception for a bowl of dan dan figuring that it may as well as be better than everything they serve onboard. Sadly, this was a disaster...one does NOT have dan dan with cilantro, on top of my despise of it!!!!
Still, I must have been hungry and the peanut broth was still on point so I finished it as a boarding announcement was made for our BA286 flight to LHR tonight, interestingly enough.
I wonder how BA allocates its pax to use its own lounge and CX's, but it can quite easily be told that the BA lounge cannot hold all BA pax/elites. Heck, as I saw them walking to the gate from the lounge, they were nothing but a never-ending procession.
Thanks to my status I was able to pick the emergency exit seat of 80A but being at the end of the plane, most pax had already boarded! I prayed that there would still be overhead space and made a dash to board through the priority line. The gate area was sunken, overcrowded and a mad mess in general, so no pics here
First impressions, the seat was better padded than I thought, and of course the leg room was well delivered. Width was definitely lacking but fortunately my seat mate was not too bulky. Sadly, there's no side bins available for the bulkhead seats so I ended up placing my suit side-by-side on the gap between it and my seat, thankfully the FA didn't make me store it elsewhere as overhead bin space were tight and at a premium.
We once again pushed very much on time. The headrest was rather comfortable which mean I did pass out (hopefully in a conscious way) but the next moment I realized, it was around 90 minutes into the flight and we were getting served a pre-dinner beverage. Just a drink and that's it, no nuts
I must have dozed off again but around an hour later, dinner was served. Welcome back to reality I told myself, no menus no nothing, I think it was a choice between cheese lasagne (more like penne) and chicken curry, I chose the former.
I kid you not, I found the taste of the pasta to be quite good and again well heated. Either BA hasn't fallen off the cliff yet with long haul catering, or I must have had exceptional luck given my infrequent travel patterns with them compared to regular travel with CX. (I'm quite sure no CX Y meal ex-outport/ex-HKG were comparable to what I got served. It doesn't say a lot about the quality of this BA main, but go figure how bad CX catering is.)
After the meal, I declined coffee/tea and tried to sleep by putting my carry on in front as a makeshift legrest, as I used to do when I flew CX PEY.
Anyway, in a very similar fashion to my outbound LHR-SFO flight, but only in a much poorer form practically, I woke up to see this:
By this time I felt quite better, so perhaps it was a combination of lack of sleep and hunger. I just hope it doesn't happen again for the rest of the trip.
At around T-60, so just a few moments, later, the CC came by and offered hot breakfast of which I chose to have an omelette:
I think the other choice was also eggs (English breakfast I recall) so it felt a bit weird with how similar the two offerings were. But at least there was a choice...
We soon began our descent and circled a bit Northwest of London before landing 15 minutes ahead of schedule, arriving at our stand at T5c almost to the dot again.
The HKG e-Channel can learn a thing or two from the UK border - as a citizen, I completed the formalities at the border that took around five or ten seconds at most.
I then popped onto the Tube where I was able to reach my destination of FS Park Lane to meet up with my friend to have afternoon tea together after unfortunately having to ditch last-minute as a result of the RTW reticketing that took forever at CX LHR.
The property is located at a very quiet and upscale location (adjacent to the IC). The afternoon tea was...well, meh. The setting is not formal enough for such a price point and the service was also spotty, it was hard to get a waiter and they forgot some of the orders, like the scones, but we were already very stuffed from two plates of sandwiches we just let it go... I remember I had a great time many years ago at Brown's, but I fail to see the appeal of London afternoon teas as they are so overpriced - this was around $125 and that was already with champagne on the house. You can get afternoon tea for half the price in HK and the quality is superb and comparable much - there are a few that I really love going to again and again with the family. But most importantly, I had a great afternoon chatting and catching up with a good friend of mine.
I left the FS again around 2 hours and 15 minutes before my flight, as I thought an hour to the airport and an hour there would be alright. Little did I know the trouble that lay ahead.........before I could begin my QR extravaganza.