sarecca
Feb 6, 00, 11:56 am
This penultimate leg of my quick RTW was on Saturday morning. I had stayed in the Royal Rihga Hotel at Narita Airport. The hotel was very friendly. Rooms were OK. Sushi was excellent but very expensive. There was a free shuttle bus to the airport which ran very frequently.
I wanted to do some shopping at Narita so I left for the airport quite early. Arriving at Terminal 1, I was suprised to see that there was so much activity already. The first class check in counter at BA was empty. I was given a pass to the lounge, and then proceded to do some shopping. Narita, in my opinion, has some of the best airport shops I have seen. For breakfast, I stopped in a little coffee house and had a rice bowl which was suprisingly inexpensive. Following this breakfast, I proceded to the BA lounge. This lounge welcomed first, business class and frequent flyer passengers. The lounge buffet consisted of an open bar, juices, coffee, english shortbread, scones, tortilla wrapped chicken sandwiches and cheese and crackers. The lounge was very full as the two daily BA flights to LHR take off within 2 hours of each other.
Arriving at the gate, it was apparent that our flight was full. There were 14 sleeper style individual bed seats in the first class section of this 747-400. Although no where near the spaciousness of the new Cathay Pacific " Betsy" seats, they were still quite private and very comfortable.
Immediately, after sitting down the attendant brought to our seats, the amenity kits, and sleeper suits. Even though the flight left NRT at 1 PM, it was a 12 and one half hour flight, and the kind people at BA thought it would be nice to be very comfortable. Menus were passed out next. Although I have travelled BA before, and have commented on the wonderful food, I have yet to see a menu with so many choices. Not only was there a full lunch, but AT ANY time one could have a full Japanese meal, and well as an all day afternoon tea selection.
Appetizers consisted of a choice of caviar, lobster with mango and palm heart salsa, roasted vegetable lasagne, onion soup, or a green salad. Main courses included a choice of fillet steak with cracked pepper butter, asparagus, and potatoes, sole fillets in a cheese sauce, roasted red peppers filled with pesto risotto, a beef cheeseburger, penne pasta with tomato and basil . Desert consisted of a choice of ice creams, orange and raisin sponge pudding with vanilla custard, fruit and cheese. Needless to say there was plenty of choices.
What was interesting on this flight was that not every passenger choses to eat at the same time. The flight attendants, it seems to me are constantly serving passengers. There is really no set meal service time in this BA service. Fine for the passenger. It seems a bit hectic for the attendant.
The video choice was excellent. I would have take this trip 5 times and not viewed all of the entertainment options. Kudos to BA. Arrived at LHR just about 15 minutes late, but quite refreshed as the seats were great for sleeping.
I wanted to do some shopping at Narita so I left for the airport quite early. Arriving at Terminal 1, I was suprised to see that there was so much activity already. The first class check in counter at BA was empty. I was given a pass to the lounge, and then proceded to do some shopping. Narita, in my opinion, has some of the best airport shops I have seen. For breakfast, I stopped in a little coffee house and had a rice bowl which was suprisingly inexpensive. Following this breakfast, I proceded to the BA lounge. This lounge welcomed first, business class and frequent flyer passengers. The lounge buffet consisted of an open bar, juices, coffee, english shortbread, scones, tortilla wrapped chicken sandwiches and cheese and crackers. The lounge was very full as the two daily BA flights to LHR take off within 2 hours of each other.
Arriving at the gate, it was apparent that our flight was full. There were 14 sleeper style individual bed seats in the first class section of this 747-400. Although no where near the spaciousness of the new Cathay Pacific " Betsy" seats, they were still quite private and very comfortable.
Immediately, after sitting down the attendant brought to our seats, the amenity kits, and sleeper suits. Even though the flight left NRT at 1 PM, it was a 12 and one half hour flight, and the kind people at BA thought it would be nice to be very comfortable. Menus were passed out next. Although I have travelled BA before, and have commented on the wonderful food, I have yet to see a menu with so many choices. Not only was there a full lunch, but AT ANY time one could have a full Japanese meal, and well as an all day afternoon tea selection.
Appetizers consisted of a choice of caviar, lobster with mango and palm heart salsa, roasted vegetable lasagne, onion soup, or a green salad. Main courses included a choice of fillet steak with cracked pepper butter, asparagus, and potatoes, sole fillets in a cheese sauce, roasted red peppers filled with pesto risotto, a beef cheeseburger, penne pasta with tomato and basil . Desert consisted of a choice of ice creams, orange and raisin sponge pudding with vanilla custard, fruit and cheese. Needless to say there was plenty of choices.
What was interesting on this flight was that not every passenger choses to eat at the same time. The flight attendants, it seems to me are constantly serving passengers. There is really no set meal service time in this BA service. Fine for the passenger. It seems a bit hectic for the attendant.
The video choice was excellent. I would have take this trip 5 times and not viewed all of the entertainment options. Kudos to BA. Arrived at LHR just about 15 minutes late, but quite refreshed as the seats were great for sleeping.