Tim_T
Aug 29, 00, 8:43 am
Capital Hilton, Washington DC
Had a bit of a problem at check in with our pre paid Expedia reservation. The desk wanted to charge us twice, but I wouldn’t let them. On request, our room allocation was changed to a Towers room – I’m Diamond. It will be interesting to see if I get any points, as my bill only showed a parking charge. I won’t be using Expedia again for business bookings as it makes claiming the expense very difficult – you don’t get a nice bill on hotel paper showing the total charge.
I like this hotel because of its location. The rooms are pretty nice, and the staff friendly. Whilst walking around DC we stumbled on the new Garden Inn on 16th street which is only about 5 mins walk from the Capital Hilton, and is therefore also in a pretty good location, probably about 10 mins walk from the Natural History Museum.
Had an excellent meal in McCormicks & Schmicks on K street before settling down back at the hotel for the final episode of survivor.
VS22 IAD to LHR
My wife and I had spent a rather boring 3 hours at Dulles airport a couple of weeks ago trying to change full Economy BA tickets to Virgin, and then pay the small extra for Premium Economy. I was convinced that it hadn’t worked correctly, so we arrived at the airport a good 4 hrs before the flight just in case we had hassle. Much to my relief, everything was in order and I paid the extra for the new tickets, and collected our boarding passes. Well the gods were smiling on us today as we had been upgraded to Upper Class! I am now very glad that I changed from the BA economy ticket.
We had seats upstairs of the 747-400, which for East coast flights is allocated as a Snooze zone without any meal service. We were therefore offer access to the Virgin Lounge where dinner was served. I can’t remember the full menu, but some of the items were:-
Smoked Salmon
Baked Potatoes
Minestrone soup
Beef stir fry
Shrimp in orange on angel hair pasta
Meatloaf
The food was very good, and was quickly served.
We were told in the lounge when boarding was ready, and headed to our seats. This plane was not the newly refurbished upper class plane – we had missed that by a couple of days. Drinks were served on boarding, questions were asked if we wanted a massage or waking for breakfast, before we departed on time. There was a couple of seats spare in Upper class, but premium was full.
Once we reached cruise altitude, the blinds were lowered and people settled down for some sleep.
About an hour before arrival, menus were handed around for breakfast. The menu was the Freedom menu, and therefore covered everything available on the flight. You could choose anything whenever you wanted. In true trip report style here is the menu!
Virgin House salad
Black bean and duck salad
Goats cheese tower
Honey chicken
Vegetable jambalaya
Lobster ravioli
Garlic scented lamb
Virgins all night breakfast
Tomato n basil focaccia
Sandwiches
Cereals
Fruit salad
Assorted cheeses
American style strawberry shortcake
Warm belgian chocolate waffle
Sweet treat miniatures
Fruit
Breads (9 different sorts, inc toasted muffins)
We arrived 15 mins early, and quickly arrived at the gate in terminal 3. It took about 15 mins to de plane and pass thru immigration and into the baggage claim. Our bags were already waiting which was pretty impressive.
Overall impressions ?? Very good. The flight crew were very efficient, the food was very good, and the flight itself uneventful. I was very pleased that I wasn’t on BA in economy. My only complaint was having the snooze zone upstairs. There was a fair bit of traffic to the cockpit which tended to be a bit disturbing, especially for the aisle seats (my wife took the window http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif )
On a side note, this was my wife’s first complimentary upgrade, which was a very pleasant end to 12 months living in the United States.
Had a bit of a problem at check in with our pre paid Expedia reservation. The desk wanted to charge us twice, but I wouldn’t let them. On request, our room allocation was changed to a Towers room – I’m Diamond. It will be interesting to see if I get any points, as my bill only showed a parking charge. I won’t be using Expedia again for business bookings as it makes claiming the expense very difficult – you don’t get a nice bill on hotel paper showing the total charge.
I like this hotel because of its location. The rooms are pretty nice, and the staff friendly. Whilst walking around DC we stumbled on the new Garden Inn on 16th street which is only about 5 mins walk from the Capital Hilton, and is therefore also in a pretty good location, probably about 10 mins walk from the Natural History Museum.
Had an excellent meal in McCormicks & Schmicks on K street before settling down back at the hotel for the final episode of survivor.
VS22 IAD to LHR
My wife and I had spent a rather boring 3 hours at Dulles airport a couple of weeks ago trying to change full Economy BA tickets to Virgin, and then pay the small extra for Premium Economy. I was convinced that it hadn’t worked correctly, so we arrived at the airport a good 4 hrs before the flight just in case we had hassle. Much to my relief, everything was in order and I paid the extra for the new tickets, and collected our boarding passes. Well the gods were smiling on us today as we had been upgraded to Upper Class! I am now very glad that I changed from the BA economy ticket.
We had seats upstairs of the 747-400, which for East coast flights is allocated as a Snooze zone without any meal service. We were therefore offer access to the Virgin Lounge where dinner was served. I can’t remember the full menu, but some of the items were:-
Smoked Salmon
Baked Potatoes
Minestrone soup
Beef stir fry
Shrimp in orange on angel hair pasta
Meatloaf
The food was very good, and was quickly served.
We were told in the lounge when boarding was ready, and headed to our seats. This plane was not the newly refurbished upper class plane – we had missed that by a couple of days. Drinks were served on boarding, questions were asked if we wanted a massage or waking for breakfast, before we departed on time. There was a couple of seats spare in Upper class, but premium was full.
Once we reached cruise altitude, the blinds were lowered and people settled down for some sleep.
About an hour before arrival, menus were handed around for breakfast. The menu was the Freedom menu, and therefore covered everything available on the flight. You could choose anything whenever you wanted. In true trip report style here is the menu!
Virgin House salad
Black bean and duck salad
Goats cheese tower
Honey chicken
Vegetable jambalaya
Lobster ravioli
Garlic scented lamb
Virgins all night breakfast
Tomato n basil focaccia
Sandwiches
Cereals
Fruit salad
Assorted cheeses
American style strawberry shortcake
Warm belgian chocolate waffle
Sweet treat miniatures
Fruit
Breads (9 different sorts, inc toasted muffins)
We arrived 15 mins early, and quickly arrived at the gate in terminal 3. It took about 15 mins to de plane and pass thru immigration and into the baggage claim. Our bags were already waiting which was pretty impressive.
Overall impressions ?? Very good. The flight crew were very efficient, the food was very good, and the flight itself uneventful. I was very pleased that I wasn’t on BA in economy. My only complaint was having the snooze zone upstairs. There was a fair bit of traffic to the cockpit which tended to be a bit disturbing, especially for the aisle seats (my wife took the window http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif )
On a side note, this was my wife’s first complimentary upgrade, which was a very pleasant end to 12 months living in the United States.