Trip Reports - Lgw-dfw-msy-dfw-lgw 12/03/05 - 17/03/05

LGW-DFW BA2193 - 12th March 2005

OK, this is a bit of a jet-lagged ramble. If you don't want lots of details (why are your reading Trip Reports anyway!?!) then I'll summarise it as "right up there with the best of the best BA J flights I've been on"...

So the day began badly :) Against my better judgement, I went out for a friend's birthday drinks on Friday night despite having to get up early to make the flight. Needless to say I didn't sleep too well and didn't feel too hot at 06:45 when my alarm went off! Despite my "worse for wear" state I'd managed to pack the night before so I crawled out of bed, got dressed (I'd planned to shower in the excellent Terraces at LGW) and met my 7am cab to Victoria no problem! Thankfully, the day only got better - one of those "traffic lights are always green" kinda days ;)

I made the 7:15 Gatwick Express and got to LGW at around 7:45. I hit the BA check-in desks around 8am. I'd already OLCId the day before to 21B (the first row of W in which I was ticketed) so just wanted to dump my case and head to the lounge. LGW is very busy at that time of the morning (the Y/W check-in queue was gigantic!) but I was unable to find 'Club World' check-in desks where they used to be. Not wanting to expend too much effort at that time of the day, I went and stood in front of a "Self-service Bag Drop" desk which looked quiet enough. Almost immediately I was beckoned forward by a FIRST/Gold agent who'd become free over to my right.

And the check-in agent, Chris, was an absolute star! She retrieved my booking and said "I see you're already checked in to 15B, Mr X." Obviously not wanting to contradict her ;) I said "yes, that sounds perfect, thank you" as a nice J boarding card was printed! When she realised I was connecting to an AA flight (booked under the BA codeshare) to MSY she said my bags were checking through no problem but my onward BP wasn't printing. I said it wasn't a problem and I'd brave connecting at DFW but Chris insisted and tried no less than 3 different ways to get me checked in for the AA leg. Finally she managed to check me in under the 'normal' AA flight code and print me a BP with the seat I'd already assigned through MMB (18B) some weeks before. Huge thumbs up to her! ^

The next nice surprise was that LGW's 'Fast track' security was actually, err, fast for once! No queue and BPs being correctly checked?!? Wow. So within no time at all I was airside and on my way to my favourite Terraces (via World Duty Free for a quick purchase for a friend)!

The LGW Terraces (as usual) did not disappoint. I grabbed a refreshing shower after encountering the usual friendly front-desk and shower-desk staff and then headed out for an essential (!) Bloody Mary. I left briefly to get my colleague (flying to IAH 5mins before me) in as my guest but in no time at all Gate 51 was calling.

At the gate and on the plane, I realised it wasn't just me who lucked in to the (normally) elusive OpUp! Going through the gate, the couple 2 in front of me were bumped Y->W and the person directly in front (a BA Gold - I happened to see his BP, no closet snooping, honest! ;)) was moved J->F. Settling in to my seat I got chatting to the person in A who was a (BA Blue - so it can happen!) W->J OpUp too - on exactly the same flights as me both ways. And to my right in 15E I overheard the American lady on her phone before doors closed announcing her OpUp too ;) Seems LGW-DFW (at least when the CTIA show is on in New Orleans!) is OpUp-tastic (but more on this later)!

The service from then on was exemplary as is my usual experience ex-LGW. In line with the recent (true!) enhancements to Club World (see http://www.deepersleep.co.uk/) pre-flight champagne was served (with water/OJ options too). Alas the new 'squidgy' NCW seat covers had not been rolled out on this aircraft yet (I made a special effort to note the plane was G-VIIC according to the exits in the galley lest this is important to any FTers - but I'm sorry, flyclub, this doesn't bode well for your upcoming DFW trip!) but I didn't really care as I didn't plan to sleep anyway. There was no sign of the new pillows/blankets either.

In line with the new policy, the washbags were handed out after take-off and then the hot towel run commenced. Shortly after this the new style menus were handed out and I have to say I much prefer this new format - much more 'refined'. For completeness, the menu was:

STARTERS
Kiln-fired salmon, crayfish tails with wasabi and watercress dressing
or
Mozzarella cheese, Goat cheese and roast tomato timbale
Fresh seasonal salad served with vinaigrette

MAIN
Duchy of Cornwall free-range pork sausages with creamed potato and roast red onion jus

Grilled prawns in coconut and coriander sauce served with cashew nut and shallot rice

Potato and truffle gnocchi with sauteed mushrooms, asparagus and cepe cream sauce

Duck confit, foie gras, baby Kenyan beans and shallot salad with bitter orange dressing

DESSERT
Chocolate and raspberry delice

English Stilton and Butler's Secret cheese

The first bar run commenced promptly. I opted for another champagne (the usual Charles Heidsieck Mis en Cave 2000) along with the Macadamia nuts. At the second bar run I opted for more champagne and gave my menu choices - the Salmon then the Duck. The Salmon I've had before in J and have always liked...and I wasn't disappointed this time either (accompanied by another glass of champagne, oh dear, you can see where this is going...). The Duck was new to me and I actually really enjoyed it for a cold main. With this I tried the Merlot (Gordon Brothers Merlot 2001, Columbia Valley) which went down very smoothly indeed.

At this point I should note the crew were fantastic throughout the flight - special mention for the really lovely Tiffany who looked after the left-side of the cabin so very well! ^ After the starters were served the CSD himself went around the J cabin with a second bread roll 'run' which I thought was nice...but the best touch was him showing NCW 'newbies' how to get the most out of their seat individually. The rest of the crew were friendly, helpful and incredibly composed and good natured despite a jam-packed plane, including a totally full J cabin.

BA still offer you "dessert OR cheese" which I find annoying (don't get me wrong, I'd never complain on a free OpUp, of course! But on paid J I find this rather bad :(). In the past I've asked for both, this time I just settled for cheese, a port and coffee. It also still amazes me they give you a decent serving of cheese and only 3 crackers :) But it was a nice end to the meal regardless. The after dinner chocolates were not Lilly O'Briens as usual (well, compared to all my other CW experiences) but "L'Artisan" - not bad, but not as good IMHO. Another port (credit again to the crew - not once did I receive less than a full glass of anything!) and coffee and 'Closer' came to an end on IFE. By this point I was ready to begin doing a few mails and, of course, writing my trip report :) (The number of PUTI-esque typos I had to correct once I reached my hotel in New Orleans I didn't care to count ;))

Sadly my laptop died halfway through and I seem to have lost my plane adaptor connection 'dongle' :( So I went to the galley to see if the crew could locate a spare one - they said the one they give out was in use in FIRST but if the guy dozed off or finished they'd bring it to me. I said not to worry, I'll pack it in and have another glass of champagne instead ;) And with that I spent a good few minutes chatting to them. A very interesting point - when they arrived for work that day there were 18 confirmed J pax on the flight. That means over 22 OpUps (given they moved at least one person J->F)! I was amazed by this! Apparently the DFW run varies wildly between jam-packed and virtually empty...today was seriously overbooked (I assumed in Y only which caused a big 'domino' effect because when I OLCId for W, there were over 10 free seats showing to pick).

I returned to my seat to stop pestering the crew and thought I'd watch 'Speed' on IFE (sadly one of the crappy small-screen/GE Engine 12-channel setups) which I'd not seen for a while. Unfortunately the tape was, err, knackered! It wasn't really watchable (oh, and just after the IFE began running the CSD announced there'd be no channel 1 at all after the News had finished). Roll on AVOD (some day!).

The crew did several water/juice runs during the rest of the flight and I did peek at 'Raid The Larder' (though unusually couldn't manage to eat anything!) to see if it had improved as BA promised...it looked much more impressive - a far wider variety of snacks and also some sandwiches too. Very good.

The afternoon tea service began about 1:30 out of DFW, preceded by another hot towel round (which is great, given I've been on longhaul J flights where they've not done any!). Another noticeable improvement was that the sandwiches seemed much fresher and of much higher quality (and were not served in plastic wrappers!). From the menu:

SNACKS
Sandwiches of Wensleydale cheese with carrot chutney and gammon ham with tomato and English mustard mayonnaise
or
Sandwiches of egg mayonnaise with cress and chicken Caesar

SWEETS
Fruit and plain scones with clotted cream and strawberry preserve
or
Flaked almond bakewell

The odd thing here given the "or" choice with 'Sweets' was that the almond bakewell came on the tray with the sandwiches and scones were offered in addition afterwards (in the end, I had a plain scone but couldn't manage more than 1/4 of the bakewell as I wasn't hungry enough after the rather pleasant chicken/egg sandwiches). Odd only in the fact the dessert/cheese is not shown as an 'or' choice yet remains one :)

And that was that! We even landed slightly early in to DFW, and an excellent example of Club World at its best in my experience drew to a close.

DFW-MSY BA5001 (AA1570) - 12th March 2005
Landing at DFW, Immigration seemed much slower than other US airports - I have no idea why, but I do remember thinking the same last time I was here too. Anyway, once this was done with, my case was out and ready to claim and I was at the connections desk within minutes. Here they dumped your bag (making sure you'd unlocked it first :mad: ) for screening again, asked you what your connection was and gave you directions to the right bus to get. Not pretty, perhaps...but effective enough :)

Early on in the BA leg I'd offered my new friend in 15A an invite to the Admiral's Club since he was on the same flights as me so we both headed from Terminal B to gate C10 as directed. Although I already had my BP, he didn't...but the terminal was surprisingly quiet so this (and security) took no time at all and we were soon wandering round to C19 and the huge Admiral's Club. Here I received the usual begrudging welcome and one drinks voucher! I had to ask for a second one for my guest...which was reluctantly handed over! Luckily we didn't want to drink a lot - but the bartender did mix a very good Bloody Mary for us! The AC itself was as I remembered - big, comfortable...but definitely no Terraces!

The flight itself was 100% full. One thing (and about the only thing IME) AA do right however is pre-boarding. Group 1 was called and since I was in it as oneworld Sapphire, I was on fairly early...ready to settle in to my seat, stow my simple rucksack above me and then watch the usual farce of the rest of the plane boarding. I sat with a mixture of bemusement and amusement as 10s of people tried to cram luggage which was of the size most sane human beings would be ashamed to even dare check, in to tiny MD-80 lockers. Utterly ridiculous!

Finally everyone re-packed (yes, clearly, the aisle with 60 people behind you is a good place to do this...sigh) and squeezed and jammed and forced things in to place and we pushed back roughly on time and took off for an uneventful 1:06 (apparently, I was too tired to time it personally!) hop to MSY, coming in pretty much on schedule. Service was pretzels and a soft drink. Nothing more to report, really :)

MSY-DFW BA5000 (AA685) - 17th March 2005
There were about 20 people in the AA Y check-in line and only one in line at the two (occupied with pax) First desks so I joined that queue (since there were no Business desks). For some reason, however, I was stuck behind people who took an eternity to check in! Finally an extra agent came and beckoned me over - the one guy who was there at the First desk when I arrived was still there when I left! Anyway, after initially just retrieving my booking by flight number and not checking my bags through to LGW, I asked if this would be possible so the friendly agent looked up the actual booking and checked them through all the way no problem. He didn't stick a priority tag on the case though, which AA normally do for oneworld status-holders in my experience...although also in my experience it rarely makes a difference anyway so I didn't care :)

Sadly he couldn't print a BP for my BA flight (I suspect this is because I had OLCId), but did print my AA one at 16B (pre-assigned through MMB weeks ago once again) saying it was a totally full flight. Then I noticed the dreaded SSSS all over the damn thing :mad:. Oh well, I had plenty of time and it turns out there's not even an Admiral's Club at MSY so I didn't have anywhere better to be!

SSSS itself was fine if tedious as usual. I find there's no point getting worked up or arsey with the agents as it won't change anything for the better anyway. So I was friendly to them, they were friendly back and it was over in about 5 minutes.

There's not much to do in MSY at all, really! So I found a power socket and set about some mails - but there wasn't even any WiFi to be able to send them! Boarding was the usual joke with "carry"-ons...although nowhere near as bad as the way out. We pushed back on time and were informed of a quick 1:06 flight time. The flight itself was uneventful again with a soft drink and pretzel 'service' after which I passed the time with my trusty iPod. The approach to DFW was nice - we flew past it on the left and then banked around to land, giving a great view of the airport and its terminals before we reached them. We landed at around 14:20 local time and got on stand by ~14:30 - still nicely in advance of our scheduled arrival time of 14:42.

DFW-LGW BA2192 - 17th March 2005
I was in a meeting at 16:15 local time on Wednesday so couldn't get on to a PC to OLCI. But then had a brainwave - I discretely fired up the Web browser (it's Opera) on my Nokia 9500 to try and use it on anger (whilst paying attention to proceedings, honest!) on ba.com for the first time. Sadly BA's site is pretty far from optimized for mobiles and so progress was slow (the pages are pretty large and GPRS in New Orleans wasn't lighting fast). However, with a bit of "returning in a minute or two" I managed to get checked in perfectly well by around 16:50. Sadly 21A (first choice) and 21B (second choice) were taken (for some reason not even known to myself, I prefer to the left of the plane to the right)...but 21JK were free to I went for 21K (liking to lean out into the window space to sleep on night flights). I noted around 10 or 12 seats free for selection still.

The AA flight had parked up at gate A15 which is very near the TrAAin...sadly once that hits Terminal B it's a long walk to B34 where the BA lounge is (and flight was departing from)!

The lounge agent checked me in (and processed my AA bag tag), printing me my 21K boarding pass (despite the "late" OLCI, I was still sequence 001). As she was doing this I noted the print out next to her...a big list of GOLD/SILV tags, names and seat numbers (I didn't see any PREM cards listed). I saw my name near the bottom of the list, but it looked alphabetical so I didn't take it personally :) I also noted several names highlighted in yellow marker pen, mine included. I don't know why this was...but it clearly wasn't for OpUps :( ;) I was trying to bring a guest in with me (the person I'd met on the outbound legs) but she said this wouldn't be possible today as there were 64 (!) card holders expected. However, the lovely lady said "actually, lots of people aren't here yet so your guest can come in for 30 minutes, I'll have to trust y'all to leave after that" which I thought was a nice compromise she didn't have to make. She also said the flight was delayed by 15 minutes (I overheard talk in the lounge that the inbound aircraft did not arrive until 3pm, i.e. 45 minutes late).

The lounge itself is nice and clean, although obviously unusually busy for this flight. As a helpful FTer had noted when I asked about DFW before my trip (can't fine a link to the thread/who it was now with search down :(), there are empty spirit bottles on show but you have to ask for the drinks from a 'hostess'. I opted for a G&T (continuing my personal tradition of having a G&T in every new BA lounge I visit!) and was pleasantly surprised when the same hostess came over and asked if I'd like another once I finished! ^

I left the lounge around 16:00 for a look around the terminal - good job I did too as I was alerted to the 'US VISIT' exit stations which I had not seen before anywhere or been told about in the lounge. You swipe your passport, press your left index finger then right on a pad and have your photo taken - just like upon entry. A printed barcode receipt is then generated. This seems sensible and quick enough...except you then have to walk over to the 8 agents lounging on the chairs opposite so they can (1) scan your barcode, (2) check your photo, (3) re-scan your left index finger, (4) scribble on the receipt with a pen. This extra set of steps hardly seems like a good use of time and resources to me :( Still, at least I now know George W's plan for improving the US Economy's performance...he'll simply ensure everyone who can't find a job is given one as a TSA agent or member of the US-VISIT program :D ;)

Shortly after this boarding was called - with a separate, policed fast track line for F/J and (actually announced this time) Gold/Silver card holders. All in all, this final touch left me with a very high impression of DFW as a BA outstation - especially given there's only one flight per day.

We pushed back around 16:30 for a 15 minute delay as predicated. This flight seemed to be the opposite loading to the outbound leg - the 3 premium cabins (F/J/W) were packed with what seemed like revenue pax (i.e. no/few OpUps) and Y was less then 2/3 full I'd say (lots of empty middle seats). W had 3 empty seats. The good news for you, flyclub, this 772 did have 'NNCW', i.e. the New New Club World seat covers and pillows ;) It was G-VIIJ I think this time.

The on-board service commenced with a paper in W before take-off. A nice (actual) enhancement BA introduced to W (along with real glass wine glasses for the meal) several months back - although I still think a wider choice of paper would be good, and a pre-flight drink would be nice too (VS manage this in Premium Economy). Now that J gets champagne, offering at least water/OJ in W would not be too much 'service creep' IMHO.

I nabbed 2 G&Ts from the bar run and just as I was settling in to The Grudge and pouring the second, I was handed a survey by the CSD. Ranking this towards the end of the flight I had nothing but praise to give - again, the crew were very friendly and helpful. They were also predominantly rather attractive women I have to say...but of course I couldn't put that ;) The only 'negative' I could think of was that I asked for a brandy after my meal but the crew member forgot the first time, bringing it apologetically after I asked (politely) again when she returned to clear the trays. Hardly a major problem though! So my only negative comment on the form was another complaint about the ageing IFE system.

The meal service was preceded by a PA of "we're delighted to announce our chef, Gordon Ramsey, has been working hard since take-off cooking delights for you and has now finished your meals. We're pleased to be able to offer you cannelloni or roast beef" which raised a chuckle from most people. I had the beef with a bottle of Turning Leaf Cabernet Sauvignon which BA seem to have been serving for a while in W (it was there when I last flew W to SFO in November). I find it quite pleasant though. The rest of the meal tray was pretty standard stuff: a plain salad with ranch dressing, a roll, a very sweet chocolate dessert and a small Cadbury's Dairy Milk - no chance of a thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=411572) about whether this has changed or not, I suspect ;) The beef was perfectly OK for a Y meal...although not much better than the recent AY Y shorthaul meal I was surprised (and impressed) to receive (again, can't find a link to this post/report right now :().

After the film I tried to sleep a bit. I've decided 21K is a great seat for this (for me at least) as I can lean on the side of the plane on my right side and get as 'flat' as possible by going as diagonal as possible (sadly 21J was occupied so I couldn't go too far!). Even with this though, I still didn't sleep incredibly well - I'm one of those people who just finds it hard to sleep anywhere near upright. That said, I did pass 5 hours or so with my eyes closed dozing lightly, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been!

At one point I was shocked by the moving map on IFE - just around the New York point it was reporting tail winds of 204mph and a ground speed of 751mph! I was hoping for a bit of a stronger wind since I never got to experience Concorde :( ;)

The breakfast run commenced just over an hour out of LGW. The box consisted of an OJ, Raspberry Fruit Bar, Raspberry Yoghurt and a Ham & Natural Swiss Cheese Croissant. I had the OJ (and a cup of tea - first since I left the outbound flight!) and the croissant then most of the bar, but wasn't hungry enough to go for the yoghurt.

We landed at around 07:15 and were on stand by around 07:25. In the baggage hall I noticed an arrival belt for "BA9181E LONDON HEATHROW" which took me by surprise. I've no idea what it was...my guess was some kind of diversion. Soon after that my (non-priority tagged...go figure!) case was about 5th or 6th off and I was on the 07:50 LGW Express to Victoria which I was pleasantly surprised by! Try doing that quick an exit from LHR with checked luggage!

And that, as they say, is that! An overall typically (IME) good BA experience again...now for a few hours of work and then I'm off to sleep! :)

Great report GBOAC- thanks for the mention! I will look out for the aircraft reg onboard!

Most interesting about the Op-ups! All three of us have J tickets with onward tickets in First with AA to Las Vegas. Using various tools I know the flight is nearly full in WT. Unfortunately I am the only Gold Card holder out of the three of us, however, I wouldn't mind a seat in FIRST on my own.....it wouldn't be a problem! Fingers crossed!

It will be interesting to compare the menu (I am going next week) and will write a trip report, of course.... :)

An excellent and thorough report PhilH!!

Roll on enhanced IFE - what happened to that?? I expected to hear something by now??

Excellent report! Meals look tasty in J. I H A T E those small screens. Unacceptable in J IMHO.

I am currently debating on weither adding an extra plane change on my CDG-WAS, returning LIT-CDG is worth it so that I can fly BA in J. (Flying between BWI and LIT on southwest a few days after arrival in DC.)

I would fly CDG-LHR-WAS returning LIT-ORD-LHR-CDG.

Alternately I could do CDG-WAS returning LIT-ATL-CDG on Air France in coach. The info in your report is leaning me towards BA J despite the extra time / changes required.