efincomputer

*Note - some of the images on here have been supplied by other FT'ers and are credited appropriately. This is due to me not being able to take pictures in some areas due to them being busy, and also as i cant find my camera currently, so only have the few pics i had already downloaded in the first half of my trip.

I've done a couple of other Trip reports for those interested and they can be found here:

First ever Trip Report - be gentle

BA Club World GLA-LHR-JFK-LHR-GLA

This was to be another trip for work rather than pleasure (much like my second TR) and the need for it surfaced back in January while BA were doing their much advertised 50% mileage reduction offers for redemption bookings. Normally my company will only spring for World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy) for our flights (a policy that even our BA Gold Card holding CEO follows, so nobody else can complain about it being an unfair rule), but as BA allow you to upgrade your booking from WTP to Club World (Business) using miles, I have previously done this using my own miles so I could have a more comfortable journey (and as I currently have no status, I would otherwise have had no lounge access). On this occasion I took the decision to use my own miles to book the whole trip, with the company only paying the fees and taxes (around £370). There were a couple of reasons for this. One was that the company (much like many others) has been going through a belt tightening exercise recently and we had several redundancies at the end of last year. Granted a number of these were down to a recent merger and would have happened regardless of the economic downturn, but I’ve worked with the company for quite a long time and the people who own and run it are very fair and decent with their staff, which is a rare thing in this day and age, and more so in a SME company with 500+ staff, so I wanted to be seen to be doing what I could to save a bit of cash on this trip (saving around £500-800 off the normal cost of the WTP flights). The Second reason, was that I wanted to take advantage of a very rare chance to use my miles to fly First Class with BA again, something I had only done once before back in November 2005 (see my first TR). With the 50% reduction offer in place, I was able to secure my outward flight in F, and my return in CW for mid-April for the princely sum of 67,500 miles. It also had the advantage of meaning I didn’t have to spend my entire weekend away from home, as usually the only way we are allowed to fly WTP is if we have a Saturday night stay which keeps the fares down – but as I was flying on miles there was no problem.

So, my flights were booked for April and all was well...until some more changes in the business and an escalation of the projects our company have been developing in the US resulted in the CEO asking me if I could bring forward my trip to Feb instead. So, after a quick chat with the very understanding Mrs Efin, I set about looking for flights in February, and to be honest I was quite surprised at how much availability there was on the dates I was looking at. I eventually settled on the 8th of Feb outbound in First, returning on the 11th overnight in CW. This had the added benefit of saving a further £46 in taxes as these had reduced in the interim, resulting in a total cost of only £324 for my trip.


Start of my journey - Glasgow Airport (GLA) – 08/02/08

After being dropped off by Mrs Efin at about 12:50, I made my way to the Self Service Check-In (SSCI) machines to print off my BPs for both the Domestic leg, and my onward LHR-JFK (in First) then made my way to the bag drop desk to check-in my hold luggage. I had already pre-selected my First seat (2K) but given I was only blue status in the BA Executive Club, and this was a redemption ticket, I was unable to select my domestic seats until 24hrs prior to travel, at which point I had selected seat 4A for the short hop from GLA to LHR. BA’s seating policy only allows pre-selection of seats for Silver and Gold Exec Club members, Emerald and Sapphire OneWorld members, and passengers on full fare tickets.

Normally for such a short trip I would usually just take carry-on luggage, but on this occasion I had some equipment that I had to take across to the office with me that wouldn’t have been allowed through in hand luggage, and given there was plenty of time between my domestic leg and the onward F segment, I was relatively confident that my bags would make it all the way to JFK with me. I’ve been fortunate only ever to have had one bag delayed on my travels before and that was on a very tight connection GLA-LHR-EWR in 2004 where Mrs Efin and I had to practically sprint off the bus from T1 all the way to the gate at T4. I went over to the bag drop zone and used the lane for First/Business/Gold and with only 1 other passenger in front of me, my bags were checked in quickly and tagged all the way

I miss seeing the BA uniforms at GLA – over the past few years BA has continually reduced the services and the staff at this airport – first with the sale of all their regional BA Connect services to FlyBE a few years ago, then replacing all their ground staff with a handling agent and most recently they have completely done away with their Glasgow based flight crews, giving them the choice of redundancy or relocation to London to work out of LHR. It’s a discussion for another time, but needless to say I don’t agree with the choices and it’s been a sad slide down a slippery slope for not only GLA, but the few other regional airports BA still fly to (EDI, MAN, etc).

I made my way through the new “sky hub” part of Glasgow Airport where security screening for the whole airport was now handled. Previously it was split across three separate security zones – one for the LCC hub, one for other domestic traffic, and one for international – now the whole airside area is one common space, much like other airports, and it works quite well. My only big complaint is that you are now forced to walk through the World Duty Free shop once you clear security, and with it the gauntlet of sales assistants asking if you would like to try the various fragrances on sale.

Security was a painless experience and once through I headed down to the small BA lounge at Gate 18 and by 1.15 I was sat with a soft drink waiting for boarding to be called. Normally I would try to spend a bit longer in the lounge here, but due to flight times I was going to have a fair bit of time in T5 (including my first visit to the new Concorde Room ) and wasn’t bothered about lounge time in GLA – opting to leave arriving at the airport until as late as I safely could and getting a bit of extra time with Mrs Efin and Little Miss Efin who I wasn’t going to see for a few days. The lounge itself was very quiet with only a handful of other passengers – a stark contrast to what it is usually like on an early morning during the week, so i sat with my glass of coke and got my stuff ready for the flight.


Boarding passes for the BA1487 GLA-LHR (seat 4A) and BA183 LHR-JFK (seat 2K)


Glasgow (GLA) to London (LHR) – BA 1487 (Domestic Shuttle)

Boarding was called at 1.35pm, just 20 minutes after I got to the lounge, and I collected my things together and headed out the door. Boarding was via gate 19 which is just to the right as you come out the lounge, so it was a short wait for my BP to be read by the gate agent. I headed down the airbridge to the waiting Airbus 319 (G-EUOH) which would be shortly carrying me to Heathrow. I settled down in 4A and after what seemed like only a few more minutes the captain came on to say that everyone was now on board, and thanked us for getting on board so quickly as we were ready to push back a little ahead of schedule.

The flight seemed about ½ - 2/3 full – certainly all the rows in front of me (1-3) had the B and E seats free, and the same was true of my row with nobody between me and the passenger in 4C.

As it was, we seemed to sit on stand for a little while (waiting for clearance I’m guessing) and then started our taxi to the runway while the crew got on with their safety demo. It still staggers me how some people just sit and read their paper when the demo goes on – especially in light of recent events with the US flight landing in the Hudson. Still, that’s their call I guess.

Once we took off I must have immediately nodded off for a bit, as I awoke when the drink service was coming round the cabin about 20-30 minutes later. It was the usual “something sweet or something savoury” on offer, but the Cabin Crew member serving me didn’t even ask – with my drink I was just handed a packet of the birdseed and it wasn’t until I heard his counterpart who was serving row 2 as them if they wanted something sweet or something savoury that I realised the option was there. However, I had thoughts in my mind of dining in the Concorde Room, so could have cared less about what was on offer at that point .

Unlike the weather of the previous couple of weeks, this was actually a very clear and pleasant day and we have clear skies for most of the flight, allowing some good views of the UK. It was clear how widespread the snow had been when you saw from the air the big areas that were still white, and even when we were descending into London to land there was large areas on the outskirts which were still pure white.

Despite the doors closing early, we actually landed a few minutes behind schedule at 3.27pm, and had a relatively short taxi to gate A6.

efincomputer

London (LHR) T5 – Flight Connections and Concorde Room

Gate A6 has a very long airbridge, so once I eventually got to the end of this I followed the signs for T5 connections and after a very short distance arrived at the connections desk. After security had scanned my onward boarding pass I followed the signs up the escalator and then I was suddenly in the T5 concourse! This took me by surprise as my last trip on Long Haul had been April 2008 about 10 days after T5 opened, and it took me about 1Hr 40 minutes from landing at T5 to arriving a the T4 lounge, having been through another security screening at T4 in the process, and I guess I was expecting to have the same “fun” experience at T5. This, however, was the height of simplicity and a very pleasant surprise. As I entered into the T5 concourse I noticed that I was up at the North end near the domestic gates, so I began the long slog along the length of T5 to the south Galleries complex.

I’d only been through T5 3 times previously – the first was only a transfer from T5 domestic to T4 on my last trip and was during the first couple of weeks of T5 opening, so was not an overly smooth or enjoyable experience and I wasn’t in the departures area at all. The second was my return from that trip and I was able to sample both the north and south Galleries Club lounges. My third was a bit more recent – last November – and was through the generosity of a fellow FT’er, Prospero who guested me in to the Galleries First lounge while I was waiting on a domestic leg back to GLA. I found the First lounge to be very nice during that visit, and was looking forward greatly to sampling the Concorde Room (CCR) for a few hours on this trip. I’d heard a great deal on the board previously about the facilities available in the CCR, and had taken advantage of the new BA You First telephone service to book one of the 3 Cabanas available to see what it was like, and was looking forward to sampling the food in the dining room. I know a number of people had given mixed reviews on the BA board about the quality of the food here and the service given, but I had resolved to go in with an open mind. After all, this was only my second ever flight in First, and I guess that makes me easier to please than someone who maybe does 1 or 2 F flights per month and notices any inconsistencies more.

I put my coat and my other bag (keeping my laptop case) in the luggage cloakroom and was sitting in the Concorde Room, sipping champagne by 3.43, a mere 16 minutes after landing at the opposite end of the airport and that’s damned impressive in my book! I was feeling quite peckish by this point and having looked at the menus laying around the lounge I decided to sample the Concorde Dining Room, so off I went. I was seated very quickly in a booth for 1 and my order was taken just a couple of minutes later. The menu seemed to be identical to those around the rest of the Concorde Room, and was as follows:

My table in the Concorde Dining Room


The Signature Burger - which was lovely


Caramalised lemon tart for desert with the strawberry milkshake. Yum!

I opted for the signature burger which I had heard on the board was pretty good, and I have to say it didn’t disappoint. The only downside of course is that you can’t get fries with it – which I’m guessing is down to the airport’s airside restrictions rather than a failing of the lounge. After my burger was delivered it did take a little while before any of the waiting staff came by to take my desert order, but when they did I opted to try the lemon tart AND the milkshake (well, to me a milkshake doesn’t really count as a desert). I was also asked if I’d like more champagne, and of course if would be rude to say no, and unlike when my first glass was delivered in the lounge, this time I was actually asked which one I would like. I opted for the Pol Roger – the Cattier was also available, as was the Lanson Rose. My drink was brought over quite quickly, and a minute of two later the deserts arrived. I found the lemon tart to be quite nice (although it could have done with some more crème fraiche with it), but the milkshake was a bit of a let-down as to me it seemed more like a smoothie than a milkshake – almost as if the ice cream had been missed out. Then again, maybe I’ve got cheap tastes and I’ve never had a “good” milkshake before. Anyway, that one wasn’t for me.

Once I had finished up, I headed through to the Elemis spa to see what treatments were available and was pleasantly surprised to be asked if I wanted a treatment at 5pm (30 minutes away) or one nearer my departure time. I opted for the 5pm slot for the shoulder and scalp massage and headed off for a seat. The lounge was pretty quiet (sadly I’ve no point of reference for whether this is busier on weekdays, or earlier in the day) but I noticed the terrace outside was completely empty so I headed out there to sit until my spa appointment was ready. It’s a lovely space out on the terrace – good feeling of open space and not as noisy as I had been expecting given the main concourse is below. It has a great view out over the tarmac to T5B, but given the time of day it was starting to get darker so visibility was becoming less and less.


A view of the deserted Condorde Room Terrace


Another view of the Terrace


One of the infamous T5 horse lamps

Before long 4.55 came around and I headed over to the Spa for my treatment. I can see now what others have posted about – compared to the old MB spa in T4, this feels a lot less private and while the treatment was nice enough, I’m afraid for me a scalp and shoulder massage through my shirt for 15 minutes just doesn’t match up to a 30 minute full back massage like the MB spa used to offer.

By the time my treatment had finished it was about 5.20, so I headed through to get another glass of bubbly from the bar this time – again I opted for the Pol roger, and the barman duly went and opened a new bottle to pour from. I had booked a cabana via You First for between 6 and 7pm just to try it out, but I decided to see if it was available now, so I headed off to the Quintessential desk which was unmanned at the time. However, they did have a helpful little note on the desk with the mobile number to call if you needed anything, which I did, and it was answered by the second ring. The chap who mans the desk said my cabana was indeed already available for me so off I went to Cabana 3 to see what it was like.

I thought it was a great little room – a nice haven from the outside world – and I can also appreciate why these are so coveted by many and in demand, especially for those who want to try and catch a bit of sleep for a few hours on a long layover for example. I got comfy, stuck on the little TV and put on E4 (watching a couple of episodes of friends!) – if they had any sense they would install AVOD in here ;-) (only kidding). I decided to use the shower, which seemed to be missing a door - although it looked like a runner was in place at the top for one to be hung from so I’m not sure if this was just something that had been removed early on, or a broken door that hadn’t been fixed yet. The shower (or rather the drains) were very noisy, as has been commented on before on the board, and to me sounded like something very nasty being done to a pig! The showers were the same type I remember from my halcyon days of being a silver and using the T1 domestic lounge on many a LHR-GLA return leg, but the pressure seemed to be pretty weak. Strong enough for a good shower, but nowhere near the same as the old showers in T1.


Pretty self explanatory i think


Bring forth the comfy chair!!!


Wash basin in the cabana


The shower cubicle in the cabana - which seemed to be missing a door!

Once I was dressed and feeling a lot more refreshed from my shower, I was still feeling a bit peckish from my earlier dinner in the Dining room, so I used the little call button in the cabana (great little wireless disk which you can move around the room with you) and one of the wait staff promptly knocked on my door. The cabana had two different menus in it – one was the same menu as was in use in the Concorde Dining Room (although it was inside a nice hard-back orange menu holder that actually said Concorde Room on it) and the other just said “First” on it, and I guess it was maybe the menu that was in use in the Galleries First lounge (and I’m kicking myself for not making a full note of what was available on it). I ordered the organic chicken with potato fondant, another glass of the Pol (my 4th!) and a glass of coke, all of which were delivered at the same time (the waitress did actually ask when taking my order if I would like the drinks delivered first or all at the same time, and I opted for the later). So, there was I, sitting in Cabana 3 with my feet up on a nice lounge chair, watching a bit of TV in my own private little space with a glass of champers and some food thinking to myself that (other than Mrs efin not being with me to share the experience) it doesn’t get much better than this.


Dean Forest organic chicken - very tasty

By about 6.20 I decided I’d been in the cabana long enough, so I got my stuff together and headed out. I made sure to let the Quintessential desk know I was done with the Cabana so they could get it ready for anyone else who wanted to use it, and I headed over to the Boardroom to use one of the PCs in there to check my mail. I say that’s why I went there, but the truth of the matter was that I wanted to get a look at the Concorde chairs that they use in there for seats – apparently the actual seats that were removed from the various aircraft. While I sat there using the PC one thing struck me – just how small they seemed – very much like the seats on normal domestic flights. They were very comfortable, and obviously made of much better materials than normal seats (soft leather etc), and I know the whole thing with flying Concorde would have been the speed, the experience of being so high and so fast, and also the service in the air (food, wine etc) so you would want (or be able to have) the kind of seats you get in J or F for example. I still have such a feeling of regret that I only discovered the joys of F & J travel with BA miles thanks to FT after Concorde stopped flying, so despite having the miles by then I had missed out on the chance to fly on the fast plane.

efincomputer

Satellite Terminal 5B – Galleries Club Lounge

After dealing with my emails, I headed round to check on the flight status board if there was any update on my flight, and it was now showing its gate – B35 in the T5 Satellite B. I had the option of staying in the CCR a while longer before heading over, but to be honest I felt I had sampled everything I wanted in the lounge and was quite interested in checking out T5B, as well as making sure I was able to board and get settled in 2K as soon as boarding was announced .

I headed down to the transfer area and took the VERY long escalator down to the depths of T5. The automated transit system is very quick – reminded me of the system I saw in use at Orlando International airport about 15 years ago in fact – and before long I had made the short hop to T5B. Up a couple more escalators and then I was on the main T5B concourse. I was quite surprised by how big this “satellite” terminal was – I think in terms of overall floor spare its actually not far off the size of somewhere like Glasgow airport.

I had a quick look around to check where gate 35 was and had a quick look at my awaiting 747 which was sitting on the stand. I could see the airbridge connected at door 2 and was really looking forward to boarding and turning left, but for now I didn’t waste any more time looking round the terminal, but instead I headed up the escalator to the Galleries Club lounge.


My awaiting BA183 (G-CIVG) flight with the air bridge attached at door 2.


The escalator up to T5B Galleries Club lounge - image courtesy of matthandy

This turned out actually to be a very good sized lounge – bigger, for example, than the Terraces Club lounge at JFK - I’m guessing because of the number of long haul flights leaving from here, and the number of premium pax it has to cater for. When you reach the top of the escalator there are two sets of desks – almost like two entrances to the same lounge, so I headed over to one and after a quick scan of my BP I was through and into the lounge. I dropped my hand luggage off in the cloakroom (there are two but only one was open) and had a quick wander around the lounge before grabbing a soft drink (I’d had enough pre-flight champagne for the time being) and taking a seat. One side of the lounge has soft seating and the work and entertainment zone, and the other side has the dining area with the hot and cold buffet options (with the Elemis Spa at the far end of this). Both sides are connected together by another large seating area which was quite busy.


T5B Lounge seating area - image courtesy of matthandy


T5B Lounge Main Bar - image courtesy of matthandy


T5B Lounge Main Bar - image courtesy of matthandy


T5B Lounge seating area - image courtesy of matthandy


T5B Coffee area - image courtesy of matthandy

There was a reasonable selection of hot and cold snacks available, and these were certainly being taken advantage of by the waiting passengers while I was waiting. I spent most of my remaining time talking to Mrs Efin on the mobile while I was waiting for the boarding to start at 7.35pm, but to my surprise the status on the board changed at about 7.15 to say boarding had commenced, so I collected my bags and coat from the cloakroom and headed downstairs to gate 35 (which was one of the closest to the lounge thankfully). A priority boarding queue was in place for First/Club World passengers as well as BA Gold/Silver and their OneWorld equivalent, but both this and the main queue were still very quiet – probably because boarding had just commenced.

efincomputer

London (LHR) to New York (JFK) – BA 183 (First)

There was a single passenger in front of me on the priority queue and before I knew it I was heading down the airbridge to door 2, where my BP was checked and I was greeted with “good evening Mr Efin – if you’d like to come with me I’ll take you to your seat”^. Oh how good it felt to be walking through the forward cabin of Club World to arrive in First in the nose of this 747 (G-CIVG). This was going to be my second ever flight in F – the first being on a 777 in November 2005 with Mrs Efin – so I was really excited at what the cabin would be like.

When we walked through the curtain, my BP was handed to one of the F cabin crew and the steward who had taken me from the door said that his colleague would be looking after me, before he headed back – presumably to door 2 again.

I was only the second passenger in the F cabin at this stage – the chap in 3K was already seated while I was stowing my bags in the locker above seat 2K, where I’d be pleasantly spending the next 7 hours. My jacket was taken and hung up and as I was getting myself settled a choice of Champagne, OJ or Water was brought over on a tray for me along with a dish of cashews, so of course I opted for the champagne . Next, one of the other F crew came and asked me if I would like a sleeper suit, to which I replied yes and she quickly returned with one in my size (XL) as well as the Anya Hindmarch amenity bag and a hanger for me to put my clothes on. I took a couple of quick pictures of my seat and the cabin before any more passengers arrived and then went and got changed into my PJs. I wasn’t planning on sleeping, but I figured it was a safer bet to be wearing the PJs in case I spilled anything on them, so my shirt and trousers would at least be respectable when I landed .


Seat 2K - my home for the next few hours


Another view of 2K showing my PJs and washbag sitting just behind the AVOD screen


A view of the cabin while it was empty (apart from the other passenger in 3K).

The hanger with my clothes on it was taken as soon as I returned and hung in the wardrobe, and once I was settled in my seat, a top up of my pre-flight drink was offered but this time I opted for some water, which was promptly delivered along with some more nuts. Menus were brought round along with the wine list. The cabin was quickly filling up and it was to end up with 10 out of the 14 seats occupied, with 4K, 5K and 5EF all remaining vacant. One of the crew then came round the cabin to take our drinks order for after take-off (as obviously pre-takeoff was limited to Champagne, OJ or water). I did notice he had a clipboard with a pre-printed list of the seats laid out on it to note this down on – I’m guessing its something BA prints out for their flights to help the cabin crew keep track of everything.

We pushed back from the stand at 7.58pm and the crew commenced the safety demonstration (or rather the video did, and the crew pointed out where the exits were) while we began our taxi to the runway. This took around 25 minutes, and at 8.22pm we turned onto the runway with the famous three chimes sounding in the cabin to indicate we were about to begin take-off. After what felt like a very quick run down the runway (about 35-40 seconds) the nose pitched up and we took off, rapidly climbing up through the clouds.

Having never been in the nose of the 747 (or this far forward on any aircraft for that matter) I have to say it felt eerily quiet in the air – just a very gentle drone from the engines which seemed so far behind me – but so much so that I could easily hear every rustle of a newspaper in the cabin. On the otherhand, the noise from the nosewheel is pretty lound while you’re on the ground, as you hear every turn and creak and groan as the aircraft moves, as well as the thump thump thump as it rolls down the runway for takeoff. It was a new one on me anyway .

While we were climbing, I made a few observations about the cabin. First (no pun intended), it was very clean and I could see no signs of obvious wear and tear or panels hanging off etc as have sometimes been reported on the board. In fact, to my untrained eye I would have said the deep blue carpets looked almost new – perhaps they were. The only other time I have ever flown in First was a few years ago, and it was in the centre seats on a 777 (4E&F) with Mrs Efin and I don’t remember the cabin or the seats feeling so snug back then. I know the 747 is coveted amongst those lucky enough to fly First due to its location, and the lack of foot traffic back and forth through the cabin (as on the 777 the cockpit is obviously in front of F, as is the F galley and toilets etc), but to me this almost felt TOO snug. I know I’ll probably be laughed off the board for saying so, but honestly I felt the width of the “aisles” between the window and centre seats were really quite tight (obviously due to the reduced width in the nose section), but unless you are up and about much in your flight then it wouldn’t be an issue. The seat was certainly very comfortable and padded than those in Club World, but I wouldn’t say that there is a massive difference these days in terms of width or length when compared to CW, especially in one of the “extra” legroom seats as mentioned on the BA board (such as 64A on the upper deck, or 14A on the lower deck). Still, one thing that you cant argue with is the view. Even in row two, the curve of the nose means you start to see a lot of the view in front as well as to the side of the aircraft, and I can only imagine what the view from either 1A or 1K must be like, as there is an even more pronounced curve there.

After take-off, our drinks were quickly brought round – this time I had ordered the champagne, along with a glass or water, and about 15 minutes later canapés were served in the cabin. I declined as its not really my cup of tea, and after the service for these had been completed another member of the cabin crew came round to dispense Customs and Immigration forms for landing in the US. I was unsure if this was the Cabin Service Director, or the F purser, as they did not introduce themselves and I hadn’t seen them before, but she wasnt just normal cabin crew judging by the different coloured scarf she was wearing (I think silver and dark blue instead of the normal red and dark blue of the other cabin crew). I took a customs form and one of the green immigration forms and completed this while I was sitting just to get it over and done with and avoid a panicked rush at the end of the flight. The dinner orders were then taken followed by another round of drink top-ups (my champagne was poured direct from the bottle so I could see it was indeed the Pol Roger that was being served).

The menu was as follows, and once again, a big THANKS to CIHY who had provided me with the menus for this a couple of weeks prior to the trip, enabling me to see if there was something onboard I wanted to eat (given that my tastes are pretty simple). The menu is listed below, and for those interested I believe its being served all this month (Feb 09) on the following BA flights – 173, 179, 183, 239, 293:

I opted to bypass the starter and the salad as nothing really caught my eye (down to my pickiness, rather than any failing on the part of the menu) and ordered the roast fillet of beef. Not being much of a wine drinker, I simply stayed with the champagne as my drink of choice, along with a glass of coke, but for those interested the wine list was as follows:

While I waited on my dinner, I decided to start up AVOD and browse through the available movies. It embarrassingly took me a few minutes to figure out how to get the screen to pop back up from its stowage position, but I eventually found the button under the arm rest which released it. I selected “Eagle-Eye” from the list of new movies as I hadn’t seen it yet and really quite fancied it and settled down to start watching. I have to say that I think the headphones supplied by BA for their First class cabin are pretty poor – they do the job well enough and I think might have some noise cancellation built in, but the look and feel cheap and from what I gather seriously lack behind the competition in terms of what they offer for their First passengers to use.

My table was laid for dinner by the crew and a large basket with a selection of different types of bread and rolls was brought. Shortly after, my main course arrived and while the fillet was perhaps a little pinker in the middle than my personal preference (would it really be such a problem to have these cooked to order in the galley?), the beef was very tender and flavoursome and I polished off my main in no time. Following this, I opted for the sticky toffee pudding and was offered a choice of crème fraiche or vanilla ice cream to go with it. I chose the later and it duly arrived. I have to say that the pudding was gorgeous – very moresome, and if I hadn’t pigged out in the lounge before boarding I would have been tempted to request seconds. My only criticism would be about the ice cream. The portion supplied was a tiny little quenelle(sp?) which judging by how hard it was and extra frozen, was obviously supplied like this as an individual serving. Now, I have a sweet tooth, and one complaint I always have about restaurant deserts is that they never give you enough ice cream when its served with a dish like this, so BA seem to suffer from the same issue. Surely it wouldn’t be a huge problem for them to have a tub of decent vanilla which they can supply on demand? Just seemed a bit stingy to me, but that might have been my sweet tooth talking.


My table set for dinner


Liam Tomlin’s roast fillet of beef with haggis, green beans, garlic chive spätzle and Port wine sauce

Once my table had been cleared, I made a quick visit to the infamous 747 toilet with a window in it – more for novelty value than anything else (although it wasn’t the ONLY reason, obviously). Whilst moving through the cabin I noticed that most of the other passengers were bedded down and sleeping (I think the only other passengers who were still awake were in 2A, 1A & 1K) which surprised me given the time of this flight which arrived into the New York at 10:50pm local time. Yes, I appreciate that this is 3:50am UK time and that it makes for a long day for anyone travelling, but given the affects of jet lag I’ve always found it far easier to stay up late and go to bed at my normal local time than sleep in between, but I’m guessing these people knew what they were doing and were probably far more experienced than I was at long haul travel.

Once back at my seat, I sat and finished off watching the rest of Eagle-Eye and then an episode of the comedy series Big Bang Theory and Family Guy. I had noticed that the cabin lights had been brought right down to a night setting, with only a dim blue light around the top of the cabin, and whatever personal lights the passengers who were still awake were using (which reminds me that one of my two reading lights in the overhead panel weren’t working – unfortunately the main one). The crew had also taken somewhat of a back-seat approach to serving – I’m sure to reduce any disruption to the sleeping passengers, but considering all of us at the front were still awake I would have preferred to have seen a bit more pro-active service.

The service on this flight so far had been fine. The crew were very friendly and helpful, but at no point did I feel the service was anything exceptional, and felt like it was professional service, rather than a friendly and eager service. Don’t get me wrong, the crew didn’t do anything wrong, but my only criticism would be that I felt that for most of the journey (while some of the cabin slept and the lights were dimmed) they were never seen in the cabin. I had to press the call button anytime I wanted anything, which was always answered quickly, but I don’t think it would have taken a lot for one of the crew to come round every 30 minutes or so to check on those of us who were awake and see if we wanted anything. Also, at no point did either the F purser, or the CSD come round and introduce themselves. Now I know this is a big hit or miss area with BA, and certainly on my only other F trip the CSD made a point of coming round the F cabin and speaking to everyone (and that was a full cabin), but it really does make a difference in my perception. I’d say First is the only cabin where I think this should ALWAYS happen. I appreciate the CSD has a lot to deal with on a full flight, but given the F cabin has at most 14 people in it (ok, 17 on some of the 777’s for you pedants out there), it wouldn’t take long to say a quick hello and it makes a big different to how you perceive your custom is treated.

I listened to some audio tracks on the AVOD (coming across Bette Midler singing “Baby Mine” just made me home sick as its one that both Mrs Efin and I sing to little miss Efin as a lullaby, but I listened to it nonetheless and flicked through some pics of the two ladies in my life). I was feeling a bit nibbly, so I pressed the call bell, and ordered a coke and a bag of crisps. Oddly the F cabin doesn’t actually have any crisps, but to their due, the CC member who was serving me said she would check in Club World and duly came back with a couple of bags for me to choose from (I took both). I started to feel a little drowsy (probably a mixture of the late hour, all that food and champagne, and the fact that the cabin lights were so low) and I half-doses for about an hour with the seat reclined, but not flat.


A certain song....

There was about 1 hour and 45 minutes of flying time left when I started up my AVOD again. As I got up to get some things out the overhead bin, one of the crew came over to ask if I would like some afternoon tea. I passed on the sandwiches as I’m not a big fan, but opted for some English Breakfast tea, and the small assortment of cakes (which were demolished in a short space of time). With about 1 hour and 20 minutes to go, the cabin lights were brough up most of the way, obviously to start bringing people out of their slumber. With about 1 hour to go I started to get my stuff in order and went off to get changed out of my sleeper suit and back into my day clothes. I wasn’t back at my seat long when the cabin lights were brought fully up to their original level. At this point the cabin service began in earnest again

Our female Captain, Lorraine Taylor, came on the PA about 40 minutes out to announce we were currently heading over Boston and were beginning our decent towards JFK. Immediately after this one of the cabin crew made an announcement to say that the seatbelt sign would be going on in approximately 20 minutes time and for those wishing to use the washrooms to do so now. Our decent was very smooth and I don’t recall any turbulence through what was a very clear winters night. Visibility was great and I could see a sea of city lights below us and in the distance as we continued to descend over the US landscape and over Connecticut (which was my ultimate destination that evening).

I mentioned earlier on that I’d never been in the nose of a 747 before, and that it was a very quiet environment. It was therefore somewhat of a shock to me when, during our decent, there was suddenly this loud noise below us and the unmistakeable sound of air rushing past as the landing gear doors for the nose wheel were opened and the gear deployed. It didn’t take me long to figure out what it was, and the noise reduced dramatically once the gear was down, but the sudden loud noise nearly caused me to have an accident . First time travellers in the nose of the 747 be warned!

efincomputer

Arrival at JFK Terminal 7

We landed a little ahead of time at JFK and given that taxiing can be a hit or miss affair here I didn’t get my hopes up, but we pulled up to our stand at gate 4 ahead of our scheduled arrival, and we disembarked via door 1 this time. It was good to see that the crew held back the Club World passengers to allow all of us travelling in First off the aircraft before anyone else, so I quickly headed down the corridor to the US customs and immigration hall. The hall was empty when we arrived, and one of the BA ground staff directed us to stand in front of one lane or another. There was only 1 passenger in front of me in my lane, so before long I was standing in from of the immigration officer handing over my passport. I had already completed my ESTA details weeks before my flight departed and had made sure to bring a copy of the authorisation number with me just in case, but as it turned out it was never even mentioned. After the usual fingerprint scan and photo I was off through to the baggage hall to wait for my cases.

Sadly, there seemed to be no priority baggage handling on this occasion, as the number of passengers around the baggage belt steadily grew. I recognised a few of my fellow F passengers who were also waiting on their bags, which certainly were NOT amongst the first off the belt. However, thankfully before too long my bags appeared (I noticed no priority tags had been put on at GLA when I was checking in, even though I could see them on the agents desk and she confirmed I was flying onward in First), and despite my grumbles about having to wait longer than necessary, I was glad they had arrived without being delayed or going missing, as one of them contained some equipment I needed to complete my work on this trip (big sigh of relief to see that).

As per my last trip, the company had booked a towncar to take me to the hotel, so as I was making my way outside I called the limo company to let them know I was there, and they confirmed to me the driver would be with me in 2 minutes, the drivers name and what kind of car I should be looking for. I made my way out to the kerbside, having to dodge the sea of taxi touts (I don’t recall ever seeing this before) whom I found extremely annoying and I imagine could be quite intimidating for certain passengers who weren’t sure of where they were going. I didn’t have to wait more than a couple of minutes when the car pulled up and my driver helped put all my bags in the trunk, before we set off on our journey to Greenwich.

efincomputer

Hyatt Regency Greenwich (King Size Regency Club Room)

The trip must have taken no longer than 40-45 minutes from the airport, given how quiet the roads were at that time of night, and before long I was standing at the reception checking into my Regency Club room. This was the same hotel I had stayed in during my visit in April last year and it was a lovely hotel – more than adequate for my needs on such a short visit. I’m a Hyatt Gold Passport Platinum level member, so I guess I was expecting some sort of vague acknowledgement of this, but none was forthcoming from the otherwise very polite desk clerk, so without further ado I was given the key to my Regency Club room on the forth floor (4096) and I headed up in the lift. Unlike my previous visit, my room this time was located at the far end of the corridor meaning what felt like a very long trek before getting to my room. The room itself was clean and nicely appointed and had the king bed I had requested, but much like my room last year, the bathroom seemed a bit aged looking as if it could do with a bit of modernisation. However, by this point I couldn’t have cared less, having been awake for around 22 hours, so quickly hung up my suit and shirts in the closet and then got into bed, hoping for a good nights sleep.

Work! Work! Work! – 09/02/09

I woke first about 3am – which I was less than pleased about considering I had only gone to be about 2 and a half hours previous. I managed to get back to sleep quite quickly, but woke again at the ungodly time of 5.45 and this time I could not get back over. Around 6.10am I decided to give up and got myself up, giving Mrs Efin a quick call. After a quick shower, I headed along to make use of the Regency Club lounge for some breakfast. There were already a few other people in the lounge when I arrived (I guess this is normal for a weekday visit, as my last trip was mostly over the weekend), and I set about my task of getting breakfast. My first impression was that there seemed to be a far smaller selection of items on offer in the lounge than last year – whether this is a recent change, or an “enhancement” of some sort I don’t know, but there were three bowls with a different type of sliced melon in each, some pastries, some individual packet cereals, yogurts and a small platter with two types of cold meat and two types of sliced cheese. I helped myself to some of the melon, a couple of small pastries and some cold meat and sat down to catch up with the days events on one of the two large flat screen tvs in the lounge. Most of the news items seemed to be focussing on President Obama’s new stimulus package for the economy. After finishing up, I headed back to my room – and obviously it wasn’t just tiredness the night before – it really WAS a long walk back to the room. I got my stuff ready and headed downstairs to the front entrance where the doorman called over one of the waiting cabs to take me to the office.

When I returned later that evening to the hotel, I popped back to the room to drop off my laptop and jacket etc then headed along to the club lounge. The evening selection of food was pretty basic much like the morning selection. The same choice of cold meat was on display (hopefully not the same plate), with a selection of sliced veg and dips (celery, carrot, peppers etc) and there were three cold bowls with a choice of pasta salad in them, none of which particularly appealed. I had a couple of soft drinks and some of the cold ham and celery while I watched the TV, but I was feeling pretty done in, so I headed back to the room and decided to have a room service dinner and watch the TV for a while. I ordered the grilled sirloin steak with fingerling potatoes which was very nice, with a slice of the cheesecake for desert and a couple of soft drinks. I turned in for the night, hoping to get a better (and longer) nights sleep.

efincomputer

More Work! Work! Work! And OLCI – 10/02/09

I woke again just after 3am the first time, but quickly went back to sleep thankfully, waking again about 5:50am. This time I wasn’t able to get back over to sleep, so I lay in bed for a while just watching the news and on the phone to Mrs Efin for a while. After getting up and showering I spent some time on the laptop typing up part of this TR, before heading along to the Club lounge once more for breakfast. The selections were the same again as the previous day, so I had some fresh melon, and a couple of croissants along with one of the ginger muffins (I had one the previous day and they were rather nice – reminded me of gingerbread). I headed back to the room again after breakfast and once I was ready to face the day I headed downstairs to get a cab to the office again.

It was a longer day this time around, as most of the staff were in the office (they are primarily site-based on the contract we are working on in Stamford) and I had several meetings lined up during the day, so it was around 6.30pm before we left. Three of the staff were heading past my hotel to their apartment in Stamford, so they dropped me off at the hotel on the way past, and as the time was getting close to 7pm (and my T-24 check-in opening), I headed up to my room and logged in to the BA website, bringing up my booking. As I have mentioned before, only Silver or Gold members of the BA Executive Club (or oneworld equivalent) can pre-assign seats, so my only choice was to wait until online check-in opened up to see if I could snag my desired seat – 64A on the upper deck of the 747.

I’m sad enough to admit that I kept hitting the refresh button every few seconds until the “Check-in now open” option appeared, and then I quickly headed through to seat selection. Now, 64A is the only seat on the upper deck which isn’t available for pre-booking until T-24 hours, regardless of status so I had as good a chance as anyone of snagging this. However, as soon as I looked at the upper deck, it was showing 64A as occupied – someone had beaten me to it! In fact, the only seat still available on the upper deck was 60J, which was an aisle seat and given the whole cabin was full and there were no windows left on the upper deck, I decided to look at my fall back options on the lower deck.

Much to my surprise, both the front and rear cabins on the lower deck were showing very light loads compared to the upper deck. The forward cabin, which has 18 Club World seats, was showing only 8 seats occupied, including me in 13A where I had been pre-assigned by the system. I noticed that 14A was still free, and I moved myself there as this is one of the rare CW window seats which you don’t need to climb over your seatmate to get out of, and has about an extra 2” of legroom at the bottom as a result. I selected this initially while I looked at the rest of the cabin. The rear CW cabin, which has 22 seats, was showing an even lighter load with only 4 seats occupied. So, out of 70 Club World seats on this flight, only 31 were currently occupied (19 on the upper deck, 22 on the lower). I decided that 14A was the best seat available to me and I was actually quite curious what this would be like on an overnight flight, as my last overnight on the upper deck I felt the cabin was far too warm. I could have had my pick of the rear main deck seats, but the bulk of these are actually over the wing, and I preferred the view from the forward cabin. After confirming my seats for the BA174, I chose 2F for my domestic leg on the BA1474 and then logged out of the system.

Rather than have room service again, I headed down to the gazebo bar in the hotels atrium and had dinner there, opting for some roast chicken with potatoes. I wasn’t feeling overly hungry – mainly due to tiredness – and just signed off the bill before returning to my room. Knowing I might not sleep very long on the flight the next night, I decided to get to bed early, and by 9pm I was tucked up feeling very sleepy and quite happy that I was going to get a good sleep. Alas, it was not to be. I was rudely awoken from my dozing state at around 9.15 with the hotel fire alarm going off in full swing – alternating between a very loud klaxon, and an automated voice saying “an emergency has been detected in the hotel, please leave by your nearest exit”. So, in a half-sleeping state I managed to throw on some clothes and shoes (sans socks), grab my overcoat and head out the door, and down my nearest fire escape. I made my way round to the front of the hotel where all the other guests were congregating and waited in the cold Greenwich night air to see what the state of play was. I heard some people talking nearby saying they were sure they could smell smoke (although I couldn’t) and suddenly as I was now awake I began to think all the worst possible outcomes – that there really WAS a fire, and that my passport which was still in my room was going to end up going up in smoke and I’d have a ton of problems to face tomorrow in order to get home. Thankfully, however, despite the appearance of 4 fire trucks in the intervening minutes, after about 25 minutes outside we were given the all clear to return to our rooms. So, after a quick visit to the reception to get a new room key (which I’d also left in my room) I was back upstairs and back into bed. Sadly though, I was VERY awake by now, and it took me until the back of 11 before I was able to drift off.

efincomputer

A little less Work! Work! Work! / The Journey Home – 11/02/09

I still woke about 3am as usual, but after getting back to sleep I managed to sleep through until about 7am for the first time on my visit – the irony being that my body was now adjusting to the time difference on the day I was due to go home again! Ironic! I got up and showered before I finished packing my cases. As I knew this would be a long day, I decided to have a big breakfast so headed down to the restaurant for the breakfast buffet instead of just having a light breakfast in the lounge.

The buffet was much the same as my last visit – a good selection of fresh fruit (melon etc), pastries, yogurts etc, as well as a hot selection with pancakes, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs and omelettes. I loaded up on a bit of everything, starting with the fruit and pastries, then moving on to a big plate of pancakes and bacon with maple syrup. Mmmmmm! Once I had my fill, I headed back to the room and had a final check to make sure nothing had been left behind, before heading down to reception and checking out. I headed out and caught my last cab of the trip down to the office to get my day underway.

This was to be a shorter day than the previous two, as I had a car booked at 3pm to take me to JFK ready for my 7pm flight. I know this might seem like a long time in advance, but id finished all my critical work for this trip in good time, and given how hit or miss the traffic volumes can be on the trip into JFK at this time of day, I had allowed an hour and a half for the car ride, a couple of hours in the lounge and then boarding to take place about 6.30pm, so this timed in quite nicely. As it turned out, I finished everything by about 12 noon and of the two staff left in the office, the admin assistant had to go home as he was ill, and my other colleague was leaving at 12 to drive out to another site for the next 5 weeks for one of our other projects, so I was faced with sitting in the office on my own for a few hours until the car arrived. I decided to call the car company to see if they could pick me up a bit earlier, and they were able to bring forward the collection from 3pm to 2pm. I was working on the principal that I’d rather spend an extra hour in the lounge than an empty office – the office doesn’t have free booze and snacks! So it was that around 2pm the towncar pulled up and after loading my bags into the boot we were back on the road to JFK. It turned out to be the same driver who had picked me up on Sunday night.

efincomputer

New York (JFK) / Terraces Lounge

Rather than taking an hour and a half to get to the airport, light traffic meant we pulled up in from of JFK Terminal 7 around 40 minutes later, at about 2:50pm. I bade farewell to the driver and went through into the premium check-in zone. I’d already printed off my Boarding passes in the office prior to leaving, so I just headed straight over to the bag drop desks where there was only one check-in agent on duty. She was dealing with two pax in front of me who were travelling together so I waited patiently until it was my turn. After checking my bags through to Glasgow, she informed me that the fast track security lane was closed at the moment and to head round through the main check-in area security lanes and up to the Terraces lounge (which to be honest, is a far more direct route than traipsing all the way round past the Concorde Room from fast track security). The BA check-in zone on the left was pretty busy with what looked like several large groups passing through and it was a similar story at the Iberia desks to the right, so I was glad when I managed to get through to security without too much of a delay. It was the usual shoes off, belt off, laptop out routine for US airports and without any problems I was through and heading up the escalators to the lounge.

When I arrived in the lounge I was advised by the agent on the desk that the spa opened at 4pm and the pre-flight supper opened at 4.30pm (or was it the other way around???) and reminder I could use the pre-flight supper even though I was on a full service flight (but then, I already knew this!). I went into the lounge and sought out my favourite little spot and plonked myself down. I headed over to the bar and got a glass of coke, then popped round to the side snack bar and got some crisps and some shortbread. While I was there, I managed to catch the eye of one of the lounge staff and asked them to bring me over a glass of champagne, which they did a few minutes later. I was surprised to see that even this early on my flight was already showing that it would be departing from Gate 4 – I hadn’t realised that the aircraft sat at stand for so long before some flights.

I spent the next hour or so chatting to Mrs Efin on MSN before pre-flight dining opened up and I headed through to grab something to eat (having had nothing since breakfast). The pre-flight menu was as follows:
I opted for some of the peppered turkey breast as a starter, followed by Penne Pasta with Bolognese sauce for my main. I then had some of the Lemon Sorbet, which sadly just came in a tiny shot-glass (I was hoping for a big serving instead of a palate cleanser) and then finished up with a couple of the chocolate chip cookies. It was a good enough basic meal, but I wouldn’t really say you could qualify a cookie as a desert – it would have been nice to see some sort of cake here or proper desert – even ice cream.

Once I had finished I headed back through to the lounge and chatted some more online. I had decided not to bother with a spa treatment this time as I didn’t really rate the one back in Heathrow as anything special, and ever since the Molton Brown spa changed hands there was no longer a full back massage on offer. Instead I caught up a bit more on my Trip Report, and some more champage and snacks and by around 6.20 I decided to head round to the gate. No boarding signs had been shown in the lounge for the flight yet, but I wanted to be able to get on board as quick I as I could and as luck would have it by the time I walked round to gate 4 boarding was already underway.

There was a priority queue in place which was empty when I got to it, so my BP was scanned and I was down the air bridge on my way to the aircraft. I had heard prior to our boarding, and announcement going out for the BA112 which was announced as boarding from Gates 5 and 6, with priority boarding through gate 5 for all first and club world passengers. I’m guessing this was perhaps due to the flight being much busier and them being able to justify connecting both air bridges to split the premium traffic off.

efincomputer

New York (JFK) to London (LHR) – BA 174 (New Club World)

Upon arriving at door 2, the CSD checked my boarding pass and directed me to turn right (oh, how long would it be until the next time I got to turn left into First like my outbound journey???) and I was immediately in the front Club World cabin. I found my way to 14A and as soon as I took my jacket off, one of the cabin crew offered to hang it for me in the closet, so I handed it off to them and got my stuff sorted at my seat. This was the first time out my last 3 in Club World, where I was in a seat on the main deck instead of the upper deck so I was looking forward to comparing the two. The biggest difference I noticed immediately was the lack of storage at the window – this is perhaps one of the biggest benefits of window seats on the upper deck, so instead I used the little laptop tray at the side of the seat to place my notepad, camera, wallet etc and settled back in my seat on this 747 (G-CIVF). Whilst there was less space for storage, I actually felt there was a little more space to the side of the seat then there was upstairs, which in turn made it a little easier to get in and out of the seat if the footrest was down.


View from my seat


A very empty Club World cabin


Sitting at the gate waiting to leave


Another BA 747 at the next gate

Pre-flight drinks were brought round with a choice of Champagne, OJ and water as usual – I of course went for some champagne – along with a pack of macadamia nuts and then washbags were distributed. I have to say I noticed a HUGE drop in the quality of the washbags in Club World since my last trip in 2008. They are smaller and have an altogether cheap feel to them and it really smacks of penny pinching – not what you would expect from a business class product.


Pre-flight champers

As boarding continued I made some more notes in my pad for the trip report, and was keeping an interested eye on the stairs to the upper deck. From where I was sitting I could see everyone going up there and I was wondering if indeed it had been due to a passenger with an infant occupying 64A that had prevented me from grabbing it at OLCI as I was sequence 001 in the check-in, but the seat was already booked and I believe this is the only way this could have happened. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly don’t have any issue with this as everyone is entitled to an equal chance to grab the seat, and with all the additional space around the cot position in 64A and the side storage bins it would make an ideal place for an infant (other than having to carry everything upstairs, which wouldn’t be an issue if two of you were travelling). However, if there had been someone with an infant they must have boarded before me as I didn’t see any infants going upstairs.

Before long the First Officer (who’d voice we would become familiar with, but more of that later) came on to thank us all for boarding so quickly as everyone was on board and the doors were now closed with us ready to begin our pushback. The cabin crew came round and handed out the menus for the flight and I had a quick glance around what I could see of our cabin from my seat and it did indeed appear to be as empty as it did during OLCI. This was a good sign for me in terms of greater crew to passenger ratios on this trip, but it did make me wonder if it was a sign of the current economic times – if there were many flights with such low passenger numbers in the premium cabins.

We pushed back from stand a few minutes ahead of schedule and then we waited. And waited. And waited. The First Officer came back on to say that there appeared to be a fault with one of the generators in the Auxiliary Power Unit in the tail and that this was causing a few knock on problems with the systems on board. The crew carried out a manual safety demonstration while engineers were apparently looking into the problem. I wasn’t aware of any steps being brought to the aircraft (bearing in mind how close I was to door 1) but suddenly two BA staff in high-viz jackets appeared from behind me and immediately headed up the stairs, presumably to talk to the captain about the problem. The FO then came on again to tell us they were going to try rebooting certain systems onboard to see if it would clear the fault – including completely switching off all the lights on board, so after they made it clear to all passengers AND crew to ensure they were sitting down somewhere and not moving around the cabin, the lights did indeed completely power off, as did AVOD (as the system went through a few reboots). After several restarts of various systems, the FO came back on to say we were going to have to return to the stand to allow the engineers to look at the problem further (having already been off stand for about 45 minutes at this point).

We returned to gate 4 where we had previously been sitting, and sat there for another 45 minutes with various systems being switched off and back on again, and I was getting a sinking feeling that either the plane was about to go tech, or that we would be leaving with some systems non-functioning such as the AVOD or ovens. However, the FO came on with good news saying they had found a way round the problem, which was only an issue when the 4 engines weren’t running, so they simply started all 4 engines while connected to the external power unit at the gate and then we pushed back once more, this time continuing on our taxi to the runway.

With the 90 minute delay we had now picked up, I already knew my chances ot making my connecting domestic flight were zero, unless we made up serious time en-route, but as it was all on the one booking I was confident that BA would automatically put me on the next flight.

Our taxi didn’t seem to take too long and as we turned onto our runway, the familiar three chimes sounded. Full thrust was applied to the engines and we accelerated down the runway, before the nose lifted and we began our steep climb into the night sky.

The seatbelt sign seemed to be switched off very quickly, while we were still in a fairly steep climb – something I’d not seen before. Obviously I’m used to the crew moving about soon after take-off, but it seemed that the crew and passengers were allowed up at the same time on this occasion. I wasn’t complaining and quickly grabbed the top from my First Sleepsuit and changed out of my shirt into this in the toilet, before returning to my seat. I hadn’t bothered with the whole thing and just kept my jeans on, but I found the top far more comfortable to relax in.

Drinks orders were taken shortly followed by the dinner orders for those wishing to partake. The menu is listed below (and thanks again to CIHY for supplying this in advance of the trip):, and for those interested I believe its being served all this month (Feb 09) on the following BA flights – 66, 112, 174, 184, 212, 216, 228, 294, 296, 2172:

I opted to bypass the starter again, and ordered the seared fillet of beef. I just had a glass of coke with this (not being one for wine), but for those interested the wine list was as follows:
I started up the AVOD and began to watch “How To Lose Friends And Alienate People” starring Simon Pegg and before long one of the Cabin Crew came round to offer a top up of my drink, and to advise that my beef would just be a few more minutes. I noticed that the headphones used in Club World seemed to be the same type as those used in First Class – effective enough and I would say these were acceptable in business class, but as I mentioned earlier on in my trip report, I didn’t feel these were really good enough for First Class.

Bread was brought round and shortly followed by my tray, which had my cheesecake desert on it and this was shortly followed by my main course. The beef was actually very good – once again a bit pink for my liking, but as far as airline food goes it was a really nice piece of beef – very tender and tasty. Once I had finished this off, I had the cheesecake which was very nice – so much so that I asked one of the crew for another one if there were enough left, and this was brought straight over – it seemed to be a good crew on the flight and nothing seemed to be a bother. Probably didn’t do any harm that the flight was so lightly loaded as it would mean the crew were under a bit less pressure.

Once the tray was cleared away I settled back and watched the rest of the movie, and once it was done I decided to get some sleep. I put the seat down almost flat, pinched an extra pillow from 14B which was vacant, stuck the blanket over me and after I popped in my ear plugs I shut my eyes to try to sleep. I would say I slept a deep sleep, but I did manage about 3 hours of restful sleep which for me is pretty good. The sky outside had a lovely wintery pink shade to it and as we came in over the south of england it was covered in a blanket of fresh white snow.


Sunrise over the Rolls-Royce engines


Winter wonderland


Snow? What Snow?

I awoke with about 1 hour and 40 minutes of flight time left and as soon as I was up one of the crew asked me what I would like for breakfast.I opted for the fresh seasonal fruit followed by the bacon roll, and these were brought out very quickly. So much so that either the crew has been pre-emptively preparing some of the breakfast trays, or had microwaved the bacon for speed (I don’t even know if this is something they have on board???) The fruit was fine – nothing exciting, and the bacon roll was ok too, but I did feel it was a bit rubbery. Once everything was finished and cleared away I got changed back into my shirt and began tidying up everything into my bags. Once I had everything ready for landing, I put my seat back in the take-off/landing position, put my blanket and pillow in the overhead bin to ensure the area around my seat was cleared, and then browsed through some more of the AVOD selection to kill time. I didn’t really watch anything special but listened to a few audio tracks instead until the seatbelt sign came on and I had to stow the screen back for landing.


Descent over a frosty outer London

efincomputer

Heathrow Terminal 5

After landing, we taxied to Terminal 5B and had to wait for a few minutes as there was another aircraft on our stand which was just leaving. Thankfully it was just a couple of minutes, but looking at the time which was now 8.22am, I knew there was NO chance of me making the BA 1474 which was due to depart at 8.30am. Having spoken to one of the crew before landing they had confirmed that I would have been rebooked automatically and that if someone wasn’t waiting at the gate for me when we got off, to just proceed to the customer services desk at UK border control.


Arrival at Heathrow Terminal 5


A couple of BA 747s waiting at Terminal 5B

I was amazed to see when we pulled onto gate 44 that sitting right next to us was the very aircraft that I had flown out on Sunday to JFK on (G-CIVG) – with a view of the very windows I was looking out from seat 2K just 4 days ago. Sigh! It had come in from Johannesburgh and was heading out several hours later to Mumbai and I couldn’t help wondering who would be sitting in “my” seat on its next journey!


G-CIVG sitting on stand


View from Gate B44 of G-CIVG sitting at B43

As we pulled onto stand the Captain came on the PA for the first time since we left JFK to welcome us to Heathrow and also to bid farewell to one of the cabin crew, who was leaving BA and whos final flight this had been (which I thought was a very nice touch). Our jackets had already been handed out to us before landing so as soon as the seatbelt signs went off I put on my jacket and got my laptop case from the overhead bin. As there weren’t many of us in Club World, thankfully there wasn’t a huge crush of waiting passengers in the aisle. What I did find very unusual was that one of the cabin crew came through the cabin past the waiting passengers with her coat on and pulling her cabin bag, waiting to get off the aircraft. Now, im not sure if this was the girl who was finishing up that day, or perhaps a member of staff who had been travelling and was late for their next duty, but I thought it was a bit unusual that she would essentially walk to the front of the waiting passengers to ensure she got off quickly.

Once the door was open, we started to disembark and I noticed that this crew didn’t hold back the Club World passengers to allow the First passengers off first, so there was a bit of a mixture of F and CW passengers heading out the door, along with the member of cabin crew who had been waiting with her bag.

There was a mass exodus towards the transit system, and as I left the air bridge I noticed that there were a couple of BA staff waiting holding signs for specific onward flight numbers – I’m guessing to assist these connecting passengers to their next flight. Nobody was waiting for me, but then again there were a number of later connections available for my flight and as I my original aircraft would have by now probably be pushing back from stand, it wasn’t such an issue.

I headed through to the customer services desk and picked up my new boarding pass as I had indeed been booked onto the BA1476 which was due to depart at 10.05am. However, to my shock, the seat I had been automatically assigned was 31C!!! I forgot planes went that far back! I then proceeded through UK Border Control and (seemed pretty quiet and I was through quickly) and up the escalators to the security scanners again. I had to go through this last year as well and I still find it completely pointless that you have to go through security again as soon as you’re off a plane from a longhaul flight. My cabin bag went through and I had actually forgotten to remove my washbag from it (and the liquids contained within), but it passed without any issue so either they have relaxed their restrictions for connecting passengers, or the operator wasn’t too sharp on the ball – which is a bit worrying come to think of it.

I decided not to go all the way down to the South Lounges – I’ve been there before and I decided just to spend my time in the North Galleries lounge, which was just along to the left from security and a much shorter walk and to be honest I was feeling a little harassed by the whole delay and the fact that my battery on the blackberry had died so I was incommunicado (although thankfully it had just enough juice to call Mrs Efin and advise her that I would be on a later flight, as she would be collecting me from the airport).

I handed over my BP and after a few minutes of frowning and tapping at the keyboard I prompted the male lounge dragon that I had just come off a Club World flight from JFK, and suddenly everything was fine and I was ushered through. The lounge was the busiest I’ve seen it (not that I’ve seen it very often) but I noticed that the terrace was quiet, so I went through and found a seat, dumping my stuff down. I then went back through and retrieved myself a bacon roll (with brown sauce of course) and a glass of coke, before going back through to my seat and relaxing again.

I looked at my boarding pass and thought I would go and see if I could get a seat further forward as I didn’t want to be the last off the aircraft at Glasgow, so having spoke to one of the Lounge staff at the entrance, she had a look at the seat map on the system and was able to offer me 13A – everything else seemed to already be occupied so this looked like it was going to be quite a busy flight up to Glasgow.

It didn’t seem like long at all once I was back at my seat before I noticed the flight was showing as boarding from gate 5, so I headed downstairs to the gate. Boarding hadn’t actually begun when I went down, so I grabbed a seat near the gate and after a few minutes I noticed the gate staff take a phone call and then there was a flurry of activity as they returned to the two separate desks so I took this as a sign they were about to call the flight for boarding. I casually sauntered over to the start of the queue barrier and my hunch was correct – the flight was called, so I proceeded to the gate agent who took my boarding pass and scanned it. However, it did not appear the machine liked the pass, so I mentioned that it might have been because my seat assignment had been changed from 31C to 13A, but as it turned out it was actually a fault with that machine – after the pass had been scanned by the other desk agent I was allowed through. And proceeded down the airbridge.

London (LHR) to Glasgow (GLA) – BA 1474 (Domestic Shuttle)

I made my way to seat 13A and popped my jacket and bag in the overhead bin. I was feeling pretty tired and was just looking forward to getting home at this point at the end of what felt like a very long journey. As I settled into my seat I couldn’t help but notice on the safety card that this was an Airbus 321 aircraft (G-EUXI) and was virtually full of the blue leather collapsible/extendible that are used when in a Club Europe configuration, so I was curious why such a big aircraft was being used on this route, but put it down to the full load.

However, it turned out that rather than the flight being almost full, it was actually very lightly loaded, with only a few passengers spread throughout the cabin. It dawned on me that perhaps a lot of the seats had been blocked off to trim the aircraft due to the light loads, as there were a LOT of empty seats further forward than row 13A where I had been relocated to. However, I certainly wasn’t bothered enough about this to ask to be moved further forward – I just wanted to get on with the flight.

Once the doors were closed and the safety video was finished, we completed our short taxi to the runway and were quickly into the morning skies over London. I think I must have nodded off again almost immediately as I awoke again (much like on my domestic trip down) when the drink service was coming through the cabin. I opted for the “something sweet” option with my glass of coke, which was essentially just a muesli bar. I wasn’t sure if a full hot breakfast would be served on a flight departing after 10am, and it would appear that it isn’t. I dozed during most of the rest of the flight, only really waking up when the seatbelt sign came on and we began our decent towards Glasgow.

It seemed to be very cloudy outside, as during the whole decent I never once saw the ground and in fact, as we descended to the runway it appeared we were in a light fog or mist, as visibility was quite low (but I was thankful it wasn’t so low that it affected our arrival, as a further delay to this trip would not have been welcome).

We taxied to stand 19 which is where my whole trip had commenced from, so there was a certain symmetry to it. Given the light loads it wasn’t long before I was off the plane and heading down to baggage reclaim to pick up my cases which had been (hopefully) checked through from JFK. I did have some concerns that me being transferred to a later flight would have thrown the baggage system into confusion at Heathrow, but after waiting just a few minutes I was greeted by the welcome site of both bags coming round the carousel. Bags in tow, I headed out to the pick up point were Mrs Efin was waiting, bringing this trip to an end.

Overall, I enjoyed my trip and was grateful that the 50% mileage sale a few months earlier had given me the opportunity to fly in First Class again, as well as experience the new T5 Concorde Room, but to be honest my experience in the air in First Class wasn’t a huge difference from the return in Club World. I hope to travel in F again at some point in the future (with Mrs Efin joining me) but I think I’d ensure it was an earlier flight the next time so that I didn’t suffer from what seemed like a Sleeper Service in First Class. BA are still tops for me, but I’ll be interested to see what their new F product is like when its eventually unveiled.

Fin

faithwins

Fantastic Report! Enjoyed Reading!

Moomba

JL ask you how you want your Wagyu beef fillet cooked when travelling in First.

Great report so far efin. I look forward to reading the rest of your tale.

UCBeau

Wonderful read (so far), thank you ^

efincomputer

Sadly, until BA do a 50% mileage sale that lets you fly F in JL, i'll have to take your word for it

Efin