Moomba

Someone once told me that there is an old Japanese saying that translates to something like 'tree rot from top'.

Matt, did you change the placement of the bread plate or did they set it up on the wrong side each time?

LondonElite

A nice update...I've done the BKK-LHR run in F quite a few times and agree that the new airport is not much better than the old one. I'm surprised you got through the fast track so quickly...usually it is a mess. I also agree that the lounge is a complete joke, and there are never enough seats for all the flights that take off at that time.

Earthman

Excellent trip report so far matthandy keep it coming!!

botham

The quality and size of the various lounges can be greatly contrasting. The lounge at IAH doesn't even offer champagne to F pax and as you say, some lounges are very small.

The food offerings can vary significantly.

Some of the best food I have enjoyed in my limited experience of lounges, was in Gate 51 at Stansted, where we were offered hot and cold snacks, to order, including a very nice risotto.

robofski

Fantastic trip report, I'm actually quite disappointed that I have to wait for the rest

Must ask what camera you use, your pictures are 'First' class!

Genius1

Great update for the BKK-LHR sector, matthandy ^

It must've been nice to have the stopover in BKK and not to be so tired from two longhaul flights back to back, thus enjoying each sector to its maximum. I wish I'd stopped over to and from Australia last year (but the sale fare I booked didn't allow it).

I completely agree with you about BKK airport - horrid place, and the lounge isn't great. The staff are really quite rubbish there.

Pleased to hear of the service and food onboard. I don't think the crew should've discussed their colleagues, however - a little unprofessional I feel.

Personally though, that breakfast sausage isn't cooked too well. At least it looks like the scrambled egg was actually cooked (unlike mine coming back from HKG).

Looking forward to the next update, as ever!

HIDDY

Nonsense man....it's a super airport when one is flying TG F.

Another great instalment Matt with good quality pictures. Glad to hear you had a great crew and the food was to your taste.......that sausage could have done with a bit more browning on the outside though.

Looking forward to the rest. ^

Austin Winters

Wow, fantastic trip report so far!

I am eagerly awaiting the rest, but I do have one question for you. Are you happy with the BA service or would you have rather flown on QF?

matthandy

Thanks everyone for your comments, I'm hoping to get the next update out in next few hours.

Yep, it was a really great flight, I was beaming as I stepped off the aircraft. For all I knew, I was the only one in F on that flight, down to the way that I was treated by the crew.

Good point, I didn't spot that at the time, but yes, it should be on my left. They laid the table up incorrectly.

I much prefer SIN if doing the flight as a single trip, the lounges are so much nicer, and the airport is less of a maze. Surprisingly, the staff in the business lounge on the way back were so much better, exactly how you expect Thai service to be, warm and friendly.

I can understand your opinion about it seeming unprofessional to discuss their colleagues, but I really think that it came out of embarrassment rather than any ill intention.

Perhaps you are right about the sausage too, that could have done with longer and the bacon less, to stop it turning into plastic.

Thanks HIDDY. I bow down to your sausage expertise , yes, it could have been in for a bit longer, but it was fine. The one of the LHR-BKK sector was fantastic (and much better quality), you'll see later.

Thanks! I've flown more times with BA than any other carrier, however, I am a total Qantas apologist. Everytime I have flown long haul with them, the service, the crew and the overall product has been excellent. During the write up for my first flight, I constantly went on about how I had better service in J on the A380, and I meant it. I don't understand the media obession in Australia with bashing Qantas to death, they are great airline, with great staff and I enjoy flying with them everytime I do so.

So in answer to your question, yes, I would have preferred to fly with Qantas, but only on the A380, since New First on BA (my next flight) is far better than the Old First or Qantas 747 First product.

matthandy

My plane - G-BNLM

It was a pretty long walk to immigration, through a mass of corridors but when I arrived, it wasn’t too busy. I’d phoned my sister on the way, she’d already arrived and was sitting having a coffee in Terminal 5, so I had to get my skates on.

The agent that scanned my passport was rather funny. He called me ‘young man’ despite being nearly 30. I pointed this out to him and he just replied that he was 55, and ‘what of it’ .

As I made my way down to the baggage belts the bags were already coming out, but there was no sign of mine of course. Shortly, my bag arrived and I went through customs. It was about 6.45am at this point and I still had to transfer to Terminal 5.

I made my way down to the Hex and to be honest, it was so far to actually get to the train it felt like I had already walked half way to T5.

The free transfer only took a few minutes and I was soon up into the departures area of T5, greeting my sister, although it took a bit of encouragement to get a hug out of her, charming!


Heathrow Express


T5 Departures

We made our way to check in, at the Club desks and the agent recognised that we were returning on the same day and because we weren’t checking in any luggage, she printed our return boarding passes too.

I needed to get rid of my luggage and refresh so I explained to my sister that I was going down to the arrivals lounge (and that she couldn’t come), would dump my suitcase at the left luggage and then return so that we could go through to the lounge.

So I dashed downstairs to the arrivals lounge (located between departures and arrivals) to grab a shower. It was about 7.20am at this point, so my sister had already been waiting for quite a long time. The promise of free champagne seemed to placate her though.

I was welcomed into the lounge and offered an invitation to the Concorde Dining Room which I declined, as I’d be going through to the ‘real’ dining room shortly anyway. I went over to the shower reception and was assigned a shower room. It had been several years since I’d last been in the arrivals lounge so I had trouble finding my allocated room. I’d be surprised if there isn’t more than 50 individual cubicles, and finding a specific one is tricky.

I manoeuvred myself and my luggage into the cubicle and set about unpacking a change of clothes and my wash kit before starting up the shower. The awful noises slurping noises were still present. It sounded like a horse throwing up.


Finding my shower


Inside the shower cubicle

Despite the horrible noises coming from the floor (I found it best to keep feeding the drain with water), I was able to have a very refreshing shower, and the water pressure was pretty good.

I cleaned up, changed and then headed out to the main lounge area to have a quick look around before leaving to go to the left luggage service.


Breakfast area

The left luggage facility is located towards the northern end of the arrivals level and will store your luggage for you for a few hours or many weeks, as you require. I wanted them to store my bag for about 14 hours, which would cost £8.40. Not too bad I suppose, it was that or lug my 20kg suitcase around Paris.

So I made my way back upstairs for the second time, collected my sister and then made our way towards the south security screening. This seemed pretty busy, and whilst fast track was available, I wasn’t sure about eligibility, since only my status, Silver, (not class of travel) might let me through. The queues all seemed rather equal anyway.

My sister is diabetic (only recently diagnosed) and I had never travelled with her through security before with her medical equipment. I’d asked her to get a letter from her doctor, just in case. I went through first and told her to inform the agent that she was carrying needles and liquid medication. These went in a separate tray and they did receive a close inspection from the security staff, but no questions were asked and she didn’t need to produce the letter.

And so, we were both through security, for my sister, her first time in T5, and she was going to make it a good one.

Many BA regulars complain about the long, up and down trek to the lounge complex, which is actually only a door away from security. For First class passengers using the Concorde Room, BA’s special lounge that is reserved only for passengers departing or arriving in First class (no Oneworld access) there is a special door, that takes you directly into the lounge.

I had seen this door many times and longed for the day when I would be able to grace it’s threshold. Since my first trip report, back in September 2008, every time that I have flown from T5, I’ve commented that I’ll be able to use it one day. Well, today was that day.


The Special Door – Access to the Concorde Room
Taken from my first ever trip report back in 2008

We were welcomed at the door by a friendly agent. I presented both my boarding passes (inbound First and my Paris BP) and then my sister’s BP. Initially there was a bit of confusion, and he asked if my sister had arrived in First also, to which I said no, but that she was my guest. “Of course, no problem, enjoy the lounge”, and we were in…..only to be met by a secondary check where our boarding passes were scrutinised and scanned again. I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t be allowed a guest, since there is some confusion as to whether this privilege is extended to arriving as well as departing passengers. Well, they let us in and by 8am I’d fulfilled a little geeky ambition of mine. I said that I would.


The bar


In front of the fire

First impressions, well, ‘room’ is right, it’s not very big, in fact, much smaller than I had imagined. It was very well appointed, with plush furniture and lots of nooks and crannies to settle down in. Luckily it wasn’t very busy, with just a few assorted passengers scattered around. I’d hope to have seen some celebrities, but alas, while the other passengers certainly looked at home in the Concorde Room, none of them I recognised.

We made our way to the dining area to get some breakfast. The tables were already laid out, with printed menus, cutlery, napkins and condiments.

I’d already explained to my sister just how exclusive the lounge is and to act appropriately. She had never been in any airport lounge before in her life, so she was getting spoiled really! She motioned to put the little pots of jam into her bag and asked if she could take them home, no! But she was joking…

Here is the breakfast menu:

The very friendly waitress came over and we placed our order. I went for the eggs Benedict, my sister, the cooked breakfast. She asked if we wanted anything to start, and we ordered some toast. Then she moved on to drinks and I asked what champagnes they had. There were two roses and one white, these were:

- Bruno Paillard Rose Premiere Cuvee
- Gosset Grand Rose Brut NV
- Cattier Premier Cru Clos du Moulin

I decided to have a Bucks Fizz and my sister chose a glass of the Gosset. We also asked for still water to go with it.

As our drinks arrived we asked the waitress to take our photo, which she did, gladly, even asking to take a second one just in case.

As we enjoyed our champagne, our food arrived. The presentation of mine wasn’t great as it was drowning in Hollandaise sauce. My sister’s looked better, still, it all tasted pretty good so there were no complaints from either of us.

The waitress came back to ensure that we were well topped up and I asked for a glass of the rose that my sister had been drinking, preferring it over the very dry Bucks Fizz.


Concorde Dining


Eggs Benedict, full English, toast and drinks

After breakfast, and with champagne glasses in hand we headed out on to the terrace to settle in for the next hour or so whilst we waited for our flight. There was only one other person on the terrace so we had the pick of the chairs and found a couple of sofas to relax on.

I enjoyed the view over the departures hall and out onto the apron, with the runway and T5B in sight.


The terrace


Departures area (I’ve never actually sat out there)


Out on the terrace

Video of the Terrace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr-KRV7l28Y

As we settled down, a waitress came over to offer more drinks. We still had to make a headway into our champagne so just asked for water. We both agreed that the Gosset was fantastic, and I’d say that it was the best rose champagne that I had experienced. I should have bought a bottle back to Australia with me.

The lounge gradually got busier, and soon we were joined by quite a few people on the terrace. My sister wanted to head inside, but there really wasn’t anywhere better to sit than where we were. My sister seemed to be taking this all in her stride, a guess that she was enjoying a slice of the ‘good life’, I was.

For the next hour we sat and chatted away, admiring the view and ordering another glass each of champagne. Yes, it was barely 9am, but so what, everything was there to be enjoyed. I could always use the excuse that it was evening for me anyway, since I was on Sydney time still.

Our scheduled departure to Paris was 10.45 and at 9.55 the gate was announced, A22, another first for me, having usually departed T5 from the B terminal or by the dreaded bus.

The flight showed as boarding by 10.20 so we finished up our champagne and made our way down to the gate. I was a bit disappointed that I hadn’t managed to take many photos of the CCR, since it had been busy, and doing so would have meant sticking a camera in people’s faces, which I’m sure would not have gone down well. I did manage to get a nice shot of the bar presentation though. If only we had been able to stay longer.

Genius1 has a large selection of photos of the Concorde Room in his latest trip report: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...ss-w-pics.html


Wine display

Verdict on the Concorde Room

So how was it? Well, it was certainly smaller than I had imagined, but as luxurious. The waiting staff in the dining area were great, very attentive and friendly. The quality and presentation of the actual food could have been better, but it tasted great and it was just what I needed after coming off the long Bangkok flight.

The drinks selection was excellent, certainly the best rose champagne that I’ve had before. The waiting staff in the lounge looked a bit stretched, and they probably weren’t able to be that pro-active because of it. That is the only point that I would like to see improvement on.

Overall, a very relaxing and comfortable way to spend a couple of hours before our flight to Paris, and the main thing, my sister thoroughly enjoyed being a lady of leisure.

the_seeker1977

Great trip report - sounds like you had a ball.

Genius1

Good CCR pics ^ (And thanks for the free advertising of my trip report )

Good to hear of the improved service levels, too.

Why did you go the arrivals lounge, though? You could have dropped your luggage off, met your sister and guested her into the CCR. Whilst you showered in the Galleries South complex (or cabana, if one free), your sister could've been enjoying the CCR rather than waiting it out in departures...

malkie

Genius I linked to your original T5 CCR TR photo bonanza in my recent F trip with BA - your photos cover everything!

I'm guessing the OP went to Arrivals to complete the experience.

I the continued photos are amazing! Really enjoying them!

azcoyote

Awesome pics. Thanks so much for sharing!

cornishsimon

Very much enjoying this trip report, especially as this is something I'm considering doing on my 2for1.

Looking forward to the rest of the report and future trip reports by the op

cs