return flts from London DO
Feb 27, 2004, 3:01 pm
#1
In memoriam
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: IAD, BOS, PVD
Programs: UA, US, AS, Marriott, Radisson, Hilton
Posts: 7,203
return flts from London DO
0217 UA 949 LHR ORD 1210 1455 777
9AB
We got there in plenty of time,
Heathrow Express being a godsend
albeit a quite costly one (L25
return); the United counters were
not at all crowded, partially
because we were so early, partially
I think because loads were light -
almost the entire middle section of
the big business class part ended up
empty, and there were 3 empties in
the little business class part. F
was almost completely empty, but it
became half full with SAs at the
last moment (loud giggly
conversations between the working
FAs and the nonworking ones).
So there was plenty of time after
checkin, so C went to Boots and Lush
outside security, actually buying
yet more cosmetics (she made her
best talking-to- little-boys voice
and said, oo want er sweetie to be
nice & smooth & sexy for oo, don't
oo). The fast lane took mere
moments, and off we went to the
great huge shopping mall inside,
where we thankfully didn't find
anything that struck our fancy,
despite our (her) looking pretty
hard. I discovered that the Johnnie
Walker Collection costs $10 more at
the World Duty Free than it does on
board United. I also discovered that
the agent at the UA desk gave me
totally wrong directions to the
London Lounge, with the (no doubt
desired) result that we would have
had to go back through security to
get there, so we gave up and used
the RCC instead, where we found that
the once low level of catering has
become abysmal. Instead of a big
dish of mixed nuts with a trowel so
you could help yourself, there are
now plastic packets of peanuts and
various kinds of crisps. Hennessy VS
is the Cognac; Famous Grouse the
Scotch. The Sacred Hill Shiraz-Cab
wasn't too awful, and the Murphy's
(I think) Shiraz a surprising
winner. There is also the Moreau
Chablis in the cooler, the best of a
bad lot. Got my e-mail on a computer
that crashed every five minutes, and
after a few more rounds of bev, it
was to the gate and a very lightly
loaded aircraft. Of course, C is my
charm, and there was naturally a
small infant directly in front of
me, his cries amplified by the
bulkhead in front. Whenever C and I
fly together in F or C, there is
going to be a screaming baby nearby;
this is almost a given. Well, this
was a UGS baby, and as soon as we
took off, he fell asleep: cried on
descent, though.
Service was ok, barely correct, not
worth paying a premium price for,
but that's par for the course these
days. But how many of us actually
pay a premium price?
Congestion on the runway, but we got
off in fairly good time, maybe half
an hour or forty-five minutes after
schedule, during which my tired old
eyes saw what appeared to be a
Concorde in BA livery parked off to
the side of the runway.
TO BEGIN Sliced smoked salmon with
capers and lemon aioli
Decent salmon, as usual, quite a
generous serving.
Garden salad, classic Caesar
dressing
MAIN COURSE Sauteed filet mignon
with Dijon mustard sauce, mashed
potatoes with parsley, green beans
and sauteed cherry tomatoes
The meat was almost uncuttable by
the plastic cutlery provided; the
mustard sauce kind of peculiar, the
green beans, although appropriately
tiny and delicate, sort of
dehydrated. A blob of excellent
buttery mash, though, slightly
lumpy. C's dinner was bigger and
better than mine, although the same
things. She gave me some of her
steak, and it was slightly less gray
and slightly less stringy.
Roasted breast of chicken au jus,
roasted potatoes, green beans and
carrots
Ricotta and spinach tortellini with
Gorgonzola cheese sauce, mixed
mushrooms with herbs, sun-blush
tomato and shredded Parmesan chese
DESSERT International cheese
selection, Stilton and Roubiliac
cheese
Diced apricot tart
We split one of these latter: mushy
fruit jam on a not-too-bad almond
paste bed; C hated it, so I had all
but one or two bites.
PRIOR TO ARRIVAL Your selected
entree will be served with assorted
breads, clotted cream and fruit
preserves
British tea service, crabmeat salad,
chicken with sun-blush tomato, and
egg with watercress sandwiches or
Cheese plate with fresh seasonal
fruit, Brie, Chaumes and Cheddar
cheese
C had the first, reporting that the
crabmeat salad was really surimi.
The not unpleasant but not very
forthcoming help didn't even bother
with a "tea service," merely
unwrapping the plates of soggy
sandwiches and eventually coming by
with premade tea in urns.
Uncharacteristically, I had the
cheese plate, which was not
particularly scrummy - mushy bruised
melon and very good grapes that had
been ground into the Brie, which was
unripe and chalky. Chaumes tastes
like salt milk and has the texture
of a rubber eraser; the Cheddar was
very mild and rather tasteless.
Scones were dryish but okay with the
little plastic cup of decent Cornish
cream that came with.
We got in at about 2:20, which was a
pleasant surprise - even more
surprising was the 30 minutes it
took us to hike to Immigration, pass
Immigration and Customs, get on the
transport to Terminal 1, pass
domestic security, and present
ourselves at the Red Carpet Club to
ask for the earlier flight, which
was granted with a smile.
0217 UA 340 ORD BWI 1605 1901 757
5CD was 0217 UA 730 ORD BWI 1820
2115 757 2AB
Very full in coach, about 16 in F;
but a flurry of upgrade activity at
the end brought a sizable influx so
the front cabin was full by
departure time.
Congestion on the runway, but we got
off in fairly good time, maybe half
an hour or forty-five minutes after
schedule, during which my tired old
eyes saw what appeared to be a 757
in Delta Shuttle livery in front of
us; what it was doing in Chicago I
have no idea.
Moderate turbulence on the way up
and a very fast flight, so whatever
the meal service was going to be, it
wasn't. The cabin crew did pretty
well, though our FA seemed to think
that Courvoisier was Champagne.
I tried the Canyon Road
unidentifiable red wine, which was
so stinky C didn't even want to try
a sip of it.
Got in a few early, and we headed to
the gas station and the supermarket,
and I made a dinner of chicken and
garlic chives and noodles, and we
were ready for bed by the time our
original flight came in.
0219 US3990 BWI LGA 0950 1100 DH8 3A
Why has US Express moved from the
D30s end to the much farther D40s
end? I asked the gate agent. She
said something about the powers that
be not knowing which end was up, as
not only was it inconvenient for
everyone, the planes now are parked
in a much more trafficky area. I
said, it must be so the Express
employees get more exercise walking
to work, and that's almost as good
as a spa membership, isn't it. This
rather flat joke got a courtesy
chuckle. We boarded at about 9:40.
Total load 7 pax, 3 crew. Cute
tallish brunette FA. I slept through
the flight, waking up just in time
to hear "Welcome to New York."
0219 US2126 LGA BOS 1200 1259 319 2F
Totally insignificant flight.
Lunched as usual on Courvoisier,
Ruger XOXO, and cashews. F was 6 of
12, Y similarly light. How long can
this airline keep this up?
9AB
We got there in plenty of time,
Heathrow Express being a godsend
albeit a quite costly one (L25
return); the United counters were
not at all crowded, partially
because we were so early, partially
I think because loads were light -
almost the entire middle section of
the big business class part ended up
empty, and there were 3 empties in
the little business class part. F
was almost completely empty, but it
became half full with SAs at the
last moment (loud giggly
conversations between the working
FAs and the nonworking ones).
So there was plenty of time after
checkin, so C went to Boots and Lush
outside security, actually buying
yet more cosmetics (she made her
best talking-to- little-boys voice
and said, oo want er sweetie to be
nice & smooth & sexy for oo, don't
oo). The fast lane took mere
moments, and off we went to the
great huge shopping mall inside,
where we thankfully didn't find
anything that struck our fancy,
despite our (her) looking pretty
hard. I discovered that the Johnnie
Walker Collection costs $10 more at
the World Duty Free than it does on
board United. I also discovered that
the agent at the UA desk gave me
totally wrong directions to the
London Lounge, with the (no doubt
desired) result that we would have
had to go back through security to
get there, so we gave up and used
the RCC instead, where we found that
the once low level of catering has
become abysmal. Instead of a big
dish of mixed nuts with a trowel so
you could help yourself, there are
now plastic packets of peanuts and
various kinds of crisps. Hennessy VS
is the Cognac; Famous Grouse the
Scotch. The Sacred Hill Shiraz-Cab
wasn't too awful, and the Murphy's
(I think) Shiraz a surprising
winner. There is also the Moreau
Chablis in the cooler, the best of a
bad lot. Got my e-mail on a computer
that crashed every five minutes, and
after a few more rounds of bev, it
was to the gate and a very lightly
loaded aircraft. Of course, C is my
charm, and there was naturally a
small infant directly in front of
me, his cries amplified by the
bulkhead in front. Whenever C and I
fly together in F or C, there is
going to be a screaming baby nearby;
this is almost a given. Well, this
was a UGS baby, and as soon as we
took off, he fell asleep: cried on
descent, though.
Service was ok, barely correct, not
worth paying a premium price for,
but that's par for the course these
days. But how many of us actually
pay a premium price?
Congestion on the runway, but we got
off in fairly good time, maybe half
an hour or forty-five minutes after
schedule, during which my tired old
eyes saw what appeared to be a
Concorde in BA livery parked off to
the side of the runway.
TO BEGIN Sliced smoked salmon with
capers and lemon aioli
Decent salmon, as usual, quite a
generous serving.
Garden salad, classic Caesar
dressing
MAIN COURSE Sauteed filet mignon
with Dijon mustard sauce, mashed
potatoes with parsley, green beans
and sauteed cherry tomatoes
The meat was almost uncuttable by
the plastic cutlery provided; the
mustard sauce kind of peculiar, the
green beans, although appropriately
tiny and delicate, sort of
dehydrated. A blob of excellent
buttery mash, though, slightly
lumpy. C's dinner was bigger and
better than mine, although the same
things. She gave me some of her
steak, and it was slightly less gray
and slightly less stringy.
Roasted breast of chicken au jus,
roasted potatoes, green beans and
carrots
Ricotta and spinach tortellini with
Gorgonzola cheese sauce, mixed
mushrooms with herbs, sun-blush
tomato and shredded Parmesan chese
DESSERT International cheese
selection, Stilton and Roubiliac
cheese
Diced apricot tart
We split one of these latter: mushy
fruit jam on a not-too-bad almond
paste bed; C hated it, so I had all
but one or two bites.
PRIOR TO ARRIVAL Your selected
entree will be served with assorted
breads, clotted cream and fruit
preserves
British tea service, crabmeat salad,
chicken with sun-blush tomato, and
egg with watercress sandwiches or
Cheese plate with fresh seasonal
fruit, Brie, Chaumes and Cheddar
cheese
C had the first, reporting that the
crabmeat salad was really surimi.
The not unpleasant but not very
forthcoming help didn't even bother
with a "tea service," merely
unwrapping the plates of soggy
sandwiches and eventually coming by
with premade tea in urns.
Uncharacteristically, I had the
cheese plate, which was not
particularly scrummy - mushy bruised
melon and very good grapes that had
been ground into the Brie, which was
unripe and chalky. Chaumes tastes
like salt milk and has the texture
of a rubber eraser; the Cheddar was
very mild and rather tasteless.
Scones were dryish but okay with the
little plastic cup of decent Cornish
cream that came with.
We got in at about 2:20, which was a
pleasant surprise - even more
surprising was the 30 minutes it
took us to hike to Immigration, pass
Immigration and Customs, get on the
transport to Terminal 1, pass
domestic security, and present
ourselves at the Red Carpet Club to
ask for the earlier flight, which
was granted with a smile.
0217 UA 340 ORD BWI 1605 1901 757
5CD was 0217 UA 730 ORD BWI 1820
2115 757 2AB
Very full in coach, about 16 in F;
but a flurry of upgrade activity at
the end brought a sizable influx so
the front cabin was full by
departure time.
Congestion on the runway, but we got
off in fairly good time, maybe half
an hour or forty-five minutes after
schedule, during which my tired old
eyes saw what appeared to be a 757
in Delta Shuttle livery in front of
us; what it was doing in Chicago I
have no idea.
Moderate turbulence on the way up
and a very fast flight, so whatever
the meal service was going to be, it
wasn't. The cabin crew did pretty
well, though our FA seemed to think
that Courvoisier was Champagne.
I tried the Canyon Road
unidentifiable red wine, which was
so stinky C didn't even want to try
a sip of it.
Got in a few early, and we headed to
the gas station and the supermarket,
and I made a dinner of chicken and
garlic chives and noodles, and we
were ready for bed by the time our
original flight came in.
0219 US3990 BWI LGA 0950 1100 DH8 3A
Why has US Express moved from the
D30s end to the much farther D40s
end? I asked the gate agent. She
said something about the powers that
be not knowing which end was up, as
not only was it inconvenient for
everyone, the planes now are parked
in a much more trafficky area. I
said, it must be so the Express
employees get more exercise walking
to work, and that's almost as good
as a spa membership, isn't it. This
rather flat joke got a courtesy
chuckle. We boarded at about 9:40.
Total load 7 pax, 3 crew. Cute
tallish brunette FA. I slept through
the flight, waking up just in time
to hear "Welcome to New York."
0219 US2126 LGA BOS 1200 1259 319 2F
Totally insignificant flight.
Lunched as usual on Courvoisier,
Ruger XOXO, and cashews. F was 6 of
12, Y similarly light. How long can
this airline keep this up?
Feb 27, 2004, 3:11 pm
#2
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 512
Violist-
Thanks for some great reads over the past few days, I've enjoyed reading all your reports.
I took 949 on 2/23 and had the excact same menu in C. However, I chose the chicken which was exellent. My friend had the pasta and reported it to be so-so. The loads were the same as your flight. I also saw the parked concorde off to the side of the taxi-way which I guess may be parked there on display.
Anyways, nice report!
-Ualisthebst
[This message has been edited by ualisthebst (edited Feb 27, 2004).]
Thanks for some great reads over the past few days, I've enjoyed reading all your reports.
I took 949 on 2/23 and had the excact same menu in C. However, I chose the chicken which was exellent. My friend had the pasta and reported it to be so-so. The loads were the same as your flight. I also saw the parked concorde off to the side of the taxi-way which I guess may be parked there on display.
Anyways, nice report!
-Ualisthebst
[This message has been edited by ualisthebst (edited Feb 27, 2004).]
Feb 28, 2004, 3:46 pm
#3
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Toronto, ON
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Titanium, AA Plat MM
Posts: 3,582
I also have really enjoyed your reports. Based on your assessment of the flights in both directions, you really need to change airlines. Sorry, but AA Transatlantic meals are so much better than what you've described. Subtract the salmon appetizer and you've pretty much described the AA coach meal on our return from London (although likely a smaller portion). It sounds like you were in J and deserved much better.