TimF10

After reading about the possibility of doing an around the world trip on flyertalk, I finally decided to do it. I only had a couple of weeks vacation, so my trip would be a quick one and I would only visit three continents, but it gave me the miles I needed and a chance to check out the One World rtw options. I will try to get the rest of the segements posted quickly. But my itinerary was: LAX-DFW-ANC-DFW-YVR-LHR-DXB-LHR-HKG-CGK-HKG-SIN-HKG-JFK-LAX. Total miles flown was a little more than 40,000.

When the alarm clock began to ring at 6:45 a.m. I thought to myself, "What am I doing?" The early start was difficult, but well worth the adventure of an around the world trip.
I arrived at LAX at 7:45 and went to the American Airlines first class check in line. There were many agents so I waited only a couple of minutes in line. The agent was bewildered when I handed her my thick book of flight coupons. After flipping through them she finally asked, "Where is your final destination?" I wasn't too helpful by responding, "Los Angeles." Well it is around the world... So, I told her to just check my luggage through to Anchorage and that would be fine. Then I waited 20 min. to have TSA check my luggage. The AAgents were trying to encourage the TSA to work faster, but to no avail. After that, I went through security and made it to the Admirals Club at 8:30 a.m. and had a couple of mini blueberry muffins and read part of the newspaper.

AA Flight 2430 LAX-DFW
June 23, 2004Scheduled dep. 9:21 a.m. Actual: 9:21 a.m.
Scheduled arrival: 2:32 p.m. Actual: 2:15 p.m.
MD-80 seat 4B
This flight was almost full in coach and all 14 first class seats were taken. I boarded and was offered a pre-departure drink, not just the water, o.j. or champagne routine. I had an apple juice. The MD-80 (or Super 80 as American calls it) holds just over 100 passengers. In first class the seating is 2-2 while in coach it is 2-3. The first class seats were nice blue leather with limited recline. The cabin was clean and did not look runned down; they had expanded the overhead bins on one side which seemed to help people get their carry-on's loaded quickly. We pushed back right on time at 9:21 a.m. and then waited in line to take off for 10 minutes.
After departure the flight attendant, Cheryl, came by asking for drink orders. Since it was the first leg of my trip I decided to have champagne. She offered to make a mimosa for me, which although tempting, did not seem to fit the idea of making a private toast for the trip. After bringing by the drinks she took our breakfast orders and distributed the hot towels. The breakfast choices were Special K cereal or a Southwestern style cheese omelet. I chose the omelet which was accompanied by a mild salsa (kind of like Taco Bell's), corn, black beans and small pieces of potato. Additionally, we were served a fruit plate with grapefruit, honeydew and strawberry. Then we were offered a warm bagel with cream cheese or jam. The breakfast was very good and the portions were well balanced. During the meal, the man next to me told me that he was on his way home from flying around the world for business meetings. He did his trip in 10 days which included Houston-Dallas-London-Aberdene-Singapore-Sydney-LA-Dallas-Houston. We had a nice conversation about airplane seats, amenity kits, etc.
Once breakfast was cleared, I fell asleep until the pilot announced final approach. We arrived at the gate at 2:15 p.m. So far, a wonderful trip.

TimF10

While in Dallas I went to the admiral's club and checked my email as well as took a hot shower. There have been many discussions on Flyertalk about the whether the cost of the Admiral’s Club is worth it. I find that just for the chance to take a nice shower after a long flight, or the chance to check my email, it is worth it. Any extra service the attendants give is a bonus in my book. After being on the plane I frequently feel grimy so the shower is very refreshing.

As the time approached for boarding I headed to the gate only to find that the gate had changed. A couple of minutes later I arrived to the new gate and heard that the flight was delayed. As it turns out, our plane was coming in from San Juan, Puerto Rico. After it arrived, the gate agent told us that planes from San Juan look like there was a long party inside so the cleaning crew needed additional time. In so far as I was doing a turn around in ANC I asked if I would be allowed back on the return flight since I would have to check my luggage. The gate agent told me that I should not have trouble getting back from Alaska even with the delay. After an additional 20 minutes we finally were able to board:

June 23, 2004
AA Flight 278 Dallas-Anchorage
Scheduled departure: 4:39 p.m. actual: 5:55 p.m.
Scheduled arrival: 8:23 p.m. Actual: 9:30 p.m.
Seat 3 E on a 757

The agents were very good about explaining that we would be boarding by group number. As soon as first class was called I went to my seat and was offered a pre-departure drink. A Maker's Mark and Sprite seemed to fit the bill. This flight was completely full and so the Agents upgraded three Army guys on leave from Iraq. One ended up sitting next to me and told me more than I needed to know about his life. Luckily, he was not obnoxious and he had an interesting story so I didn't mind.

Once we took off the flight attendant came by for drink orders. As I had a long night ahead of me, I chose a simple Sprite. They were accompanied by warm nuts. By the way, I believe that United is trying to upgrade their service and is now offering this enhancement which has been on AA for years. I really like the mixture of the nuts AA serves: Mostly cashews, almonds and pistachios with a smaller number of pecans, brazil nuts and filberts. The flight attendant offered refills of drinks and nuts as she took our dinner order (according to FEBO--asking those in front on even flights and starting with the back on odd numbered flights). The options were mango grilled chicken, roast beef and provalone sandwich (this has just been rolled out within the last couple of weeks and seemed very popular), or a beef filet. I ordered the filet.
The salad cart came down the aisle and we were offered a choice of sesame or herb vinaigrette dressing, sourdough or wheat roll. I skipped on the roll. The salad came with proscuitto, pineapple and a little cilantro served in a frosted glass bowl. After the salad course I was offered my filet paired with sweet potato and vegetables. I am not a sweet potato fan, but these were pretty good. They offered wine, but I passed on that as well.
After the main course we were offered Hagen Daz vanilla ice cream with a cruncy almond topping and after dinner drinks.
The movie was Cody Banks II which seemed pretty stupid (and I tend to like the dumb comedies) so I brought out my cd player and Bose noise canceling headphones (a gift from AA) and listened to a Zamphir cd that a friend loaned to me and spent some time reading and taking a nap.
As we were flying over Alaska the scenery was stunning. We saw mountains, glaciers and hills bathed in what we would experience as late afternoon sun. I spent a good amount of time just looking out the window. As I was looking out, the flight attendants came by with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies (probably my favorite food of all time) and cold milk. I watched a couple episodes of "Everyone Loves Raymond" and enjoyed the cookie.
We arrived at 9:30 p.m. and I went to the gate agent to explain that I was just arriving and needed to pick up my luggage and check in. She told me that TSA would not allow me to do so as they insist that I be present 30 minutes prior to the scheduled departure time. I thought, "Uh oh!" She didn't seem to offer too much help until she asked my name and read whatever the computer had to say about me. She then typed a few things and said that I could fly to Chicago and connect there to Vancouver and get in a few minutes early. She called the ticketing desk downstairs to tell them what I would be doing and told me to ask for Heidi and not to worry, it was worked out. I waited for my luggage went to the ticket counter and Heidi offered me the Chicago option (leaving in an hour) or just flying Alaska directly to Vancouver. Telling her I was in Alaska only for the miles, I would stay with the Chicago option, but thought that she was great in coming up with additional solutions. So, it all worked out fine, thanks to AA's great staff.

TimF10

As I now had a few minutes before the Chicago flight, I took a walk outside. At 10:30 p.m. the sun was still out and the evening was pleasantly cool. After passing through security, I headed to the gate. The gate agent saw me and asked if everything turned out alright with my other connections. I told her it had and was grateful for their help.

We boarded a couple of minutes late as the incoming flight had arrived slightly late. Soon enough they called:

June 23, 2004
AA flight 726 ANC-ORD
Seat 3B on a 757
Scheduled departure: 11:30 p.m. Actual: 11:50 p.m.
Scheduled arrival: 8:20 a.m. Actual: 8:17 a.m.


This flight was full in first with 4 of the pax being non-revs. Coach was 75% full.

Before takeoff we were offered bottles of water for the flight, but no pre-departure drinks. Once we were at a cruising altitude, the flight attendant came by and took our drink and snack orders. The options were tortellini in an Alfredo sauce or a Cesar chicken wrap. Within a couple of minutes she was by with our warm nuts and drinks (I had a sprite). After the drink service, the snack was served on one tray. Mine consisted of pieces of white meat chicken, lettuce and tomato on a flour tortilla type wrap. This was accompanied by a roll and butter and chocolate cake. The wrap was a good size and tasted good. The chocolate cake was very moist. While eating I watched "Starsky and Hutch" which although funny at times, was not funny enough for me to take off my headphones after dinner and go to sleep.
This was my first domestic red-eye flight and it was difficult to sleep more than an hour without waking up to sit in a different position. I can't imagine the agony of people sitting on the LRTC (less room through coach) 757 in the back. I guess I got a good 4 hours of sleep on the flight. However, I noticed that the f/a frequently came through the cabin to refill drinks, or in my case, refill my water bottle. Even though we departed late, we arrived a couple of minutes ahead of schedule as the tailwinds were quite strong. I was grateful for the extra time as my connection was only 31 minutes.

ijgordon

Good stuff, but waiting for the International F reports!

RTW4

This is a wonderful Start. I took the same flight to ANC last year. Menu sounds exactly same however...right before landing we were also served cheese and crackers with some great port...I did not have any check in baggage so I made the turnaround flight without problems.. I agree as well that the Alaska scenery is fantastic.. It was so beautiful that I cannot wait to bring my family back .

TimF10

The cheese, crackers and port would have been great. On most of my international flights I was able to enjoy some great port wines.

TimF10

Although I arrived a few minutes early from ANC, I did not have much time to connect to the next flight. Thankfully, I already had my boarding pass so simply had to get onto the plane. When I arrived at gate, the majority of the pax had already boarded for:

June 24, 2004
AA flight 2297 ORD-YVR
seat 5B on a 757
Scheduled departure: 8:51 a.m. Actual: 8:51 a.m.
Scheduled arrival: 11:15 a.m. Acutal: 11:04 a.m.

Once I sat down I was offered a drink. As it was very early, I chose orange juice. On this 757, first class had 13 pax, the one next to me being an unaccompanied minor who was going to snowboarding camp. He was very well mannered, using "please" and "thank you" throughout the flight.

We departed on time at 8:51 a.m.

The movie was again, "Cody Banks" but they also played a few more "Everyone Loves Raymond" and the CBS produced, "Eye on AAmerican" with clips from Letterman, 60 minutes and a comedy about an ups driver.

For our meal selection we were offered either the cheese omelet or pancakes. As I had eaten the omelet yesterday, I selected the pancakes with a couple pieces of sausage. This also came with a fruit plate consisting of honeydew, grapefruit and strawberry. The pancakes were good although it was a lot of bread as I also had a bagel with cream cheese (the other option was a blueberry muffin.)

Once breakfast was over, I put on my Bose headphones, listened to the Zamphir CD, and quickly fell asleep. After a little bit of a nap, I began watching the “Everybody Loves Raymond” shows. The flight attendant came through offering more drinks and I noticed a number of people were still drinking coffee. We arrived 10 minutes early into Vancouver and then had to wait 15 minutes for immigration. In line for immigration, I was talking to a few people that were on their way to an Alaskan cruise. My first cruise was an Alaskan cruise and so the time in line passed quickly as we talked about the different activities and sights to see in Alaska. When I arrived at the baggage carousel, my luggage was already there. Rolling my luggage past customs I found the signs for the Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel which is connected to the terminal. They offered a day room rate on the internet and my spacious room overlooked the runway. The windows were very thick as I did not hear the roar of the engines. After eating lunch, I came back and took a 3 hour nap followed by a shower so as to be ready for my next flight.

TimF10

June 24, 2004
British Airways Flight 84
747 seat 2K
scheduled departure: 8:50 p.m. actual: 8:47 p.m.
Scheduled arrival: 2:05 p.m. (June 25). Actual: 2:03 p.m.

When I walked to the check-in counters from the hotel, my first impression was disappointment. BA had lumped the first and business class check-in all together with 4 agents at work. Luckily, I only waited a couple of minutes in line. After weighing my luggage, the agent issued me a new boarding pass as the AA issued pass, "just does not look as nice." So I received a nice blue and white boarding pass and the first class tags were added to my luggage. Then I received an invitation and directions to the lounge.
I headed over to security and was amazed at how nice the security people were. The made me feel embarrassed for the way our TSA people act. They had plenty of lines open, so there was no wait to go through the x-ray equipment and get wished a pleasant flight.
Once past security I took the elevator up to the lounge floor. The BA lounge is a combined business/first lounge. The agent was nice and told me she would get me when it was time to leave for the gate. Once inside the lounge I noticed that it was hot!!! It turns out the air conditioning broke. It must have been in 80 degrees in there. I selected a comfortable chair by the window and looked at our nice, traditionally painted BA 747 parked at the gate. I do not care for the 747's that are painted with the weird designs on the tail; I guess | am not artistic enough. Once settled in, I explored the lounge. The lounge was tastefully decorated and well lit. At the entrance there was a large magazine rack with a variety of newspapers and magazines. There was a small TV area, a number of chairs and tables along the window, a couple of other clusters of tables and chairs. By the larder/food and drink area there were restaurant style tables and chairs. The drink selection was average. I poured myself a Jack Daniels and Sprite (I thought they would have also had Crown Royale, but they did not). The food consisted of prepackaged cheeses, crackers, peanuts and a variety of prepackaged cookies. After having my snack and two drinks, I headed down toward the gate as I was getting warm.
As | arrived at the gate, they were preparing for boarding. There was a large crowd milling about the entrance area of the immediate boarding area. First they called those who needed assistance. 3 or 4 elderly people boarded at that time. Next they called those in first class. I was having difficulty getting through the crowd and a few other passengers were trying to follow me to the front. The gate agent then requested all those not in first class to have a seat and wait until they were called. I wish other airlines would ask people to stay in their seat until they are called. If I fly coach, I stay away from the boarding area to let those in front of me have easy access. After showing my passport and nice looking boarding pass, I headed through the jet way to door 2 left. I was greeted by name and directed across the galley and then asked to turn left I was able to see the club world/business section and it looked strange on first sight as the seats are in pairs with one seat facing forward and one seat facing backward. I don't know if I would like flying backward, although on flyertalk some state that they prefer this to facing forward. At the entrance to the first class cabin another flight attendant escorted me to my seat. The cabin has 15 seats. Five along each side angled slightly toward the window and four seats in the middle section, 2 each in rows 4 and 5. There is a nice use of wood paneling and shades of blue. In the nose of the plane, between seats 1 A and K is a closet. In between seats 3 A and K is a 3 foot high magazine rack and table surface that had a variety of newspapers on it. It's a good thing I got on board right away as there was so much to do before takeoff. On the seat was a small back pillow, a sleeping pillow and a blanket. Once settled in the flight attendant offered me a BAg amenity kit which had a large variety of goodies inside. Then I was offered a sleeper suit. This suit is light gray and had the BA First logo on it. The fabric is very soft and comfortable. As others had already changed into their suits, I went to lav, which had a window, to get into mine. I opened the window before changing just to see what was outside, once airborne the window was open throughout the flight and it was fun to look out. I put my clothes on the hanger and the f/a hung it in the wardrobe for me. Then, we had pre-departure drinks (I chose Woodford Reserve Kentucky Whiskey and sprite. I had never heard of Woodford Reserve before, but it was excellent. If I had more class, I would have sipped it rather than ruin it with Sprite, but I just like my Whiskey with Sprite/7 Up. The drink was served with a plate of cashews. While looking at the video and movie options a menu was distributed. The av system is very good with 25 selections for movies on demand as well as 18 movies/tv channels that are in a continuous loop. I selected Pedro Almodvar's "All About My Mother" which was immediately brought to me. Then the CSD came by and introduced herself and asked it I would mind completing a survey. She seemed surprised when I said yes. She would come back at the end of the flight to pick it up (and when I deplaned she thanked me by name.) Lastly, we were given immigration forms and then it was time to fly.

myefre

"a comedy about a UPS driver" LOL That is King of Queens another CBS program.

Nice report so far. Look forward to more.

TimF10

After takeoff we were offered a beverage and canapés. To celebrate my first BA flight, I chose champagne which accompanied by a plate with three items: caviar and smoked salmon, roast beef and a cheese. I have never understood the attraction of caviar, but thought maybe I should give it another try and thought that this might be better than other times I have tried it. I still have not acquired that taste. As the flight was full, all 15 seats were occupied. We had 3 flight attendants to assist us in First.

The menu is as follows:
Starters:
-Shrimp in a Monoucher bread sandwich with Marie Rose sauce and mache
-Black olive gnocchi in Gorgonzola cheese sauce
-Thai coconut curry soup
-Fresh salad leaves with your choice of balsamic vinaigrette or Blue cheese dressing
(I chose this and it was quite large with a creamy blue cheese dressing, baby carrots, cucumber, tomato and a Parmesan crouton.)

Main:
--Mushroom and Parmesan cheese crusted fillet steak with ale jus, asparagus, scorched peppers and truffled risotto.
--Maple glazed breast of duck with roast apricots and balsamic sauce on crushed redskin potatoes
(this consisted of two large breast pieces and whole red potatoes on the side.) I was only able to eat one of the pieces of duck. The f/a asked me if there was a problem with the duck or if I would prefer something else. I told her that it was fine, but too much for me.
--Penne pasta with your choice of spicy roast garlic sauce or creamy pesto sauce topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
--Spinach salad with pumpkin crusted salmon toasted pine nuts and shaved onions.

Dessert and Cheese:
--Lemon soufflé on chocolate sauce
--Warm fruit compote with vanilla ice cream
--A selection from our cheeseboard
(I wanted to try both dessert and cheese, but could not do it so I chose the cheese. Surprisingly, this was pre-plated with 3 or 4 different types of cheese. I was expecting a cheese board or even the trolley. The f/a presented an attractive biscuit basket and I selected a variety of biscuits/crackers. I also had a dessert wine with this that was very nice.)
--A basket of fresh fruit

Snacks:

--Bacon roll served with tomato ketchup
--Thai coconut curry soup with a side salad
--A selection of cheese and fruit
I did not have any snack as I was still full from dinner.

Breakfast:

Starters:
-Chilled fruit juice
-An energising fruit smoothie (very tasty!)
-A selection of fruit, plain yoghurts and cereals
--Fresh seasonal fruit plate
(I was still full from dinner so had this instead of a heavier breakfast. This consisted of orange, grapefruit, strawberry, cantaloupe and pineapple.)

Bakery:
A wide selection of breakfast pastries and rolls

Main:
Scrambled eggs, grilled bacon, pork sausages, sautéed mushrooms, grilled tomato and hash brown potatoes.

During dinner, I watched the Almodovar film and shortly after dinner put my seat into the recline position. The BA first class seats make into a 6' 6" bed. I think that the AA flagship suite is a little wider, but the BA seat was a little softer. There is very little engine noise in the front of the 747, but I put on my mask and earplugs in case other passengers made noise. Within 3 or 4 minutes I was sound asleep and only woke up twice in order to drink more water. As soon as I finished the bottle, the flight attendant gave me another one. In order to stay healthy, I try to drink a lot of water on these long haul flights.
In the morning, I woke up and finished the last 15 minutes of the movie while eating breakfast. Then I changed into my regular clothes and cleaned up. Again, I enjoyed looking out the window of the lav as we were flying. Once back in my seat I put on the flight map. Since I was arriving in Britain, I listened to a David Bowie CD while watching the scenery. We flew directly over London and we had a bird's eye view of the palace, the parks, Big Ben, the Thames etc.
We arrived 20 minutes early, but had to wait for a gate to open, so we ended up at the gate on schedule. The immigration fast track line had closed, so I waited 50 minutes to clear formalities and then collect my luggage which was already on the carousel. Overall, it was an impressive effort by BA. I think I still have the wine list, if you are interested in the particulars of the wine.

Seat 2A

Great looking Trip Report so far. What a routing! Thanks for those menu transcripts, too. This definitely looks like one for the collection book!

Fraser

Nice report! ^^^ Whenever reading these I am tempted to book myself on a F RTW

I've flown in CW backwards a few times now and get it out of preference. The novelty of it at take off and the safety procedure is slightly different; when adopting the brace position you lie back into the seat with hands across chest. Unsurprisingly during cruise unsurprisingly there is little difference

NB. 14 seats in BA F on the 747, 5 down the window on each side and four in the middle.
BA have now finished repainted all the 747s in the new livery, looks much better in my opinion

carbonchaser

I'm amazed that even a topnotch F operation like BA would be serving woodford reserve bourbon - it is indeed a wonderful bottle - pure vanilla on the tongue. But Sprite???

sftrvlr

Windows that OPEN on the BA744?! The fresh air must be nice!


Excellent report ... awaiting more ...

JohnMD

Great TR, can't wait for the next segment.