G-BOAC

BA2037 LGW-MCO 16/04/2005

I described my last longhaul ex-LGW as 'a traffic lights all green' kind of day. Although hoping for the same this time, things didn't get off to as good a start! Since I had developed a cold over the last few days, I had once again planned to get up as late as possible, take a cab to London Victoria, catch the Gatwick Express and then grab a shower in the excellent LGW Terraces before my flight. For a 10:55 departure, I set my alarm for 07:15 to get up in time for a cab meeting me at 07:45. Unfortunately, the cab I'd asked my company to arrange never showed up (well, not within 10 minutes anyway)! So I gave up waiting and walked around Waterloo for 10 more minutes until I found a black cab to hail instead.

The big difference between this and my last LGW longhaul was that I was in paid Club World so knew I had a guaranteed relaxing trip ahead at least (and no chance of any kind of upgrade to get excited about on this new 3-class route either, of course!), so I didn't stress out too much! Although my company policy longhaul is W, I'd managed (by a combination of keeping an eye on the LGW route re-embodiment to J/W/M and resultant special fares, and a happy coincidence of travel dates) to find an advance-purchase I-class ticket cheaper than T/W (which was pricing out at £1400-1500 for my travel dates all along). Lucky me ^

I ended up catching the 08:15 LGW Express which arrived on time around 08:45. By just after 9am I was in the North terminal, through check-in (which took all of about 30 seconds at an empty Fast Bag/OLCI desk - the dedicated Club desks had a queue of around 15 people still) and past security (again, Fast Track worked as intended!). Once again, no Priority/Club World tag was attached to my bag - I do wish they'd at least be consistent with this one! After meeting a colleague (who alas didn't book when I did so was in W on a ticket costing more than mine!) we headed to the Terraces. Here I grabbed a cup of tea before leaving him with a paper to get my shower. This time I asked if they had any razors available since I was looking rather scruffy and was pleased to find they did - in fact, pleased to find the pleasant shower attendant suggesting "actually, you may as well have everything" as she gave me Molton Brown toothbrush/toothpaste/shampoo/shaving foam/after-shaving balm and Wilkinson Sword razor! Another example of the great staff BA have at LGW ^.

After a nice refreshing shower I rejoined my colleague for a Bloody Mary and we headed off to Gate 53 around 10:15 for our flight which was showing as 'Boarding' in good time. Sadly no J/oneworld elite fast track boarding was setup (why on earth BA can't learn proper pre-boarding from AA I don't know...) so we joined the queue of around 15 people, although it did move fairly quickly.

Holding a BP for 4A and boarding through door 2L meant it was my first experience of 'turning left' ^ Although I sense some of the crew were slightly unfamiliar with the new 3-class 772 - I was greeted by "Good morning, Mr X. 4A? That's, err..." before the CSD did a quick check of where 4A actually was

The flight was nearly full as far as I could tell - although no evidence of the huge number of OpUps I saw (and benefited from!) on my last trip. There were 4 empty J seats in the front cabin (which incidentally also contained 2 very well-behaved children who I'd estimate were both around 10 - just in case any BA Board members are reading ), 3 empty seats in the rear J cabin and the 3 rows of W looked 100% full (I didn't get back to Y). The plane didn't have the "New, New" Club World seats, but the new larger pillows seemed to be present at least. And at least the larger IFE screens/18 channel setup were fitted to this aircraft too - the first time I've actually got these ex-LGW. The rest of the pre-flight service continued as I've come to expect...my coat was hung, I was offered water/OJ/champagne (the latter option was the one I accepted!) and also my choice of paper as I settled in to my seat and the rest of the plane boarded.

We suffered around a 20 minute delay pushing back because "some planes are behind us so we can't start our engines" (hang on, I thought this was LGW not LHR T4?!? ) but after those 'obstructions' moved all was well for a nice smooth take-off. It has to be said that as well as the benefits of a feeling of privacy and not having anyone to climb over to leave your seat, 4A affords a great view of the engines firing up and wings flexing ^ - very glad I picked it. The F/O informed us we'd be taking a slightly different routing to normal (looked more akin to a West Coast USA flight to me) of going 'up' the UK then 'across' and 'down' by New York in order to avoid some very strong headwinds over the Atlantic later on.

Shortly after take-off the washbags were brought around. At this point (having realised I'd forgotten to pack my razor when I was shaving with the freebie in the lounge!) I asked if any of the extra shaving kits were available. The crew member I'd asked came back a few minutes later to apologise and say "to be perfectly honest, we can't find them!". Maybe more unfamiliarity with the new plane? I thought it was either that or they just weren't loaded at LGW...no matter, I said it wasn't a big deal and I'd buy one in the US - but she did promise to bring me one if they did turn up ^.

The menus followed and then the customary hot towels before the first drinks run commenced, accompanied by the familiar "Out of Africa" Macadamia nuts. As usual, I opted for more champagne. After this I noticed for the first time what appeared to me to be orders taken by status in the cabin. I saw the Purser (who was lovely as usual ex-LGW) fairly discreetly moving from pax to pax in J instead of through all rows at once in order. When she got to my row, she asked if myself or the person in 4B had moved seats, then asked if I was Mr X. I said I was and that I'd not moved as I'd reserved 4A months ago! She said for some reason I was down in 3K but would just amend her records. She then took my order and then made a second pass of the cabin for what appeared to be the rest. For reference, the menu was:

--
STARTERS
Ballottine of salmon with herb creme fraiche
or
Artichoke and roast vegetable salad with tomato and basil dressing

Fresh seasonal salad served with vinaigrette

MAIN
Pan-seared fillet of beet with cracked black pepper sauce and potatoes dauphinoise

King prawn masala

Three cheese tortellini with wild mushrooms and creamy pesto sauce

Marinated corn-fed chicken and roast Mediterranean vegetable salad with lemon tarragon dressing

DESSERT
Tiramisu

Keen's Cheddar and Stilton cheese

Chocolates

WINES
Charles Heidsieck Mis en Cave 2000

Jekel Gravelstone Chardonnay 2002, Monterey County
Pouilly-Fuisse 2002, Marie-Louise Parisot

Gordon Brothers Merlot 2001, Columbia Valley
Chateau Ste. Michelle Syrah 2001, Columbia Valley
Chateau Verdignan 1999, Cru Bourgeois
--

I requested (and received) the salmon starter and the steak main. The food arrived (after a second drinks run and hence champagne top-up!), accompanied by another wine top-up. At the end of the starter the crew offered to refill my champagne yet again ("Oh, go on, you know you want to..." ) which I accepted (oops!) but also requested a Merlot to go with my main - I remember enjoying it very much on my last trip. As usual, none of this was a problem and I didn't receive anything but a full glass - they really do like to look after you well! ^ At this point I reflected that there seemed to be a better crew-pax ratio than my last J flight, with seemingly the Purser and two other crew members looking after the left side of Club at least. I guess this is due to the 3-class config vs. 4-class - but either way, it was excellent service!

My big J bug-bear was roused once again with the offer of dessert or cheese To be fair, I was rather full so this time I did only want one, but that's not the point I requested the cheese and a port and coffee which was another good end to the meal. I finished the coffee off with my chocolates - this time, they were a "Linden Lady" English Fudge/Champagne Truffle combo. Although I miss Lily O'Briens (and on my last trip these had already been replaced with "L'Artisan"), I did think to myself that the rest of the J catering (and not just the new white menu style!) seems to have improved a notch or two since BA announced their roll-out of true enhancements to J earlier in the year. ^^

By now "National Treasure" was ending (perfect length movie for J class meal service!) so I fired up my laptop to get rid of a few mails and start this trip report. Twice whilst I typed away the Purser asked if there was anything she could get me - I went for an OJ both times as the effects of the alcohol were well and truly kicking in! Oh well, it was 'medicinal' for me and my cold I guess

I passed some time relaxing with my eyes closed but trying not to fall asleep (I always find it easier to adjust if I stay awake flying west) and spent some time chatting with a lovely crew member, Fiona, in the galley too. She couldn't get me enough OJ to help my cold and was extremely friendly ^. Another crew member came back from Y for a rest at one point and was looking for a spare J blanket - I said she could have mine as I wasn't going to use it...but when she checked someone in the cabin had clearly already nicked it from the back of 4B where I'd stuffed it whilst I was away! J cabin 'thieves' at work it seems

The afternoon tea service was fairly standard:

--
SNACKS
Sandwiches of kippered salmon with horseradish creme fraiche and free-range egg mayonnaise with cress
or
Sandwiches of grilled Mediterranean vegetables with cream cheese and gammon ham with tomato

SWEETS
Warm fruit scone with clotted cream and strawberry preserve

Moist ginger cake

DRINKS
Tea, ground coffee or decaffeinated ground coffee

Selection of herbal teas - peppermint, blackcurrant, apple or camomile and honey
--

but by this point I was feeling the flying was making my cold worse, so didn't fancy any of the food whatsoever! I just had the tea instead.

Once the tea service had ended, I nipped back to W to talk to my colleague briefly and noticed a family of 4 being moved from Y forward to J (sure enough, when I returned to J, they had occupied the 4 empty seats in the front cabin). With only 30 or so minutes to go before landing I assumed this was because they had a tight connection or something like that - it's not as if they got any J service! So I thought that was a nice touch by the crew. Shortly after I made it back to my seat the wonderful Fiona re-appeared and said they'd just found the shaving kits and handed me 2 of them - by this point even I'd forgotten I'd asked for them, so I was extremely impressed! ^^

In no time at all we were on final approach and then down at MCO. I think we touched down at around 15:05 local time (vs. a 15:10 scheduled time) which was pretty good given the initial delays at LGW. Disembarking through 2L I was the first off the plane and, noting that a VS 744 had landed just behind us, I didn't hang around heading for Immigration because I loathe queues! Sure enough there was no queue there yet and I was through to baggage reclaim in about 5 minutes. As I was waiting for my bag (more on this in a second...) I glanced back to a suddenly heaving Immigration hall - I was extremely glad I wasn't back in Y!

Baggage reclaim was another example of what I view as one of BA's biggest weaknesses - their ground handling. As I waited, and waited, and waited (in the order of 25-30 minutes) for my case, I watched the VS bags (from a flight which landed 5 minutes or so after ours) arrive on two belts - one (which came first!) for Upper Class/Premium Economy baggage, a second for Economy bags soon after. Why on earth can't BA do the same? I finally left for Customs with my case, still noting others I'd seen in the Club cabins at the belt waiting - so I was probably one of the "lucky" ones!

My final observation of MCO itself was its ridiculous baggage claim setup. It reminded me of Atlanta, although it wasn't as bad as it seemed better organised, cooler, brighter and there were less queues (although that could have been a virtue of lucky timing...or unlucky timing for me when I flew to ATL I guess). You collect your case, clear Customs, then re-check your bag on to another conveyor belt then pass through security (yes, hello, I just want to leave the bloody airport, I've spent 9hrs on a plane, I really don't want to get on another one...LET ME OUT!!!). The reason being that once you leave security you get an airside transit train to another terminal to finally reclaim your bags again and exit properly. Since they insist on stupidly "mixing" airside/landside like this, you have to suffer the inconvenience of "security" again. Most definitely not what you want after a longhaul. Hey-ho, there's not much you can do but accept it, sadly

With that we finally saw daylight and were off to Hertz to collect our rental car for the week and drive (happily, not down to me!) to Sarasota, Florida.

G-BOAC

BA2036 MCO-LGW 21/04/2005

Although I knew I'd reserved a good seat (4K) weeks back through MMB, I still like to OLCI if I can. Unfortunately, anyone wanting to OLCI was SOL on this flight. I tried at T-24, T-22, T-19 and then T-8 the next morning. At this point I thought I'd give BA a ring to see if there was a problem (the horrid thought of a EuroCrap substitute 767 crossed my mind at this point after the debacle on the TPA route earlier this year!). I was transferred to Web Services who helpfully contacted the station manager at MCO who informed them that the flight was so oversold they'd not opened it for OLCI at all and didn't plan to. Mystery solved.

We left Sarasota around 11am for a leisurely drive, stopping on the way for some lunch since I'd decided to have a lie in and skip breakfast that morning, even if my colleagues didn't! After returning the car to Hertz we got their courtesy shuttle and hit Terminal B around 14:00 (I noted a sign there saying BA check-in opened 13:30, closed 16:30). The Y queue had about 30 people in it and the Club line was empty when we arrived, with one desk in use for check-in which was just finishing off with another passenger. At this point we were approached and asked about a re-routing in FIRST instead! Immediately interested I asked for more details...because J was oversold, BA were offering to route you MCO-BWI and then BWI-LHR in FIRST. Having never flown FIRST before I was extremely tempted! My colleagues, however, had already dismissed it (one lives near LGW, the other had his car at LGW). I asked at check-in if it was ticketed F, i.e. I'd get F tier points and miles too I was informed I wouldn't...so with that, and my colleagues saying I shouldn't bother, I decided to stay and 'slum it' in J With this my BP was printed (sequence number 109 - which I thought was odd given no OLCI, had 108 people really checked in during 30 mins?!), my bag was checked (no sign of any Priority/Club World tags yet again) and I was given a lounge invite. I asked if I may be able to sneak a second for my colleague (there were 2 of us in J, one in W, both the others are BA Blue) which I knew was a bit cheeky as it was a 3rd party lounge. After initially refusing and explaining the reason, the friendly check-in girl stamped a third one and said that she'd do it this time since we were all in premium classes and I had a Silver card, but not to tell anyone else ^ (I hope FlyerTalk doesn't count!).

After that relatively painless process we scoped out that the lounge (the Delta Crown Room) was airside so we cleared security (there was no real queue as we were fairly early so it only took around 5 minutes), caught the transit up to the gate 60+ (I think) are and after a quick scout around Duty Free (not great...) we hit the lounge. First impressions were good, with a friendly welcome and (unlike the bloody Admirals Clubs) an open bar! We settled in to some big chairs with a view of the terminal outside and checked for WiFi - which it turned out was also free ^ I continued my personal tradition of a G&T in every lounge I visit and the 2 or so hours before our flight soon passed, with the lounge staff announcing our flight was boarding in what seemed like no time at all. After a fairly short walk to our gate I was greeted with an increasingly rare Priority Boarding line! Within minutes I was on board and settled in to 4K. I missed out on the new upholstery again and also noted my drinks tray was broken (the "swingy out bit" was missing), although hardly a major defect, I thought it was a shame for such a newly re-fitted aircraft.

I was asked if I'd like my jacket hung and I said yes please, after I'd gotten a few things out of it (iPod, noise cancelling headphones, phone, etc.). By the time I did this a second member of crew swooped over and tried to hang it, causing the first to joke that they'd go away and fight over who'd end up doing it After this I requested a Telegraph to catch up with some real news not just about the USA and accepted a glass of champagne. I noted this was definitely a 'bucket and spade brigade' route - few people seemed like they'd been out to Orlando on business with plenty of families returning from on holiday. Alas even in J this meant the Chav Quota was up - in W they thrust the "Daily Mail" on you as your pre-flight paper with no choice...in J for the first time ever I noticed people requesting it this time!

I then got rather worried as a family of 5 boarded (mum, Dad, 3 young kids) with a Nanny who then disappeared back to Y. All the kids looked to be under around 5/6...the eldest two were pretty well behaved, but the youngest was a screamer from the start Not to add more fuel to recent debates on the BA board, but it certainly does fill me with dread when I know I want to sleep and have work the next day. With the mum and kids in the centre of Row 3 and the father on the 2-side, the Purser did ask my colleague in 4J if he'd mind moving...which he politely declined! However, luckily the parents seemed very keen to keep the kids occupied and attended to until we pushed back so things quitened down for a while, and I knew my NCH would help a bit once we did begin flying.

If we started flying, that was. The Captain came on the PA system 5 minutes before our scheduled take-off time (of 17:20) and announced we had 5 missing passengers and he was making the decision on whether to off-load them (and "for security reasons" their bags, of course), which would take "in the order of 30 minutes". Off-load them? I should bloody say so! . If I was running an airline, my policy would be that if you weren't at the gate by 'Gate Closes' time without a very, very good reason, you'd automatically be off-loaded, not allowed back on, not refunded any money and given no help whatsoever in rebooking, especially not on my airline! I can only hope this is what BA did as the off-load process did indeed begin. Seriously, how hard is it to make it from a check-in desk to a gate? In a space of hours? Like millions of people around the world manage perfectly well day in, day out? Inexcusable, selfish and something which should be punished! And breathe! To calm my anger, I asked for a second champagne given we'd be delayed a while

By 17:35 we were undergoing a manual head-count by the crew, by 17:45 the Captain said we had "resolved our issue and I'm pretty satisfied with the security of this aircraft so we'll get on our way". Two things struck me here - firstly, only 'pretty' satisfied?? Secondly, with this wording I wasn't entirely sure if the selfish imbeciles in question had ended up being kicked off...I just sincerely hope they were. And fed to the local alligators At least during the delay the crew did a few extra things to pass the time - they handed out our washbags and menus on the ground, which I thought was good as I'd be able to get more sleep in the air. The Purser also began taking meal orders and got right to Row 3 before we pushed back!

But finally we were on our way around 35-40 minutes late I think and soon the crew had dispensed the hot towels and begun the drinks service (champagne for me, naturally). My colleague in 4J asked for a G&T and was given the choice of Gordon's or Tanquerry which I thought was good, although I'd have preferred to hear Bombay Sapphire was on offer personally I noted the Purser re-commence taking meal orders...in the rear cabin! Poor little old me was feeling rather neglected and forgotten! After finishing the rear cabin and heading back to the front galley, he clearly realised his oversight and came back to Row 4 and apologetically said he'd missed us out! All done with a smile, and given he was talking orders by asking your surname, all was soon 'forgiven' It's these little touches I find make all the difference. The menu was:

--
STARTERS
Blue crab salad with mango
or
Mozzarella cheese, sun-blushed tomatoes and grilled artichokes dressed with peppered olive oil

Fresh seasonal salad served with vinaigrette

MAIN
Grilled fillet steak with Madeira sauce, green beans, baby carrots and potatoes au gratin

Seared citrus salmon on fire-roasted pepper sauce, sauteed spinach and saffron rice

Asparagus tortelli tossed in alfredo sauce topped with grated Parmesan cheese

Duck confit and foie gras on fresh salad leaves with orange dressing

DESSERT
Key lime pie

Westcombe Cheddar and Danish Blue cheese

WINES
Charles Heidsieck Mis en Cave 2000

Jekel Gravelstone Chardonnay 2002, Monterey County
Pouilly-Fuisse 2002, Marie-Louise Parisot

Gordon Brothers Merlot 2001, Columbia Valley
Chateau Ste. Michelle Syrah 2001, Columbia Valley
Chateau Verdignan 1999, Cru Bourgeois
--

and I asked for the crab and salmon before settling in to 'Sideways' on IFE. After a couple of Champagne top-ups from the attentive crew, I switched to a couple of glasses of the Pouilly-Fuisse with my meal which was nice and light and slipped down all too easily The food was actually excellent - the crab had a nice spicy 'kick' to it and the roast garlic was lovely, and for the main the salmon wasn't too dry at all and the rice tasted great. This time I did ask for both dessert (I love that Key lime pie!) and cheese with port and coffee. Of course it was no problem...even though it was still presented as an 'or' choice initially Although not listed on the menu this time, the Chocolates were "Linden Lady" again - although on this leg I thought I'd save them and take them home for a friend at the office given I'd already eaten so much

'Sideways' drew to a close and so did my eyes! I was ready to recline my bed and get some sleep, with one problem - the youngest kid in Row 3 was jumping up and down screaming as he had been pretty much since take-off This prompted the crew to come around offering ear plugs and a beleaguered smile to pax they could see were bedding down and hadn't used the ones from their amenity kits! A nice touch from a very helpful crew I thought ^ Thankfully, the screaming didn't last long much longer - maybe the kid wore himself out! But after being placated by the Nanny who took him back with her for while, I didn't hear a peep until the usual ear-popping tears on landing.

I must say that the meal service itself hadn't been very speedy so we were well in to the flight by this point, but I managed to settle down and get around 4 hours of sleep which is pretty good for me on a plane, and pretty much unheard of for me if I was sitting up in W. By the time I woke up the breakfast service was just beginning (I could hear them preparing in the galley - so if you're not a very deep sleeper like I tend to be, maybe steer clear of 4AB/JK on the 3-class 777s). After the large meal I wasn't overly hungry so just asked for the fresh fruit, an OJ and tea - the last two of which I doubled up on in the end as I checked out the moving map only to be greeted with a quick 'Shopping The World' advert before the map resumed...have BA resorted to subliminal messages to boost sales? For completeness, breakfast was:

--
STARTERS
Chilled orange juice and ruby grapefruit juice

An energising fruit smoothie

Fresh seasonal fruit
or
Cereals with chilled milk

BAKERY
Warm bacon roll with tomato ketchup

Selection of warm breads and breakfast pastries

DRINKS
Ground coffee, decaffeinated ground coffee or tea

Selection of herbal teas - peppermint, blackcurrant, apple or camomile and honey
--

We were soon on our very quick final approach to LGW which seemed to take some of the crew by surprise, just scrabbling in to their seats before we landed We touched down around 6:45am, roughly 15 minutes late because of the selfish idiots at MCO. There was no major queue at passport control, although the American woman in front of me was unceremoniously ejected to queue up where she should have been which seemed to cause her some consternation I must admit this brought a smile to my face! Given the rigmarole we Brits have to go through to visit the US, by comparison a few minutes for her in the (perfectly adequately signposted, so she had no excuse) queue for non-EU people is a breeze!

After another 20 minute wait for bags we were soon landside and heading our separate ways. As this was my first time arriving at LGW in Club World, I decided I'd check out the Arrivals "Lounge" for the sake of interest. I wasn't that eager to get to work so figured I'd have a shower, some breakfast and then head in after rush hour since I'd have to get taxi from Victoria to Waterloo. So I made a leisurely stroll to Le Meridien hotel (incidentally, the crew did hand out Arrivals Lounge invites on-board - these list directions for LGW as well as LHR T1 and T4). Here I saw the BA sign by the check-in area and headed to the lift for the 7th floor as directed to find that BA basically have a suite dedicated to arriving pax and not much more. It was, however, lovely to be greeted by two very smiley and happy BA staff with rather posh-sounding voices...I definitely knew I'd 'arrived' back home I was informed it was rather busy so there was a 20 minute or so queue for showers. I said I'd wait and grabbed myself an OJ and coffee and a paper to read. Around 30 minutes later I was called and led to a bathroom in the suite for my shower - it's basically just any other hotel bathroom, only with some Molton Brown bottles in! The only real downside of this (aside from the showers being nowhere near as good as at the LHR lounges) is the room got incredibly hot and steamy (no, BA Board members, no scope for innuendo...I was alone, I mean actual steam! ). Feeling a bit more fresh and human-like, I requested a breakfast voucher, gave my thanks and goodbyes and headed down in the lift to the ground floor of Le Meridien where you can eat (with voucher) at the standard breakfast buffet. This was nothing special, but OK. By now I was a bit more hungry and thought it was sensible to get back on UK time so went for basically a full English with another OJ and coffee. Overall I'd say it's a nice idea for BA to offer something at least - and I'm sure it's a bit better when not so busy - but compared to LHR it's a bit of a letdown, to be honest. I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to use it if arriving at LGW in Club/FIRST.

Packing up I had a slow stroll back to the North terminal and then caught the transit back to South and the train station where I'd just missed a Gatwick Express. In the end I caught the 9:20 which meant I was in work for just after 10am...feeling, I have to say, a hell of a lot better than after my last trip which was DFW-LGW in W

Beany

Excellent trip report


I live 5mins from where they make Linden Lady. There was an article in our local paper when they were awarded the BA contract.
If you are feeling down, you can pop into the factory shop and pick up a few treats

Prospero

Very enjoyable report. ^

Loved the heightened tension you added to the plot as you pondered over the re-route in First option. You definately made the right choice, particularly as the BWI - LHR is now a three class dusked 767, the first class travel bit would most likely have been limited to an AA MD-80 (with change at DFW)

Cheers

G-BOAC

Thanks Beany and GregM for the positive feedback ^

GregM - this is a good example of one of the things you can just pick up on the boards here I knew BWI is usually a 767 but I read somewhere that for a while now (perhaps until summer?) it's operating with a 4-class 777 (and I just did a quick check, you can book FIRST and WT+ on ba.com currently). Although I wasn't 100% sure what the equipment would be on the day, they definitely confirmed it was BA FIRST BWI-LHR so I didn't doubt them. In the end, I just decided not to suffer the change and extra connection, especially on my own...I know I'll get in FIRST 'legit' one day soon with my AmEx voucher I hope

Phil

Gizmos

At risk of sounding stupid but is there are reason why you flew into/out of MCO instead of Tampa as this is really a lot closer to Sarasota than Orlando? Only reason I can think of is that only operate 5/6 days a weeK - just interested (nosy)

G-BOAC

Not stupid at all...in fact, a question we all asked ourselves when we found out we had to go to Sarasota We were attending a conference hosted by one of our company's partners in order to give various presentations and have meetings, etc. but way back at the start of the year they just told us it'd be in "Orlando". Since I was keen to take advantage of the cheap I class (hence non-changeable/refundable) fares I booked them ASAP. Only later did we find out it was in Sarasota and that TPA (where I believe we could also have nabbed some decent I class fares at the time) would have been closer (or even SRQ itself but there were no great oneworld connections to it as far as I could see from a quick check).

So just one of those things really! But in the end it was no big deal - we had a perfectly nice drive each way, stopping off for a break and enjoying the sunshine we wouldn't have been having in the UK

Phil

Swanhunter

Nice report GBOAC - highlighting both the good and bad in BA's service. Ground handling....

Fraser

Very nice report ^ Have to say if I was alone I'd have gone for the BWI option presuming they were going to award the miles and points for AA F sectors. Probably not but nevermind.

I echo your thoughts on young babies, thankfully I am yet to disturbed overnight with babies in premium cabins although have had a few day flights where babies just across the divider make enough racket Imagine the horror when on my much anticipated Concorde flight three years ago when a baby sat across from me Thankfully it was sound asleep all the way to JFK

BA ground handling

Gatwick Alan

I dont know about MCO but at LGW BA employ their own baggage handlers, as opposed to most airlines who sub it out. The lack of care is obvious.

BA1321

Thanks for the excellent report. I had the same menu as you ex-LHR this month- and appears I made the exact same choices...spooky

I have been wanting to do a longhaul ex-LGW for a while to see how the service etc. racks up against LHR, but with the exception of perhaps ATL they just don't serve anywhere I need to go. Unless of course they added LAS...but that's a whole different thread

UncleDude

"for her in the (perfectly adequately signposted, so she had no excuse) queue for non-EU people is a breeze!"


Maybe she was one of the Millions of Floridian Hispanics and thought EU was Estados Unidos

flyclub

Great report GBOAC!

I can't remember the customs/immigration arrangement being as it is these days five - ten years ago - the going through security just to get to the baggage claim area is stupid - it certainly surprised me when I did this back in January as usually I connect via Detroit/Atlanta/Dallas for Orlando and hence a domestic flight by the time I arrive at MCO.

I didn't realise they had Wi-Fi access in the Delta Crown Room! It would have helped my GPRS bill as well....stupid me!

I had an identical menu returning in Club World from DFW a few weeks ago - probably the best menu I have yet received in Club World. It's a pity you didn't go for the steak - it was truly superb - in fact my father asked for a second he enjoyed it that much!

The Key Lime Pie was indeed excellent (plus the fresh Raspberries served with it... ), however it would have been interesting to find out if you had any Ruby Red Grapefruit juice on your flight for the Breakfast service as they didn't on my flight which was dissappointing as I'm quite partial....

AJLondon

Excellent trip report GBOAC. ^
A most enjoyable read indeed.

Swiss Tony

Just out of interest re the baggage circus at MCO, does it take so much longer that you might as well be on a connecting flight (i.e. clear customs at ATL) or is it simply more of a hassle to jump through the hoops?