Seat 2A

I'm a less frequent visitor to the internet and by extension FlyerTalk these days but stories of your airborne adventures certainly make my occasional visits that much more enjoyable, if not longer! An engrossing read as always, Kiwi Flyer. Happy contrails!

Moomba

I love flying, I mean if someone said get on a plane tomorrow I wouldn't even ask to where. But you Sir are mad; and I mean that in the nicest possible way

I look forward to reading the rest of this pleasurable pain tome. ^

Kiwi Flyer

Good question. The start and end dates for this trip report are in some ways arbitrary as these days I'm nearly always travelling. I chose a four week period that I thought may be of interest.

Kiwi Flyer

In transit in Kuwait

With the late arrival and likely short turnaround time, I was a little discomforted that I hadn't been able to check in for the return flight. If I miss the next flight there are limited options for continuing, which I'd investigated last night in London Heathrow so as to be as prepared as I could be. There is a Kuwait Airways flight to London Heathrow that leaves a couple of hours later and thus arrives too late for my onward flight which only operates daily and may need a reroute to catch up to my itinerary (but missing a meeting in the next planned port of call. This option had availability including possible reroute options for onward flights. Another option was to reroute via Amman on Royal Jordan, but this would cause even bigger rescheduling/rerouting issues and in any case had no availability in business class. Third option is to spend a day in Kuwait and fly the next day - if I could get a seat. None of these options were particularly palatable.

So I was in two minds whether to transit airside or risk going through immigration for landside check in. The landside route would require getting a visa on arrival.

I opt for airside transfer, figuring in the worst case I can maybe get it sorted at the gate. I wander around but only see a Kuwait Airways transfer desk. I asked there but the other airlines use another transfer desk hidden around the corner. It is unmanned and showing no signs of anyone coming back to the desk any time soon. So I headed to the gate and asked the boarding pass checker who was fairly busy as it was getting close to boarding. After a few tries she managed to get hold of someone and asked me to wait by the transfer desk.

I waited. Time ticked by. Just as I was thinking it is too late - already past check in closure time, an agent appears. She took my ticket and passport and disappeared behind the Kuwait Airways transfer desk. Grrr.

I waited some more. Multiple final calls, gate closing announcements were made on the PA. Still I waited.

Eventually she comes back with 2 boarding passes and I'm the last to enter the gate area. Screening is simple - no silly liquids rule and no need to take off shoes/belt etc.

I start breathing again.

Kiwi Flyer

Kuwait City to London Heathrow (KWI-LHR) on British Airways 777 business class

With the hurried transit I did not get a chance to visit the contract lounge used by BA and many other airlines. I noticed my seat had been changed from my selected rear window seat (preferred for backwards facing and easy egress without having to climb past anyone) to a dreaded middle seat in the 2-4-2 layout (no privacy and have to climb over someone else getting in and out). Grrrr. I ask the gate agent if I can switch back to my selected seat but alas the flight is completely full, which wasn't unexpected - I'd noticed a week ago all booking classes were zeroed.

Since BA introduced changes to their seating policy earlier this year I've had nothing but problems, and I'm certainly not the only one to have had issues. There are several lengthy threads about it on the BA forum. In this case the scrambled name (which I still do not know how it happened) seems to have triggered a loss of recognition of my status, which in turn meant my selected seat was marked as up for grabs and prevented me from checking in at London or OLCIing. As the very last person to check in for this flight, well after official closure time for check in, I got the worst seat. I suspect I will also have to chase up for manual points credit.

The turnaround was very efficient and took just on an hour - amazing when the return flight was so full. The flight back was much the same as the flight over - I snoozed, ate and drank some more. I was given the wrong menu but managed to get it changed.

We again struck it lucky in virtually straight in landing, but once again paid the price in taking an hour to reach our remote stand. Along the way we past Air Force One. Fog earlier in the day was blamed for the chaos. With a shortish connection to my next flight, which operates once a day as I think I mentioned before, I was again starting to get anxious. My mood was not helped by just missing out on getting on the first bus - by 1 person arrrrrgggghhh. So at the time my boarding pass indicated I should be boarding for my next flight I was standing on the bus at the aircraft waiting for it to fill up and hoping that the flight was also delayed. At least I was already checked in - if they had not been able to in Kuwait that would have been worse.

Kiwi Flyer

Kuwait City to London Heathrow business menu

BREAKFAST

Starters

Chilled orange juice

An energising fruit smoothie of skim milk, banana, honey and strawberry

Fresh fruit appetiser

or

Weetabix cereal with chilled milk

Bakery

A selection of warm breads and breakfast pastries

Drinks

Ground coffee, decaffeinated coffee or tea

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


DRINKS

Complimentary bar serving alcoholic beverages and soft drinks is available throughout the flight. See inserted wine list for today's selection.

Ground coffee, decaffeinated coffee or tea

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


CLUB KITCHEN

Between meals, please help yourself to a drink or a tasty snack. Please visit the Club Kitchen and help yourself to the selection on display.

Snack salads, sandwiches, filled rolls and wraps

Fresh fruit salads and fruit smoothies or juice

Choice of luxury cakes

Crisps and chocolate (including organic chocolate)

If seated in the upper deck, you can visit the Club Kitchen downstairs.


LUNCH

Starters

Smoked salmon with prawn cocktail

or

Carpaccio of portobello and fresh mushrooms

Fresh seasonal salad served with vinaigrette

Main

Grilled fillet steak with balsamic butter and caramelised onions, asparagus and baked potato with sour cream

Sweet and sour prawns with pineapple-fried rice

Home-made ravioli au gratin filled with roast aubergine and gorgonzola cheese topped with fresh tomato sauce

Main course caesar salad with little gem lettuce, anchovy and grilled chicken fillets

Dessert

Chocolate banana cheese cake

Farmhouse mature cheddar and red leicester cheese

A selection of fruit

Chocolates


WINES

Champagne

Champagne cocktails
Kir Royale
Buck's Fizz

Heidsieck Monopole Blue Top Brut Reserve Champagne

Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve Champagne

White

Innocent Bystander Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2005

Chablis Champs Royaux 2006 William Fevre

Red

Yalumba Barossa Shiraz Viognier 2004

Chateau Arnauld 2004 Cru Bourgeois Haut-Medoc

Kiwi Flyer

In Transit in London Heathrow (again)

Our bus did a lap of T4 to get to the door. Along the way someone dropped their heavy carry on onto my foot - ouch. I was first off and raced up the stairs, then round and round the corners to get to T4->T4 transfers. A queue stretched back well beyond the split between fast track (first and business class) and economy lines. I assumed, correctly, that the mass of people were all in the economy line so I made my way along the left of the passage until I got to the end of the fast track line, which itself was beyond the signposted split. Lucky I remembered left for fast track, right for slow track from my transit the day before, or I would have wasted at least quarter of an hour getting to the split.

Security was slow. It seems many many late flights today. As it was now about scheduled departure time I was pleased to note that my flight was also delayed. So I grabbed a shower and cleaned up. It was then I noticed the throbbing pain in my toe was matched by a bloody mess. Fortunately the lounge had a simple first aid kit which I used. Then enough time to check my email, grab a medicinal drink or two and catch up on some messages.

Fortunately I'd allowed for a lengthy delay in scheduling the meeting at the next city. This was after checking flight stats and noting the flight had 0% rating - meaning 0% of flights in the past month had a worse on time record than this one! Good grief. If I'd known this when I made the booking I might have had second thoughts, but then again that was the reason for allowing for an overnight stop at this city instead of risking a same night onward transfer.

Kiwi Flyer

No please don't ask me how I've been getting off
London Heathrow to Phoenix (LHR-PHX) on British Airways 747-400 business class

Boarding was called so I headed to the gate where a heaving mass is congregating, for there are a few gates close together all departing shortly and all (full it seems) 747-400s. I threaded my way through to the elite boarding lane (says for first & business class but I presume also for one world emerald and sapphire - which their signs in Bangkok, Sydney etc explicitly refer to but not here for some reason).

I manage to avoid the "random" bag search for US bound flights and take my seat at the rear of the upper deck cabin, window seat of course. Although I've flown on BA's refurbished aircraft before, this is my first time in the new business class seat. It really is not much of a leap forward from the old seat, in my view. The acres of plastic scream cheap and nasty. The design is largely unchanged - most noticeable difference is the privacy screen which has a fully opaque lower section and a partly opaque upper section. But when serving window pax the FA lowers the screen to pass through the gap - thus still is over the aisle pax. The seat shakes whenever my seatmate opens or closes his table, and to a lesser extent when he raises or lowers his seat. It is a tight squeeze getting in and out, but the seat is still preferred for the side bins, less claustrophobic thanks to the curvature and cabin width (a small gap between seat and bin made all the difference).

After settling in with a pre-departure drink we are told there is an indefinite delay while we wait for connecting passengers whose flights to London were running late. Ah, so why board us so early then? After more than an hour onboard the doors are closed. I have no idea whether all the late pax made it, or whether they just decided to leave before crew hours became an issue.

Hmm - I might not be on time for my meeting after all. It's time like this that I wish that onboard internet was available.

... to be continued (boarding been called)

Kiwi Flyer

False alarm, boarding halted and deplaned. I'll see how much more I can write up while I wait to reboard.

...

The taxi was surprisingly quick. As we roll for take off I notice how much the wings are flexing - it is rather a lot.

All the blinds are forcibly closed by the crew, but with privacy screen up I can't help but take some peeks out at the unfolding views. We track across the northern Atlantic, over the southern tip of Greenland, past Hudson Bay and south towards and over the Rockies.

Food is lunch (very late by now) and refreshment. The lunch menu matches exactly a dinner menu on another flight - which is disappointing. The food does seem on the low side for a longish flight. Most other airlines flying a similar length flight would have 2 full meals, and some even manage 2 + a snack.

We have AVOD (audio-visual on demand) for in flight entertainment, but as I've seen most of the movies already I watch a program instead, doze, and work to prepare for my meeting.

We land rather late, but with few international flights I am hopeful for a quick exit and should still make my meeting. I'm one of the first in the alien line at immigration - due to walking fast and most of the downstairs business class passengers being entitled to use the US line (as we used door 2L first class passengers deplaned after me). When the agent doesn't do the usual chitchat I sense something is wrong and sure enough my form is marked in a way I haven't seen before and I'm escorted to a room to wait for questioning.

This is extremely brief and I'm very quickly free to go. I suspect that as it was my first visit to USA on a new passport (and my old one ran out of space rather than expired) they just wanted to confirm my identity. With no checked bags I'm soon through customs as well and make the long trek to arrivals (which is actually in a separate building).

It takes me a while to find the phone for courtesy hotel pickup, but the shuttle arrives within a minute of me reaching the curb in the still hot evening air. A couple of minutes later I've arrived and checked in - I got an upgrade to a suit, and made it with just a couple of minutes before my phone call is due. Phew.

Why did I choose to fly to Phoenix? A few reasons. Being nearer to the west coast than the east it earns more status credits than some destinations. The schedule nicely fitted with the Kuwait turnaround. It was a new destination and a new route to me. Indeed Phoenix is the 7th airport in USA that I have arrived and/or departing on an international flight, the most such airports for any country for me (overtaking the 6 airports in Australia). Arizona also is added to my list of USA states visited.

Kiwi Flyer

London Heathrow to Phoenix business menu

LUNCH

Starters

Mark Edwards' asian crab salad

or

Mixed mediterranean meze plate

Fresh seasonal salad
served with vinaigrette

Main

Vineet Bhatia's prawn bhuna masala with coconut and curry leaf rice
Prawn in Indian spices with coconut and curry leaf rice

Shaun Hill's lancashire hotpot

Mushroom cappalletti pasta with herb cream sauce

Main course pesto chicken salad served with vinaigrette

Dessert

Raspberry and chocolate mousse

Coastal cheddar and bleu d'auvergne cheese with garnishes

A selection of fruit

Chocolates


DRINKS

Complimentary bar serving alcoholic beverages and soft drinks is available throughout the flight. See inserted wine list for today's selection.

Ground coffee, decaffeinated coffee or tea

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


CLUB KITCHEN

Between meals, please help yourself to a drink or a tasty snack. Please visit the Club Kitchen and help yourself to the selection on display.

Snack salads, sandwiches, filled rolls and wraps

Fresh fruit salads and fruit smoothies or juice

Choice of luxury cakes

Crisps and chocolate (including organic chocolate)

If seated in the upper deck, you can visit the Club Kitchen downstairs.


REFRESHMENTS

Snacks

Sandwiches of poached salmon and chunky egg with baby spinach

or

Roast mediterranean vegetable salad with buffalo mozzarella cheese

Cornish pastry

Sweets

Lemon meringue tart

Drinks

Ground coffee, decaffeinated coffee or tea

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


WINES

Champagne

Champagne cocktails
Kir Royale
Buck's Fizz

Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve Champagne

White

William Hill Estate Napa Valley Chardonnay 2004

Rully Clos des Mollepierre 2005 Roux Pere et Fils

Red

Hess Collection Mountain Cuvee 2003 Napa Valley

Chateau Fourcas Hosten 2003 Cru Bourgeois Superieur Listrac

Gatwick Alan

Why did I choose to fly to Phoenix? A few reasons. Being nearer to the west coast than the east it earns more status credits than some destinations. The schedule nicely fitted with the Kuwait turnaround. It was a new destination and a new route to me. Indeed Phoenix is the 7th airport in USA that I have arrived and/or departing on an international flight, the most such airports for any country for me (overtaking the 6 airports in Australia). Arizona also is added to my list of USA states visited.

Blimey, ive actually flown in to more US airports than you (11 and counting), probably the only record i can beat you at
Just come back from Phoenix myself, albeit in lowly AA economy.
This is another great read, i am constantly amazed at how you get everything so organised and seem to know your options in any situation.
I treat your reports like a travel bible !!!

Have fun
Alan

Kiwi Flyer

I've flown into far more than 7 airports in USA (and likewise far more than 6 in Australia). 7 is just the number I've flown in/out on international flights. There are more which I've only flown domestically to/from. I think my current total of US airports flown to/from is 19 with some more yet to be added this trip.

Speaking of options - at this point I am glad I didn't go too agressively in terms of scheduling. For the past few days (including several flights which I haven't yet posted), every flight has had some minor issue or other.

Kiwi Flyer

Phoenix to Chicago O'Hare (PHX-ORD) on American 757 first class

My first time landside, and first real bed, in a few days is alas short lived. For after arriving in the evening I have an OMG wake up call for the early flight out of Phoenix. The shuttle runs every 30 minutes at this hour.

I forgot to mention another reason for choosing London Heathrow to Phoenix for my trans-atlantic flight, that Phoenix is not on the list of trans-con cities in the xONEx (One World Explorer) fare rules and thus I get a second North American trans-con instead of the normal restriction of one. Yay more miles for me.

This flight transits via Chicago O'Hare on a single flight number. I knew from posts on FT that this may or may not require a change of aircraft for American sometimes uses single flight numbers for connecting flights for convenience and ranking in the booking engines purposes.

At check in I get 4 more boarding passes - just another day for this FTer I'm quickly through BP check thanks to the elite line, but join a single line for security (2 screening stations) which moves faster than I expected.

There is no lounge and the terminal is fairly small so I read the complimentary paper and then pass it on to a random fellow passenger.

The flight is full and takes 35 minutes to board. It sure is slower boarding than most asia-pacific or european airlines I have flown, caused primarily by the large amounts of carry-ons brought by almost every passenger. On this, and indeed my subsequent USA domestic flights, the overhead bin space totally runs out. Whereas typically flying in Australia or New Zealand, for example, the bins might only be half full even with a full passenger load, AND their bins are smaller than on USA aircraft (for example cannot put rollaboard in wheels first). I boarded in the first group and even in the first section the overhead bins were almost full up and I had to put my small rollaboard a couple of rows behind me.

Meal is breakfast. A choice of pancakes or omelette, plus fruit bagel or biscuit. Where I come from biscuit is the same as what Americans call a cookie, which this "biscuit" most certainly is not - more of a scone or muffin (again muffin means different things to different people so I better stop here).

In flight entertainment on the overhead screen is Evan Almighty. I wonder if I'll have many flights where that is not an option (or the only choice)?

My seatmate appeared to be a popstar of some sort who'd been reluctantly forced to fly commercial. Her behaviour was rather odd and all the FAs gave her a wide berth despite the fact she wasn't complying with at least a couple of safety rules

Even though we were late arriving at Chicago O'Hare, due to the slow boarding, we were earlier than the ground crews expected us and so our gate was still occupied. We taxiied across the road to a holding pen, and then taxiied back to gate. So the scheduled 1 hour transit was cut short, although I was sceptical as to how much time we could make up - based on the evidence earlier today I thought short turnarounds to not be likely.

As the FA reads out the connecting gate information there is good news - I will be continuing on the same aircraft. We have a choice of remaining onboard or deplaning (taking all carry-on items with us). I elected to deplane to stretch my legs, visit the Flagship Lounge (walking past the Admirals Club to do so), catch up on some emails and rebooking options.

serfty

Keep it up Kiwi Flyer, you are an inspiration to us all.

Kiwi Flyer

Chicago O'Hare to Boston (ORD-BOS) on American 757 first class

Again a full flight. Again 35 minutes to board fully. We apparently had one no show as once seated one lucky passenger's upgrade cleared and a last minute additional passenger boarded. So, late in leaving on this flight too.

Meal is lunch. A choice of vegetable pizza or barbeque beef sandwich, plus salad, cookie, cheese and crackers. Given the prevalence of one choice I was glad that I'd applied the AA FEBO principle in selecting my seat (meal orders taken from the front on even numbered flights and from the back on odd numbered flights).

IFE was Eye on American and the How I Met Your Mother show.

I overheard the EXP behind me bragging to his seatmate how he was going to use his elite upgrades to upgrade a cheap ticket to Australia. Umm, no you wont - the upgrades only work on American metal and AA does not fly to Australia. Marks for trying to get the most benefit from a systemwide but clearly not an FTer.

At Boston we had driven too close to the terminal. So after all passengers were up with bags out from the bins we were asked to sit down so they could push us back a couple of yards and allow the airbridge to line up with the door. This took some 10 minutes - further adding to the delays which by now I'm coming to expect on this trip.

I headed to the Admirals Club for a shower and catch up on messages.