Operation Oahu: British Airways Club and American Airlines First Class to Hawaii
Apr 2, 2017, 2:40 pm
#32
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Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA Gold, SQ Gold, KQ Platinum, IHG Diamond Ambassador, Hilton Gold, Marriott Silver, Accor Silver
Posts: 16,348
IAD-LHR
The British Airways Lounge at Washington is nicely appointed, located on the floor above the main gate area but bizarrely accessible only by a single lift, which led to a little queue when boarding was announced later that evening.
This lounge was refurbished extensively in 2014 to the latest BA design concept (very much to my taste), and whilst the former separate First lounge has now disappeared in favour of a combined lounge, the fairly narrow space has been used incredibly well, separated into well designed sections fulfilling different purposes.
I was welcomed at reception by a friendly agent and invited to use the Club World Pre-Flight Supper area if I wished. This was where I headed first, down past the main seating area with a small VIP room off to one side (which had one political-looking chap in it during my visit) and through the main buffet area to the right roughly halfway along the lounge.
This area featured a pretty decent selection of nicely arranged items for status passengers travelling in economy or premium economy, as well as all other guests of course if they wanted something lighter.
A wave of my boarding pass to the guardian of the Club World Pre-Flight Supper (PFS) room was enough to grant me entrance into a nicely arranged space featuring a variety of seating options, and a long buffet with a more than adequate array of fairly good quality dishes, enhanced by very pleasant welcoming staff and a view of the apron. I’ll admit to being pleasantly surprised at just how good this was, as my previous experiences of PFS have not been great.
After a light but satisfying dinner of salmon, mashed potato, roasted vegetables and runner beans, I took a quick tour of the staffed bar area, before heading to the main seating area to relax before the night flight across the pond. The lounge’s quality is plain to see; both style and substance are present here, with multiple power and USB sockets throughout.
I often inform lounge staff of my photography out of courtesy, and the front desk staff today couldn’t have been more helpful, including showing me the Concorde Dining area for First passengers. This space, immediately to the right of reception, features a small waiting area with dedicated bar in advance of the typical Pre-Flight Dining booth setup. Whilst a nicely appointed space, I would’ve expected the view of the apron to have been maximised more, as it was in the PFS area.
Boarding at Gate B44 this evening was clearly managed, with two separate gate numbers used - one for First (with a dedicated lane) and World Traveller/World Traveller Plus, and one for Club World and all status passengers. The rather long queue at the CW line was combed by an agent to ensure all those in line were eligible, and indeed a number of people were sent packing to the other side of the gate.
There was quite a wait on the airbridge as the cabin crew were not ready to receive passengers (despite boarding having commenced). How these things happen never ceases to amaze me. Whether related or not, there was a member of BA staff performing cabin crew duties on this flight dressed in smart business dress (not cabin crew uniform), with a blue tabard over the top - perhaps a member of head office staff keeping her contingency licence to operate on this aircraft type current in the event of a strike or similar?
Tonight’s aircraft was G-STBF, a 77W delivered to BA in 2012 and configured with the slightly older style Club World cabin when compared to the latest interior design found on the 787/A380 fleet; this was actually quite noticeable - I had forgotten quite how incongruous the lamps suspended from the central section of the cabin are. I settled into 11K as my jacket was taken by the crew and I stored the pre-placed pillow, blanket and headphones in the low level drawer.
As boarding continued I nipped down to the rear of the cabin into one of the spartan washrooms to change into some First PJs (that I’d brought on board); I find changing into PJs makes all the difference for a reasonable night’s sleep onboard an aircraft, and of course means one’s clothes don’t look horribly creased after the flight. Incidentally, the four CW washrooms are not screened in any way from the cabin, so avoid the last row when choosing seats on this aircraft type.
Because I had been changing I missed PDBs, but requested a bottle of water (which was initially forgotten about) when amenity kits and newspapers were offered.
A precise route time of 6 hours was announced by the flight crew just before the cabin crew came around with menus taking meal orders. I took a menu (purely for completeness) but declined any dinner which seemed to cause a little confusion.
I slept for almost 5 hours pretty solidly on the comfortable Club World flat bed, with the aid of nothing more than an eye mask from the amenity kit. Whilst these window seats are not particularly wide and the lack of storage and direct aisle access is abysmal, the privacy they offer is second to none with the dividing screen up.
I hadn't planned on eating at all on this flight, but as it was the sounds of the breakfast service that had woken me off the coast of Ireland, I decided to sample the fruit plate which was a nice start to the day, accompanied as it was by yet another beautiful sunrise on this trip.
A quick change of clothes later, and we were landing onto Runway 27R at Heathrow with just a short taxi to our stand at the far end of T5C and a healthy walk to the transit train back to T5A.
LHR-DUB
I had a fairly long layover before my penultimate flight of this trip across to Dublin, so opted to go landside to use the Galleries Arrivals lounge, a lounge I hadn’t visited for a few years. Nothing much had changed, and the showers were the same spartan plastic boxes that they always have been; the one I was allocated hadn’t even had its floor replaced unlike some others.
I’ve always liked the arrivals lounge for the full breakfast selection it offers (compared to the more limited choice in the Club departure lounges), and the fact it’s usually a much quieter space given its stricter access requirements.
After a quick bite to eat I headed back through an empty North Fast Track security and across to Galleries Club South, where a coffee was waiting for me.
Boarding was from Gate A9 this afternoon, and our 16 year old A319 G-EUPX (my second time on this aircraft) was configured with quite a large CE cabin of 8 rows. Settling into 3F I noticed the problem that now plagues many of BA’s shorthaul Airbus aircraft; some of the overhead panels (eg. reading lights) don’t line up properly with rows, since BA decreased the seat pitch in the forward part of the aircraft from 34” to 30” but failed to relocate the panels to match. You really couldn’t make it up.
Jackets were taken, and after boarding had completed hot towels passed around. Behind me in Rows 4 and 5 were a band that were playing in Dublin later that week; some passengers boarding had recognised them and said they were going to see them. I’m still none the wiser as to who they were - I certainly didn’t recognise them. We were 10 minutes late to push back due to the late arrival of the inbound aircraft. The flight crew announced a 38,000ft cruising altitude and a flight time across the water of the usual single hour.
As we were still climbing, the efficient crew jumped into action and passed around lunch trays featuring a breaded chicken salad which was very good indeed. Warm bread from the basket was offered. I finished lunch with a rather bland chocolate mousse served in a cheap looking plastic pot.
In no time at all we had arrived in Dublin, and with Flight Connections closed I exited through to landside.
DUB-LHR
I used my mobile boarding pass through the app to access Fast Track security as check-in was busy. The security staff at Dublin are pretty friendly, and dealt with the necessary explosives swab for my bag in no time. I passed some time in the same lounge I’d used at the start of this trip, before heading down to Gate 204 where Priority Boarding had me onboard 6 year old A320 G-EUYL and back in 3F (with an empty 3D beside me) in no time at all. This flight also had 8 rows of CE; DUB is a popular route for business and longhaul premium connecting passengers, although on this flight only half the seats were filled.
The usual jackets and hot towel routine commenced alongside an announcement of our flight time (a short 49 minutes) and cruising altitude (37,000ft). A manual safety demonstration was performed before taxiing out to the active runway and departing into the night sky.
Dinner this evening was another chicken salad (albeit this time smothered in a rather horrid sauce instead of coated in the tasty breadcrumbs as on the previous flight), and another plastic pot of indefinable mousse (I think it was strawberry or raspberry flavoured at a guess). As I had a taxi collecting me from the airport, I indulged in a Baileys and coffee as the flight was drawing to a close and we started our descent to an approach (after a 10 minute hold) to Runway 27L.
We arrived into Gate A23, where there was a short wait for the airport security staff to arrive (necessary at Common Travel Area arrival gates to guard the entrance to international arrivals for connecting passengers).
Conclusions
The trip was very enjoyable and fulfilled its purpose of gaining a healthy tier point balance with 6 months still to go of my membership year. I was pleasantly surprised by Hawaii and look forward to returning to Oahu or one of its neighbouring islands in the near future, when hopefully I’ll have more time to explore some of the less busy areas of this remote corner of the world.
Thanks for reading and for all of the comments to date - they are much appreciated and make the time invested to pull this report together worth while.
The British Airways Lounge at Washington is nicely appointed, located on the floor above the main gate area but bizarrely accessible only by a single lift, which led to a little queue when boarding was announced later that evening.
This lounge was refurbished extensively in 2014 to the latest BA design concept (very much to my taste), and whilst the former separate First lounge has now disappeared in favour of a combined lounge, the fairly narrow space has been used incredibly well, separated into well designed sections fulfilling different purposes.
I was welcomed at reception by a friendly agent and invited to use the Club World Pre-Flight Supper area if I wished. This was where I headed first, down past the main seating area with a small VIP room off to one side (which had one political-looking chap in it during my visit) and through the main buffet area to the right roughly halfway along the lounge.
This area featured a pretty decent selection of nicely arranged items for status passengers travelling in economy or premium economy, as well as all other guests of course if they wanted something lighter.
A wave of my boarding pass to the guardian of the Club World Pre-Flight Supper (PFS) room was enough to grant me entrance into a nicely arranged space featuring a variety of seating options, and a long buffet with a more than adequate array of fairly good quality dishes, enhanced by very pleasant welcoming staff and a view of the apron. I’ll admit to being pleasantly surprised at just how good this was, as my previous experiences of PFS have not been great.
After a light but satisfying dinner of salmon, mashed potato, roasted vegetables and runner beans, I took a quick tour of the staffed bar area, before heading to the main seating area to relax before the night flight across the pond. The lounge’s quality is plain to see; both style and substance are present here, with multiple power and USB sockets throughout.
I often inform lounge staff of my photography out of courtesy, and the front desk staff today couldn’t have been more helpful, including showing me the Concorde Dining area for First passengers. This space, immediately to the right of reception, features a small waiting area with dedicated bar in advance of the typical Pre-Flight Dining booth setup. Whilst a nicely appointed space, I would’ve expected the view of the apron to have been maximised more, as it was in the PFS area.
Boarding at Gate B44 this evening was clearly managed, with two separate gate numbers used - one for First (with a dedicated lane) and World Traveller/World Traveller Plus, and one for Club World and all status passengers. The rather long queue at the CW line was combed by an agent to ensure all those in line were eligible, and indeed a number of people were sent packing to the other side of the gate.
There was quite a wait on the airbridge as the cabin crew were not ready to receive passengers (despite boarding having commenced). How these things happen never ceases to amaze me. Whether related or not, there was a member of BA staff performing cabin crew duties on this flight dressed in smart business dress (not cabin crew uniform), with a blue tabard over the top - perhaps a member of head office staff keeping her contingency licence to operate on this aircraft type current in the event of a strike or similar?
Tonight’s aircraft was G-STBF, a 77W delivered to BA in 2012 and configured with the slightly older style Club World cabin when compared to the latest interior design found on the 787/A380 fleet; this was actually quite noticeable - I had forgotten quite how incongruous the lamps suspended from the central section of the cabin are. I settled into 11K as my jacket was taken by the crew and I stored the pre-placed pillow, blanket and headphones in the low level drawer.
As boarding continued I nipped down to the rear of the cabin into one of the spartan washrooms to change into some First PJs (that I’d brought on board); I find changing into PJs makes all the difference for a reasonable night’s sleep onboard an aircraft, and of course means one’s clothes don’t look horribly creased after the flight. Incidentally, the four CW washrooms are not screened in any way from the cabin, so avoid the last row when choosing seats on this aircraft type.
Because I had been changing I missed PDBs, but requested a bottle of water (which was initially forgotten about) when amenity kits and newspapers were offered.
A precise route time of 6 hours was announced by the flight crew just before the cabin crew came around with menus taking meal orders. I took a menu (purely for completeness) but declined any dinner which seemed to cause a little confusion.
I slept for almost 5 hours pretty solidly on the comfortable Club World flat bed, with the aid of nothing more than an eye mask from the amenity kit. Whilst these window seats are not particularly wide and the lack of storage and direct aisle access is abysmal, the privacy they offer is second to none with the dividing screen up.
I hadn't planned on eating at all on this flight, but as it was the sounds of the breakfast service that had woken me off the coast of Ireland, I decided to sample the fruit plate which was a nice start to the day, accompanied as it was by yet another beautiful sunrise on this trip.
A quick change of clothes later, and we were landing onto Runway 27R at Heathrow with just a short taxi to our stand at the far end of T5C and a healthy walk to the transit train back to T5A.
LHR-DUB
I had a fairly long layover before my penultimate flight of this trip across to Dublin, so opted to go landside to use the Galleries Arrivals lounge, a lounge I hadn’t visited for a few years. Nothing much had changed, and the showers were the same spartan plastic boxes that they always have been; the one I was allocated hadn’t even had its floor replaced unlike some others.
I’ve always liked the arrivals lounge for the full breakfast selection it offers (compared to the more limited choice in the Club departure lounges), and the fact it’s usually a much quieter space given its stricter access requirements.
After a quick bite to eat I headed back through an empty North Fast Track security and across to Galleries Club South, where a coffee was waiting for me.
Boarding was from Gate A9 this afternoon, and our 16 year old A319 G-EUPX (my second time on this aircraft) was configured with quite a large CE cabin of 8 rows. Settling into 3F I noticed the problem that now plagues many of BA’s shorthaul Airbus aircraft; some of the overhead panels (eg. reading lights) don’t line up properly with rows, since BA decreased the seat pitch in the forward part of the aircraft from 34” to 30” but failed to relocate the panels to match. You really couldn’t make it up.
Jackets were taken, and after boarding had completed hot towels passed around. Behind me in Rows 4 and 5 were a band that were playing in Dublin later that week; some passengers boarding had recognised them and said they were going to see them. I’m still none the wiser as to who they were - I certainly didn’t recognise them. We were 10 minutes late to push back due to the late arrival of the inbound aircraft. The flight crew announced a 38,000ft cruising altitude and a flight time across the water of the usual single hour.
As we were still climbing, the efficient crew jumped into action and passed around lunch trays featuring a breaded chicken salad which was very good indeed. Warm bread from the basket was offered. I finished lunch with a rather bland chocolate mousse served in a cheap looking plastic pot.
In no time at all we had arrived in Dublin, and with Flight Connections closed I exited through to landside.
DUB-LHR
I used my mobile boarding pass through the app to access Fast Track security as check-in was busy. The security staff at Dublin are pretty friendly, and dealt with the necessary explosives swab for my bag in no time. I passed some time in the same lounge I’d used at the start of this trip, before heading down to Gate 204 where Priority Boarding had me onboard 6 year old A320 G-EUYL and back in 3F (with an empty 3D beside me) in no time at all. This flight also had 8 rows of CE; DUB is a popular route for business and longhaul premium connecting passengers, although on this flight only half the seats were filled.
The usual jackets and hot towel routine commenced alongside an announcement of our flight time (a short 49 minutes) and cruising altitude (37,000ft). A manual safety demonstration was performed before taxiing out to the active runway and departing into the night sky.
Dinner this evening was another chicken salad (albeit this time smothered in a rather horrid sauce instead of coated in the tasty breadcrumbs as on the previous flight), and another plastic pot of indefinable mousse (I think it was strawberry or raspberry flavoured at a guess). As I had a taxi collecting me from the airport, I indulged in a Baileys and coffee as the flight was drawing to a close and we started our descent to an approach (after a 10 minute hold) to Runway 27L.
We arrived into Gate A23, where there was a short wait for the airport security staff to arrive (necessary at Common Travel Area arrival gates to guard the entrance to international arrivals for connecting passengers).
Conclusions
The trip was very enjoyable and fulfilled its purpose of gaining a healthy tier point balance with 6 months still to go of my membership year. I was pleasantly surprised by Hawaii and look forward to returning to Oahu or one of its neighbouring islands in the near future, when hopefully I’ll have more time to explore some of the less busy areas of this remote corner of the world.
Thanks for reading and for all of the comments to date - they are much appreciated and make the time invested to pull this report together worth while.
Last edited by Genius1; Apr 2, 2017 at 3:21 pm
Apr 2, 2017, 4:19 pm
#33
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 630
Thanks for taking the time and effort to post your trip report. I have also been puzzled by the negative attitude about Hawaii. Mr. halfcape and I went to Maui a few years ago and we throughly enjoyed ourselves. Plus while we were there the whales were migrating, and if you put your head under water, you could hear them singing. That made the trip!
Apr 3, 2017, 8:59 am
#35
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: New York, NY
Programs: BAEC Gold, Delta Platinum, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold, AMEX Platinum (US)
Posts: 18,487
Very nice!
I didn't realise AA flew the 8 F seat A319 on IAD-LAX now! I've done that route before when it was a 737-800...thought the 8 F seat aircraft were only on the daft, short routes I do such as CLT-RIC
Nice to see how the BA lounge at IAD is....it was closed and re-done just after I moved away from DC (would have been my fourth lounge iteration since I started flying to IAD which has to be a record on the BA network!) but I think I recognise a few bits....obviously the long window facing the concourse and I think the F Dining looks like it has gone in where the F lounge used to be.
With A380s, 77Ws and the new lounge the IAD experience is quite different from the dozens of BA trips I took between LHR and IAD!
I didn't realise AA flew the 8 F seat A319 on IAD-LAX now! I've done that route before when it was a 737-800...thought the 8 F seat aircraft were only on the daft, short routes I do such as CLT-RIC
Nice to see how the BA lounge at IAD is....it was closed and re-done just after I moved away from DC (would have been my fourth lounge iteration since I started flying to IAD which has to be a record on the BA network!) but I think I recognise a few bits....obviously the long window facing the concourse and I think the F Dining looks like it has gone in where the F lounge used to be.
With A380s, 77Ws and the new lounge the IAD experience is quite different from the dozens of BA trips I took between LHR and IAD!
Apr 3, 2017, 10:15 am
#36
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: London
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 2,644
Nice trip report, looks like you had some good flights. I did a US Airways KOA-PHX red eye a few years ago (see my signature), and that 757 felt reaaaly old! Yours looked a lot more comfortable.
The Hawaii hotel looked ok, but $565/night!?
Crazy money for a 4*
The Hawaii hotel looked ok, but $565/night!?
Crazy money for a 4*
Apr 5, 2017, 6:38 am
#39
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Peterborough, UK
Programs: BA Silver; IHG Spire; Avis P+; Global Entry
Posts: 1,505
amazing TR!
It does appear, i'm booked on that one in July for YYZ-LAX and was surprised for such a small F cabin, but when i went to select my seats we were the only ones to do this with the full cabin available (maybe the reason why!)
It does appear, i'm booked on that one in July for YYZ-LAX and was surprised for such a small F cabin, but when i went to select my seats we were the only ones to do this with the full cabin available (maybe the reason why!)
Apr 6, 2017, 2:35 am
#41
Join Date: May 2009
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold, IHG Platinum, HH Diamond, Hertz PC,
Posts: 1,986
Apr 7, 2017, 12:30 am
#44
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Aberdeen, Scotland
Programs: BA Bronze, Emirates Silver, Virgin Silver, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 1,403
Thanks for the trip report, I have enjoyed reading it. 
They were doing the lounge up at IAD when we were there in 2014 and looks an awful lot better to the temporary one we used.
They were doing the lounge up at IAD when we were there in 2014 and looks an awful lot better to the temporary one we used.
Apr 16, 2017, 2:22 pm
#45
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: London, UK
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Posts: 16,348
Thanks for the recent comments! Physci and aidy I hope you both enjoy your upcoming trips.