No, I will not throw away a First Class ticket to London even if it is on American

Am a little confused.Am I missing something
You used the HEX to Terminal3 and then used the walkway from Terminal4 to the Hilton?
How did you get between terminals?

The Heathrow Connect takes you from Heathrow Central (ie T1/2/3) to T4. Heathrow Express takes you to T5.

https://www.heathrowconnect.com/stat...ort/terminal-4

Yeah, I'd probably do the Express to save time on such a short trip, but only the one-way express saver for 22 quid. Based on where you left from near Piccadilly Circus probably would have been the same amount of time and 25 quid cheaper to just hop on the Piccadilly line and take it straight to Terminal 4. Riding the Tube is maybe not as comfortable as the Express, but perfectly fine especially when by yourself with little/no luggage.

Did one in Marseille recently (NOT my idea). Add it to the exception-list.....

Penfolds Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz in First???!!! They must be joking. A refugee from Biz, and even there it would not be up to snuff.

Hilton London Heathrow Terminal 4... sort of


The Heathrow Express Connector elevator takes you right to the airline check-in counters for Terminal 3.



And a mere thirty feet from the elevator is the Hilton, or a door that purports to be the Hilton. LOL.



It is covered non climate controlled walkway... that goes on and on and on.



A couple minutes of quick walking and another turn in the walkway, I get to another turn and a sign saying "You are just 4 minutes from Hilton London Heathrow". Really?





Don't give up, you are almost in there, or in Wales whichever is closer.





OMG, finally.





It is a rather pleasant and attractive contemporary hotel.



I'm typically very impatient but tonight I patiently waited to be checked in. No worries, take all the time you want.















All in all a comfy room to spend the evening although I didn't get much sleep as I had to contend with a business mini crisis in the evening east coast US time. Forgot to take a pic before I messed up the room. My bad.

La Première at Heathrow


I made the long trek back from the Hilton London Heathrow not-even-close-to T4 to the Terminal check-in concourse arriving just before the counters opened at 4:30am.



Decided to sit rather than wait in line at that hour, and then join the queue after the counters opened.



Whoa, now that's a lot of bags to check.



Once I got the head of the line and the check in agent, the La Première service kicked into high gear. When the agent pulled up my reservation, she perked up and called over an associate who asked if I would like to be escorted to the lounge. Oui, SVP. And so begins another amazing day with the best overall First Class product on the planet. Moments later, my personal Heathrow La Première assistant Louise introduced herself and escorted me to and thru Fast Track security, down an empty T4 concourse to the Sky Team Lounge. This lounge is huge with two similarly sized large levels. After Louise introduced me to the Lounge dragon, we headed upstairs to the 2nd level. Attractive modern lounge with plenty of seating... for the masses.



As a La Première passenger, Louise escorted me to my own private lounge, The V.I.P Room.









My own private bathroom.



Two servers arrived shortly after I did, to take my drink order and set up my own fruit plate and pastry tray.







I decided to check out the rest of this attractive lounge.



Serve yourself food station. I'm sure that if I had asked, the V.I.P servers would have brought any of this to the V.I.P. Room.









The main level of the lounge offered a similar layout. The lower level food station is not open for breakfast.





At around T-30, Louise returned to escort me to my Air France A318 at nearby Gate 21. I was the first to board and we bid adieu as she introduced me to the cabin crew. Typical Euro Business Class coach seating with an open middle. And an open aisle today as I had all 3 bulkhead seats to myself.



Not the best legroom but the absence of rowmates made the 50 minute flight easy to take.









Sky Team partner Alitalia whose days may be numbered.





Once in the air, my continental breakfast. Tiny sloping, sagging tray table made it tough to keep the food tray from sliding off.



With an Alain Ducasse meal only an hour away, I picked at the prosciutto. But devoured the deliciously warm and fresh croissant.



Foggy morning on approach to CDG.

If one got to the QF lounge earlier enough, one could maybe consume the fare differential.

Thank you 757. I just love, love this airline. Air France is my current favorite First Class product.

Thanks very much DanielW. Hope you get to try it some day.

Thank you nequine. It was quite comfortable. Next time, I'll use my Star Alliance Gold card for the free upgrade.

We were the same way. Yuck, how hokey. Now, we try them everywhere, sometime again and again. Even though we've been to Paris lots of times, Mrs. SFO777 always like to take the Paris HOHO just to see the city. Thanks roadwarriorafrica.

As nequine notes, Heathrow Connect will get you to the other terminals in just a few minutes. It is really a brilliant system.

Thanks DCJoe1 for the info. But does the Piccadilly line have First Class?

LOL, how well do I know the "not my idea" part. Thanks offerendum.

Everything is relative at American. You should see what they "serve" on domestic transcons.

La Première Lounge at CDG


On arrival in Paris, a La Première rep was waiting in the jet bridge as the door opened. She escorted me down the jet bridge elevator to the tarmac level.



To my ride today, a nice new Jaguar.





About 3 minutes later, we arrived at the lower level of the lounge, where I was waived thru security and then headed up the elevator the one of my favorite lounges anywhere. It was reasonably crowded this morning with passengers waiting to board the mid-morning US departures including the A380 to LAX. I did some work and then took pics after pretty much everyone had left.







The gorgeous replica of the old Plaza Athenée bar.













OK, now I'm getting hungry.





Since it was mid morning, both Breakfast and Regular menus were available.





The wonderful rest of the day Alain Ducasse menu.





I gave my order to one of the wait staff, picked up Le Figaro and headed for a table in my private dining room.











Showtime, La Première Lounge style.





I started with delicious shrimp caesar salad and a glass of William Fèvre 1er cru Chablis.





Followed by one of my most favorites dishes on the planet, Alain Ducasse's signature Coquillettes jambon/truffe noir, the amazing mac and cheese pasta with comté, ham and black truffles.





O.M.G. To die for. With a 2nd and 3rd glass of the Chablis and I'm in heaven.



In a noble gesture, I declined dessert. And then changed my mind. Decisions, decisions.











A little more work while I finished another glass of Chablis. The spa and rest area of the lounge.







Four and a half hours passed quickly as it was the perfect amount of time to spend in this wonderful oasis.

Awesome trip report SFO777! You never disappoint. I would have patiently wait at the Hilton as well!

Not really impressed Would expect something else

As always, another excellent trip report. However, the Bündnerfleisch on your flight from LHR to CDG was looking a bit like it had been in the fridge for a few days.

I'm totally not drooling right now

That just looks like regular prosciutto to me, not Buendnerfleisch. I'd be very surprised to see a Swiss-style prepared, highly local type of dried meat on a BA-flight from London to Paris.

This confused me too when reading your report - it read as if you took the Heathrow Express to T3 then walkway to the T4 Hilton. Reality is that you take the Heathrow Express to "Heathrow Central/T1/T2/T3" then you changed train and took the Heathrow Connect (no change of platform required) to Terminal 4 and then took the elevator to the check-in area of Terminal 4 (not T3), from whence there is the walkway to the T4 Hilton. I think it is worth noting in case others get confused by exiting at T3 and trying to find the walkway to the T4 Hilton!

The brown stuff under the ham is definitely Bündnerfleisch (or if not actually AOC, Hobelfleich, or dried beef from Vallais). It's not so local, as I've seen in in shops in France and Germany.

BTW, technically, I'm a Bündner myself, and headed there later today.