Kiwi Flyer

Early in the flight I was asked if I could use a Fast Track immigration card. Even though this time I expected to use Flight Connection Centre I kept mum on that and said yes. After all if it looks busy then I'll transfer landside, and if not well I pass through London far more times than I'd like to thus am bound to be able to use it soon enough.

I watched another couple of movies before dropping off to sleep somewhere over north-eastern Canada. The UK-based crew were not working to their usual very high standards. Nothing major, but several little things like the pre-departure drink, I got missed when they ran through with hot towels, never noticing when I might like another drink thus making me call to ask for one each time.

After waking, there was no view of United Kingdom as it was blanketed in cloud coming off the North Atlantic - the same storm system that was to give late snow to London and further compound the woes of British Airways following their partial move to the new terminal T5 at London Heathrow.

We had the obligatory circle around the southern England countryside in the midst of dense cloud cover, but struck it lucky with just the 2 laps before it was our turn to land. A fairly short taxi and we pulled up the furthest possible gate from immigration and transfers ahead of schedule.

Kiwi Flyer

Transit at London Heathrow

I walked all the way following the Flight Connection signs. The terminal was fairly quiet. Along the way I noted yes there were a couple of non-operating moving walkways - this too is a given at T3. In all the years I have been flying into/out of this terminal in particular I can only think of a couple of times when there haven't been some broken walkways.

Transfer security was fairly quick. No elite line but it did not matter. Then to check in desk at the United counter. There I was advised the flight is not open to check in, but I could try my luck entering the Red Carpet Club without a boarding pass. No thanks - that is the worst of the 3 available lounges.

Unfortunately since my last departure from T3 the rules had changed and I no longer had access to the Silver Kris First Class lounge (unless flying F or any class on Singapore Airlines). But I still had a choice of the Air Canada/SAS London Lounge or the Silver Kris Business Class lounge. I opted for the London Lounge initially. It took a few minutes to explain myself sufficiently to enter and again at the desk inside to collect a shower key. Normally a boarding pass is exchanged for the key so I volunteered (one of) my FFP card - the one that was about to expire. Fortunately the agent didn't decide I was a risk running away with the key and so I grabbed a quick shower.

These showers are not as nice as in the Silver Kris Lounge for the room heating is on high (much higher than in the rest of the London Lounge), with no knob to adjust. Thus by the time I cleaned up and dressed afterwards I almost felt like having another shower. Grrr.

I swapped the shower key for my card and then went back upstairs (again) to the business centre, where I caught up with my messages and did a bit of work. There were a group of kids playing noisy multi-player games against each other. Grrrr.

When I noticed the time I headed out to the United transfer desk. The terminal design really is bad. Not only is it a big shopping mall, but it is almost impossible to head out to transfer desks once you are in the main part of the terminal, at least very difficult when there are throngs of shoppers (errr passengers) around. It is all very well designing it for flow of passengers all going one way, but really they need to allow for the needs of some who must go in the opposite direction.

There was a modest queue (perhaps 10 people) at the desk designated for Air New Zealand transferring passengers. Unfortunately there was only one agent on duty, and she seemed totally incompetent. Taking 5-10 minutes to check in a single person on a single flight (only one boarding pass issued each time). Thus it took over an hour to reach the desk. I'm glad I didn't head here shortly before boarding.

The person in front of me was flying on the later flight to Hong Kong, and was most upset to find out upon reaching the counter after much more than an hour of waiting, that the Hong Kong flight was not yet open and she'd have to come again. While she did a rant, I thought about it and realised that she had a point - there is no signage to indicate which Air New Zealand flight is open for check-in, or that there are any limits on how early you can check in. I'd only been spared a similar fate when I arrived at the transfer desk the first time by good luck - there simply wasn't much of a queue then. Nonetheless, I think it would be much simpler if Air New Zealand just opened the flight earlier. There are lots of connecting passengers, many of which have no choice (due to airline schedules) but to have a reasonable length transfer in London. It would provide better service if they could get their boarding passes at their first airport, or failing that as soon as they arrive in T3 at London.

Of course when it was my turn, it took all of 5 minutes to get my boarding pass and be on my way. While it was close to the boarding time printed on the BP I decided I still had time for a quick visit at the Singapore Airlines lounge. I presented my PPS credentials along with my BP to see if they would let me in to the First class side, but sure enough I was directed per the rules to climb the stairs to the right for the Business class lounge. The lounge was nice and quiet at this time, there being a few more hours yet before the next Singapore Airlines flight. The business centre was deserted, no noisy kids here. There were gourmet sandwiches in the fridge, bar snacks and the usual drink selection. TV was showing pictures of the chaos in T5 - for which I was glad to be well away from. There were a selection of newspapers and magazines. I had enough time to recheck my messages, have a drink and it was back the long way to the gate.

Kiwi Flyer

London Heathrow to Los Angeles business class menu

Air New Zealand is proud to welcome you to our Business Premier experience. Your flight today will commence with a pre dinner drink service. A full dinner will then be served before you settle down in your lie-flat bed for an afternoon nap.

A light refreshment will be offered prior to landing in Los Angeles.



DINNER

Starter

Salad of shiitake mushrooms,
smoked duck breast, orange and pecan nuts with New Zealand manuka honey mustard dressing

Bakery

Black olive sourdough, potato rosemary bread and garlic bread

Main Course

Grilled beef fillet steak
on crushed parsnip and lemon braised Swiss chard (silverbeet) with roast baby beetroot and green olive tarragon tapenade

Seared halibut on parmesan mash
and green beans with tomato and herb salsa and crispy buckwheat

Roasted corn fed chicken breast,
stuffed with truffle oil butter and porcini on trofie pasta, red peppers and baby artichokes

Light choice of pumpkin, feta, caramelised red onion and basil frittata
with rocket salad, sweet and sour sultanas and capers

Dessert

Gourmet ice cream dessert
of strawberry and white chocolate ice cream

Lemon creme caramel
with passionfruit syrup and Florentine biscuit

Cheese and Fruit

A selection of Cashel Blue cheese, Mull of Kintyre cheddar and Somerset brie with fresh seasonal fruit

Hot Drinks

Freshly brewed or decaffeinated coffee, tea, herbal tea or hot chocolate


SELF-SERVICE SNACKS

Help yourself from our range of snacks available for you to enjoy during your flight.


LIGHT REFRESHMENT

Tropical fresh fruit salad with kiwifruit, orange and pineapple

Sandwiches

Poached salmon, mayonnaise and cucumber sandwich

Chicken, parmesan, rocket and tomato sandwich

Red Leicester cheese and spring onion mayonniase sandwich

Ham and egg mayonnaise sandwich

Scones

Freshly baked scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream

Hot Drinks

Freshly brewed or decaffeinated coffee, tea, herbal tea or hot chocolate


BEVERAGES

Wine

For details of our onboard wines, refer to your Air New Zealand Wine Guide.

Champagne

Champagne Laurent-Perrier L-P NV Brut, France

New Zealand Sparkling Wine

Cocktails

Falling Water

Backyard Bellini

Spirits

Glenfiddich Malt Whisky
Chivas Regal Blended Whisky
Jack Daniel's Black Label
Gordons Gin
42 Below Vodka
Courvoisier VSOP
Captain Morgan Rum
Ron Bacardi Superior

Port and Liqueurs

Portuguese Port
Grand Marnier
Baileys Irish Cream

Beer

A selection of beer featuring Steinlager, Export Gold, Heineken and low alcohol lager

Soft Drinks

Mineral water, orange juice, apple juice, tomato juice, cranberry juice, pineapple juice, cola, lemonade, L&P (sparkling lemon drink), tonic water, ginger ale, diet cola and diet lemonade

Hot Drinks

Freshly brewed coffee
Decaffeinated coffee
English Breakfast tea
Chamomile tea
Lemon tea
Decaffeinated tea
Darjeeling tea
Earl Grey tea
Peppermint tea
Green tea
Hot chocolate

Kiwi Flyer

London Heathrow to Los Angeles on Air New Zealand 747 in business class

By the time I arrived at the gate, boarding had already commenced. So straight through and onboard. This crew were much better than the ones on the flight out. Not only was a pre-departure drink offered immediately, but my order for post-departure drink was quickly taken and indeed throughout the flight they seemed to just know when I was ready for another drink. As my seat is kinda hidden from view it couldn't be that they were spying on me. Perhaps I'd flown with this crew before? Given my amount of flying it is possible, although I didn't recognise any crew member.

Kiwi Flyer

We soon left the chaos of London Heathrow behind, with a quick taxi (yes it is possible in LHR to not take 30+ minutes to leave). Again no views, and the blinds were soon lowered to allow those who wanted to sleep to sleep. As for me, I wanted to be awake most of the flight in order to sleep on the onward flights.

So I amused myself with some more movies (by now I've seen all that I want to see in the April release, despite the extensive and continually refreshed IFE offering. I switched to the programs and read. To keep myself from drifting off to sleep I sampled a few of the onboard wines. The sauvignon blanc and pinot gris were both fairly newly added to the wine list and both particularly good.

With stronger than normal headwinds, as is often the case around the equinox, our flight path took us further north and west than normal - northward over Iceland and across the middle of Greenland, we cross the Rockies in Canada and flew down the west coast of USA.

As I live most of the time in a temperate island climate, it always amazes me just how much of the land is still snow covered just over a couple of months before the solstice.

I did manage an hour or so of dozing along the way and was nicely tired for my next flight by the time I arrived back at Los Angeles. My third entry to USA in as many days also proved to be slow. Again just the one Air France flight ahead of us. Fortunately I had several hours until my next departure, so I was not stressed at all (or perhaps that was the effect of the drink?).

The cabin crew emerged just in front of me and we chatted briefly while they headed upstairs to a bus to their hotel and I walked around the U to T4 for my next flight.

Kiwi Flyer

Next up - a side trip in jeopardy.

More to come after I take my flight which is about to board.

1P

Great so far. Any chance of seeing the winelists?

stewardo

The Air NZ winelist is a hefty booklet, separate from the menu.

Perhaps someone has already posted it somewhere? I've had a very brief search but can't find it.

Seat 2A

As always, I've enjoyed every bit of this trip report. Except for the menu from London to LAX. While I like a filet as much as the next guy, accompanying one with roast baby beetroot and green olive tarragon tapenade does not sound at all appetizing. Happy contrails!

Kiwi Flyer

I posted one when they first came out (there is a new edition every 6 months). They list all the wines they use, but on any given flight there is normally only one of each variety onboard.

I could check my notes for the wines onboard these flights, but it would be an incomplete listing - just the ones I managed to note down.

Kiwi Flyer

Los Angeles to San Salvador and Back (LAX-SAL-LAX) on American Airlines 757 in business class

While searching for side trips I came across a decent business class sale on AA to Central America. Unfortunately of all the options available (and some were very nice as mileage runs thanks to generous routing rules), the only one that suited my schedule with sufficient margin for comfort was to San Salvador and back. There was also enough time at the destination to see at least a little of the city before heading back, albeit rather early in the morning.

At T4 there were several counters labelled with San Salvador next to the Qantas check in for their Sydney flights (other destinations use TBIT terminal but Sydney and JFK use T4). It seemed there would be a long wait. I couldn't see a premium or elite line there, so wandered down to the premium/elite line at the main check in area. I didn't have long to wait. Once again, they were unable to issue my return boarding pass. My small carryon was given an AA label to indicate it had been cleared. Good to see they are trying to take some measures to stop passengers carrying on the kitchen sink. If they only go by the label, though, how do they deal with connecting passengers?

I doubled back for the elite security line - poor design to have this away from elite check in. There was again no queue at security so I went on up to the Flagship Lounge (thanks to my status) and grabbed a shower.

Refreshed, I still had a few hours until my flight. I had a snack and a couple of drinks before heading into the Admirals Club (the Flagship Lounge is a room within the AC) to use a computer, grabbing an access card on my way out to return to the FL without needing to wait again at reception. It is slightly annoying to have to switch back and forth between lounges in order to use the computers while also getting better food of the FL, plus free drink, and using any of their facilities. Lucky too that I got the last free computer. I would have been more annoyed to go back and forth waiting for one to become available. One of the other computer users blocked me in with his carry ons and several bags strewn across the floor. There isn't really much space in the cubicles, but at least he could have shown some common sense and put them out of the way of everyone else.

Just before boarding was due I checked the monitor that the flight was showing on time and headed for the gate. I wanted to be sure of getting overhead bin space, and the flight had been zeroed out for a week or so, thus gave the appearance of being totally full.

SW7London

Excellent trip report as usual Kiwi Flyer - I'm just wondering what is it exactly you do? You seem to have an excellent job - one where you get to constantly travel!

Kiwi Flyer

This trip was all leisure. I haven't even got to the end of the pre-trip trip. Sorry for the delay, will post more soon.

mtarone

...for a thoroughly enjoyable review thus far.

I haven't flown ANZ BP class for a couple of years now, but it was a fantastic voyage to LAX.

-Matt

Fliar

Welcome to FT, mtarone!