Part 8

Route: SYD-HKG-LHR
Airline: Virgin Atlantic Airlines
Aircraft: A340-600
Seat: 2A
Flight number: VS201
Class of service: Upper Class (Business)
Scheduled departure time: 14:25
Scheduled arrival time: 05:25+1

Check in at Sydney was pretty straightforward. I think that the desks had only just opened and there were very few other passengers about. The Upper Class priority check-in line allowed me to jump in front of the others and I was almost immediately seen. I handed over my paper ticket and enquired whether she could check my baggage through to Rome.

She did do and then began attaching tags to my bag. I don’t think I had ever seen one of my bags get so many tags; there was the standard ‘Upper Class’ priority tag, a ‘LHR transfer’ tag, a standard baggage tag with barcodes and destination, and then another that she had had written on. I assume this was for the BA onward connection to Rome.

I returned to the Air New Zealand Lounge for the first time since 2005. As the United RCC had closed in the meantime, there was no a United employee in attendance in this lounge. She welcomed me as I delved into my deep short pockets to retrieve my lounge invitation. The old girl was on top form and quipped ‘Such deep pockets – I’ll tell the girls that you are here!’. I later overheard here talking to one of her passengers explaining that now the RCC is closed, United pay Air New Zealand to use this lounge.

IIRC it was the same lady that I once encountered in the old RCC. I recall just popping in to change a seat assignment and a SYD-LAX or SFO flight. She had enquired why I was not using her RCC. As politely as I could, I told her that I preferred NZ’s lounge. The great irony now was that, not only was she now working there, it was extremely clear that she thought that this lounge was wonderful. Even here boarding announcement for the LAX flight included the line ‘the gate area is directly below this wonderful lounge’. I don’t remember the RCC ever being described as such! As I sat in the lounge, the Virgin Atlantic A340-600 that was going to transport me back to the UK was pulled over from the remote stand and parked directly in front of me.


I was caught a bit by surprise when I heard a ‘last and final’ boarding call for my flight as I did some shopping. I headed straight for the gate, presented my documents and was soon being welcomed onboard. I was soon approached by a member of cabin crew to take my drink order. She quickly returned and enquired whether I had been in Upper Class before. I hadn’t, but had been on Air New Zealand who have the same seat in business. She said that if I needed any help that feel free to call her.


It did not take me too long to spill my Champagne onto my shorts. I asked the crew member for some tissues and she returned with a sleeper suit as well. I walked calmly to the bathroom whilst trying me best to conceal my damp shorts along the way.

As I had expected the cabin was not particularly busy with a 30-40% load in Upper Class. With me now in my sleeper suit bottoms, we began our taxi out to 16R which provided a glimpse of the Sydney skyline.


Obviously being extremely aware of the trip that I was embarking upon (SYD-HKG-LHR-FCO-JFK-LAS with just a one night stopover in Rome along the way!), I figured that I needed to stay awake on this leg and save the sleep for the HKG-LHR flight that would arrive in the UK at 05:25. To this end I managed to watch three films on the way to Hong Kong; 21, Kung-fu Panda and Son of Rambow.

We arrived in Hong Kong and I had succeeded in staying awake. It had been hard particularly during the last film, Son of Rambow, which I found a little slow.

Once off of the aircraft, I produced my continuing boarding pass to get my transit passenger sticker. It was then on to security before entering the departure lounge. I headed straight for the Virgin Clubhouse and quickly discovered that both it and therefore the Upper Class cabin on the Hong Kong – Heathrow leg was filled to capacity. I decided to grab one of the computer terminals and catch up on my emails. After a quick dash down to the duty free shops and back, it was time for reboarding.

The cabin was indeed full to capacity on this leg and it looked like I was pretty much one of the last Upper Class passengers to board. The down side of that became quickly apparent as I went to store my hand baggage in the overhead compartment. A couple of us grabbed a passing crew member and she stored them in the closet.

I set myself the objective of staying awake for the first three hours of this flight before retiring. That was not too difficult as I ate supper and watched Lust, Caution. I was a bit taken aback by the obvious lack of editing of some pretty strong sex scenes.


My time was up, I changed into the sleeper suit (I was given another one on this flight), made my bed and then retired. I slept well and was surprised at how comfortable I found the bed to be. When I had used the same suite on Air New Zealand I thought that I remembered it to be a little too narrow.

I awoke and began to regret my request to be woken up for breakfast as I just wanted to doze. Well, it seemed that the crew member had forgotten anyway as I was not approached with breakfast.



Despite the jetbridge connecting to door 2L (I was in a prime position to disembark from 1L), I was still able to be first into the Revivals lounge thanks to Iris and the fact that my baggage had been checked through to Rome. This allowed me immediate access to a shower (much needed) and first dibs for the massage treatment. The shower certainly perked me up, as did the freshly squeezed orange juice that I drank before my Cowshed treatment.


Once the treatment was finished, I ordered the Eggs Benedict from the menu which were simply fantastic!! I could have spent some more time in there but I had to make my way over to T5 and the BA Galleries lounge there before my connecting flight to Rome.


Route: LHR-FCO
Airline: British Airways
Aircraft:
Flight number: BA548
Class of service: Club Europe (Business)
Scheduled departure time: 09:15
Scheduled arrival time: 12:40

Entering the lounge my first thought was that it was busy! I suppose it was probably peak time though. The lounge itself is nicely furnished and very large with many seating areas. I set up camp on one of the computers and again began to catch up on my emails. I did go on one or two sorties to liberate a couple of bacon rolls (which were both successful).


I headed out of the lounge to take a look around the shops but soon heard the final call for my flight. Again this took me by surprise. It turned out that the flight details I had were out of date and did not reflect a schedule change. Boarding was quick and I found my seat next to refined gentleman. Oblivious to him, his BP was staring me in the face from his jacket pocket. He was a BA Premier and, having since Goggled his name, turns out to be a rather well accomplished diplomat, politican and businessman.

As departure time arrived the Captain informed us that they had a small problem on the flight deck and they hoped that we’d be on our way soon. 10 minutes later and he is speaking to us again. A problem with one of the onboard computers and it will have to be replaced – should be no more than 40 minutes for it to arrive and be installed.

30 minutes later a BA van pulls up outside and a man carries up a brown BAe Systems box. 10 minutes later and we get the Captain again (paraphrasing): “That’s not rectified the problem – please sit tight, this aircraft is going nowhere. We’ll set about finding you the quickest way to Rome”

A few minutes later one of the cabin crew approach my seatmate and inform him that a man from Special Services is waiting to speak to him on the jetbridge. He left his jacket behind and headed out. I figured that if he returns then it should work out okay for the rest of us but if he just retrieves his jacket and luggage and then heads back out, then we could be screwed. Thankfully, he returned and sat it out with the rest of us.

An aircraft had been found for us but it would not arrive into Heathrow for another 30 minutes. We sat on the aircraft and were served our cooked breakfast. That felt very peculiar: eating on an aircraft on the ground. Eventually, our non-flight was over and we disembarked having been informed “We would appreciate it if our Executive Club members could refrain from returning to the lounge and waited in the new gate area for a quick departure”.

I think it was a little over an hour of sitting in the gate area before our flight was ready for boarding. We were greeted by the same crew (both cabin and flight) and I saw two ladies board that I had not seen since my school days. They were sisters and to be honest, if one was not for the fact that one of them is a facebook friend (hence I knew what she looked like now) I wouldn’t have noticed. After a few minutes we were finally on our way to Rome over 3 hours late!

Upon arrival into Rome Fiumicino, I quickly began wishing that I was still stuck at T5. The airport was awful. The baggage hall was dark and dingy with an extremely dirty floor. I did not have any Euros with me and so stopped by the Travelex bureau and discovered a ‘We will open at 4pm’ sign on the counter, only that it was now 4:15. I headed to their competition and was alarmed to see the commission charges. I beat a hasty retreat, collected my baggage and found another Travelex bureau. This one was staffed. I slipped him £30 and requested Euros. He hit a few buttons and informed me that it would get me €28. €28!!! That’s an effective exchange rate of €0.93 to the £. It is about 25% better than that back home. I reclaimed my £30 and entered the arrivals hall in search of a cash machine.

I found one but it did not seem to like me. I asked three times for €50 but it kept saying that the transaction had been cancelled at my request. It turns out that the confirm button actually cancels it! On the fourth attempt, after discovering the glitch, I successfully completed my transaction.

Next challenge was the Leonardo Express into the centre of Rome. I bought the ticket for €11, no problem. The train arrived and I joined the queue to get on. Now bearing in mind that this is a dedicated rail service connecting one of Rome’s airports to the city centre, I was aghast to discover that to board the train you had to climb three pretty steep steps. I just about managed it carrying my 22kg check in baggage and my medium sized hand baggage. Exactly how do the elderly and disabled board this train??? Not particularly accessible by any stretch of the imagination.

To make matters worse, it was 30°C and it was not until too late that I realised that there were small air-conditioned compartments on the carriage. Oh and the Express train was so slow!! I arrived at Termini train station hot, bothered, sweaty and in no mood to lug my baggage the 800m to the hotel even if I had known the route.


Best Western Mondial Rome

The hotel looks okay on the outside as does the lobby area. However, as I entered my room I remembered the cheap rate that I had booked and I suppose it was reasonable for the price paid.


Rome

I after a shower and a change of clothes I headed off, with map in hand in search of the Coliseum. I discovered it after what was probably about a 15 minute walk. The place was busy with tourists. I walked one slow lap around it before heading back to the hotel via a restaurant for Pizza and a beer. That is just about how much time I had to see Rome after the delayed BA flight.


Route: FCO-JFK
Airline: Delta Airlines
Aircraft: 767-300ER
Flight number: DL149 (Alitalia codeshare)
Class of service: BusinessElite
Scheduled departure time: 11:45
Scheduled arrival time: 15:30

I was actually looking forward to getting out of Rome until I realised that this meant another visit to Fiumicino!!! I followed the signs from the Leonardo Express to Terminal C. Upon entering the terminal, I located a departure screen and saw the check-in counter numbers for my flight. Thing was that there were signs for other desks but none went as high as the numbers indicated for my flight. I took a walk around and found a sign stating that the US airlines (and El Al) depart from Terminal 5. I found the shuttle bus and hopped on.

Terminal 5 was close to capacity as I entered. I joined the BusinessElite queue and waited. The lady at the moveable desk at the end of the line took my passport and ticket. She wanted to see my ticket out of America and when she was satisfied, she stuck a sticker on my hold baggage and gave me a tag for my hand baggage. Following the signs for departures, I joined another queue at a real check-in desk. We had the same conversation but this lady took my baggage and issued me with my boarding pass and lounge invitation. She also informed me that the flight was delayed by 45 minutes.

Priority security screening was easily navigated and I then it was on to a airside shuttle to get back to Terminal C. The terminal was quite busy (reminded me of SVO) and I made straight for the lounge. Let’s get the good bits of the lounge out of the way – it was safe, had just about enough seating and a free bar. I had two Bacardi and Cokes in long glasses but my third request returned only a half sized transparent plastic cup. I am not sure whether she thought that I was getting too much value from the lounge or if she thought that I was drunk (which I most certainly was not).


I saw a sign for the showers and followed it into the Gents. There was no sign of a shower in there and I asked the cleaner. She pointed me to reception. I politely expressed a desire to use the shower and the (must not call her nasty names) woman (this was no lady) just replied ‘No’. I returned to my seating and overheard a conversation beside me. The chap wanted to watch the Olympics but the TV was on some other channel. She ventured towards the woman and expressed his desire. He was getting nowhere until the intervention of the cleaner who handed him the TV controller. Once he had turned the channel over, he returned stating that the woman had never heard of the Olympics!! Anyway, it was China vs Italy in the women’s waterpolo. Come on China!!!!

An announcement was made that my flight was ‘ready for immediate boarding’. A watched the waterpolo for a few more minutes before heading to the gate. Thing was that once I arrived at the gate, I had to waited 15 minutes until they commenced boarding. I am of the opinion that it was a cost cutting measure – 15 minutes less consumption of food and drinks.


I stored my bags and took my seat. Quite early on an announcement was made that it was a full flight. I had checked the seat map the day before and was looking forward to some room as less than 50% of the seats in the cabin had been allocated. The cabin of this 767 was in a 2-2-2 layout with six rows.

The original 45 minute delay became an 80 minute delay before we finally pushed back. This could have repercussions on me as the JFK – Newark transfer only runs on the hour. With a 5pm arrival time, at best it would be the 6pm service that I would join. This is scheduled to get into EWR at 7:30pm just over an hour before my flight (on another ticket) departs. The flight info during the flight indicated a 5:25 arrival. This really worried me as that would most likely mean a 7pm transfer to arrival 14 minutes before the departure of my domestic flight.

Upon our arrival into JFK, things only got worse! It turned out that a following aircraft had declared a medical emergency onboard and everybody else was being moved out of the way to expediate their arrival. We were worst hit as the arriving aircraft took our stand! As no others were available we taxied around JFK for something like 40 minutes as my blood pressure began to raise.

This was not helped by the apparent lack of priority treatement of my luggage. Eventually it arrived and I was soon looking for a taxi to get me to Newark Airport for a flight departing only 2 hours away!