PART 2 MIA-LHR:

The next day I played around MIA, schmoozing my way into the Int'l terminal(A concourse) so I could access the BA terracess lounge, Perrier and all, makes the Admirals Club look like a freaking joke. The agent(not very friendly) had to look up my status, but as I knew what she really should know, I was in)
Needless to say I "borrowed" some Perrier and Milano cookies. The lounge is comfortable, nice lounge chairs, with a view of the field. Conversely, the AA Admirals at B concourse(they duly closed the one at D, which was nice) was packed with no where to sit, may as well sit in the terminal, which is what I did.
By the way, there was a LONG line for first class check-in at AA, but she was friendly and forgot to ask the security questions, oops..... Let alone anything with the bags, so guess standard bag match, which they usually do internationally,is in place. I think we are now at a point where there is more security domestically than internationally, oh great.

After BA, with my Priority Pass card, made my way to Club America, a private club all over MIA, though they just closed down one of the other clubs, GROWL(hate club closures!) OPENING = GOOD!, CLOSING = BAD!
This is a very nice lounge, very comfy, and Perrier everywhere(Brian, in your dreams dude! ) . They had the full bottles. There isn't much to eat save nibbling on some nuts and whatever that 5,000 hands have played with, ok. The seats are very comfy, but the staff are so unfriendly. Time to smile. They were all latin, so English was not their strong point to say the least but they could have been friendly, just doesn't hurt. I was surprised as the people from Miami usually are quite friendly.

I had discovered something new here. You can access from airside concourse A(where I was, the int'l terminal), concourses B, C, D, and E, without having to go back through security. Have never seen this before. If it hadn't been for 9-11, I wouldn't care, but since that time, going through security in the US has become a major, major pain!!! shoe checking and all, which wasn't done at all on this trip, hmmmmmmm

I was glad that I had done my airport shopping, , as in pick up timetables, baggage tags, etc, on the way in. Someone had left out old boarding passes and goodies, and I mean OLD, lying on one of the counters, so I was happy.
Within a short time my bag is full, what can I say? I love all the carriers from the Carribean and Latin America, makes me excited just to see some odd ball airline from Venezuela, etc.....

Ok, as I had said, quick trip to Admirals, Concourse B, YUCK! The agent was nice and so she earned an SOS card, but nowhere to sit, too crowded, too noisy. Nothing different from the concourse, DUH! They had no business closing the club at D, which was so nice. Also, by going airside, I had forfeited the club at E which is landside, also nice with good views, oh well... I have access to the DL Crown Room in F or G, but again, will leave till next time, DL has internet access and free everything... AA comps the basics, why I would never pay for Admirals, get real! I am amazed to see so many people pay $$$ for it... The only really good US airline lounge is Northwest Worldclub, but that may be a secret, so, shhhhhhhhh .

Boarding gate to LHR was a madhouse, with a new present from 9/11. They now check your passport at the gate, never did that for a domestic airline, but the European ones always have. Maybe Abdul could sneak onto a flight with someone else's boarding pass? you never know!?, but it did throw me off and I had to go fish for my passport, vs. the drivers license now checked on all flights that was readily available. Then, they did a changing of the guard on the passport check, had to show it again 10 seconds later when they scanned my boarding pass, again having to fish it out, not happy. The gate area was swamped, tons of people, and many were sent to secondary check, then they had to prove they had done the check before boarding.
Horribly unorganized!

First, it was coach, so not much to expect. The flight was heavier than expected, but I had the bulkhead aisle, a good seat, I think 21 something(right hand side). I still have to enter all this stuff in my flight logbook.
Since 9/11, they now keep all the curtains open, so we get to see everything. Good for us in coach, tacky for those who paid $5K or more to fly Business Class. No longer any privacy.

I could tell from the outset that the crew was not as friendly, typical transatlantic, with one F/A in business chastizing a guy over his cell phone, ok, I liked that!, but he was rude. As I had an aisle seat, had to look over my neighbor for a view of the planes at MIA on takeoff, northerly runway, some view of the lights around the airport, then with a turn, no more view for me.
FYI, from MIA, it is straight out over the (Atlantic) ocean to Europe, not up the coast which you'd expect, hence, why do a window? I got up several times to stretch my legs, strongly recommended against DVT and all.

The food was good. I had expected the cheap plastic as I was now back in coach and the beloved UK has a rule of all plastic on all flights, while they are doing full silverware, including the knives, within Continental Europe, go figure.
American Airlines meals, overall, are good. I have always liked the quality, and in my opinion, they are the best for US Airlines, but no match for AF, fyi.

The crew overall weren't that friendly, too senior, rushed the service, but did come out for more drinks rounds than in the past. My personal view is that they were keeping an eye on us, with all the curtains open, more F/A's were out and about than I have ever seen, with a F/A in Business on the jump seat facing us, and watching. I understand, but annoying. How I always pictured Interflug, the former East German airline. Reminded me of how one of my French professors would go out in the hallway during our exams but would peak in, you never knew when he was watching .

I brought reading material, again, Business Traveler, studied the OAG(Flight schedules) for a future trip to South Africa, and followed the flight map while listening to those cool Japanese songs, I still have that one in my head.

We had a nice breakfast before approach, small, cooked omelette and accompaniments, like a banana or something, not sure. The omelette was good.

My seatmate, a very nice Swedish man living in London, was quiet the whole flight, then we chatted in the last hour, as this usually happens. He is a Star Alliance Gold, so we compared notes and he answered questions about the EU-European Union, very informative...(FYI, I used to be a United Airlines Premier Executive, the equiv. a Star Alliance Gold, so could relate).

Anyway, we came through the clouds and London rain, I could see some view over him, & watching the flight map. To our surprise, and my enjoyment, we did an aborted landing at Heathrow, as I knew we were way too high for landing, so I got a freebie, yeah! Love flying into Heathrow. We turned around and had to go back into the London queue for landing(they should have short cut us back in). The dear Pakistani child in the row in front(middle of the cabin) didn't agree with that maneuever and duly, ah, got sick shall we say, and we could all smell it . The captain finally came on and told us why- that another plane hadn't cleared the taxiway. It was a BA 777, fyi. move it buddy!

So, we came in again, freebie approach, and landed. The family of the baby got up and the F/A duly came back and chastized, it was a draw, kind of fun, but the smell was ICK.

I parted goodbye to my new friend and entered Terminal 3, which I love.
All kinds of nice planes from around the world. I love the new Gulf Air colo(u)rs.