SFO-LAX, AA 530, Sunday, 2009/08/16, 16:40-18:10
MD 80, seat 3F

SFO is a much smaller (and nicer) airport than LAX. I arrive at 15:30 and am sitting in the small Admirals Club 10 minutes later. I couldn't check in online for this flight, although I did to my two subsequent BA flight. Surprisingly, I am only issued one boarding pass, to LA, and the agent is unable to print the next two for me. My bags, though, are checked all the way to TLV. I have to specifically ask for priority tags.




The Admirals Club is small and crowded and not much fun. It's just across from my departure gate and I leave and board as soon as the flight is open. Again, a completely full flight -- not sure what recession they're talking about. On this 54-minute flight they serve a bag of "snacks" and a drink (including alcohol). The captain is rather talkative and the flight attendants are friendly. Nice views of San Francisco, and then hazy views of LAX as we cross the city from west to east, then turn 180 degrees and land from the east.






LAX is not a nice airport. We are in terminal 4, and my next flight leaves from the adjacent Tom Bradley International Terminal, but the only way to get there is to go landside and then check in and go through security. TBIT is large but dull. Very few people are there for the BA flight (which will only depart in three hours), and yet it takes some time to check in. The gate agent cannot understand why they couldn't print my boarding passes at SFO (or, for that matter, why I didn't take the direct SFO-LHR flight...) Security is also unpleasant and takes a few minutes, after which I go in to the OneWorld lounge, which is more in line with the European lounges than with the American concept. It's long and narrow, and I have it all for myself -- my BA flight is the next OneWorld to leave from here, so I don't expect too much traffic in the lounge until just before the flight. There's some food (soup, salad and sandwiches), reasonable selection of beverages and nice showers, which I happily use.












It is here that I verify that all my flights up to Pittsburgh were credited to my BAEC account, which now shows 845 TP and says both "You have achieved Gold membership" and "You are a: Silver Member". I wonder whether I'd be able to pull my new/future status tomorrow at Heathrow's T5 to gain access to the First lounge...

LAX-LHR, BA 268, Sunday, 2009/08/16, 21:15-15:30+
Boeing 747-400, seat 62A

The incoming aircraft is delayed by more than half an hour, and the flight is only called around 21:00. Business and First pax are invited to board first, but there's still a queue for boarding. Surprisingly, the flight is full and the five available seats I noted on the upper deck earlier are gone. Drinks, menus and warm towels are handed before departure. Dinner looks tempting but I decide to pass. As soon as the fasten seat belts light goes off I recline the seat to a bed position and go to sleep.

I wake up about four hours later, 10:30 UK time, and decide that's it. Two cups of coffee and a glass of orange juice, and I help myself to a cheese platter and some crackers from the club kitchen as a makeshift breakfast. I finish watching the film I was interrupted in the middle of on my flight to Singapore, and then another one, and then some work, before the flight attendants turn the cabin lights on and serve breakfast. This time it's much simpler than the one I had on the Singapore flight: cereals, packed yoghurt, medium-qulity pastries and the obligatory bacon roll. Nothing to write home about. We're over Glasgow and are expected to land on time, in spite of the 45 minute late departure.

Overall, this flight was disappointing service-wise. The crew was OK, but not more than OK; they never showed any enthusiasm, and there were no informal touches. Collecting the warm towels some 10 minutes after they are handed over is unacceptable, as is reusing a cup of tea to serve a coffee. Once again, however, I found the seat very comfortable for both sleeping and working, and the space (especially in light of the storage bins below the windows) was generous. Privacy also wasn't an issue given the divider.

We land exactly at 15:30 and then stay on the tarmac, not 100 meters from our gate, for 30 minutes. I don't understand this system.

A long walk to the main terminal (B gates), then a short hop by train to the main T5 building, fast track through security and on to the south lounge. Business or First? I say I don't know, and the agent checks my boarding pass and says: "it says Gold, Sir". So on I go to the First lounge with a new boarding pass in hand.

The lounge is really nice, just like the business lounge upstairs. Food is almost identical, but there's champagne (and plenty of other kinds of booze). I don't forget to make an appointment for a spa treatment, which turns out to be a very nice massage. I also take a shower -- I'm not that impressed by the showers, I thought the T4 ones were nicer, but it's still very refreshing. Now, plenty of time in the lounge to catch up on work.






















LHR-TLV, BA 163, Monday 2009/08/17, 22:30-05:30+
Boeing 767, seat 1A

This is the last BA flight of the day, and the lounge is almost empty when I leave it. The flight departs from Gates B, so a short trip to the other building, where the flight just begins to board. Again, business class is completely full.

I'm disappointed by the 767: I had the impression that savvy BA pax prefer the 767, with its older New Business Class product, over the 777s. This airplane looks and feels old, and the seat is significantly inferior to the one I had on the upper deck of the 747 the previous night. It's narrow, there is very limited storage space and the monitor is small. However, when turned into a bed it's still flat and long enough for me, although it feels harder than the other seats I sat on.






Service consists of dinner, which I skip. I manage to get some 4 hours of sleep on this 4:20 hour flight. We land in Tel Aviv at 5:22, and by 5:45 I'm out of the terminal with my two checked bags -- this must be a world record.

These have been three long weeks. It's good to be home.

Epilog

I was looking forward to this trip, and I enjoyed it a lot. It's not the best RTW: ideally, I'd prefer to visit exotic places and spend enough time there to get to understand something about the place. But given the circumstances, I had a great time. I had good flights, I flew four new airlines, I've been to a couple of new airports, I had decent food and I avoided much of the jet lag that such a trip is likely to cause.

I liked the BA product. The club world seats are decent, nicer than the LH or LX seats that I was familiar with. Service was generally very good and I liked the attitude. I was impressed by the number of male flight attendants: I haven't seen any other airline with so many men in the cabin. And of course, I was impressed with the lounges. If the price is right, I will not hesitate to book BA again for my future flights. And I have a small gold card, too!

Comments are very welcome,

Shuly