FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Asia's World City - New & Old - British Airways First Class (w/pics)
Old Apr 6, 2011, 7:55 am
  #1  
Genius1
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA Gold, SQ Gold, KQ Platinum, IHG Diamond Ambassador, Hilton Gold, Marriott Silver, Accor Silver
Posts: 16,306
Arrow Asia's World City - New & Old - British Airways First Class (w/pics)

Index to Genius1 trip reports

Introduction

Welcome to another of my trip reports, this time covering my flights to Hong Kong in British Airways First. As is usual with my trip reports, this will be photo-heavy and quite detailed in terms of lounges, onboard service and inflight product – these are the areas that interest me and what I look for when reading a trip report. My aim in writing a trip report is to make you, the reader, feel as if you’re sitting next to me (although not right next to me – this is first class after all!). Enjoy!

So, I was off to Hong Kong for a week’s break, staying in the InterContinental Grand Stanford. Taking advantage of the European BA sale in January, I purchased tickets ex-Amsterdam, and so my ‘main’ booking route would by AMS-LHR-HKG-LHR-AMS in Club World, upgraded to First with 80,000 BA miles thanks to a helpful BA Gold line agent. Being London based, it was necessary to get to AMS to start the trip, and so I booked a cheap BA flight to AMS early morning, requiring an overnight stay at the Sofitel London Gatwick. After having nightmares about Euro Chaveller, I promptly took advantage of the relatively cheap online upgrade price to Club Europe, also choosing to do the same for my return AMS-LHR flight at the end of the trip. This trip would thus earn 400 tier points, with 2 sectors in First (earning 120 TPs each due to the Club World base fare paid with cash) and 4 in Club Europe (40 TPs each).

Sofitel London Gatwick

The day before departure, I took a taxi from my London apartment to Victoria station. Upon arrival, I queued (a new concept for me) with the great unwashed at the ticket desks in order to purchase an anytime single ticket to Gatwick Airport station, travelling with Southern Railway. The Gatwick Express, rather pricey, represents only a ten minute time saving, and as I wasn’t pushed for time, I took the 40 minute Southern Railway option. Using a mainline service also enabled me to get rid of a leftover £10 compensation railway voucher I had received for a re-route and delay on Worst Late Western at the end of last year. The journey to Gatwick passed by relatively quickly (in standard class, no less – the 2-2 seating was a shock, I can tell you!), and soon I was taking the newly refurbished driver-less transit from South to North terminals, the stations of which are actually quite impressive now.

Emerging into the North Terminal, I backtracked down the short covered walkway to the Sofitel. There was no queue to check in, and I was warmly welcomed as a ‘special guest’ by virtue of my A-Club Gold membership. In fact, I was apparently so unique that I was called ‘special’ no fewer than four times during the check-in process. Perhaps the receptionist reads FlyerTalk. I was informed my room had been upgraded from a Classic (standard) room to a Superior room, although after enquiring, the complimentary internet was not available to me. I tried to negotiate staying in the standard room and having complimentary internet, but alas this was not possible. The check-in process seemed to take a good 5 minutes or so (with payment collected on check-in), but soon enough I was walking into a good-sized room on the 6th floor, overlooking the airport as requested. The receptionist had also given me a complimentary drinks voucher for use in the bar, and a 2-hour wifi access code for the lobby, although both went unused. I ended up paying £15 for 24 hours’ wired internet – speeds were good, although the LAN cable could have been longer.

The room was clean and bright, the bathroom in good condition, with a comfortable bed and soft chair. I liked the L’Occitane bathroom amenities, complimentary mineral water and the token ‘pate de fruit’ (although that turned out to be disgusting!), and it was good to see a shower screen rather than a curtain in the bathroom, although the shower was over the bath, which I dislike. I would much prefer to have a walk-in shower and no bath. The major downside of the room for me was the warmth, which did not seem to dissipate, despite having the air conditioning on the lowest 18 degrees setting constantly.


Superior room


Bathroom


View of the airport from the room

I settled in for the evening, enjoying the views over the airport, including three recently retired BA 757s, stripped of their markings and looking rather forlorn at the far side of the airfield. I did not, however, enjoy the rubbish quality picture on the CRT television – not exactly 21st century! Skipping dinner, I took an early night ready for my 04:30 wake-up.

Unfortunately the temperature of the room did not decrease much, but I managed a few hours’ sleep before taking a shower – the pressure was adequate, but the towels were a little hard, and the provision of only one flannel was a little stingy. I checked out at around 05:30 (no queue at this time of the morning) and made the short walk to the North terminal.

LGW-AMS-LHR, BA Club Europe (or LGW-LHR, Taxi)

The BA check-in area in Zone D has had a bit of a refurbishment, and now boasts smart LCD screens above the desks. I collected my boarding pass from the First desk (no queue), swiped a First bag tag (yep, absolutely shameless!) and headed through Fast Track security, which thankfully was fast. The slightly unfriendly security agent said my liquids bag was too big, and one item had to be disposed of to fit the remainder into the DfT-regulation bag… it’s honestly pot luck whether agents will pick you up on this, but I’ll admit I took a chance and it didn’t work. Oh well!

Through to airside I took the world’s slowest lift up to Level 4 of the Lounge Pavilion, the home of the BA Galleries First and Galleries Club lounges, both of which have been refurbished into a sort-of Galleries concept (the new furniture, carpet and lights are present, but the bars etc. are old style). Turning right, through the doors (complete with old ‘FIRST’ logo), I was welcomed into the completely empty F lounge and took a seat at the far end.


LGW Galleries First overview, looking towards the entrance





Soon a waitress appeared and took my order for a bacon baguette, which arrived promptly and was devoured with a glass of fresh orange juice. Here is the menu for LGW Galleries First;

--

Breakfast

Starters

Selection of plain of fruit yogurt
Selection of cereals

Bakery
Warm toast
Selection of pastries
Grilled bacon on white baguette
Sautéed mushroom and tomato on white baguette

Accompaniments
Orange marmalade, honey and preserves

Rest of the Day

Starters

Fresh soup of the day served with a variety of Continental breads
Selection of freshly prepared sandwiches
Selection of freshly prepared salads
Fresh vegetable crudités accompanies by a selection of dips

Cheese and Fruit
Selection of seasonal fruit
Fresh fruit salad
Selection of cheese with biscuits, celery and grapes

Afternoon Tea
Your choice from a range of tea sandwiches and traditional English cakes served with a pot of freshly brewed tea

--

As the lounge slowly started to receive more passengers for the first few European flights of the day, the receptionist came over to me and announced the ‘bad news’ that my flight to Amsterdam had been cancelled due to ATC problems in the Netherlands. Needless to say my heart skipped more than a beat at this point. Possibly the worst thing that could happen had happened – I wasn’t going to be able to get to the start of my ex-EU booking, and would therefore be unable to board the flight to HKG. As it transpired, however, the receptionist wasn’t sure whether AMS would be functioning properly at all today, meaning that I had a bit of negotiating power in allowing me to start the trip direct from LHR. A ticketing manager was called, and shortly a car was secured to take me from LGW to LHR, paid for by BA after a gentle reminder of my Gold status and First flight to HKG – a big well done to BA for this. I can’t stress enough how helpful both the manager and lounge agent were at LGW – ba.com/welldone completed!

Within 30 minutes the receptionist approached me again to hand me a £10 refreshment voucher (not really needed with lounge access, but a nice gesture nonetheless), and a friendly BA agent arrived to escort me through a side entrance through arrivals – a first for me, and very welcome! We initially went to the taxi desk, where they had no record of a booking to LHR, but soon enough my name was paged over the airport system, and we met the driver at the Airport Information desk. Thanking the BA agent, I followed the driver to his car in the short stay car park, and was rolling up at LHR a little under an hour later after a customary queue on the M25.

LHR-HKG, BA First

The driver dropped me at the far end of the terminal, and I made the short walk to First check-in in Zone J. I was welcomed (and recognised) by one of the Special Services team whom I have spoken with before, and escorted to an empty desk. My boarding pass was printed and I was on my way to Fast Track security (South) within a few minutes. The queues were, not unusually, pretty ridiculous for ‘Fast’ Track, and it took around 10 minutes to get through, with two scanners available for premium passengers. The normal lines looked equally busy, so I didn’t bother switching.

I felt a little pang of excitement, I’m not ashamed to admit, as I approached the guardian of the ‘magic doors’ to the Concorde Room (the doors which I usually mournfully glance at on my way to Galleries First). This excitement increased as I walked through the doors for the first time in almost three years and was welcomed by name at the reception desk into, in my opinion, one of the very best airline lounges in the world.

After depositing my roll-aboard at the luggage desk in the lounge, I headed first for the Concorde Dining area, and was shown to a table by the entrance to the area.


The entrance to Concorde Dining in the CCR

I ordered a full English breakfast (minus the mushrooms), with a glass of orange juice. The quality was adequate, but service had vastly improved since my last visit. Staff regularly passed through the lounge clearing empties and taking orders. After my full English, I opted for a pot of English breakfast tea, nicely presented on a china tray. Here is the breakfast menu available in the CCR;

--

Breakfast

Starters

Freshly baked croissants and Danish pastries
Toast, bagels, muffins and brioche
Selection of cereals, muesli and granola
Traditional porridge
Orange segments, grapefruit halves, freshly prepared fruit salad and mixed berries
Yogurt selection
Fresh fruit juice
Jams, preserves, honey and marmalade

Main
Traditional English breakfast featuring –
Sausage, bacon, mushroom, tomato and baked beans
Scrambled eggs
Kippers
Scrambled eggs and smoked salmon
Eggs Benedict
Soft-boiled eggs with soldiers
Freshly prepared waffles
Selection of fresh bread and baguettes
Selection of chilled meats and cheese

Beverages
Traditional tea and speciality teas
Freshly ground bean-to-cup coffee
Hot chocolate
Selection of biscuits

--


Concorde Dining breakfast table setup


The butter had started to melt…


My choice of full English breakfast


Breakfast tea tray

Last edited by Genius1; Mar 18, 2012 at 9:00 am
Genius1 is offline