3 days of meetings in LON--a conference that turned out to be much better than we expected. It was a cellular operators conference, and my partner and I were the only ones from the USA--we really "held court" and dissuaded one attendee from using Greyhound from LAX-LAS--can you imagine....
Anyway, much good eating out but absolutely no time for shopping. I ask the concierge (Nigel) at the 4-S for a reservation out at LHR b/c I have a 0705 flight to GLA on Sat the 11th. He says "the only place to stay is the Hilton". Taking his word for it, he reserves for me 150 pounds a single there. I am not sure where it is, so I get off the LHR Express at the T 123 stop, walk upstairs to the Heathrow Hoppa (in the rain), and find no Hilton listed. Then I walk a little further to find directions to the LHR Hilton--attached to T4. AARGH. Back onto the train (I'd just missed one), off at T4, 10 min walk, and get to the hotel at appx 2300. Book taxi for 0610 the next AM (don't really want to reprise the journey). Bland, tiny room, really poor value for money. I had in mind to stay at the Ibis, and for 55 pounds or so would have been altogether better off.
LHR-GLA on British Midland
Checkin was painless--they allow me as a *gold to checkin at the Diamond Club line. Kind of retro, though, to have to queue for the ticket (39 pounds over the internet plus 20 pounds tax) then re-queue to get rid of luggage) and get a seat. End up w/middle seat. 1 hr 20 with full hot b'fast service is a revelation--got right in to GLA on time. My friend and his son (6) waiting for me with a big smile. We head off to their house for a pleasant 2 days. GLA is a pleasant city reminiscent of St. Louis or Cincinnati--big river thru the middle, somewhat seen better days but on the upswing. I want more time there!
One of the souvenirs I bought was a dozen crackers--which are party favors with a small explosive in them so they pop. I have them in a grocery bag and am not thinking much about them.
My friends drop me off at the airport 1 hr before flight time for GLA-LHR. I wander around a bit to look for interesting timetables (my downfall in collecting)--I pick up the BA Scotland timetable which will be fun to have. Anyway, get checked in and go through security, where they examine my crackers and say "you may not be able to keep them"--they call BD and are told "OK to carry on 12 in original pkg", so I'm OK (my friends intended to take a bunch more than that for home leave on the 27th--I need to let them know to check 1st).
Again, full flight, but full bar with sandwiches (amazing!)
Got off, bused to terminal at LHR. Short wait for luggage--only weird thing was a group of 3 men who had been hunting transferred their pheasants (in full plumage...) between grocery bags in the luggage claim area. If I had kids, I would have been upset--they were pretty revolting to see.
At my partner's suggestion, booked the Hilton ParkLane Mews at 85 pounds/night that afternoon. Took the LHR express again and cab there to have them find no reservation, but they check me in anyway. Good value for money--my partner had said it was where all the high rollers used to stay--didn't appear so to me... Thought I could take in (in the rain) a show, but didn't check that on Sundays they only have matinees--end up at a Cruzefelt-Jacob disease memorial service at St. Martin in the Fields--interestingway to spend an early Sun. evening. Ate dinner at Fakredine (?)--middle eastern right near the restaurant.
Monday, cab to Victoria for the Gatwick express. I had a cheap fare LHR-MXP-YYZ-ORD-ATL that I ended up getting close to matching
on TW LGW-STL-ATL, so booked TW Y22 for appx $1100. Got to LGW, and TW said "$400 please for the upgrade". Spent about 20 mins arguing (I'm an elite and should not have been charged), but ended up giving in and will write a letter. Security was a mess with all the families leaving for Christmas in Florida (my friends above are very frustrated--they are American, grew up in the USA, and are da**ed if they're going to spend vacations back in the US, but it is so much cheaper than going to the sun in Europe.)
Went into the shared lounge for all of 5 minutes.
Got on board the 767-300. See my other posting on TW First--suffices to say it was an excellent flight. Joy, who was in the galley for the flight, did a super job with the food, and the service was great. In-seat VCR--saw Dick (again), Run Lola Run and Blair Witch (what was the big deal). 4 lunch selections plus a fast plate (lamb (signature), filet, escolar (which Joy explained was fish--she said no one had picked it), and some sort of poultry. Appetizers (foie gras or terrific stirfried prawns), on the cart. Salad, on the cart. Entree brought out individually plated in the Galley (next door a man ordered the lamb well done and it was, mine was delightful and pink), well sauced and moist. Cheese, off the trolley along with dessert. Ice cream mid flight. 1 1/2 hrs pre-landing, poached salmon or "welsh rarebit" sandwiches (which were great). Joy was very interesting talking about life at TW these days--their pullout of FCO, MAD, BCN, she maintained, was to break the contract rules in the cities (she said there were 85 employees in FCO alone--for one flight!)since they had been there for so long. (remember that S. Europe was TWA's while N. Europe was Pan Am's). She also said that re-entering a market got them out of the Icahn ticket selling situation. She said they might well be back in about a year. (I've got to wonder, though, about the NY based Spanish Language flight attendants who previously were accustomed to going to Europe now being redeployed to...Puerto Rico--probably not popular).
Anyway, I was off the plane in a flash, through customs in a jiffy, and had my feet up at the A-club. My ATL flight was 45 mins late, so got a little more time to relax. Quick flight, not very full, snack plate in first class.
Only quirk about TW was relatively skimpy daytime "comfort packs" (although the overnight ones might be better--I did see some of their overnight quilts/sheets which looked wonderful), and no moisturizer in the bathrooms. Very much comparable to any other US airline--I'd bet equivalent to DL, superior to NW, and not quite as good as CO (primarily due to CO's wider seats).
JL