December 21
Woke up early and checked out of the Brown's Hotel. The doorman got a taxi for me, for the short ride to Victoria Station. I called US Airways the day before to see if they had a baggage check at Victoria. Unfortunately, they didn't. At Victoria, AA and BA do have baggage checks. I left Brown's at 7:13, and arrived at Victoria at 7:25. I ran down with all my bags and hopped onto the 7:30 train just before it departed. This train was packed with every seat filled. I though about moving up to Club for a seat and pay the surcharge, but I finally found a seat and space for my bags.
The train ride was uneventful, and a short 30 minutes later, the train rolled into Gatwick. The train station is in the South Terminal, which is great for everyone but BA flyers and the flyers of the other north terminal inhabitants.
The US Airways check-in desk was found easily enough. It was deserted, despite being just under 2 hours before departure. I guess that all Y passengers already checked in. There were two lines, Envoy Class, and coach. I was surprised that there was no Preferred sign on the Envoy line. Before checking in there was a full security questioning, much more thorough that its US counterpart. After security, I went to the friendly agent who checked me in. All US Airways ground handling at Gatwick is handled by CGI, a company that handles just about every foreign airline at LGW. The agent quickly issued my boarding passes, and switched my seat to the bulkhead to avoid anyone reclining on me. He gave me a pass to CGI's lounge in the South Remote Terminal.
I passed security and spent some time looking around the duty free shops. I then took the shuttle to the remote gates and headed to the lounge. The lounge was small, and I was with only one party in there, but they were on a different flight. There was a self serve bar of soft drinks and coffee and tea. There were also some light snacks.
The agent came and said the flight was boarding, so I headed up to the gate. There were two lines, Envoy and Coach. There is a final security questioning, then you are permitted to board.
US95 CLT-LGW 10:25A 3:05P 767
Seat 1B 9:30
I boarded and took my seat. An FA then came with OJ and mimosa, and the amentity kits. I noticed that the galley FA for this flight was the cabin FA on my last flight (not the lead, the other one). Later in the flight she said hi and asked how my trip was.
There were 9 people in Envoy today, and coach was maybe 2/3s full. We were delayed because there was a passenger who did not board the aircraft. Repeated announcements were made aboard and in the airport. Since he did not board, his luggage had to be found and removed. This took about 45 minutes. I assume that the bags were opened and searched for bombs/explosives, and if something was found we would not have departed. For this reason, I assume that nothing was found.
The captain came on, explained the reason for the delay and that it was necessary due to the security of the aircraft. He also said that we lost our slot, and ATC would be making us wait for maybe as long as an hour. There were many grunts, and the captain's voice sounded annoyed. He said flying time to CLT would be nine and a half hours due to strong headwinds.
Twenty minutes later, the captain came on and said that we would be moving to a remote area because our gate needed to be used. Then, he told us that we were cleared for departure.
We got in line and eventually departed. Delay of one hour because some moron missed the flight. I was beginning to worry about my 4:45 connection when the captain said our ETA was 4.
During the delay, we were asked for our beverage preference and entree selection.
I won't go into detail as to the service, since it was the same as last time. I will copy the menu, though:
Hors d'oeurve
Sauteed wild mushroom canape
Prawns in creamy Marie Rose sauce
Chicken and spinach roulade
Seasonal Salad
Offered with choice of mushrooms and tomotoes. Tomato herb vinaigrette or creamy chive dressing, oil and vinegar, cheese, and lemon.
Selection of breads
Entrees
Pan-fried salmon filet with veloute sauce presented with potatoes, spinach, and Kenya beans
Breast of chicken enchanced by tomato basel sauce, with potatoes au gratin, carrots, and broccoli
Grilled filet of beef in a Yorkshire sause with mashed potatoes, zucchine, and yellow squash
Cheese and fruit cart
similar to last flight
Dessert
Champagne fresh berries with mango coulis
Lemon tart wedge
Coffee or tea
Godiva chocolates
I used the PTV a lot during this trip and watched Sixth Sense, Big Daddy, and Mystery Men.
A snack cart with drinks and snacks was in the galley. Snacks were Milano cookies, Snackwell breakfast bars, nuts, etc. I was surprised that the crew doesn't get rest seats like on other airlines. They are required to be up and working the entire flight. This includes the flight crew also. I'm not sure if they get rest seats on the overnight sectors either.
I overheard from the galley that there was a problem passenger in Y. One of the Y flights was saying to the lead that he was angered and bitter the entire flight. She gave him chicken, and he claimed it wasn't hot enough. So she went and reheated it and gave him two from the oven, and he was still upset. She said that he was a foreigner and was probably trying to nit-pick and find everything wrong with US Airways as a US carrier. She ended up giving him an Envoy meal. I don't know what happened.
Midway through the flight Haagen-Dazs Strawberry ice cream was offered, which was refreshing.
About two hours before landing, afternoon tea was offered. There was a cart of various types of sandwiches, scones, and jellies, as well as teas.
The captain announced that we would be arriving at CLT at 3:30, later than scheduled, earlier than first thought.
After landing, I deplaned and headed through Customs. CLT gets only two int'l flights a day, my US and a BA flight to London. Immigration was a breeze. There are two belts in the baggage hall. All the priority luggage came out on one belt, so I got my bags quickly. The customs officers were very tight, either because of the threat of terrorism in the US due to the millennium or because since we are one of their two flights they wanted to make the best of us. The lady at the green line asked "Why are you going to Tampa?" Me: "Uh...I...live there". She made me go through the immigration scanner thing. After that, I walked to the US Recheck Desk, and the agent looked at the tags and threw them on the belt.
For some reason, you must go through security before being released into the US Express area at Terminal D. Why did they make you do this? Shouldn't you still be sterile?
Anyway, you are dumped at the US Express gates at Terminal D. I walked to Terminal B (?) and stopped at the Club. Then I went to the gate. The agent came on and said that there was a flap problem and this plane was going to be looked at. We were delayed from 4:45 to 5:00. Then it kept getting pushed back 15 minutes to 5:30. At 5:30 they said that this plane was being taken out of service and a plane from DFW would be arriving at 5:50, and they would take us to TPA. I got a bite at the food court and came back at 5:55. At 6:00 the plane from DFW arrived. Not until 6:30 did they begin boarding.
When they began boarding, they said there would be no FC boarding. Rows 15 and up were called. Didn't matter. Just about every person on the plane got in line.
I waited till the end of boarding and then boarded.
US2162 CLT-TPA 4:45p 6:16p MD-80
Seat 2D 1:25
The plane was jam packed and I took my seat. The FA couldn't do a preflight drink, but she gave each FC passenger a bottle of water. I think that they should just always give a bottle of water before departure. I choice of drink is unneccessary in my opinion.
The captain came on and apologized for the delay. We pushed back and got in a really long line. We ended up getting caught in the push after the push we were supposed to be a part of. After 20+ minutes waiting, we finally took off, 2 hours after scheduled departure.
The FA served drinks and a light snack the same as the TPA-CLT leg. We arrived into TPA, I didn't notice the time. I got my bags at baggage claim and headed home.
A great trip overall. After Envoy Class, it was hard to go back to domestic First Class!
Some points about Envoy:
-If you show your Envoy boarding pass at the US Airways Club instead of your US/AA card, you will be given drink passes for the bar
-The legroom and recline was generous. No one was in front of me, but on the outbound flight, the seat next to me in the row infront was occupied, and when fully reclined, it seemed that it could be uncomfortable. Bulkhead is best bet.
Ahhhhhh...Envoy Class!
BizJet