Seattle between Christmas & New Year, and NYC for 6 hours - (LBA-LHR-ORY-LHR-SEA-JFK-ORY-LHR-QQK-Leeds, BA Y&J, AA F, EC J) – December 2013
Another trip report from me. If you want to read some of my travelling background then there is some information at the start of this TR:
TR - Far East inc. Beijing, HK, KL, Singapore & Hanoi (BA J, CX Y, KA Y&J, MH Y, MI Y)
Planning
Back in mid-November 2013 a rather interesting deal from Iberia was spotted by someone and posted on the BA tier point run thread.
Here is the start and it really rumbles on for quite a few pages of posts afterwards.
The deal seemed to be exFrance departures were around EUR1050 in J to the US (not Hawaii though). The only way to book seemed to be through the IB site, or on French sites such as ebookers.fr or expedia.fr. There was no promotional code necessary. The fare did not show up on ITA matrix so no one could see the fare rules, but from trial and error it seemed to include outbound legs up to 15 April. Given a chance to travel in J for such a low price I couldn’t resist.
The IB site was not the best to work with, and ebookers.fr seemed to be a bit easier to play with and give some better options. There was no need to go on any IB metal, although you could go to MAD if you wanted and on to the US from there. The most obvious option seemed to be going CDG direct to the US on AA to MIA, ORD, or JFK, and connecting onwards. However, whilst the new J on the AA 77W looks great, I was less than convinced about J on the older 767 and 757s.
In the end I decided that Seattle would be where I wanted to go, so it was just a matter of trying to work through the flight options and see which I wanted to do. Seattle had been somewhere I always wanted to go.
Due to a lack of holidays I could take between November and April 2014 my only real option in terms of dates was between Christmas and New Year, getting back to work for 2 January. I managed to book on ebookers.fr and did an outbound of ORY-LHR-SEA (all BA), and SEA-JFK-ORY (AA then openskies). I will admit that I compromised on tier points a bit for convenience and an earlier arrival in to SEA.
I also booked a separate revenue ticket for positioning LBA-LHR-ORY, and return ORY-LHR.
For hotels in Seattle I leaned towards the Hilton properties as usual due to my status with them. However, I also noticed the Kimpton hotel in Seattle. I had stayed at some of the Kimpton hotels in Boston and Washington DC before and found them to be fairly good with great staff. I had also done a status match from my Hilton gold to get their Inner Circle tier. The thing I did notice was the name, The Alexis Hotel. As my first name is Alexis there was no way I couldn’t stay there for at least one night.
Firsts for me in this trip include positioning to outside the UK for a flight, first time on US domestic AA, and first time on openskies.
Main Costs
BA, LBA-LHR-ORY-LHR (UK Domestic & Euro Traveller) - £261.35
Hilton Paris Orly Airport - €91.50
BA + AA + EC, ORY-LHR-SEA-JFK-ORY (Club Europe, Club World, Domestic First, Biz Bed) – €1,098.02
The Arctic Club Seattle (2 nights) - US$375.42
The Alexis Hotel (1 night) - US$247.07
Hilton Seattle Airport - US$88.80
LBA & Yorkshire Premier Lounge
Packed and ready to go on Boxing Day. I booked a taxi (Premier) to the airport which is around 30 minutes drive from my home. Taxi cost was £17. Only a few people were at check-in so I was quickly processed. I went to fast track security and through in 5 minutes. After setting off at 12:20 I was through security and in lounge by 13:00.
The lounge is a third party one run by the airport and used by BA, KLM, and also available for paid entry. The lounge is made up of two separate sections, one more family/leisure orientated and the other more business orientated. I went to the business section as normal. I just had diet coke and caught up on some FT messages and threads.
I have written before about the Premier Lounge, and there are some photos on my
Zurich trip report.
After the high winds and flight disruption in the UK in late December I had been a bit nervous about any weather disruption. As there are no trains running in the UK on Boxing Day there was no way I could get a train down to Heathrow if the LBA flight got cancelled. My back-up plan was to drive to Heathrow if necessary. However, the conditions on Boxing Day could not have been better as it was sunny with no winds so fortunately no sign of the disruption recent storms had caused.
British Airways BA1343
LBA-LHR(T5)
G-EUPJ, A319-100
UK Domestic, seat 4F
26 December 2013 - 14:45d, 15:55a (scheduled)
Duration - 1h 10m (scheduled)
Boarding was called at 30 minutes before departure at gate 7, and I was deliberately at the front of the queue for a good reason. I had bought two boxes of Lindts chocolates (one for each galley) and was going to give them to the cabin crew as a thank you as I appreciated it is not a popular time of year to be working and away from family. I gave the two boxes of chocolates to the purser who seemed initially taken aback and then quite grateful.
Lovely sunny day at LBA. No wind so great for flying.
Lining up at LBA.
We departed on time and take off was on runway 32. The load was around 70. Bar service started fairly promptly and I got a small bag of nuts & fruit and a white coffee. I had several hours waiting in the lounge at LHR coming up so there was no need to start drinking too early.
Leg room.
This was my first time on BA since they introduced the new PED policy so I had my iPad on throughout the flight (in flight mode of course).
After a short flight we landed at 27R at LHR and we were about 15 minutes early. However, frustratingly our gate was still occupied so we were kept waiting for 15 minutes near the northern end of T5A waiting for our gate to be vacated. Once off the plane I went up in to the departures lounge and on to the BA south lounge complex after picking up some US currency at Travelex.
LHR & Galleries First Lounge
Once in the lounge I went to the customer service desk and asked whether there might be a paid upgrade to Club Europe available, but after some tapping away I was told no. I went to the work area for a bit to send some emails and also check in for the next days’ flight to SEA. I managed to check in but couldn’t print my boarding pass.
I had a glass or two of champagne (Tattinger Prelude), and also some dinner of pork belly red cabbage with some mushroom pasta. Pork belly is quite fatty but great to counter the alcohol.
Pork belly and pasta.
Retired to the terrace with some cheese.
Some views of the lounge.
As expected on Boxing Day the lounge was fairly quiet. With 50 minutes to departure the gate came up on the screen and today would be A15.
British Airways BA338
LHR(T5)-ORY(W)
G-EUPR, A319-100
Euro Traveller, seat 4A
26 December 2013 - 19:20d, 21:40a (scheduled)
Duration - 1h 20m (scheduled)
Boarding was called at 18:55 and using fast track I was on board fairly quickly.
I had managed to get 4A which on this flight was in the row immediately behind the curtain for the Club Europe seats. This meant seat 4B was not sold, and gave me a bit more space.
Again, two boxes of chocolates were handed to the purser on boarding who seemed less surprised and took them very easily - had she already had some today?
The load was around 47 so a quite flight. We departed on time and taxied to runway 27L.
Short flight time of 50 minutes. Drinks and snacks were offered, and the same snack selection was offered as on the LBA flight. Had nice chat to cabin crew member who was serving the drinks and he thanked me for chocolates. They were coming back on 27 December as well as well but on a later flight than I would be on.
Hilton Paris Orly Airport
Luggage took no longer than 10 minutes to appear on the carousel. I went to find the shuttle bus to the airport Hilton, and it arrived after a 5 minute wait. The airport away from the terminal building, but annoyingly you can’t seem to walk to it.
Once checked-in I went up to my room. I was very disappointed that the window was one of the non-opening type so I was hermetically sealed in, I really hate hotel rooms where you can’t open the window for some fresh air.
I ended up having one of the worst nights I have ever had at a hotel. The bed was just not comfortable, and the pillows were about 2ftx2ft so massive, yet lacking in any support. The room was stuffy as well despite putting the air conditioning on.
I had a fitful sleep and woke up at 0500 local so watched tv for a bit. After a shower I went to breakfast for 0630. Although this was fairly early for a 10:00 flight just in case there were any problems.
ORY (W)
The shuttle to airport arrived after 10 minutes. The BA check in desks were in hall 3. I checked in, but the agent couldn’t print my onward boarding pass for LHR-SEA and I would have to collect it at LHR. I wasn’t entirely listening to the agent when she told me about the location of the lounge so I didn't realise it was landside until too late and I had gone through security and passport control. So for the first time in a long while I just sat in the departure lounge with everybody else. The hall 3 gate area had a small cafe, a couple of duty free shops, and newsagent. Early on it was fairly empty so there was plenty of space at least, although as the morning went on it quickly became very full.
British Airways BA333
ORY(W)-LHR(T5)
G-EUPL, A319-100
Club Europe, seat 2F
27 December 2013 - 10:00d, 10:15a (scheduled)
Duration - 1h 15m (scheduled)
The gate seemed to be very disorganised. Lots of passengers started lining up from around 09:30, but boarding didn’t actually start until 10:00. There was a feeble attempt at calling for fast track by the gate agent and I made my way to front. General boarding called very quickly after. Upon boarding I handed two boxes of chocolates.
We eventually took off 40 minutes late so it was just as well I did not have a tight connection. A hot towel offered about 5 minutes after take off.
Brunch was being served, but as I wasn’t hungry I just had some tea.
LHR & Galleries First Lounge (again)
We landed about 10:30 27L. I went to the connections area and was expecting something protracted with lots of keyboard tapping and phone calls. There is a line for international boarding pass collection which I was pointed to, and there was no queue. The BA agent after a minute of keyboard tapping gave me a boarding pass. He also checked my bag was checked through to SEA. It was all very easy compared to the nightmare I was expecting. I headed up to north security, there was no fast track but I found a quiet lane and the line moved fairly quickly.
I went to the duty free shop on way to lounge to buy some chocolates for the cabin crew. Once in the lounge I sat near the champagne bar and had a few glasses.
Presents for the cabin crew.
The gate was displayed on the screens with about 1 hour before departure. The gate was in the T5B building so needed a quick trip across in the transit train. It was a bit early to go across, but to be honest I wanted a change of scene.
British Airways BA49
LHR(T5)SEA
G-BYGD, B747-400
Club World, seat 62K (UD)
27 December 2013 - 14:30d, 16:05a (scheduled)
Duration - 9h 35m (scheduled)
I have posted this elsewhere, I truly think the 747 is a beautiful plane and the BA livery seems to fit is so well with the speedmarque on the exterior of the upper deck. There is something about the curve of the UD as it goes down which looks really nice.
Boarding commenced with about 40 minutes to go. When my boarding pass was scanned there was a beep which I thought might be upgrade. However, it was in fact indicating that I had been selected for an extra security search. It was all conducted quickly and in a friendly manner and involved a quick look in my bags with a body pat down. It really didn't delay me that much at all.
I was met by the CSD with another colleague at the gate. When I handed the chocolates over and explained why the CSD seem genuinely happy which was nice, I even got a hug and a kiss.
Once upstairs I settled in to my seat. I had been on the UD before on BA (64A and 61A). 62K is an exit row seat and has direct access to the aisle.
As with all UD window seats, you have the side bins for extra storage and to use us as shelf. With 62K it seems the last side bin before the exit door is actually very deep and goes all the way to the floor, so I could get my rucksack in there. I took some orange juice when one of the cabin crew came around offering pre-departure drinks. Also one of the CC from the main deck came to the UD to thank me for the chocolates before we set off which was very nice of her.
The menu was handed out.
The amenity kit was also handed out
This is the new amenity kit that BA have been giving over the last few months. It now includes a pen (useful) and razor (why?), but more importantly and bizarrely does not include earplugs and eyemask. These items are apparently now available upon request.
The food order was taken before departure, and I went with the salmon starter, and the chicken. We had a long taxi and wait, and eventually took off nearly 45 minutes late. 62J next to me was unoccupied so I kept privacy screen down during the flight. The UD was around 60% full.
A hot towel was offered once airborne. There were two drinks rounds, with dinner served around 1 hour after take off.
The food, was ok but nothing special. After the meal I went for a wander and went all the way to the back down one aisle and up the other. The galleys in WT were crowded with the cc and they looked very busy so I moved on and didn’t want to get in their way. I stopped off at the club kitchen on way back and had a short chat with the CSD again. I also had a nice chat with another of the cc who was from and still lived in Huddersfield, so not far from me in Leeds. WT and WT+ both looked around 80% full, and CW on the main deck around 60% full.
View across from 62K.
I got a hot chocolate and the lights were dimmed. I watched the Star Trek Into Darkness film on IFE, then I watched The Bridge (the original Danish/Swedish one) on my ipad as I had saved several episodes on BBC iplayer.
At 1 hour and 45 minutes to go the lights were turned on, and most passengers had shades up already. A hot towel was offered and afternoon tea handed out.
We landed on time, and after collecting my bag and going through immigration unusually quickly I made my way to the light rail which goes from the airport to downtown. The hotel I was staying at (The Arctic Club) was near the Pioneer Square station. I checked in and headed upstairs. My plan had been to stay awake as long as possible and go to sleep at the normal US time – didn’t work though. I ended up going to sleep around 6pm and this resulted in me waking up at 3am.
Some room shots.
Saturday 28th
I ended up reading for a bit, and then went for breakfast around 8am. There is no buffet at this Doubletree so you don’t get a free breakfast. Instead you get a $14 coupon to use each morning.
Ended up getting the very tasty crab cake benedict both mornings I was there.
After a slow morning I ended up going to get the ferry for a trip across Puget Sound to Brainbridge Island. The great thing about the ferry is that you get some nice views of Seattle.
Looking back towards Seattle.
Another ferry passing us.
After disembarking at Bainbridge Island I had a wander around for a bit and got the ferry back. Once back in Seattle I walked to Smith Tower which is at the southern end of the downtown area. The views were pretty good.
After, that I headed up to the Seattle Center where the space needle is. Between the Westlake Center and Seattle Center you can get the monorail which was originally built back in the 1960s. I actually ended up using the monorail more than I expected, and it was a convenient way to get to the Seattle Center. I ended up deciding to walk to Kerry Park from the Seattle Center in order to get a nice sunset view over Seattle.
The plane just visible was a BA 747 which was operating BA49.
I had arranged to meet up with a fellow FT’er (
hugolover) who I also knew would be in Seattle at the same time on an IB ticket.
We met up in the hotel lobby around 7pm. He had been staying near the airport with two other friends. We headed out to Pike Place Market Brewery and had a few drinks there, before heading back to the hotel for a final drink before they headed back their hotel. We had a great chat during the evening and our conversation was not dominated by flying or FT. In fact, I may see that FT member again in Brussels in April when I have to go there to position for a trip to Hawaii.
Sunday 29th
Up early again at 5am on Sunday again due to an inability to sleep. I have no idea why my body clock would not adjust for this trip. After breakfast I waited in the hotel lobby for my pick up as I had booked to go on a Boeing Everett factory tour.
The drive to Everett took around 30 minutes due to the light traffic on a Sunday morning. Once we arrived we went to the museum/visitor center first. We had an hour there to look around before the tour itself.
Cross-section of a 787 fuselage.
727 cockpit.
Also on the top floor is an outside viewing gallery on the top floor which looks across the runway and towards the factory. Sadly during the short period I was up on the viewing gallery there wasn’t any activity on the runway. I did see an Air India 787 take off as we walked to bus though.
Unfortunately for the factory tour you can’t take a camera, in fact you can’t take much and you need to put your bags and phones in the lockers at the visitor center. The reason given is that someone dropped their camera from the viewing gallery a few years ago and caused several million dollars of damage. So sorry, no photos to show you.
We watched a brief video first and then got split up in to groups. Each group had their own guide and bus which took us to the factory. Once inside you basically go to the two viewing galleries to look at the 777 line, 747 line, and 787 line. It was all very impressive, and great to see the planes being built below. Due to the time of year there was not much activity on the lines. Once back to the visitor center we were dropped off at the gift shop. The guide did the usual Boeing sales pitch, and most of the people of the tour are not aviation geeks like me. I really would have liked a more geeky tour though. In case you are wondering I booked the tour through
Show Me Seattle rather than direct with Boeing as I wasn’t hiring a car so needed the transport.
After being driven back to Seattle I was dropped near the Seattle Center. I was planning to try and go up the Space Needle but the queue was a bit too long for my tastes, so instead I went to Chihuly Garden & Glass next door. I hadn’t been planning to go to this, but having gone in on a whim I was actually very impressed.
I had booked a food tour in the afternoon on Capitol Hill, so after the glass display I got the monorail back to the Westlake Center and then walked up to Capitol Hill. I had booked the tour with
Savor Seattle. Whenever I go to places I always try and book some kind of food tour, and so far they have always ended up being really great in terms of the food I have tried and learning something about the place. One of the attractions of this tour was that I hadn’t planned to go up to the Capitol Hill district so this was a good way of seeing a part of Seattle I might otherwise have missed out on.
There were about 12 of us in total on the tour but apart from me they were all one family group. I thought that might be a bit daunting at the start but it worked out ok. Although I don’t have any photos to show, I can say the food tour was great and the guide was really good.
After getting back from the food tour I headed to The Arctic Club to pick up my bags and walk down to The Alexis Hotel to check in. I was a bit surprised that the reception staff didn’t say anything about the hotel name matching my own – I would have thought that would be worth at least a little comment. After getting the room key I headed up, and was actually very surprised that I had been upgraded to a suite. No mention had been made of this on check in. As an Inner Circle member my complimentary drinks and snacks were waiting for me in the room as well.
My hotel, named after me I would imagine.
Complimentary food and drink.
Bedroom.
Bathroom.
Living room.
Living room looking back to dining table area.
Dining table.
Corridor from just outside bedroom to front door.
After doing a bit of unpacking in opened the bottle of sparkling wine and had a few glasses with the complimentary snacks. I ended up snoozing on sofa for an hour before heading to bed.
Monday 30th
I was up early again, 5am this morning. Throughout this trip for some reason my body clock just didn’t want to adjust. I caught up on a few things and packed up to go and check out. I left my bags at the hotel as this evening I was going to stay at the Hilton Seattle Airport due to having an early flight on the Tuesday.
I ended up walking around in the morning and going to Pike Place Market.
This one is from the evening as I was heading back to the hotel.
After that I got the streetcar to Lake Union and walked up to Seattle Seaplanes as I was having a 20 minutes seaplane tour around Seattle.
The seaplane that we used.
I was in the tour with a local couple. They sat together on the seats behind, whilst I sat in the seat next to the pilot.
My view of the cockpit.
Shortly after take off.
Puget Sound.
Looking towards Bellevue
Coming back in to Lack Union to land.
The trip was very enjoyable. I was surprised that the landing and take off in a seaplane were relatively smooth, although I can imagine that would change if the water was choppy.
After the seaplane tour I got the streetcar and light rail back to The Alexis Hotel, and then back to the light rail to go to the airport station.
Hilton Seattle Airport
The Hilton is over the bridge from the station in the opposite direction to the airport, then a short walk down the road. On checking in I was told that I had been upgraded to a room in the main building which meant less walking to get to the room.
Room at the hotel.
The room itself was perfectly fine, but I did notice later on that quite a lot of the sound from corridor carried through. I ended up having something to eat at the hotel restaurant before heading to bed.