BA 297 LHR-IAD 777-200 1735-2110
Here began my marathon. Up some stairs, down some hall, down some escalator, down another hall. Every time I figured I had to be where I was going, there was another turn, another corridor, another door, another flight of stairs. Finally, I found the bus.
The trip across the tarmac did provide some good spotting, I’ll give it that.
Finally, I have arrived. Of course I still had to go through a lengthy wait at security with which Fast Track did not do much good. But such tribulations mean you have truly earned your next drink.
The Concorde Room was an experience. While hard product wise it’s kind of strange (imagine if your dimly lit living room and an antique store had a baby and that baby became a lounge), it was certainly the nicest lounge I’ve been to. What sets it apart is that no food is left out. There isn’t a bite to be found, you either eat at the restaurant or order food from a menu. Plus, their bar is well stocked and I mean
well stocked . After getting my bearings I ordered a Glenlivet 18 Year and an entrée and headed to the balcony to find me a 19th Century-esque armchair.
I ordered the pork belly, it’s a big time favorite of mine.
Cheers, Flyertalk.
My first ever Treacle Tart. I’ve been reading about it in British books since I was a kid and had always wanted to try it. The wait staff were great I might add, very friendly and always roving around so I was able to order dessert quickly.
The little tea carts were everywhere in the lounge, which was good because I figured I had a long night of drinking to look forward to so water would be a good idea.
I thought the washrooms were a little sterile but it was nice that you had a private room instead of sharing with everyone and hey, how many lounges can you say you used a bidet in?
Making it official, and yes, I have terrible handwriting.
I didn’t mention this earlier but this was my first time using Terminal 5. In fact, it wasn’t built yet the last time I was at Heathrow (2006). I was very impressed with it, the midfield concourses were a bit annoying, but the terminal struck me as the kind of place you didn’t mind so much not having lounge access in. Lots of restaurants and shops and the like.
I was actually hoping we’d get delayed as I had nowhere to be and I was very much enjoying the lounge but sadly, they decided to get us out on time, .......s! Still, I made sure to leave the lounge with a couple minutes so I could checkout/photograph the South Galleries First lounge.
Nice, but definitely crowded, I preferred the CCR for that reason alone.
I was tempted, but I couldn’t find the Clotted Cream so I passed.
Alright, enough lounging, to the gate! Thankfully, I only had to go to B today.
Still an impressive terminal.
My plane today in all its glory.
I got to the gate just as they announced they were still cleaning the catering the plane. You know what that means…time to check out ANOTHER LOUNGE!
The Galleries Club Concourse B lounge was actually quite decent, even if the booze selections were two steps down. They had finger sandwiches and nibbles as well as hot soup and some friendly attendants. I couldn’t find any champagne but I knew I’d get plenty on the plane.
Anyway, when I got back to the gate they announced boarding for First/Club World/Emerald and BA Gold all at once. I was the third person on the plane and the experience got started off right when one f/a said to the other “Show Mr. Kunz to 2K, please”. Once we got there, I was asked if I wanted a newspaper or magazine and then what I wanted to drink. When I said “champagne” I got a list of three different ones. Being in the $30,000-$49,000 a year income bracket I had no idea which to pick so I just repeated one back figuring the more I drank, the less I’d care anway.
Yes, this looks worth 56,250 miles and $400. The load factor was only 3/12 today so I had no problems taking a million or so pictures.
Headphones and a small blanket were on the foot rest. I was asked if I wanted slippers and an amenity kit and I said “I’ll take whatever’s coming to me”. One of the three flight attendnats working first responded “I’d better get you some pyjamas (there, I used the English spelling) too”.
Some people on the BA board consider this a bad amenity kit but I was okay with it. But again, what do I know? My idea of a good time is flying American coach to DCA and being excited if they give me the whole can of Diet Coke.
More seat exploration. I liked the controls which I found easy enough to operate and the recessed magazine panel and USB ports (very helpful for inflight charging).
We finally got the delay I wanted when two passengers didn’t show up and their bags had to be located and removed, but that was fine by me as the flight crew was great and they kept my glass full. Besides, what’s the rush? This might be a good time to explain why I flew home in First and not to Europe. My Mom likes to joke that when I was a baby all I did was sleep and eat and nothing has changed. Frankly, I like to think I can you know, SPOUT AN OCCASIONAL SENTENCE but she is right in the sense that sleep comes very easily for me. Therefore, I don’t need a flat bed to get some Zs. What I want out of a redemption is the most awake hours possible. I want the food, the drinks, the attention (all the attention!) and the experience. So the delay didn’t bother me as it just meant more time on board.
Besides, more time to try and figure out how to be sophisticated.
Obligatory on board shot, wish I’d fixed my damn tie though.
Eventually, we pushed back and I got to experience the only negative about flying First which is you can’t really see out the windows. But I guess I’d see plenty of planes tomorrow so who cared?
Best I could do for a takeoff shot.
Once up in the air it was time for the main event, eating for the next several hours.
Now, I’m not sure if it was supposed to work like this, but when I’d flown CX I was allowed to ask for as much as I wanted, so I just did the same here, especially as I represented one third of the First passengers on board.
Being on board a plane drinking Glenlivet 18 Year (my favorite scotch) is worth any YQ B.S.
Amouse bouche (which my computer wanted to autocorrect to “arouse”) of mozzarella and sundried tomato salad. After hearing the f/a say “to-MAH-to” I asked her “what was it again?” to hear her do it again. Childish, but at least I didn’t clap.
Smoked salmon with caviar. They came around offering rolls and allowed us to pick as many as we wanted. I prefer the CX practice of leaving you your own basket, especially as they never offered refills.
Cauliflower soup with cheese and onions, absolutely delicious. I paired it with a pretty decent Boudreaux.
Salad with honey mustard dressing, actually pretty good for a bowl full of grass.
My main event, the steak. The last time I flew BA across the ocean I had a steak in Club Europe and it was awful. This one was sadly, not much better. It was definitely overcooked and a bit tasteless. However, the vegetables and the mini steak and ale pie was delicious enough to make up for it. Plus, it was the only negative part of the meal so I’d call it a success overall.
Cheese course, with Port of course. I still don’t really understand the concept of cheese as a meal by itself (for this uncultured American swine cheese is a topping) but some of the cheeses were pretty good.
Date and toffee pudding. The flight attendant said “would you like the ice cream with it too?”. Come on, you think I got this gut from eating fruit? DO YOU EVEN HAVE TO ASK?
The meal was nicely spaced out so it took the entire length of my 2.25 hour movie. Nothing like not feeling rushed or being served from the cart. It was like being in a very private restaurant but where it was okay to take off my shoes and put my feet up an watch a Tom Hanks movie.
With the meal done I settled down to just watch a bunch of TV while flopping around in my seat for the next five hours. I will give the crew a lot of credit, they somehow managed to balance being there when I needed them, but not bothering me too much. Every hour or so, I’d stand up and stretch or go to the bathroom and as soon as I did, one of them would be at my side with a “another bottle of water, Mr. Kunz?”. I cannot say enough superlatives about this crew or frankly, this flight.
BA also had a nice feature on their IFE where they had the entire seasons of some shows. I watched a movie, two Family Guys and three Boardwalk Empires. Don’t judge me! I have so much homework usually I just get to veg out like this.
I did also take a 45 minute nap, mainly to try the bed out in flat mode. I was pretty impressed with it but I did find it a trifle narrow. When I awoke, it was time for the last hurrah of food. Frankly, I was still pretty full but I needed to get $400’s worth so I crammed more food in my ingestion port.
A little on the light side, but it was pushing 8:30 PM on the east coast and well after Midnight in the Old Empire so I understand the short limited foodstuffs. Sadly, as I finished up the flight finished up. This was one leg I wanted to go on for a very long time. Especially as, coming into IAD means the dreaded:
Mobile lounge! And as if that wasn’t bad enough, we ended up in a half hour late and at 10 PM, almost every CBP officer went home. I waited in line over a half hour and an Avianca flight had just come in which meant a ton of Permanent Residents with Green Cards in my line. I don’t mind them, I mind that they had to answer 700 questions with their agent.
Oh I was happy to see that sign let me tell you.
Ashburn, VA
Short break from the airplanes, they’ll be back soon!
So at this point I began to wait for the shuttle to the Hilton Garden Inn – Dulles North. And I waited, and waited, and waited some more. After a half hour I called back and asked where it was and to confirm I was looking for a HGI Shuttle as I’d seen every shuttle in the known universe except that one. The agent said “oh yes, it’s not our sister property tonight”. Well guess what, it was. After another 15 minutes the shuttle driver called me. He was parked right in front of me…in an Aloft van. I was livid, not only because it was cold but because my wait was so unnecessary. Once I got to the hotel, I told the agent checking me in who seemed really panicked by my report. Thankfully, a manager showed up and I ended up getting $45 off the rate (wish I always earned a dollar a minute) so that made things right.
The hotel was still fairly meh, it’s Dulles in name only (about a 15 minute drive away down the Toll Road) and there were a lot of little issues like used Q-Tips in my trash can and the alarm clock not having been reset for daylight savings time. Plus, they’d changed me from a high floor room to one on the first floor right by the parking lot which I hate and I had to ask for a breakfast voucher. The agent seemed really flummoxed by that request.
They did have a full bar and offer dinner though. Breakfast was a buffet for cold items and all hot items were cooked to order which is how I prefer it. Annoyingly, I had to leave early as the shuttle was loading and then we sat on the shuttle for 5 minutes waiting for some late passenger. I could’ve been eating more food!
