** Mods please feel free to move - I wanted to give some visibility and thanks to the BA FT Board **
Trip Report – BRU-LHR-JFK-SFO-JFK-LCY
I wanted to write a trip report for my recent holiday out to the West Coast with Mrs Our_Kid not only for a memento but also to put something back into the FT Community, which without being a member of the site, I would have had no idea of ex-EU routings and I7SALE fares and other nuances of travel tricks.
I do travel quite a bit with work but mostly short haul and we have a policy of Y up to four hours. With some good longer Band 4 flights coupled with some POUGs I easily propelled myself into Silver territory and made a good 1000 Tier Points with some of the help of the people here.
So with a new found knowledge of ITA Matrix and TP runs I booked two I7SALE tickets last August for myself and Mrs Our_Kid – ex BRU out to SFO. I wanted to maximise the Tier Points and renew my Silver card (as the trip coincided with the start of my collection year) and also equip Mrs Our_Kid with a Silver card after the travels. It seems like a good investment – a holiday, £1500 each return to SFO in Club, 50k Avios between us and 800+ tier points.
The original booking routed LHR-MIA-SFO on the outbound (to get the coveted 210 TPs for the transcontinental run) however due to an AA schedule change I asked for a reroute out via JFK to mirror the return leg – I wanted Mrs Our_Kid to also experience the 747 UD hence not taking the LCY service both ways. AA were more than accommodating and reissued the tickets and to my luck the outbound JFK-SFO transcon would be on the new 3 class A321T service and even better in First – but more of that later as I am writing this on the 747 out to JFK and I hope it comes off…
Positioning
This was out on the BA404 from LHR (two ultra cheap single Y fares both with POUG offered and taken) on the evening of the 8th April, a rapid flight time and the service in CE was fantastic. I didn’t really make any notes apart from the service was impeccable and I had to wolf the food down as we were literally in descent as I finished the meal – well done BA!
After a quick hotel courtesy shuttle we checked into the Holiday Inn Brussels Airport – straight to sleep, the room was OK and the bed very comfortable.
The following morning we took the shuttle back to the airport and went for check in.
Outbound to SFO
I had checked in on the BA website and wanted to collect the BPs at the airport for a keepsake of our first long haul trip together. At the check-in counters Mrs Our_Kid had her BPs printed right through to SFO however there was “an issue” with my JFK-SFO leg which meant it couldn’t be printed – oh well, at least I can get to JFK and sort it out at the Admirals Club which is my plan!
We cleared security and had a light breakfast in the lounge, the pastries were delicious as well as the coffee – and a good view of the apron and runway.
09/09/14 BA391 BRU-LHR A319 (Club Europe)
Scheduled Departure: 0945 (CET)
Actual Departure: 1005 (CET)
Wheels Up: 1018 (CET)
Wheels Down: 1017 (BST)
On Stand: 1021 (BST)
This was a great flight – and again, kudos to James the Purser who was running the CE cabin - there were seven passengers in our cabin he was looking after.
We were late departing due to a passengers’ luggage needing to be offloaded, there was a little bit of anxiety with passengers with connections at LHR but it was dealt with really well by James and his team.
Heading out of BRU
A meal service was offered and I took the ‘Continental Breakfast’ whilst Mrs Our_Kid took the Ham and Cheese croissant. James also offered us fresh croissants, juice and coffee and was trying to get us to have some champagne for the morning – we politely declined! The service again was excellent, I know a lot of people think CE is an anachronism but I have to say both those Band 1 trips to Brussels were really really good. My breakfast was delicious too – exceeded my expectations.
We were held into LHR for a little while; it wasn’t a problem though as the views into the City that morning were perfect. We moved across to the other side of row 1 (as it was not occupied) and took photos.
Landmarks
On landing James wished us a good flight onto JFK and Mrs Our_Kid said well our final destination is SFO! James asked about why we hadn’t routed directly and I then explained a little about this being a TP run as part of the holiday. He loved the idea and said, “keep getting those points and flying BA”.
LHR Transfer
We took fast track through flight connections, which was incredibly busy, and then on to B Gates for the JFK flight.