My best friend decided to get married in Hungary. We'll get back to that later. The myriad reasons this was an awful decision, why the wedding was in Hungary, etc...first let's get down to the autistic flight planning. This trip was a gem, and really highlighted the neurotic advance flyertalk style planning that I have learned from this site. After mining the premium fare deals forum, this trip was bracketed by halves of two other fares, with another MR worked into the middle. Back in 2018, there were cheap fares from the U.S. to Moscow AND cheap fares ex-ARN, so in November, I flew JFK-HEL-SVO, to get to Europe, then when I returned in Dec., I used the front end of an ARN-HEL-JFK ticket. Now, in May 2019, I would complete these two tickets and toss in a little extra. The itinerary was:
1. JFK-LHR-ARN (BA J) the back end of the ticket I flew the front half of in Dec. '18
2. ARN-BUD (DY Y) Thanks to Malev's failure years ago, and SAS not offering ARN-BUD direct flights, this lovely option was my only choice.
3. BUD-FCO (AZ Y - later J) Purchased as coach, before departure my bid on the upgrade cleared
4: FCO-ALG (AZ Y - later J)) Purchased as coach, before departure my bid on the upgrade cleared
5: ALG-MAD-LHR-LAX-JFK-MAD (IB, AA J) Another gem from the premium cabin fare deals forum, my second ex-ALG run ~20k+ EQM for ~$1.4k USD
6. MAD-MUC-DME (LH J)
7: SVO-HEL-JFK (AY J) Back end of the ticket I flew TO Europe in Nov. '18
On Jan. 22 I returned from Africa WDH-JNB-LHR-JFK straight through in BA (Comair) J and BA F. Since then, there was a long, dark period with no longhaul flights, save for JFK-SFO-JFK back and forth on AA 321Ts in J (Y fare upgraded with miles & copay). Finally, on May 30th, it was time to get back up there.
BA 116
JFK-LHR
Boeing 747-400
G-CIVF
Seat 62A (J)
Flight #33 of 2019
I don't love BA. I was prepared to be VERY underwhelmed by this flight, but I have to say my expectations were (for a change) not only met but exceeded. After arriving at JFK, I went to the dedicated F check in at JFK which was painless. I asked about a buy up from J to F, but the going rate was $1,100 which was too rich for my blood. From there, it was on to security. I noticed a guy to the right of me putting his belongings into a bin and thought "man, this guy looks like a haggard, older and uglier Keanu Reeves." Then I noticed he had an airport staffer escorting him through the line. Eventually when one of the TSA agents shouted out "Hey man I loved John Wick!" I realized "huh, that actually IS Keanu Reeves." He seemed like a pretty chill and humble guy. The new BA J lounge at JFK is very spacious and quite comfortable. I had a brief spat with the lounge dragon, when she told me that as a AA OWE traveling in Club World I was not entitled to access the F section of the lounge, but she soon realized the error of her ways. I thought she was merely trying to diffuse the situation when she said "the J section is nicer anyway," but after she came back around and granted me access, I have to agree with her assessment. The F section is very low on seating and not that great. I perused it briefly then grabbed my carryon and went back over to the J side to hang out before the flight.
There is also a dining area for BA Club passengers. It's a vast improvement over the slop they used to serve in Club Dining in the old lounge, the food was not only edible, but good.
This JFK-LHR flight was on one of BA's 747-400s. My absolute favorite airplane, the Queen of the skies. As a OWE, I had selected an upper deck seat (62A) in advance. I try to avoid BA Club World since the seats in that god awful 2-4-2 configuration are not the best. It had been quite a while since i'd flown 747 UD, and I'd forgotten how pleasant it can be. While MOST of BA's CW seats are not great, the 747 UD seats, especially 62 A and K are very comfortable. Tons of bin storage on the side, direct aisle access and plenty of privacy. Turned out to be a phenomenal flight. The upper deck J cabin was only about 2/3 full. After takeoff, I watched Creed II which honestly was NOT that great. In the end, I felt BAD for Drago. I'm not sure why Sly has been making Rocky seem more and more like a mentally feeble imbecile as he ages. I know he took a lot of blows to the head, but I thought we were all regarding that whole Rocky V brain damage plot as not being canon.
I had a lamb main during the movie that was also excellent, then cranked the seat back and slept for 4-5 hours before touch down at LHR. Absolutely nothing to complain about. Great crew and a perfectly comfortable and pleasant flight. As good as it gets on BA. According to my records, I flew this same aircraft, in the same seat on 12/15/14 LHR-JFK. Seat 62A is HIGHLY recommended.
BA 780
LHR-ARN
Airbus A321-200
G-EUXE
Seat 2A (J)
Flight #34 of 2019
I had a fairly long layover in LHR. I hadn't thought about how tired I might be after the TATL flight when enthusiastically booking this roundtrip months ago. C'est la vie. During my last swing through LHR in Jan., after landing from JNB, while clearing transit security and before boarding another long haul to JFK, I had a lovely dust up with the charming security staff at LHR. Mind you this was 5am, and I was a bit grumpy after getting off a 10+ hour flight, and before getting on another 8 hour flight. LHR security are absolute NAZIS regarding liquids. I have literally never seen any airport staff anywhere in the world that are this insane about it. If you have any tiny amount of liquid or anything almost liquid like deodorant that you don't put in a plastic bag these people will LOSE THEIR DAMN MINDS and basically strip search you. Anyway, back in Jan., these clowns took every item out of both of my bags and everything out of my toiletry kit because we all know that if a hotel sized shampoo bottle goes through the scanner INSIDE your luggage and not in a clear plastic bag, the security of the UK is DONE HERE. They were not at all civil or pleasant about it and I got a bit worked up and decided to give it back to them. 5am isn't good for anyone. In my groggy and perturbed state I may have said something like "you're worthless and you don't actually make us any safer, this is all security theater and you're just enjoying having a modicum of power for once in your lives and being tyrants" or something like that...needless to say the security staff were not amused. That led to ~45 minutes of being stuck at security and arguing with them to no avail.
This time, I eschewed the toiletry kit and put everything in a clear plastic ziplock from the get go, not worth the hassle. This being my first visit to LHR as a OWE, I went to Galleries First. While it's not the CCR, I thought this was an excellent lounge, and it was a very pleasant place to pass the crushingly long layover (I think it was ~5 hours!?). Boarding for ARN was uneventful, as was the flight. The only thing I noted was that the legroom was absolutely BRUTAL. At 6'4'', many airline seats can be less than ideal for me. I could be wrong, but I feel like in years past, the first few rows of most intra-euro configured aircraft had slightly more legroom. Perhaps i'm wrong, but that certainly isn't the case now. Row 2 had very tight pitch. I managed to contort myself into a semi-comfortable state and get a little sleep on the way to Stockholm.