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Old Jun 6, 2019, 12:45 am
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Seat 2A
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February 26, 2019
British Airways First Class ~ 777-200 ~ Tel Aviv, IS to London, UK ~ 440p – 800p ~ Dinner


It was about 1:45 when Avi dropped me off in front of the main terminal building. It was a beautiful sunny day with clear skies and pleasant temperatures in the low 80s. Israel was not going to make it easy for me to leave! As it is I won’t see temperatures like this back home until June.

Inside the air-conditioned terminal building I had no problem finding my way to the British Airways check-in counter. Check in was a breeze and I checked my heavy 50 pound suitcase all the way through to Newark – a good move because the only way to get to my hotel in London was via public transit (or an expensive cab ride) so I didn’t want to be lugging that bag behind me on the three block walk from the tube to my hotel.

Lounge access at Ben Gurion is surprisingly limited for an international airport of its size and import. I assume El Al has its own lounge while most other airlines use a contract facility called The Dan Lounge. There are two of these lounges in the airport and, given the number of airlines that use them, they can get very crowded. That was certainly the case when I visited. The lounge was long, narrow and cramped. Food and beverage offerings were basic at best. Clearly I’ve been spoiled by the quality of Asia’s independent lounges, but so be it. I would rate the Dan Lounge a 3 on a scale of 1-5.

There was however one redeeming quality – ice cold Carlsberg Beer on tap. I availed myself of at least three glasses during my hour and a half visit.

Making my way down to the gate, I arrived just as boarding was beginning. Due to the length and angle of the jet bridge I couldn’t see my 777 from the gate lounge. Too bad. For me at least, part of the enjoyable anticipation of International First Class air travel is looking out on your waiting airplane at the gate, secure in the knowledge that your seat will be up there amidst the first four or five windows or so. Oh well - no sense hanging around TLV any longer then – let’s head on board!

A pair of good looking flight attendants greeted me at the door, inspected my boarding pass and arranged for a colleague to escort me up to the comfy confines of the First Class cabin. It had been eleven years since I last flew in First Class aboard a British Airways 777, that trip going from Sydney to Singapore. The First Class cabin on that aircraft was still BA’s first generation suites. Intended to emulate the interior of a Rolls Royce, the seats were upholstered in gray Connolly leather and chenille fabric offset by burr walnut wraparound barriers, beige side panels and dark blue carpet. The atmosphere was quiet and refined, radiating subdued elegance.

The designers of BA’s new First Class cabin apparently wanted to emphasize modern and stylish – perhaps to the detriment of refined and elegant per my tastes. When it comes to comfort and travel, I’m definitely old school. Assuming I could afford them, you wouldn’t find me staying at some hip and with it hotel like Aloft or W in New York City when I’d feel much more at home in the Waldorf Astoria or The Plaza. Same goes for airplanes. Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific are more my tastes.

When it comes to airplane cabins, I tend to prefer warm, soft colors and fabrics. BA’s new cabin looks nice enough in a kind of cool, modernistic way but to me at least it also feels colder with the dark seats and blue mood lighting.

That said, I liked the suite arrangement of this 777-200 a bit more than I did the new suites I experienced a couple of years ago aboard BA’s 747-400 between San Diego and London. These 777 suites appear marginally more spacious than those on the 747. Especially notable was more foot space when the suite is fully extended into sleeping mode.

Unfortunately, the seat on this 777 is essentially the same as the one I had on the 747. It’s about 22” wide and reasonably well padded but the required seat position for takeoff and landing leaves the seat quite low slung and uncomfortably reclined. It’s like sitting in a sports car or the Gemini Space Capsule - very awkward to sit down in and worse, to stand up from. Seat side storage was decent and included an easily accessible closet for jacket and shoes. The recline function was via a dial rather than a button – not my favorite style but workable. Here’s a couple pictures…



BA’s 777 First Class Suite


BA’s 777 First Class Suite looking forward


The sidewalls have this futuristic look to them with tinted glass panels covering individual pairs of blue backlit windows. Or maybe it’s the blinds that are backlit. They are themselves unique in that they’re electrically powered, operated by a single up/down button housed in the seat control panel. Cool as that may be, unfortunately you practically have to unbuckle your seatbelt and scoot forward to be able to see out of the windows. But hey – it’s 2019. Hardly anyone looks out their windows anymore. These days most people close out the natural world and the daylight outside in favor of the artificial light and entertainment emanating from the IFE or their notepads.

While I got myself and my gear squared away in Suite 2A, the usual cavalcade of First Class amenities were offered and/or delivered. Professional bunch that they are, BA’s cabin staff did an excellent job of providing everything that I could possibly need or want without hovering around my seat in search of purpose. The Cabin Service Director stopped by to introduce herself, followed shortly thereafter by the Purser who took my drink order. That drink, a glass of Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle Champagne, was delivered along with a copy of the menu for this evening’s flight.



Still Life with Champagne and Menu


Ah… Is there a nicer way to start a long international flight in First Class than with a glass of nicely chilled Champagne? Certainly there is none more traditional. Tonight’s glass of Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle, while considered by many here to be a lesser quaff than Krug or Salon, was perfectly acceptable and quite tasty indeed.

While I savored its exquisite effervescence, the parade of pre-flight swag continued with the delivery of an amenity kit and a pair of slippers, both of which found a home on the built in ottoman facing my seat. Soon, another crewmember arrived with a hot towel followed shortly thereafter by a selection of newspapers.

The amenity kit was housed in a faux leather Liberty of London-branded pouch. It contained a variety of Refinery Skin Care products from Aromatherapy Associates, London. These included deodorant, lip balm, shaving gel, moisturizer, a razor, a hairbrush/comb combo, a stylish BA First pen, eye mask and a pair of socks. I’ve seen more stylishly presented kits, but none more comprehensive. Nicely done, BA!

I don’t recall if pajamas were offered but given the time of day and length of flight, I would not have accepted them anyway. I’ve got a couple boxes full of pajamas and amenity kits from 20 years ago sitting in storage out on my porch. I wonder what they’d be worth on eBay? Regardless, I don’t have room to be lugging around any more stuff than I’ve already got on this trip, so thanks, but no thanks.

The Captain offered a congenial welcome aboard and informed us that the flight time up for our 2,230 mile flight to London would be a short four hours and fifty-two minutes. Shortly thereafter the doors were closed, the jetway retracted and the tractor beneath us revved into life as it slowly pushed our 540,000-pound aircraft back from the gate.

Following the safety demonstration, my flight attendant stopped by to inquire as to my drink choice once we got airborne. Hmmm… let’s have another look at that wine list:


WINE LIST

Champagne

Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle, Champagne, France (V)
Gusbourne Limited Release Twenty Fifteen, Kent, England
Lanson Rosé NV, Champagne, France (V)


White Wines
Saint-Romain Vieilles Vignes 2013, Domaine Vincent Girardin, Burgundy, France
Sancerre “Les Caillottes” 2017, Pascal Jolivet, Loire, France (V)
A to Z Wineworks Pinot Gris 2016, Oregon, USA


Red Wines
Ch teau de Pressac 2007, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru, Bordeaux, France (V)
Ritual Pinot Noir 2015, Casablanca Valley, Chile
Esk Valley Merlot/Cabernet/Malbec 2016, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand


Dessert Wines
Brown Brothers Orange Muscat & Flora 2016, Victoria, Australia
Warre’s 2000 Colheita Tawny Port (V)



THE BAR

Apéritifs and Spirits

Ciroc Vodka
Johnnie Walker Blue Label Scotch Whisky
Woodford Reserve Kentucky Bourbon
Tanqueray No. Ten Gin
Bacardi Carta Blanca


Liqueurs and Digestifs
Glenlivet Small Batch Malt Whisky
Bailey’s Irish Cream
Otard XO Cognac
Cointreau


Beer
St. Austell Tribute Pale Ale
A selection of lagers including Heineken, Tiger or Amstel Light



Johnnie Walker Blue Label retails for over $200.00 a bottle back home. Here in Suite 2A aboard BA’s 777-200 it is a complimentary pour. I’d be a fool not to take advantage of this delicious First Class perk – especially since I quite enjoy JWB. I’ll have a glass of that, please – on the rocks.

Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport is not a particularly large, spread out facility. During our short taxi out to the runway I admired the variety of attractive blue, white and silver liveried El Al aircraft including a 787-9 wearing the retro 1960s livery. The current one looks much nicer. As we reached the head of the runway and turned to line up for takeoff, I managed a quick photo looking down the length of the runway.



The evening sky awaits as we ready for takeoff from Tel Aviv


As we climbed away from terra firma, powering swiftly through wispy cloud strata enroute to our cruising altitude somewhere up in the soft blue yonder, I readjusted my seat into a more comfortable position and considered how much nicer this was than had I taken a Business Class flight from Amsterdam across to London. Nicer aircraft, better seat, better booze, better food… Ah… it is so good to be back in International First Class. It’s like a drug and the high is just coming on…

We were less than fifteen minutes into the flight when my drink was delivered, followed shortly thereafter by a small bowl of mixed nuts. High clouds were the order of the day as we powered ever higher into the troposphere. Given our late afternoon departure, I was really looking forward to a nice sunset shot as we sped west over the deep blue Mediterranean. Unfortunately, neither could be see and so, with four and a half hours to go before our arrival in London, I set the IFE to the moving flight map and turned my attention to tonight’s dinner menu. Let’s have a look, shall we?



Still Life with Johnnie Walker Blue and Menu


DINNER
Tel Aviv to London

PRE-APPETISER

Antipasti plate featuring grilled artichoke, Kalamata olives, Parmesan Cheese and sun-dried tomatoes

STARTERS

Smoked salmon carpaccio with beet purée, capers and quail egg

Shallot tarte Tatin with cherry tomatoes and goat’s cheese

Cream of Krupnik chicken soup with barley and mushrooms

Fresh seasonal salad with your choice of vinaigrette or buttermilk and black pepper dressing


MAIN COURSES

Rack of Lamb with Olive Crust and Pepperonata

Roasted garlic mashed potatoes and lamb jus

Pan Fried Drum Fish with Green Pea White Wine Sauce
Turned vegetables and potatoes

Braised Veal Cheeks in Red Wine and Rosemary Sauce
With pumpkin purée and asparagus

Jerusalem Artichoke Ravioli
Accented with a roasted red pepper sauce

Herb Grilled Chicken
With bulger salad, dried cranberries, harissa, hummus, mint parsley and cherry tomatoes


DESSERTS

White chocolate cheesecake with sea salt caramel

Cherry clafoutis with vanilla sauce and Amarena cherries



CHEESE PLATE

Fourme D’Ambert
Brie with black onion seeds
Manchego

Fresh fruit

A selection of biscuits



One thing I really miss is the canapés that BA used to serve with the opening round of cocktails. I have always been a huge fan of finger foods and although mixed nuts have long been a traditional accompaniment to the initial drink service, I think a small plate of canapés is just that much classier. And tastier.

The first item on the menu, an antipasti plate featuring grilled artichoke, Kalamata olives, Parmesan cheese and sun-dried tomatoes, would have made a nice accompaniment to my scotch. Unfortunately, it was only offered as the opening course of the meal.

So then, how about the rest of the menu? Jillian – my lovely flight attendant – waited patiently as I considered the possibilities…

Hmm… alright then, let’s start with the Antipasti Plate followed by the smoked salmon carpaccio, the soup and the salad - vinaigrette dressing, please. As for the main course… (Oooo – five main courses to choose from!), let’s go with the Rack of Lamb. As for drinks, I’ll stick with the JWB for now, thanks.

Linens were laid about twenty minutes later followed by silverware, bread and butter plates, an attractive salt and pepper set and a blood red water glass. A variety of breads and rolls were offered and I selected a good looking cheese roll. Three small butter balls completed the ensemble.

I should note here that the table, housed in the sidewall next to the seat, was quite large and spacious, more than large enough for two people to eat from. To that end, your dinner companion could easily sit on the spacious built in ottoman opposite your seat.

Surprisingly, the salad and antipasti plate were served together. The salad dressing was plated separately in a small butter dish. I would have preferred to start the meal on this five hour flight with the antipasti plate and mixed nuts over cocktails, but as deviations from the norm go, this one was fairly minor and not worth getting disappointed over.



Salad and Antipasti Plate


I have always liked BA’s zesty vinaigrettes and the one accompanying today’s salad was as good as ever. As things turned out, the flavor of the zesty vinaigrette infused salad was complimented nicely by the cheese and sun dried tomatoes from the antipasti plate. I don’t do olives, so these were carefully removed from both dishes and placed to the side.

Next up was the Smoked Salmon Carpaccio. It was attractively plated with beet purée, capers and quail egg halves. The plate also included three more olives which I dutifully removed. I couldn’t help but think back to forty some-odd years ago when American Airlines famously removed the single olive from all of its salads, supposedly saving $40,000 in the process. I wonder what the value is of all the olives I’ve removed from my inflight meals over the years?



Smoked Salmon Carpaccio with beet purée, capers and quail egg halves


On over 45 flights covering 216000+ miles, I’ve been served some pretty fine seafood and/or salmon appetizers on British Airways. Honestly, I could probably write a trip report just about the fine appetizer plates I’ve enjoyed on BA. Today’s plate was addition to that collection and accompanied admirably by a glass of the A to Z Wineworks Pinot Gris 2016.

Moving right along, my table was efficiently cleared and the next course delivered. This would be the delicious Cream of Krupnik chicken soup with barley and mushrooms. None of the flight attendants knew what “Krupnik Chicken” was, so later on I looked it up. It’s a Polish barley soup. I remembered that the epicurean highlight of my visit to LOT’s Business Class Lounge in Warsaw was the soup on offer. Today’s version a la BA was very tasty, and thankfully there were no olives to remove.



Cream of Krupnik chicken soup with barley and mushrooms


Alright then – bring on the main course! And while we’re at it, I’d like to switch out my Pinot Gris for a glass of the Chilean Pinot Noir please.

As delivered, my plate certainly looked attractive with mouthwatering olive crusted lamb chops surrounded by colorful portions of mashed potatoes and flavorful pepperonata. My only complaint with this meal is one I often have with Rack of Lamb mains – that being with regard to portion size. Two of those tiny little lamb chops amounted to about three bites of meat. That’s an appetizer – not a meal.

Much like the comic character Charlie Brown in his many failed attempts to kick a football held and invariably snatched away at the last second by his friend Lucy Van Pelt, I continue to order lamb chop entrees in the hopes that I’ll get a decent portion someday. The only time I remember ever getting decent portions of lamb were at my grandparent’s dinner table and some of the counter meals served up in various pubs throughout Australia and New Zealand.

I suppose I could always ask the flight attendants for more. Like Oliver Twist. Just show up at the galley with plate in hand and hope for the best. In any event, what today’s main lacked in portion size it made up for in flavor. I particularly enjoyed the pepperonata – a flavorful assemblage of green, red and yellow peppers – as well as the spicy Chilean red wine.



Rack of Lamb with Olive Crust and Pepperonata
Roasted garlic mashed potatoes and lamb jus


Dessert was a Cherry clafoutis with vanilla sauce and Amarena cherries. Clafoutis is evidently a fancy word for what is essentially a baked tart served with fruit and topped with a thick flan-like batter. As presented by BA’s flight kitchen out of Tel Aviv, it was a simple but tasty dish that I washed down with a cup of so-so coffee.



Cherry Clafoutis with vanilla sauce and Amarena cherries


Following a brief respite, I closed out this meal with an enviable collection of Fourme D’Ambert, Brie with black onion seeds and Manchego cheeses. My favorite cheese of all is a good, musty British Stilton. That it was not included on today’s menu was a source of minor disappointment. However, the three cheeses offered were very good indeed, served with a nice collection of crackers and breads but surprisingly none of the traditional fruits. Little matter. It was all quite delicious, especially as accompanied by a glass of the Warre’s 2000 Colheita Tawny Port.



Cheese course with Port


After dinner, I took my traditional lap around the airplane. I never cease to be amazed at how easy it is to settle into your First Class suite and totally forget that not far behind you are a couple hundred fellow passengers sat in decidedly less spacious environs. Conversely, quite the opposite is true when you’re sat back behind the second or third curtain where you’re surrounded by a sea of seats and humanity and – if you’ve ever enjoyed a First or Business Class experience before – constantly reminded of your unfortunate lot in life every time you rub elbows with your seatmate or the person in front of you decides to fully recline their seat.

There are only two ways I know of to avoid this type of envy. First, if you’ve never flown in First or Business Class, then you’re blissfully unaware of the differences and probably not at all unhappy with your lot. People such as this like to note that everybody on the plane arrives at the same time, which may help assuage the discomfort they feel from those next generation 10-across Slim Line seats that they’re squeezed into.

The only other way I know of I know of to avoid this type of envy is to simply avoid doing so. Adopt a philosophy of never traveling in Economy Class on longer flights. Whether you buy your premium class ticket outright or utilize mileage awards and/or status based upgrades to secure your suite in the rarified air of the forward cabin, you do whatever you have to do to plant your butt in the pointy end of the airplane.

It’s always amazing to descend into the Dickensian depths of the last four or five rows of Economy and see how truly awful it is back there. After walking past 40 some odd rows of humanity, if anything the seats seem even closer together as you reach the nether regions of the airplane. Add to that the noisy roar of the jet blast as heard behind the wings and it’s all I can do to control my emotions and avoid a look of wide eyed horror as I make my back to the rear bulkhead. I mean, if you must book passage back in steerage, at least try to get a seat towards the front of the cabin. There, the visual reminder via the sea of humanity spread out ahead of you is considerably diminished. On some of the better airplanes, it might even be replaced by a colorfully carpeted bulkhead.

The walk back up to the First Class cabin is like rising through the depths of deep dark water toward the sunlight streaming atop the surface of the water above. I can only imagine that asthmatics might experience similar relief as breathing is restored after the use of a medical inhaler.

Parting the heavy taupe curtains and re-emerging into the softly lit and spacious world of the First Class cabin is like returning home after a long and difficult trip abroad. “Honey, I’m home!” Soon you are settled back into your plush suite as your lovely flight attendant stops by to see if you’d care for a refill of your favorite libation. For me, that’d be another Johnnie Walker Blue, please. Ahh…

British Airways has an excellent inflight entertainment system though it is not in the same rarified strata as those of airlines like Emirates and Singapore. To me it’s not that big of a deal whether I have 70 or 370 movies to choose from, especially on a flight of this length. I’m more concerned with screen quality and functionality, both of which were more than suitable on this Thales system. The screen size looked to be about 15” – not as big as the largest screens out there but more than adequate for my needs.

By the time I’d finished dinner and taken a lap around the aircraft, there were only about two and a half hours left in the flight. I’d hoped to put in some work on this trip report, so I wasn’t interested in watching a full length movie. Instead I played a few rounds of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. It should be noted however that this is the British version of the game and unless you’re decently versed on British culture and especially pop culture, your chances of climbing above 50000 are considerably diminished. I’m pretty good at trivia and once made it all the way to the 500000 level on the Americanized version of this game. Alas, today I could do no better than 50000 and that was only once and due to a couple of lucky guesses.

Afterwards, I fired up my trusty laptop and set to work on this trip report. First however, I entered all of the relevant information for this flight into my flight log. A couple of interesting statistics for this flight:

• This is my 44th flight with British Airways
• Of those 44 flights, 37 have been in First Class
• As of this flight, I have flown 213,250 miles with British Airways
• As of this flight, I have spent 402 hours inflight aboard British Airways
• This is my 38th flight aboard a 777-200
• As of this flight I have logged 106,350 miles aboard 777-200s



Inflight Entertainment for Seat 2A


As the saying goes, time flies when you’re having fun – especially when you’re on an airplane. All too soon the crew began to initiate their pre-arrival proceedures, preparing the cabin and the passengers for landing. Out my window the lights of London glittered as we made a big turn and lined up for our final approach.

Is it me or are most airplane landings just smoother these days? To be sure there are better technologies involved than were available back in the 1970s – be it airplane landing gears or in-cockpit computerized programs that may compliment the pilots’ abilities. Of course it also helps being way up in the nose of the airplane. The point of impact is about 70-80 feet behind you on a big airplane like the 777. Whatever the case, we touched down light as a feather, braked smoothly and made our way to the stand on the T-5B satellite.

This was my first flight with BA First since March of 2017 and on the whole I was pleased. Many here describe BA’s First Class as being a glorified Business Class by Asian/Middle Eastern airline standards. To be sure, BA’s First does not have as many bells and whistles as the 5 Star carriers, but when I look back on the flight itself I feel the overall service was pretty good. True, I’m not a fan of the low slung angle of BA’s First Class seats in their takeoff/landing position but given the long standing issues with my back, this could well be more of a personal issue than a larger scale complaint. The meal was nicely presented, attractively plated and tasted good. Overall service from the cabin crew was polite and attentive. So yes – there are more elaborate First Class services and products out there – but overall I had a good flight. Thanks, BA!


* * * _  _ * * *


My hotel for the night was the Ramada Inn Hounslow East. When booking this property I had assumed that I could just catch Heathrow’s convenient Hotel Hoppa bus. Imagine then my surprise and dismay to discover that the Ramada I was at was not served by the Hoppa bus. It was a big relief to later discover that the hotel was only a two block walk from the Hounslow Central Station on the Heathrow branch of the Piccadilly line. Thankfully I’d checked my 50lb suitcase (the one full of postcards, remember?) through from Tel Aviv to Newark – a good move because access to and from the Hounslow Central Station involved a large staircase. There were no elevators or escalators on site.

By 10:30pm I was comfortably ensconced in a nice corner room at my hotel. The bar was still open downstairs and since my flight the next day wouldn’t depart until late afternoon, I decided to head down to the bar where cold Stellas and a bowl of dry roasted peanuts accompanied enjoyable conversation with an Irishman by the seemingly ubiquitous name of Sean Murphy. I wonder how many other people in Ireland share his name…?

Last edited by Seat 2A; Jun 6, 2019 at 2:10 am
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