Journey – LHR-HKG
Flight no. – BA27
Class – Club World
Seat – 62A

The walk through LHR T1 reminds what a toilet LHR is and what an embarrassment it is for the British people that visitors to Britain are welcomed here and this will be their last memory of the country. At least this problem might be solved by T5 – even if everything else isn’t.

Thankfully boarding is a smooth process although sadly my BP is not rejected at the gate. I am very pleased to see that we have NNCW and it nice to see a more modern interior on an aircraft after a couple of weeks of older tireder planes. It is certainly a dramatic improvement over NCW.

As I take my pre-selected exit row seats, my seat buddy vanishes which I think is either that his wife has been given an op-up from WT+ or he has taken a voluntary downgrade to be with her. Either way it is another flight with no seat buddy. This is my third in a row (if you count the flagship suites on AA).

The cabin crew serve me a nice glass of bubbles but he has the strangest accent I have ever heard – kind of Porto meets Cardiff. It is all I can do to stop myself from chortling. We take off on time and I decide to give the IFE a go – slightly nervous that it is supplied by Rockwell Collins. Three reboots later and it is another less than stellar performance by RC. I have not AVOD only AV. At least I have movies on a cycle which is better than nothing.

The food is ok but not memorable and in an effort to make myself stay awake I ask if I can defer my dessert until later. This however works against me as I crash out shortly after the main course and do not have the joy of sampling the cheese selection. I actually think I slept as much as six to eight hours which although restful for me – does not bode well for my HKG-SYD flight and the potential for sleep there which is my target to assist with resetting my body clock.

About 2 hours out of HKG a third baggage trauma hits as I realise I have four(ish) hours at HKG and could have collected my luggage and gone through security with two bags – thus avoiding delays at SYD. Really simongr you need to make a better effort at being in control of your flying destiny!

I decide to skip breakfast as I know I can eat in the lounge or on board my next flight. Finally we are landing into HKG and the flight has been surprisingly smooth (except for the IFE of course). As we begin the process to deplane my mind is pretty focussed on getting in contact with the UK to get my laptop shipped to Oz. IU am very quickly through security and find myself at about gate 30. It is at that point that I realise I have left Book 3 on the aircraft – my mind really is not in the game today

I head to the BA/QF lounge to see if they can contact the aircraft to see if my book has been found. I then head over to the Wing managing to stop for a little shopping on the way but I am not in the mood for full enjoyment of the Wing today after the calamities that have befallen me.

I manage to get through to Lost Property at LHR and co-ordinate the couriering of my laptop so that is one less worry for me (although there is no indication of price during my discussions with the courier company and as I don’t have many options I will have to wait and see what happens). I clear a few emails via Webmail and check on AFF using the iPod Touch . I then grab a shower and decide to skip food as I am pleased to find that my F upgrade has come through – finally some good news on this trip. Also checking my emails I have come up with a solution for an issue at work which alleviate some of the trauma of not having had the laptop for a few days and checking Facebook I find that one of my friends is now engaged!

I leave the Wing and wander through the shopping plaza, picking up a replacement for the Cross pencil that was misplaced JFK-LHR and head to the QF lounge as that is closer to the gate and I would like to see if I can get my new BP…