G-BOAC

Back to Familiarly – The BA Legs – First Class

This trip was a bit of a last minute botch together so it led to an unusual and less than ideal set of flights. I knew I had to make at least one leg from DOH to BAH to get home but I also knew that I could easily pick up a few extra TPs for each one I did just in case I needed them. Working around planning to meet up with my friend (who in the end had to cancel their trip out sadly ) and looking at which night(s) were available at decent rates vs. points rates at the IC hotels, I ended up doing a silly thing: one night in each of Bahrain and Doha! So this initially meant a 5+ hour layover at DOH (I’d been actively hoping for a delay to my LH flight, not just to prolong it but also to shorten my wait!) before flying DOH-BAH on BA. I was definitely not looking forward to that long in the horrid, pokey Oryx lounge which I expected to find littered with selfish idiots taking up multiple chairs lying down during their own long layovers (the lounge is one anyone can pay to enter, sadly). Thankfully, however, I’d totally forgotten the lounge had moved from the old one downstairs which I’d last been in and grown to dislike, to a new, big space upstairs. There’s still no booze but it’s much larger and the decor much, much nicer. Even the toilets aren’t stinking pits (well, not all of them – either someone seriously needs a lesson in ‘aiming’ or they need cleaning much more often ). With dodgy but free WiFi and a trip report to start, the time actually passed fairly quickly!

There’s not much to report on the short sector itself, except to say I immediately wished I was going all the way home with the crew (just the sort of crazy itinerary I may actually have done!) because they were all on top form – the first indicator being the fact the F Purser had memorized the names on the manifest beforehand so by the time I reached ‘my’ 1A she asked “Can I hang your jacket, Mr. X?” without ever having seen my BP or name elsewhere ^ Although this crew politely and apologetically insisted they couldn’t serve booze on the ground I think I had a chilled glass of bubbles in my hand quicker than ever before in my life after wheels up! Canapés soon followed and the bottle was emptied around the cabin with top-ups and then we were down in BAH! I was left hoping my ‘New Year’s Eve’ crew would be just as good...

The IC BAH was as I remembered (comments in the IC forum as above again) and I slept very well (and very late – I needed it!) before repeating the process in reverse After a 4pm check out and some food (I really wasn’t hungry at all but figured I should try to eat something) in the bar, I trotted off back to BAH for a BAH-DOH leg and one night at the IC Doha instead, before the ‘final whammy’ of making my way home DOH-BAH 31/01 and then BAH-LHR 01/01 on my original redemption. Phew.

Now I knew that the cabin crew flying me BAH-DOH that night would be flying me all the way home the next night so I thought I’d chat with them and explain that I’d be joining them for NYE. It immediately became clear they were a delightful bunch too. It was also clear I was the only person in F on this sector which was novel Over a couple of Champagnes on the ground (and after obtaining a cheeky BAg despite the sector being so short since a certain friend of mine likes to nick them every time she visits!) we chatted and they were somewhat bemused at my crazy plan to be in the air on NYE. I think they thought I was some escaped ‘care in the community’ nutter perhaps, but they didn’t let it show The flight was so short as always but I wished them a nice night’s stay and they promised to have me a glass of something cold waiting for tomorrow night ^ With that, I was speeding on my way through immigration (who refuse to take 100 QTR in cash for the Visa, it has to go on a credit card!) and on to the IC DOH (also written up in the IC forum) where yet again all RA benefits were honoured on a reward stay ^

The weather on 31/12 was warm but not overly hot and made for a pleasant enough day by the pool reading and soaking up a bit of sun (and a couple of over-priced G&Ts!). With an 18:00 check-out I had planned to hang out by the pool until about 17:00, head back and shower and change and then check-out, grabbing a bit of dinner at the hotel before heading to DOH. Sadly, all of the hotel’s restaurants were gearing up for ‘set menu, ticket only’ New Year’s Eve dinners. D’oh, it would have to be DOH! So in no rush at all I set off in a cab to grab something to eat at DOH (if you can avoid this idea, do: there’s basically one fast food place airside and it pretty much sucks and blows at the same time) and waste another few hours in the Oryx lounge. Thankfully, ‘Go to gate’ appeared early at 23:50 which gave me an excuse to wait somewhere else at least. As I was having my ‘security’ check (so cursory it could have been an old DOS console!) I saw on the gate computer that they were oversold by 48 from BAH-LHR in Economy! Wowsers! F was showing only 4 pax, however. As I sat down I noticed the crew were on the bus outside and the Purser and one of his F galley crew waved at me which was nice of them

It wasn’t long before I was being warmly welcomed back on board in person by them and shown to my seat where, as promised, a nice cold drink was waiting for me already, along with the bowl of nuts. Superb service and they were true to their word ^ We pushed back bang on time but seemed to be delayed in the taxi – this meant local New Year came and went as we were stuck on the taxiway. A shame not to be able to toast it with another champers in my big F seat, life is so hard sometimes I mentioned in my LH report that for some reason there’s something extra special about the BA F cabin on a 744 to me – I still don’t know for sure what it is, but I do know I felt all warm and fuzzy in 1A as our 744 leapt in to the air at 00:10 with the ‘Aria on Air’ remix of the BA tune playing down my iPod. Very sad, I know, I know...but such a lovely feeling

Within minutes I had my glass of Champagne and the usual Canapés and they squeezed in a top-up on this very short hop where there were about 6 or 7 of us in the cabin. With everyone but me and Mr. 2K departing at BAH the crew were initially puzzled I wasn’t showing on the manifest back to LHR, but I explained that it was a separate PNR and I would like their help getting the ground staff to onload me (I had PYOBP’d) for the next flight. My BP was taken and handed back to me about 5 minutes after the doors had opened, along with my PJs and BAg on the silver tray with a reassuring “I’ve taken care of all that for you, Mr. X”. I nipped off to change right away and by the time I returned more Champagne was waiting. This crew were clearly going to be just the ticket to see in the New Year in style! They were all still curious about my routing and reasons so we had a nice chat as the groundstaff catered and cleaned the plane – at times I think they were wondering how I knew what I did about BA, etc. (e.g. I inquired after my CIV score) and whether I was an insider/spy of some kind. I think, however, the sheer amount of Champagne I consumed disabused them of any notion I may be ‘working’ that night

One of the crew from J came around with a very tasty pot of Arabian coffee which I really enjoyed. At that point, Paul, the Purser, broke away from the chat to fetch a menu and wine list for me. Although a sleeper service back in Club World, I knew I could still expect full service in F and had specifically banked on eating after my small, poor meal at DOH. Today’s Champagne was Taittinger Brut Millesime 2000 which has made a welcome return to the menu. The only other wine I tried was the dessert wine later on – Saussignac Cuvee Flavie, Chateau des Eyssards 2005 which I thought was about as good as the LH offering. Looking at the menu, BA’s F spirit offerings are slightly better than LH’s I thought (e.g. Tanqueray No. 10, Glenlivet 18-year-old). The menu:

Not quite as extensive as a normal F menu, but that’s not surprising for a short sector which leaves at 2am where most sane people (including me normally) would want to go right to sleep. As we pushed back it became clear nobody had joined us in F – the other two pax they’d expected had been no-shows, so it was just the two of us in there in the end ^ After an on-time push back the service began swiftly with more (though this time thankfully different as the crew joked!) Canapés before the main meal. Sticking to my Champagne (but accompanying things with lots of water too), I enjoyed the Prawn and mango salad very much and then the Lobster Shepherd’s pie which was a new one on me! It was actually rather tasty, though perhaps a little dry. However, wonderful news: there was garlic bread. And very good (i.e. not soggy or limp but crisp and subtly flavoured) garlic bread too – at last, BA, thank you! The dessert rounded things off well and I was full, but not stuffed. Towards the end of the meal I was chatting with Paul again just as we passed midnight UK time. At this point the CSD came around, shook our hands and wished us a Happy New Year which was nice (though it has to be said his only real visit to F apart from offering landing cards later – he did no formal ‘meet and greet’ like they normally do).

Throughout this I was watching ‘Sliding Doors’ on AVOD which worked perfectly – a good sign for the future I hope given its teething problems for BA this year. Unfortunately, the selection was dire! So many things to pick from, all of them crap (or, to be fair, which I’d seen recently on other flights). A bit of classic romcom tosh as I continued to plough through a seemingly never-ending fountain of Champagne was fine by me though. Somewhere towards the end one of the crew came out with an unopened bottle of Taittinger to my seat to see if she should open it. I couldn’t in all good conscience drink any more than I already had so I politely declined. Soon after that the movie was over and I made a visit to the bathroom – and upon my return my bed was all made. I think this is the first overnight F sector I’ve had since BA introduced the mattress and improved pillows and duvets and I was extremely comfortable. With an extra pillow I ‘wedged’ myself in to the seat and fell straight asleep (read: passed out perhaps ).

40 minutes out of LHR (showing a 30 minute early arrival at 06:00) after a good 4-5 hours I was gently awoken with a hot towel by Paul and a cheery ‘good morning’. Given I had rather over indulged just a few hours earlier, I felt surprisingly good and well-rested. I was loathe to leave my super-comfortable bed! However, I requested an orange juice and just the fruit plate and a pot of tea for breakfast – I had long-planned to go to the Arrivals lounge to eat properly after a shower. Once more, by the time I’d returned from the bathroom my bed was gone and my table set and a new bottle of water placed out too. Fantastic, classic pre-emptive service ^ The full breakfast menu for reference was:

After sinking a few more OJs everything was cleared away and I went to change back in to my normal clothes. This was perfectly timed for the seatbelt sign coming on – although that was followed-up some 15 minutes later with an apology that we’d be stacking over LHR a while longer. Well, you may as well start 2008 as you know it will continue! Happily, we were down by 06:15 and there was no wait for a stand, albeit one (Gate 23) on Victor Pier meaning a long hike to Passport Control. Speaking of starting 2008 in typical fashion – well done to BAA for not letting the New Year mean a new start and ensuring 2 of the 3 the travelators on the way were broken. And well done to the UK Immigration service for yet again ensuring IRIS was not working. Fantastic start to 2008 Luckily I’d forged on rapidly as soon as 2L was opened and beat most of the queues for ‘old skool’ Passport Control, meaning I had a wait of only a couple of minutes and I was in a shower room at the Arrivals lounge by 06:40 (after a quick and fruitless check for something at the Arrivals Duty Free shop – another score for BAA!). There was no Elemis Spa today but I wasn’t overly bothered as I never go in for treatments anyway as a rule. The shower hit the spot perfectly, as did a sizeable and excellent full English breakfast as I surfed the web and caught up on some news sites.

I was glad to be home (as always) but sad that the flight was over. This whole trip was a bit crazy but a lot of fun. I was blessed with excellent crews from both LH and BA and BA’s in particular made my odd choice of New Year celebration a really pleasant experience. They were such a great crew the very first site I hit in the Arrivals lounge was www.ba.com/welldone. It was certainly a different way to spend New Year and maybe a bit sad not to be surrounded by friends and family...but the serene and enjoyable surroundings (vs. being crammed in to an expensive pub/club/house party/whatever) helped make up for that. I would definitely consider doing it again in future! My wish for 2008 is that all my flights, and all my crews, be as good as this!

PS As a true post-script, I mentioned at the start my hatred for the Piccadilly Line. I was once more reminded of why lest the worryingly simple and efficient trip to pick up my tickets had any danger of clouding my judgment: 08:05 I arrived at the T4 platform, 08:25 we finally arrived at T1, an hour later we arrived at Green Park Useless, over-crowded and annoying. Had I not been in such a generally happy mood and just weathered it by getting lost in my iPod, this could have really soured the return trip!