Trip Report - CCR / LHR-IAH (WT+), Lost Luggage, IAH-LHR (CW) and general musings 2/2
Nov 23, 2012 | 4:13 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: UK
Programs: BA Silver, LH Miles & More, HHonours, Starwood Corporate
Posts: 60
Trip Report - CCR / LHR-IAH (WT+), Lost Luggage, IAH-LHR (CW) and general musings 2/2
Well here is the second instalment of what turned-out to be quite an eventful trip to the US...
My remaining time in Houston was spent in heavy meetings, I did however manage to meet-up with a former colleague and his wife who reside in the Woodlands area of Houston. This is a very pleasant suburb and has a particularly European feel. We dined in a Tex-Mex affair called ‘Yucatan’ which is a canteen style set-up but the food was excellent. We then headed over to a rooftop wine bar nearby (whose name evades me – perhaps it was the plonk!) which had great music and a cool feel about the place . Woodlands has plenty of development taking place there and I understand many large Texan headquartered businesses are moving their operations to this suburb.
The likelihood this being my last Long-Haul for a while, I ensured I had my fill of BBQ and frequented both ‘Papas’ and ‘Mo's’ for this purpose. Both are renowned in Houston and recommended by the locals. The taste is just simply amazing.
Internal Flight
UA4675 - IAH-JAX
ERJ145 / Seat 15A
Morning flight to Jacksonville - relatively uneventful. Always worth bagging an A seat as they are single on one side, twin on the other in the ERJ145s operated by UA on many domestic routes. The flight was full. Only a complimentary drink is served on this flight. Given it is a 2 hour flight I am disappointed in United’s policy not to at least provide a snack option as BA do, and on even shorter sectors!.
On arrival I was met by a colleague and being lunchtime we aimed for 'Teds' on the outskirts of town. Teds is a traditional Burger and Steak establishment. I plumped for the Buffalo burger with blue-swiss topping and fries. It was delightful.
Either side of business meetings I managed to enjoy some R&R and got along to see the new Bond film 'Skyfall' in the local Cinema. Not the best but think it will grow on me. Notable eating establishments frequented with colleagues in Jacksonville during my brief visit: The 'Mellow Mushroom', JAX Beach area and is a Sports Bar with a hippy decor including a full scale converted hippy-bus which has eating booths cut out of the side - great for families. 'Bonefish Grill' – A swish fish restaurant where I dined on shrimp appetizer (deep fried and spicy) followed by Mahi Mahi with Lobster thermidor topping, garlic mash and cinnamon roasted carrots. My initial thoughts on the carrots were that they were quite yummy but after a few mouthfuls the cinnamon kick became too much.
Internal Flight
UA4244 - JAX-IAH
ERJ145 / Seat 16A
JAX Airport is really pleasant. Light and airy and very Floridian in feel. I managed to check my luggage through to LHR and wondered whether I would see again after my o/b escapades! After a brisk walk through security and a double expresso 'pick me up' from Starbucks (it was Sunday morning!) I was at the gate.
The flight passed without issue. As with the outbound flight - the Air hostess was of a high standard.
IAH Airport
Arrival gate was 83A at Terminal B which had easy access to the monorail connecting Terminals A, C, D and E. My scheduled BA departure was from D and on exit it is a 5 minute walk to the lounge/D9 gate area where the BA flights depart from. D Terminal at IAH is very sparse with little of interest and very limited Duty Free and shopping areas. In the land of the mall and in Texas where everything is typically big - this is a surprise. That said the United Intercontinental terminal (I think C?)has much more to offer. I have flown with United (nee Continental) on this route before. I do think the other International airlines that service IAH (BA, AF, KLM, LH, SQ, QR, EK) have a case to push for improved facilities in the terminal.
With around 3.5 hrs to kill I decided to take a walk around and (with no grub on the UA flight
) took lunch at 'Leftys' which consisted of homemade Gumbo, Leftys fries and small dinner salad with blue cheese sauce washed-down with a Bud Light. It was satisfying
IAH Lounge
Disappointingly the BA Club lounge didn’t open till 1.30 (advertised on Lounge thread @ 12pm / locally on the door @ 1pm). Ground crew had been alerted by a fellow pax and a young chap came across for the BA First lounge and proceeded to open-up advising a member of the team would be along shortly to assist.
The BA lounge in IAH is quite small but is comfortable and has a reasonable selection of drinks. Food is very much snack based. I immediately took advantage of the Johnnie Walker red label that was on offer, peaty and sweet, a pleasant post-lunch drink.
The Lounge director arrived and asked me if I’d had issues with luggage on the o/b leg to which I confirmed (see my previous T/R thread 1/2) . She said she would return with some news and did so a few minutes later with a print-off of my itinerary with text under comments section mentioning “offer duty free voucher”. I thought this was quite unusual. I asked if this was simply for the delayed luggage on o/b or the damaged suitcase – she replied both and to present this to BA in LHR. I felt a Duty free voucher was a little presumptuous as I travel long-haul infrequently, as for my damaged luggage – this simply won’t satisfy my online claim.
The BA inbound flight was on-time. I typically use the 'Flightaware.com' site for checking flight status’ (but sure there are more efficient ways). I have found the BA app to be lacking in detail in this respect. BA have this month started using 77W equipment on the 195/194 IAH rotation and was delighted to see the newest bird on the fleet G-STBF pull onto the gate next to the lounge.
One minor incident in the lounge occurred when a Mother and child made a loud and pronounced entrance, said child running to the kitchen area and falling injuring himself near the bar area resulting in lots of noise, crying and raised voices (from the Mother). This broke the otherwise tranquil ambience in the lounge. Now before any fellow FTers with children start spamming me - I am myself a father of 2 young children and always land on the side of pax travelling with kids but in business class they really need to be kept well under control with a degree of courtesy for other pax.
Overall lounge experience - Clean and snug, limited offerings in the food dept but good service with drinks being offered, as well as freshly baked cookies (a nice touch). The sandwich I had was a garlicky chicken concoction accompanied by a packet of 'Miss Vickies' gourmet sea salt & vinegar crisps. I had a view of the main apron area during my stay and was interested to see 2 x UA 787 dreamliners passing the window separately. UA are using Houston as a test base before entering them into, first Domestic duties this month and then Internationally next month which I believe will be on the DEN-NRT route.
Flight
BA194 IAH-LHR
Aircraft: 77W - G-STBF
Seat: 16A (CW)
Boarding was relatively smooth although everyone was lined-up military firing-squad style and sniffer dog set loose just after the duty free collection point. All clear and we boarded. First impression - very clean aircraft (newest in the fleet so would have expected). Seats were clean-cut. Staff very pleasant, jacket taken and champagne presented.
I had pre-selected the seat 7 days ahead as a Bronze card holder and have usually opted for window/back of cabin to avoid stepping over a neighbour. 16A was a good choice (as indicated on the Seat guru/BA source sites). I enjoyed a glass of Champagne-Kirsch before selecting my evening meal of Goats cheese salad followed by Steak served in a madeira sauce with pureed potato and vegetables . My poison was a glass or two of Chardonnay. I was initially presented with 2 salads (?) on the tray and wouldn’t have selected the salad option as a starter if I'd known I would have received a side-salad as standard (perhaps my relatively limited CW experience?!). The meal was not exactly memorable and was expecting better. The pudding was however a delicious chocolate cheesecake.
During the meal I caught a movie (‘The Watch’ with Ben Stiller/Vince Vaughan - funny but not the best offering from these two). This, along with the cabin darkness, to my embarrassment caused me to miss the crew beckoning me on number of occasions for top-ups of drink / bread rolls etc.
Soon after the meal I decided to get my head down and visited the wash room for ablutions and pre-slumber preparations. A quick look at the IF Map and we were heading over Philadelphia so ample time for a spot of 'fly-catching'. With the bed flat I initially struggled to get to sleep, primarily due to a warm cabin but did manage to eventually nod-off and reckon I got a decent 5 hours in, waking just before lights-up. I used the remaining flight time to explore the excellent IFE system which the 77W's are blessed with. I particularly liked the Interactive Flight Tracker now available on the new fleet but unsure if this version makes it onto refurbished fleet (perhaps other FTers can guide on this).
Having eaten considerably the day before I opted for a light breakfast of Bircher Muesli, croissant and a coffee. By then we were heading over the West of Ireland and the First Officer announced an early arrival into LHR (07:20 vs the 07:40 advertised). My Jacket was delivered to my chair just before buckle-down and I cleared my area and prepped my carry-on baggage for a swift exit. Getting closer to the airport the Capt came on to advise we would have to circle over S.London for 10 mins. We circled twice before following a BA747 down through the clouds and touching down to the West a little before 07:30 which was good.
A short Taxi to T5 and we encountered a 5 min wait for a C-Gate to be freed-up and we rolled gracefully onto Gate C54 - the very gate I had departed from the previous week. Disembarking was a smooth affair and I could see that the crew had allowed First pax off initially which was a nice touch (perhaps BA CS have been observing some of the threads on here?!).
Overall – Cabin Crew were excellent on this flight - happy, talkative and very willing to help with anything. Food not such a high point.
I was grateful of a train being in when arriving downstairs and got to T5A in no time at all. Immigration was surprisingly quiet for a Monday morning so was through and down to collect my luggage which was already on the belt. Smooth and satisfying compared to my o/b leg. Luggage in-hand I went to the luggage counter to discuss the print-off handed to me in IAH. The gentleman said (in a firm yet polite manner) that this was unusual and I should present to CS upstairs on the departure level. My colleague who I'd arranged to collect me had already left home which wasn’t the plan as I wanted to explore the arrivals lounge. Never mind...maybe next time!
I proceeded to head up to departures and was quickly seen by a team-leader who was called to review my issue. Ipad in hand all was handled with dignity and speed. I have since had confirmation my damaged suitcase is being replaced and due to arrive today.
In closing, I have been an advocator and regular user of BA services for some time now and I have to say that despite a hiccup with my luggage on this trip, I remain very positive about the airline, the services offered and the overall quality of product. That said, a tightening-up of CW soft product is needed in some areas especially in the food dept, which in my view needs more tweaking to get it right and by reading other accounts; brought more in line with competitors such as CX as a good benchmark. CW is a premium product and given the fact I redeemed miles for this return - I was a little underwhelmed perhaps expecting a more 'premium' of which the food is such an important part both in-Lounge and in-flight.
I hope both my reports are useful and interesting to fellow FTers. Apologies for the lack of photographic evidence but the view is in the eye is in the beholder!
My remaining time in Houston was spent in heavy meetings, I did however manage to meet-up with a former colleague and his wife who reside in the Woodlands area of Houston. This is a very pleasant suburb and has a particularly European feel. We dined in a Tex-Mex affair called ‘Yucatan’ which is a canteen style set-up but the food was excellent. We then headed over to a rooftop wine bar nearby (whose name evades me – perhaps it was the plonk!) which had great music and a cool feel about the place . Woodlands has plenty of development taking place there and I understand many large Texan headquartered businesses are moving their operations to this suburb.
The likelihood this being my last Long-Haul for a while, I ensured I had my fill of BBQ and frequented both ‘Papas’ and ‘Mo's’ for this purpose. Both are renowned in Houston and recommended by the locals. The taste is just simply amazing.
Internal Flight
UA4675 - IAH-JAX
ERJ145 / Seat 15A
Morning flight to Jacksonville - relatively uneventful. Always worth bagging an A seat as they are single on one side, twin on the other in the ERJ145s operated by UA on many domestic routes. The flight was full. Only a complimentary drink is served on this flight. Given it is a 2 hour flight I am disappointed in United’s policy not to at least provide a snack option as BA do, and on even shorter sectors!.
On arrival I was met by a colleague and being lunchtime we aimed for 'Teds' on the outskirts of town. Teds is a traditional Burger and Steak establishment. I plumped for the Buffalo burger with blue-swiss topping and fries. It was delightful.
Either side of business meetings I managed to enjoy some R&R and got along to see the new Bond film 'Skyfall' in the local Cinema. Not the best but think it will grow on me. Notable eating establishments frequented with colleagues in Jacksonville during my brief visit: The 'Mellow Mushroom', JAX Beach area and is a Sports Bar with a hippy decor including a full scale converted hippy-bus which has eating booths cut out of the side - great for families. 'Bonefish Grill' – A swish fish restaurant where I dined on shrimp appetizer (deep fried and spicy) followed by Mahi Mahi with Lobster thermidor topping, garlic mash and cinnamon roasted carrots. My initial thoughts on the carrots were that they were quite yummy but after a few mouthfuls the cinnamon kick became too much.
Internal Flight
UA4244 - JAX-IAH
ERJ145 / Seat 16A
JAX Airport is really pleasant. Light and airy and very Floridian in feel. I managed to check my luggage through to LHR and wondered whether I would see again after my o/b escapades! After a brisk walk through security and a double expresso 'pick me up' from Starbucks (it was Sunday morning!) I was at the gate.
The flight passed without issue. As with the outbound flight - the Air hostess was of a high standard.
IAH Airport
Arrival gate was 83A at Terminal B which had easy access to the monorail connecting Terminals A, C, D and E. My scheduled BA departure was from D and on exit it is a 5 minute walk to the lounge/D9 gate area where the BA flights depart from. D Terminal at IAH is very sparse with little of interest and very limited Duty Free and shopping areas. In the land of the mall and in Texas where everything is typically big - this is a surprise. That said the United Intercontinental terminal (I think C?)has much more to offer. I have flown with United (nee Continental) on this route before. I do think the other International airlines that service IAH (BA, AF, KLM, LH, SQ, QR, EK) have a case to push for improved facilities in the terminal.
With around 3.5 hrs to kill I decided to take a walk around and (with no grub on the UA flight
) took lunch at 'Leftys' which consisted of homemade Gumbo, Leftys fries and small dinner salad with blue cheese sauce washed-down with a Bud Light. It was satisfyingIAH Lounge
Disappointingly the BA Club lounge didn’t open till 1.30 (advertised on Lounge thread @ 12pm / locally on the door @ 1pm). Ground crew had been alerted by a fellow pax and a young chap came across for the BA First lounge and proceeded to open-up advising a member of the team would be along shortly to assist.
The BA lounge in IAH is quite small but is comfortable and has a reasonable selection of drinks. Food is very much snack based. I immediately took advantage of the Johnnie Walker red label that was on offer, peaty and sweet, a pleasant post-lunch drink.
The Lounge director arrived and asked me if I’d had issues with luggage on the o/b leg to which I confirmed (see my previous T/R thread 1/2) . She said she would return with some news and did so a few minutes later with a print-off of my itinerary with text under comments section mentioning “offer duty free voucher”. I thought this was quite unusual. I asked if this was simply for the delayed luggage on o/b or the damaged suitcase – she replied both and to present this to BA in LHR. I felt a Duty free voucher was a little presumptuous as I travel long-haul infrequently, as for my damaged luggage – this simply won’t satisfy my online claim.
The BA inbound flight was on-time. I typically use the 'Flightaware.com' site for checking flight status’ (but sure there are more efficient ways). I have found the BA app to be lacking in detail in this respect. BA have this month started using 77W equipment on the 195/194 IAH rotation and was delighted to see the newest bird on the fleet G-STBF pull onto the gate next to the lounge.
One minor incident in the lounge occurred when a Mother and child made a loud and pronounced entrance, said child running to the kitchen area and falling injuring himself near the bar area resulting in lots of noise, crying and raised voices (from the Mother). This broke the otherwise tranquil ambience in the lounge. Now before any fellow FTers with children start spamming me - I am myself a father of 2 young children and always land on the side of pax travelling with kids but in business class they really need to be kept well under control with a degree of courtesy for other pax.
Overall lounge experience - Clean and snug, limited offerings in the food dept but good service with drinks being offered, as well as freshly baked cookies (a nice touch). The sandwich I had was a garlicky chicken concoction accompanied by a packet of 'Miss Vickies' gourmet sea salt & vinegar crisps. I had a view of the main apron area during my stay and was interested to see 2 x UA 787 dreamliners passing the window separately. UA are using Houston as a test base before entering them into, first Domestic duties this month and then Internationally next month which I believe will be on the DEN-NRT route.
Flight
BA194 IAH-LHR
Aircraft: 77W - G-STBF
Seat: 16A (CW)
Boarding was relatively smooth although everyone was lined-up military firing-squad style and sniffer dog set loose just after the duty free collection point. All clear and we boarded. First impression - very clean aircraft (newest in the fleet so would have expected). Seats were clean-cut. Staff very pleasant, jacket taken and champagne presented.
I had pre-selected the seat 7 days ahead as a Bronze card holder and have usually opted for window/back of cabin to avoid stepping over a neighbour. 16A was a good choice (as indicated on the Seat guru/BA source sites). I enjoyed a glass of Champagne-Kirsch before selecting my evening meal of Goats cheese salad followed by Steak served in a madeira sauce with pureed potato and vegetables . My poison was a glass or two of Chardonnay. I was initially presented with 2 salads (?) on the tray and wouldn’t have selected the salad option as a starter if I'd known I would have received a side-salad as standard (perhaps my relatively limited CW experience?!). The meal was not exactly memorable and was expecting better. The pudding was however a delicious chocolate cheesecake.
During the meal I caught a movie (‘The Watch’ with Ben Stiller/Vince Vaughan - funny but not the best offering from these two). This, along with the cabin darkness, to my embarrassment caused me to miss the crew beckoning me on number of occasions for top-ups of drink / bread rolls etc.
Soon after the meal I decided to get my head down and visited the wash room for ablutions and pre-slumber preparations. A quick look at the IF Map and we were heading over Philadelphia so ample time for a spot of 'fly-catching'. With the bed flat I initially struggled to get to sleep, primarily due to a warm cabin but did manage to eventually nod-off and reckon I got a decent 5 hours in, waking just before lights-up. I used the remaining flight time to explore the excellent IFE system which the 77W's are blessed with. I particularly liked the Interactive Flight Tracker now available on the new fleet but unsure if this version makes it onto refurbished fleet (perhaps other FTers can guide on this).
Having eaten considerably the day before I opted for a light breakfast of Bircher Muesli, croissant and a coffee. By then we were heading over the West of Ireland and the First Officer announced an early arrival into LHR (07:20 vs the 07:40 advertised). My Jacket was delivered to my chair just before buckle-down and I cleared my area and prepped my carry-on baggage for a swift exit. Getting closer to the airport the Capt came on to advise we would have to circle over S.London for 10 mins. We circled twice before following a BA747 down through the clouds and touching down to the West a little before 07:30 which was good.
A short Taxi to T5 and we encountered a 5 min wait for a C-Gate to be freed-up and we rolled gracefully onto Gate C54 - the very gate I had departed from the previous week. Disembarking was a smooth affair and I could see that the crew had allowed First pax off initially which was a nice touch (perhaps BA CS have been observing some of the threads on here?!).
Overall – Cabin Crew were excellent on this flight - happy, talkative and very willing to help with anything. Food not such a high point.
I was grateful of a train being in when arriving downstairs and got to T5A in no time at all. Immigration was surprisingly quiet for a Monday morning so was through and down to collect my luggage which was already on the belt. Smooth and satisfying compared to my o/b leg. Luggage in-hand I went to the luggage counter to discuss the print-off handed to me in IAH. The gentleman said (in a firm yet polite manner) that this was unusual and I should present to CS upstairs on the departure level. My colleague who I'd arranged to collect me had already left home which wasn’t the plan as I wanted to explore the arrivals lounge. Never mind...maybe next time!
I proceeded to head up to departures and was quickly seen by a team-leader who was called to review my issue. Ipad in hand all was handled with dignity and speed. I have since had confirmation my damaged suitcase is being replaced and due to arrive today.
In closing, I have been an advocator and regular user of BA services for some time now and I have to say that despite a hiccup with my luggage on this trip, I remain very positive about the airline, the services offered and the overall quality of product. That said, a tightening-up of CW soft product is needed in some areas especially in the food dept, which in my view needs more tweaking to get it right and by reading other accounts; brought more in line with competitors such as CX as a good benchmark. CW is a premium product and given the fact I redeemed miles for this return - I was a little underwhelmed perhaps expecting a more 'premium' of which the food is such an important part both in-Lounge and in-flight.
I hope both my reports are useful and interesting to fellow FTers. Apologies for the lack of photographic evidence but the view is in the eye is in the beholder!
Last edited by SheppeyFlyer; Nov 23, 2012 at 7:36 am
Dec 19, 2012 | 4:14 am
#3
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Edinburgh, UK
Programs: BAEC Silver, SPG Gold
Posts: 1,025
Yes is the short answer. All the existing Thales aircraft have been updated with the new version of software that includes the interactive map and seat-seat chat, as well as a few other updates and tweaks....
Dec 19, 2012 | 5:25 am
#4
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: BOS
Programs: BA - Blue > Bronze > Silver > Bronze > Blue
Posts: 6,829
The version I used recently on a refurbed plane, actually seemed to have more functionality to that I used on a 777-300 back in March, although I suspect this may just be a general software update that has been applied to all systems, so also available on the 300 now.