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My first BA mileage run. Help map my airport journeys

My first BA mileage run. Help map my airport journeys

Old Feb 24, 2016, 12:18 pm
  #16  
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Ireland
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Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
Ah, I see. I'm kind of struggling with entire concept of a mileage run in Y. Shows how strange things are in this forum!
The OP is flying from PHL to DUB to start a MR back to HNL and the fact that they're flying from PHL to DUB in Y is the part you find strange?

I think that just about sums up how desensitised the current fare sales have made us to people doing crazy MRs!
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Old Apr 16, 2016, 7:31 am
  #17  
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Originally Posted by StarlightSusan
I will.
As promised here's the report from the first part of my journey:

Flight from PHL-DUB in coach on the AA Airbus 330-200 was OK. Seat was comfy enough and food was edible. Arrived at DUB about 10 minutes late and headed to C&I. I followed the signs for connecting flights and headed left past the huge line for Non-EU passport holders only to discover that the connecting flights station was closed (it was about 9:20 a.m. on a Friday). So I walked back to the (now even longer) non-EU passport holders line at C&I (It now stretched up the corridor heading back to the gates).

It took about 30 minutes to reach the head of the line. As I got close to the head of the line I observed a man with a very distinctive scarf head towards the connecting flights portal (more in a moment).

The immigration agent quizzed me on how long I would be in Ireland and I mentioned that I was connecting and that the connections portal had been closed. He then asked how long I would be in London and told him I was heading right back to the states. He seemed genuinely puzzled at this and asked why. I said it was a mileage run and he still didn't understand, asking why again. I finally said it was because it was cheap and earned a lot of miles. He just shook his head and let me through with a confused look on his face. I was really surprised he hadn't heard about mileage running, especially as a DUB C&I officer (he was definitely not "green" by any measure).

As I was walking along the walkway to terminal 1 I came across the man with the distinctive scarf, so they had opened the connecting flights portal sometime while I was in the long line.

The DUB-LHR flight was uneventful (though I was impressed by the amount of service BA gave during a very brief flight) and we arrived at the DUB flights gate at T5A. I got off the plane quickly and things didn't seem crowded so I used the connecting flights path (sorry C-W-S ). I had checked in on-line with BA before leaving PHL and my BP had "Fast Track" on it so I just followed the signs. There was practically no line for Fast Track security and I made it to the T5B lounge in less than 20 minutes from arrival at the gate.

I boarded the A380 to LAX and at no time did anyone ask me any of the usual questions or put a sticker on my BP. Is this because I printed it at home or because I had cleared C&I at DUB?

The LHR-LAX flight in CW (window seat) was good. Service for the first 2 hours of the flight was excellent, however, the FAs pretty much disappeared for the next 7 hours with only 1 pass through the cabin offering water. I made several trips to the snack area in the galley for water during that time. I'm not sure where the FAs hide on the A380 but it's nowhere near the upper deck CW section. The CW seat is OK and I found it comfortable. However, I think that the odd arrangement where you need to squeeze between two seats while climbing over the opposite seat's footrest is awkward. Also the foot rest is a bit of a bother with manual adjustments that don't work well.

I'll do the PHL-DUB-PHL flights soon and will report on those too. Hopefully the connecting flights portal at DUB will be open, otherwise it's going to be a tight turn.
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Old Apr 16, 2016, 10:07 am
  #18  
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Thanks for the update. The closure of that Connection channel at DUB is a mystery indeed, particularly when the reopened it. I've not seen it closed, it's specifically for the inbound USA services so it would be silly to be out of service when you had just arrived. Being 10 minutes late wouldn't strike me as a good reason, but never mind, it still worked.

Originally Posted by StarlightSusan
I boarded the A380 to LAX and at no time did anyone ask me any of the usual questions or put a sticker on my BP. Is this because I printed it at home or because I had cleared C&I at DUB?
That's no mystery: the Q and A / sticker routine is reserved just for US based airlines, no-one else bothers, though everyone has to do the SSSS routine at least notionally. The story goes that when the US DoT was trying to persuade Air France to introduce these controls their response was "But why would anyone willingly go to the USA anyway?" and that was the end of that.
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