GetSetJetSet

PLANNING


Well...I am still working through the MASSIVE backlog on the TR covering the end of my summer trip. I am hoping to make some headway on that. I thought it might be best to ease back into the TR waters with something manageable and perhaps the momentum would get me moving on the weeks of backlog for the other report.


As you will eventually see when I update the other report, I capped a 5mo "Summer" vacation with 14 glorious hours in an EY F Apartment AUH-JFK. I landed on October 5th, around 4:30pm. This gave me just enough time to get back to my apartment, unpack and somehow stay awake to watch the Buckeyes throttle MSU.


That was the 5th, I was up early on the 6th to finish some work, then swung right into my normal routine with hockey, boxing and flying...then very, very quickly it was October 9th, and it was time to leave AGAIN.


We had initially planned to celebrate my girlfriend's birthday in NYC, but circumstances conspired to change that and while we were in Tulum in September, she had to book herself a flight following our Middle East adventure in Oman back to London, and I had to find a flight from NY back to London for the weekend.


Although AA FF LOVE to complain about literally every part of the AA FF experience, sometimes AA is A OK. I managed to locate C-space at time of booking (roughly 1-month out) JFK-LHR-JFK and locked in a ~$600 coach fare and applied SWU's in both directions.


Now, while I love my gf's parents, I did not relish the idea of spending the entire trip to London in her childhood bedroom, so we decided that the first two nights we'd stay at her parent's house, then the AM of her bday we would celebrate before checking into a hotel for the final two nights to celebrate with her friends.


I kicked around a number of options with my TA, as I wanted to try a new luxury hotel in London without breaking the bank. I found a great rate for The Savoy, a hotel with lots of history, that I had never previously visited. My TA asked his contact at the hotel if they could honor that rate with the preferred partner benefits. She said she could NOT, BUT if I was willing to pay a slightly higher rate, she could put us in a Jr.Suite and honor the rest of the benefit package (breakfast, upgrade if available, $100 F&B Credit)...done deal.


With the planning done, it was time once again to fly...

GetSetJetSet

AA 142JFK-LHR
Boeing 777-200ER
N770AN
Seat 4L (Business)
Flight #84 of 2019



I got to the airport feeling less enthusiastic than I usually am about air travel. It had been a VERY long summer, and I was just starting to adapt to NY time and get back into the swing of things. The prospect of more jetlag and another long haul flight was not appealing. Still, the show must go on.


My uber dropped me at Flagship First Check-in, where there were a bunch of AA staff in a tizzy as there was some sort of photo shoot going on to highlight the new uniforms. I guess they're finally ditching the ones that gave everyone a rash...


There were no other customers at FF Check-In and since I was on the day flight, there was no line for Pre-Check either. I would like to say just how much I LOVE the day flight. I don't know why I haven't been taking it every time I need to get to London. I wish AA would add a day flight to Paris. Sure if you need to leave after work and be at a meeting the following AM, a night flight is the way to go but for a leisure traveler, being able to board a 10am flight, chill out, land and go to bed around 11pm in a real bed without missing a night of sleep aloft is just fantastic. I had zero jetlag on this trip going over or coming back. I will be sure to look for the day flight whenever it's available.


I had budgeted a lot of extra time to get to JFK, because I was worried about rush hour traffic, so I ended up aarriving pretty early. I posted up in the Flagship Lounge and killed time until boarding.


I finally decided to go to the gate about 10-15 minutes before the scheduled boarding time, only to find that boarding had already begun and they were on Group 4 or so. Early boarding on an AA flight? Madness.


I was mildly perturbed when I boarded and found 4L was a rear facing seat. There are so many biz configs these days it seems that it's tough to keep them straight. While I never notice the seat's orientation once we're moving, I do slightly prefer forward facing.


After stowing my bags one of the stews came by to ask me how tall I was. While not notably tall (in my opinion) at 6'4'', I told her and she said 'I love it!" then went back to her tasks.


We taxied and took off into the gray, rainy morning without issue. I kicked off the entertainment on today's flight with "Yesterday." It was fairly stupid and predictable, but entertaining and I enjoy The Beatles' music. I didn't like the casting of Ed Sheeran though, as I find him very off-putting to look at.


During this movie, the meal service commenced. The starter and salad were the usual acceptable AA fare. The steak was above average. The listed lemon tart failed to materialize, so instead a decent tiramisu was served.


While I have had some bad crews on AA lately, the crew on this flight were wonderful. It felt like they ACTUALLY WANTED TO BE THERE and had pride in the airline and the service they were providing. A rarity from an AA crew, so kudos to these guys, it was a great flight.


After the meal, I watched "The Dead Don't Die," a zombie comedy with Bill Murray, Danny Glover, Adam Driver, Chloe Sevigny and a host of other bold faced names. It was so bad that it never made it to theaters...a zombie movie with BILL MURRAY that didn't go to theaters. It was written by some clown named Jim Jarmusch, who from what I gather was famous in the 80's...I have to say this was probably the most horribly written piece of crap I have ever seen. I was embarrassed for the writer/director. The idea that he could read his own script and not be disgusted by how bad it was, but instead want to show it to people as something good was just baffling to me. He must have a lot of dirt on a lot of people to get a complete pile of garbage like this made. I am still so angry that I wasted two hours of my life suffering through this cringeworthy trash, that I will happily sock this guy in the face if I ever meet him. AVOID.


After that unfortunate movie, which I watched in several segments, since I kept pausing it and trying to sleep, then giving up and coming back to it, there was a second meal service. Sadly, I was still full from the first meal, so I skipped it.


After what seemed like a very short trip, but was more like 6h30m, we started our descent into London. It was a clear night and watching the sprawl of the city on our way into LHR was lovely.

GetSetJetSet

GetSetJetSet

I don't know what's going on with FT's useless interface but it's not letting me properly post pictures

GetSetJetSet

We landed a bit after 10. While I am STRICTLY a carry-on only guy, my gf needed some stuff from our Apt in NY, so I was sadly forced to check luggage on this trip. I thankfully remembered to collect the checked bag instead of hopping straight into an uber. It was after 11pm by the time I got to her parent's place, and since I hadn't really slept at all on the plane, I was ready to pass out.

In the morning, we took her parent's lovely puppy for a walk



Ran some errands in town



and did other thoroughly British things, like



and



the next morning it would be time to celebrate her BDAY then get to the hotel.

GetSetJetSet

THE SAVOY, LONDON

Generally, when I come to London, I stay at The Lanesborough. However, it's always good to mix things up. I have stayed at the FS Park Lane a few times recently as well, and I don't love it. It feels too modern and it's somehow even more arab than most of the other hotels...most, not all. I also no longer stay at The Dorchester because it feels like Riyadh in the common spaces and a Russian brothel in the bar area, not a great combo. London has SO MANY other hotel options out there, it seemed wise to branch out.

Since I was trying to keep costs down, on this trip I looked into The Savoy, The Rosewood, The Langham and the other FS at Ten Trinity. In the end the FS 10 Trinity was tossed out due to bad location. My TA advised me that last time he'd taken a client to The Rosewood he had been so embarrassed by how incompetent and unprofessional the idiot millennials working there were that he would never advise people to stay there again, and further digging into The Langham revealed it's haunted AF. While I was not particularly worried by the possibility of ghosts at The Langham, and was intrigued by the history there, we settled on The Savoy. My inquiries into the hotel on the FT Luxury Hotel forum said it was good but not great and incredibly "English" and "stuffy."

I can't say I agree with that assessment. The Luxury Hotel forum made it sound like unless you wear white tie, the hotel staff will spit on you and one poster complained about not being allowed into any of the hotel's restaurants or the bar. I don't know if this guy tried to hit the lobby in a burlap sack or what, but I didn't find the hotel to be the least bit pretentious or stuffy. I arrived wearing loafers, no socks, jeans, a t-shirt and a barbour jacket and was treated nicely by all the staff. Likewise, they didn't bar me from breakfast in the AM despite my unkempt hair, jeans and a sweater over a t-shirt. Who knows.

Back to the story...so, after the birthday celebrations, we grabbed our bags and got an uber over to the hotel. We told her parents we would drop our bags, shower, get ready then meat them at Bob Bob Ricard for lunch. Due to the idiot climate change protesters, central London was a DISASTER and the ride took forever. As we neared the hotel, all the roads going in front of the property were closed, and we had to get out with our bags and walk.

Not only were these losers mucking up the vicinity of Trafalgar Square, but some of them were just sitting down in random roads to block traffic...too bad cars stopped for them. I am not sure how they thought inconveniencing normal people was going to help their cause. I was so ticked off by their antics it made me want to go dump some styrofoam and empty six pack holders into the ocean.

Once we lugged our bags into the hotel, things improved. The check-in girl thanked us for celebrating my gf's bday with the hotel and informed us that we'd been further upgraded from the Jr. Suite to a 1-BR suite...nice.

We took the bags upstairs, dropped everything off and quickly got ready, since we were already running quite late.

Once we got back downstairs, we hopped in a cab and again ran into eco-terror gridlock. The cabbie told us we'd be better off on foot, so we bailed on the cab and took off very briskly towards the restaurant.

By the time we arrived her parents were on cocktail 2 or 3 and were mildly perturbed about our tardiness. Then it was time for champagne. The restaurant was better than I would have expected, but by no means exceptional. I figured it more for a party brunch sort of place than a serious restaurant but the scene was more subdued and the food of higher quality. Not bad.

After lunch, all of us went back to The American Bar at The Savoy, which was voted the best bar in the world 2018. A friend had made a reservation for us a 5:30pm, but we figured we'd rock up around 4 and just drink until then. The bar had no problem taking us early, as the later rez was under my name anyway. They gave us the option between a mediocre table along the side of the room, or a huge banquette in a private nook with a curtain that could be closed for privacy...no brainer.

We tried various cocktails from the bar's signature cocktail list, then as more of her friends arrived, her parents took off for home. I wasn't in love with any of the signature cocktails, so I gave a vague description of a cocktail I had previously enjoyed elsewhere along with 2-3 of the ingredients and the barman managed to produce a bang on example. Well done.

We continued drinking at The Savoy until it was time for dinner, then relocated to Sketch for dinner. I don't care for most nightlife places in London aside from members bars and Sketch was no exception. It's setup like a members bar, but isn't a members bar. A bunch of Instahos are constantly taking pictures of the toilets, because they are shaped like stand alone futuristic white pods, which I guess makes them social-media worthy. I suppose none of them every bothered to stop and realize they're basically posing with churched up port-o-potties. Social media and it's consequences have been a disaster for the human race.

While I didn't care for the crowd, or the layout at Sketch, the food was pretty good. We moved from the restaurant to the bar after the meal and continued until people started getting drowsy, then called it and went back to the hotel. My gf told me she had a wonderful bday and that's what counts.

GetSetJetSet

GetSetJetSet

GetSetJetSet

GetSetJetSet

Something is going on with FT, only letting me post 1-2 images/post. No idea.

Anyway, the next day we had breakfast in the lovely breakfast room, relaxed for a bit, then went to the cinema, where we saw "Joker." It was pretty good. I think I read somewhere that the director saw the opportunity to actually make a real movie and "sneak it in" under the guise of being more comic book schlock, I think he did a good job of delivering on that aim. Would be nice if there were more real movies these days and less 60 IQ CapeCrap targeted at the Chinese market. I have less than zero interest in watching shiny things and explosions in Avengers 652.

We used our F&B cred in the room for dinner that night and enjoyed the last of our time together for a while. I would be returning to NYC on Sunday to finish up my private pilot training and take care of a bunch of other things, and she would be staying in London for 2-3 more weeks with her parents. Sad Times!

GetSetJetSet

GetSetJetSet

GetSetJetSet

GetSetJetSet

AA 105
LHR-JFK
Boeing 777-300ER
N736AT
Seat 6A (Business)
Flight #85 of 2019


We had a long leisurely breakfast on our final morning together. Not to be outdone by the climate change nutjobs, the London Marathon also wanted to do it's part to inconvenience me, so the streets around the hotel and in much of central London would also be closed on the day of departure.


After grabbing the bags, we made our way to the river entrance for a tearful goodbye. I tried to get an uber, but it was 15-20 minutes for a car, so I took a taxi. Before leaving I told the desk my gf would be availing herself of the late check-out and she went back upstairs to watch Judge Judy, which for some inexplicable reason was being played in multi-hour blocks on one of the in room channels.


The ride out to LHR also took ages. Even though the hotel told me the cab was on a fixed rate, the driver ran the meter, which got up over 90 GBP by the time we pulled up to T3. The sketchy guy was hoping i'd just pay the meter fare, but when we stopped I said "we agreed to a fixed rate ya?" and he sadly admitted we indeed had.


AA have Flagship First check-in at LHR T3, their only FF Check-in outside the CONUS. From there, it was upstairs to a long priority security line and then into the wonderful confines of T3. If you are a OW FF, T3 LHR has a LOT of options. There's an AA lounge, a BA lounge, a QF J/F lounge with an a la carte restaurant AND a CX lounge with a separate F section.


Of course, I opted for CX. As OWE, I was entitled to use the F section and use it I did. I had a quick bite then tried to order Hong Kong style milk tea, but was told they couldn't make it...since when does CX not serve Hong Kong style milk tea?


I waited around too long in the CX lounge and didn't even have time to pop into QF. It's a long walk from the lounges to the AA gates, and shortly after I got to Gate 36, boarding began.


While my JFK-LHR flight was wonderful, this one was to be quite the opposite.


I got to my seat and found a panel had fallen off from somewhere and was on the floor and the upholstery was peeling off. While AA should have been apologetic and aghast at the crummy state of their cabins, they of course were not.


When the FA came around I asked if she knew where the rogue panel should go. Not alarmed at all she said something like "I have NO IDEA where that goes! Let's store it here" and jammed it into my storage space. No "sorry for the pathetic state of our business class seats!" or anything. The matronly crew were all about 200 years old and seemed to be very uninterested in anything but sitting in their flip down chairs and presumably gossiping about their Great Grandchildren or what life was like during WW1. I for one was very glad they were there for my safety, since surely they wouldn't all have heart attacks or break their hips if anything bad actually did happen to our aircraft.


The first meal service was unremarkable as usual. The steak was actually cooked medium to medium rare which would have been nice if it hadn't been a very tough and low quality piece of meat.


I watched the movie "Kursk" about the Kursk submarine disaster and it was quite good. I am not sure why this film never made it to theaters.


After the movie, I shelled out $ for wifi, since this lovely 773 did not get the October IFE film update that my 772 from JFK-LHR had, so none of the new movies were loaded and there was absolutely nothing else I was interested in watching that I hadn't already seen.


After painfully whiling the time away on this extra long 7h16m crossing of the Atlantic, the second meal service began. Now, after eating in the lounge and having the first meal, I was not at all hungry and WOULD have declined the meal service, if it had been offered. IF. However, it never was. The crew came through tossing meals out and just went right past my seat.


When they came around to pick up the headphone right before landing, I told them it wasn't a big deal, but they never offered me the pre-arrival meal. Instead of apologizing and owning the mistake like a normal person, the FA tried to tell me I was sleeping. Since I was sitting upright, on my phone and watched them do the meal service, I told her that was not in fact the case. She then offered to get me a meal. I explained again that I didn't want the meal, I just wanted to make her aware for future reference. At this point, she again tried to tell me I was sleeping, then again offered the meal. I just said "you know what, don't worry about it" and cut my losses at that point. Trying to get a simple "sorry" was apparently not in the cards. With AA, the customer is always wrong.


After this substandard flight in a threadbare seat, I was finally back in NYC. On the plus side, i'd burned SWUs and not actually paid for that garbage J product. END OF TRIP.

GetSetJetSet

Oh gosh...mods please move to trip reports forum. Posted it in the wrong place. I am not on the ball today