JFK T7 to LHR T5 on British Airways – Seat 13A - Club World – 747-400
Oct 25, 2008, 8:59 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Kent, UK
Programs: BA Gold, SPG Platinum, Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 3,809
JFK T7 to LHR T5 on British Airways – Seat 13A - Club World – 747-400
This is the return leg to my initial flight over to New York on the 16th of September.
The TR for that trip can be found here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=866907
For best viewing of the photos be sure to enable to the 'in line' viewing option in your options menu under 'My FlyerTalk'.
Some Background
I work as an IT consultant and I’ve been lucky enough to land a 6 month role on a project in New York (I live near London normally) so I’ve got about 5-6 return trips planned over the coming months. Each time I’ve used my points to upgrade from World Traveller Plus (premium economy) to Club World (business).
Online Check In
OLCI opened at 8:45am on Wednesday the 22nd. I rushed into work a little early (and a bit sweaty, despite the cold temperatures outside) to log on and try to secure an upper deck seat. Unfortunately, the only seat still available was 64J. I always try to avoid aisle seats so I took the pre-assigned option, 13A. At least this was in the forward cabin. I was going to have to get used to not having the window bins next to me, as I’d previously had on all of my New York flights so far.
Day of the Flight – Thursday 23rd of October
Getting to the airport
Oh god. Alarm goes off at 4.30am, of course, knowing this, I would have made sure that I was in bed at a decent time last night, nope. Given that I was going to be flying for the whole day I ended up finishing up some emails until about midnight. Anyway, I drag myself out of bed, for fear of staying any longer and missing my flight, and into the shower. I skipped breakfast, as it always makes me feel sick when I eat this early in the morning. I thought that I’d be able to grab something nice to eat in the lounge at JFK.
At about 5.15am I grab a taxi and make a very quick journey to JFK, I estimate it to take only about 35 minutes or so. Pulling up at the terminal, it looks almost deserted.
Checking In/Bag Drop/Security
I was the only person checking in at the Club World desks and had three agents to choose from. About a minute later I queued at security and was through in another two. I headed seemingly right around the terminal to get to the BA Terraces lounge.
Lounge – JFK T7 – Terraces
The nice lady at the desk welcomed me, checked my BP and then invited me to enter the lounge by name, a nice touch. Ok, the lounge was actually empty. There was a mum and daughter grabbing some coffee but the rest of the activity was from the staff, stocking up the for the day’s passengers. This is a weird situation to be in. The last time I was here in August, for an evening flight the place was packed! At the very least it did give me the chance to grab a few photos without disturbing anyone:
Looking into the lounge from my favourite corner.
I made my way over to my favourite corner of the lounge (the blue chairs around the corner near the windows, opposite the flight information screen). There is a coffee table there, a foot stool and importantly, daylight and an electrical socket for the laptop.
Anyway, I fancied something to eat but was quickly disappointed. Where was the bacon (real bacon not the streaky fried to a crisp stuff that you get in the US), the baked beans, the scrambled eggs, the sausages? Nope. BA do not deem it necessary to provide such items. Only a cold selection of juice, cereal and croissants. I grabbed some cereal and went and sat down. I’d have to amuse myself with flyertalk and facebook for the next couple of hours while I waited to board. Looking around the lounge, I realised that I really had arrived way too early and should have grabbed an extra hour in bed!
Boarding
BA only has two morning flights from JFK, the first, the BA172 in this case (due at 8.20am) was called at about 7.40. My flight, the BA178 (8.45am) was called at about 8.20am, so I headed down to gate 4 to board. Gate 4 is an interesting experience for fast track passengers. As you walk from the lounge you find that there is a cheeky little side gate in which you can skip the crowds and board the plane. I did this but was soon caught up in the nonsense that it duty free collection. Get out of the way people! It’s all cheaper in the UK anyway.
We boarded from door 1L and I was greeted at the door by the CSD and welcomed by name. I was seated in 13A so made my way right, to the forward Club World cabin. As this was a lower deck seat the fantastic upper deck storage bins were not present, meaning that I had to try and empty the contents of my bag into the laptop drawer (with no room for my camera unfortunately). I also managed to grab a copy of ‘Business Traveller’ that was in the magazine rack, before anyone else nicked it. A lady FA came over to take my coat from me and then came back to offer the usual champagne, water or juice. As it was about 8.30 in the morning and I was shattered I had no intention of drinking any alcohol on-board so took the water. What is it about alcohol that when it is offered without charge you feel obliged, and have to make an effort not to accept it?
About this time, my seat mate boarded. This guy had a serious attitude problem. Huffing and slamming everything that he touched. The laptop drawer obviously disgusted him so he slammed that hard to close it. He huffed some more and then barked at the FA to take his coat, which she did very politely and professionally. Great, this is the kind of person that I did not want to be anywhere near for this flight.
The Flight
Flight Number: BA178
Route: JFK T7 to LHR T5
Date: 23rd October 2008
Scheduled Push Back: 08:45
Scheduled Flight Time: 6h 50m
Airline: British Airways
Equipment: Boeing 747-400
Seat: 13A (Club World/Business)
We pushed back roughly on time and then took off from sunny New York at about 9am. The captain informed us that we’d have a very short flight time of around 5 hours and 45 minutes. Menus were handed out, but no orders were taken. I thought that this was weird but I’d never been on a day flight from the east coast before so assumed that this was normal. Breakfast was to be served mostly from a trolley which greatly improved the speed of the service. What didn’t help was my seat mate constantly putting the privacy screen up, to the point where the FA had to keep putting it down to serve me first my starter, then a roll, then my drinks. I chuckled inside. Didn’t the guy understand? What an idiot. I’m sure that the FA was secretly doing this just to wind him up further. Good on her as he deserved it.
I must add at this point that he was English. I hate ‘Brits abroad’ and try to disassociate myself wherever possible. This chap was a particularly bad example.
Breakfast was great. It was practically three course. It started with cornflakes, which were just what I needed, then followed a large plate of smoked salmon which was also good, accompanied by a warm croissant with butter and strawberry jam. The main was a full English, yes, with proper bacon, but no beans. Importantly though, there was no tomato sauce. The main itself was a bit disappointing, with everything bunched into a small bowl, it looked more like an economy meal, but I was mostly full at that point anyway. It was a far cry from the fantastic breakfast that Qantas serves (yes with sauce too).
After breakfast the guy slammed the table closed and huffed and puffed while making himself comfortable. I did the same (with less slamming) and managed about 3 hours, I was so tired that I actually slept really well. The lights came on and I woke up ready for the second meal. I checked our progress on the moving map, but to my surprise, despite being close to the west coast of Ireland, the map said we had four hours to go, with 895 miles to our destination. I managed to work out that this was wrong, but it did give me a rude awakening. We were clocking in at about 697 mph with a strong 150 mph or so tail wind, nice. That’s the 2nd fastest I’ve ever been, the first being 721 mph in an Emirates A340-500 between Dubai and Sydney in 2004.
View out of the window:
The second meal was a bit strange. Somewhere between a snack and a full meal. I can’t remember the name but it was a cured meat, wrapped over pear slices, with a cold potato salad. Bread rolls were also offered. The desert was a lemon cheesecake. I didn’t eat much of the meal to be honest. After this was cleared away and took a quick wander into the rear Club World cabin. It was practically empty. Only about 4 or 5 seats were filled on one side of the aircraft.
The captain gave the ‘40 minutes to landing’ speech and I got myself ready by clearing everything into my bag, leaving my book to occupy me when the IFE was turned off. Shortly after the ’20 minutes to landing’ speech the Captain came on again to inform us that we’d be holding for 15 minutes. My seat mate reacted by saying a number of expletives out loud. What the hell is up with this guy???
Landing was uneventful and we taxied to a B gate at T5. The air bridge was attached to door 2L for some reason. We’d all queued up at door 1L when the CSM came through and muttered that we’d be getting off towards the rear. My seat mate said something along the lines of ‘for f’s sake’. What a disgraceful attitude. I knew at this point that I could never take a job that involved dealing with the public.
We all disembarked pretty quickly, made our way onto the train from T5B and to immigration. Curiously, the fast track sign was actually pointing at the IRIS queue which confused a few people, including me for a few seconds. Down the escalator to the baggage hall and then commenced the long wait for my bag. Priority handling was clearly not in effect here tonight, with my bag and some tagged as ‘First’ out last.
Through customs, no-one about, and then off to meet my taxi guy to take me home.
All in all a very subdued and uneventful flight. To be honest, that is exactly what I wanted. While being the in forward cabin is definitely preferable than the main cabin, I still prefer the upper deck window seats. I really missed those upper deck bins. I did however enjoy being one of the first 10 people to get off the aircraft (quickly sprinting to avoid Mr Attitude). The crew were professional rather than friendly, the only negative thing was the complete t***er sat next to me. But I guess you can’t have it all.
As a footnote, I must apologise for the lack of on-board photos, I spent most of the flight asleep (as per my plan).
Some Questions
Some questions for you keen FT'ers...
Why does BA not provide a hot breakfast in the JFK lounge? I'd have thought that this is obviously something that passengers would expect at 6am.
When is the JFK terraces lounge due to be refurbished to the Galleries concept?
Any ideas why we would have boarded using door 1 and disembarked using door 2? This seems opposite to my previous experiences.
My next flight is the 15:00 to Newark (777) on Tuesday. I’ll endeavour to produce a more detailed TR for that trip! Fingers crossed for the new configuration.
The TR for that trip can be found here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=866907
For best viewing of the photos be sure to enable to the 'in line' viewing option in your options menu under 'My FlyerTalk'.
Some Background
I work as an IT consultant and I’ve been lucky enough to land a 6 month role on a project in New York (I live near London normally) so I’ve got about 5-6 return trips planned over the coming months. Each time I’ve used my points to upgrade from World Traveller Plus (premium economy) to Club World (business).
Online Check In
OLCI opened at 8:45am on Wednesday the 22nd. I rushed into work a little early (and a bit sweaty, despite the cold temperatures outside) to log on and try to secure an upper deck seat. Unfortunately, the only seat still available was 64J. I always try to avoid aisle seats so I took the pre-assigned option, 13A. At least this was in the forward cabin. I was going to have to get used to not having the window bins next to me, as I’d previously had on all of my New York flights so far.
Day of the Flight – Thursday 23rd of October
Getting to the airport
Oh god. Alarm goes off at 4.30am, of course, knowing this, I would have made sure that I was in bed at a decent time last night, nope. Given that I was going to be flying for the whole day I ended up finishing up some emails until about midnight. Anyway, I drag myself out of bed, for fear of staying any longer and missing my flight, and into the shower. I skipped breakfast, as it always makes me feel sick when I eat this early in the morning. I thought that I’d be able to grab something nice to eat in the lounge at JFK.
At about 5.15am I grab a taxi and make a very quick journey to JFK, I estimate it to take only about 35 minutes or so. Pulling up at the terminal, it looks almost deserted.
Checking In/Bag Drop/Security
I was the only person checking in at the Club World desks and had three agents to choose from. About a minute later I queued at security and was through in another two. I headed seemingly right around the terminal to get to the BA Terraces lounge.
Lounge – JFK T7 – Terraces
The nice lady at the desk welcomed me, checked my BP and then invited me to enter the lounge by name, a nice touch. Ok, the lounge was actually empty. There was a mum and daughter grabbing some coffee but the rest of the activity was from the staff, stocking up the for the day’s passengers. This is a weird situation to be in. The last time I was here in August, for an evening flight the place was packed! At the very least it did give me the chance to grab a few photos without disturbing anyone:
Looking into the lounge from my favourite corner.
I made my way over to my favourite corner of the lounge (the blue chairs around the corner near the windows, opposite the flight information screen). There is a coffee table there, a foot stool and importantly, daylight and an electrical socket for the laptop.
Anyway, I fancied something to eat but was quickly disappointed. Where was the bacon (real bacon not the streaky fried to a crisp stuff that you get in the US), the baked beans, the scrambled eggs, the sausages? Nope. BA do not deem it necessary to provide such items. Only a cold selection of juice, cereal and croissants. I grabbed some cereal and went and sat down. I’d have to amuse myself with flyertalk and facebook for the next couple of hours while I waited to board. Looking around the lounge, I realised that I really had arrived way too early and should have grabbed an extra hour in bed!
Boarding
BA only has two morning flights from JFK, the first, the BA172 in this case (due at 8.20am) was called at about 7.40. My flight, the BA178 (8.45am) was called at about 8.20am, so I headed down to gate 4 to board. Gate 4 is an interesting experience for fast track passengers. As you walk from the lounge you find that there is a cheeky little side gate in which you can skip the crowds and board the plane. I did this but was soon caught up in the nonsense that it duty free collection. Get out of the way people! It’s all cheaper in the UK anyway.
We boarded from door 1L and I was greeted at the door by the CSD and welcomed by name. I was seated in 13A so made my way right, to the forward Club World cabin. As this was a lower deck seat the fantastic upper deck storage bins were not present, meaning that I had to try and empty the contents of my bag into the laptop drawer (with no room for my camera unfortunately). I also managed to grab a copy of ‘Business Traveller’ that was in the magazine rack, before anyone else nicked it. A lady FA came over to take my coat from me and then came back to offer the usual champagne, water or juice. As it was about 8.30 in the morning and I was shattered I had no intention of drinking any alcohol on-board so took the water. What is it about alcohol that when it is offered without charge you feel obliged, and have to make an effort not to accept it?
About this time, my seat mate boarded. This guy had a serious attitude problem. Huffing and slamming everything that he touched. The laptop drawer obviously disgusted him so he slammed that hard to close it. He huffed some more and then barked at the FA to take his coat, which she did very politely and professionally. Great, this is the kind of person that I did not want to be anywhere near for this flight.
The Flight
Flight Number: BA178
Route: JFK T7 to LHR T5
Date: 23rd October 2008
Scheduled Push Back: 08:45
Scheduled Flight Time: 6h 50m
Airline: British Airways
Equipment: Boeing 747-400
Seat: 13A (Club World/Business)
We pushed back roughly on time and then took off from sunny New York at about 9am. The captain informed us that we’d have a very short flight time of around 5 hours and 45 minutes. Menus were handed out, but no orders were taken. I thought that this was weird but I’d never been on a day flight from the east coast before so assumed that this was normal. Breakfast was to be served mostly from a trolley which greatly improved the speed of the service. What didn’t help was my seat mate constantly putting the privacy screen up, to the point where the FA had to keep putting it down to serve me first my starter, then a roll, then my drinks. I chuckled inside. Didn’t the guy understand? What an idiot. I’m sure that the FA was secretly doing this just to wind him up further. Good on her as he deserved it.
I must add at this point that he was English. I hate ‘Brits abroad’ and try to disassociate myself wherever possible. This chap was a particularly bad example.Breakfast was great. It was practically three course. It started with cornflakes, which were just what I needed, then followed a large plate of smoked salmon which was also good, accompanied by a warm croissant with butter and strawberry jam. The main was a full English, yes, with proper bacon, but no beans. Importantly though, there was no tomato sauce. The main itself was a bit disappointing, with everything bunched into a small bowl, it looked more like an economy meal, but I was mostly full at that point anyway. It was a far cry from the fantastic breakfast that Qantas serves (yes with sauce too).
After breakfast the guy slammed the table closed and huffed and puffed while making himself comfortable. I did the same (with less slamming) and managed about 3 hours, I was so tired that I actually slept really well. The lights came on and I woke up ready for the second meal. I checked our progress on the moving map, but to my surprise, despite being close to the west coast of Ireland, the map said we had four hours to go, with 895 miles to our destination. I managed to work out that this was wrong, but it did give me a rude awakening. We were clocking in at about 697 mph with a strong 150 mph or so tail wind, nice. That’s the 2nd fastest I’ve ever been, the first being 721 mph in an Emirates A340-500 between Dubai and Sydney in 2004.
View out of the window:
The second meal was a bit strange. Somewhere between a snack and a full meal. I can’t remember the name but it was a cured meat, wrapped over pear slices, with a cold potato salad. Bread rolls were also offered. The desert was a lemon cheesecake. I didn’t eat much of the meal to be honest. After this was cleared away and took a quick wander into the rear Club World cabin. It was practically empty. Only about 4 or 5 seats were filled on one side of the aircraft.
The captain gave the ‘40 minutes to landing’ speech and I got myself ready by clearing everything into my bag, leaving my book to occupy me when the IFE was turned off. Shortly after the ’20 minutes to landing’ speech the Captain came on again to inform us that we’d be holding for 15 minutes. My seat mate reacted by saying a number of expletives out loud. What the hell is up with this guy???
Landing was uneventful and we taxied to a B gate at T5. The air bridge was attached to door 2L for some reason. We’d all queued up at door 1L when the CSM came through and muttered that we’d be getting off towards the rear. My seat mate said something along the lines of ‘for f’s sake’. What a disgraceful attitude. I knew at this point that I could never take a job that involved dealing with the public.
We all disembarked pretty quickly, made our way onto the train from T5B and to immigration. Curiously, the fast track sign was actually pointing at the IRIS queue which confused a few people, including me for a few seconds. Down the escalator to the baggage hall and then commenced the long wait for my bag. Priority handling was clearly not in effect here tonight, with my bag and some tagged as ‘First’ out last.
Through customs, no-one about, and then off to meet my taxi guy to take me home.
All in all a very subdued and uneventful flight. To be honest, that is exactly what I wanted. While being the in forward cabin is definitely preferable than the main cabin, I still prefer the upper deck window seats. I really missed those upper deck bins. I did however enjoy being one of the first 10 people to get off the aircraft (quickly sprinting to avoid Mr Attitude). The crew were professional rather than friendly, the only negative thing was the complete t***er sat next to me. But I guess you can’t have it all.
As a footnote, I must apologise for the lack of on-board photos, I spent most of the flight asleep (as per my plan).
Some Questions
Some questions for you keen FT'ers...
Why does BA not provide a hot breakfast in the JFK lounge? I'd have thought that this is obviously something that passengers would expect at 6am.
When is the JFK terraces lounge due to be refurbished to the Galleries concept?
Any ideas why we would have boarded using door 1 and disembarked using door 2? This seems opposite to my previous experiences.
My next flight is the 15:00 to Newark (777) on Tuesday. I’ll endeavour to produce a more detailed TR for that trip! Fingers crossed for the new configuration.
Last edited by matthandy; Jun 1, 2013 at 8:40 pm Reason: Replacing the image links to move them to the new server
Oct 25, 2008, 9:11 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Kent, UK
Programs: BA Gold, SPG Platinum, Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 3,809
Sort of. I dozed in the taxi and probably could have gone to bed when I got back at 10.30 ish. But, I'd decided to stick to pseudo New York time, so I actually went to bed at about 1am. I think that if I hadn't slept on the flight I'd be certaintly ready to sleep when I got back. This is probably the best reason to take a morning flight, to avoid the 7am arrival the next day.
Oct 25, 2008, 9:56 am
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA Gold, SQ Gold, KQ Platinum, IHG Diamond Ambassador, Hilton Gold, Marriott Silver, Accor Silver
Posts: 16,348
First of all, thanks for another great trip report and photos. ^
Did you visit Galleries Arrivals at all at T5?
I suppose because BA take the view that you will eat onboard. The catering at the JFK Terraces lounge (with the exception of the pre-flight supper in the evenings) is ridiculous - it's just the same in the First lounge next door.
The lounge refurbishments are slowly progressing - I think the original plan was to have all lounges refurbished into the Galleries style by the end of 2009, but this may be prolonged due to the 'credit crunch'.
This is very strange. Normally 2L is used for boarding to speed up passage of Y pax to the back, and 1L for disembarking to enable F and J (but especially F) passengers to be off quickly.
Did you visit Galleries Arrivals at all at T5?
This is very strange. Normally 2L is used for boarding to speed up passage of Y pax to the back, and 1L for disembarking to enable F and J (but especially F) passengers to be off quickly.
Oct 26, 2008, 6:59 pm
#6
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 3
unfortunately...
It's so unfortunately that you had to put up with the ahole who was your seatmate. Too bad you didn't discover the empty rear cabin so you could grab a seat back there and not have to deal with his noise making hole. I had to travel next to a couple who were most rude to the FA aboard an EVA Air flight. FA was smiling all the way! Unbelievable. It's times like that when I wished one of our good old American FA were on board and told her to shut it or she will be greeted by authorities upon arrival. A lot of Asian carrier's FA are told to suck it up when they encounter rude passengers, I know for fact that China Airlines is one of them.