LeisureFirst

I was afraid when I saw this thread title that the report would say BA F had sunk to the level of "standard class" on the railways. Glad to hear that's not the case as I'm flying to New York tomorrow. I haven't been keeping track but do BA guarantee new F on the JFK route?

And to avoid the immigration queues (which I rarely find are that bad anyway) I much prefer to take BA117 - my far my favourite timing. It does mean a rather early start (car coming at 6am) to get a decent long breakfast in the CCR, but it means you're in New York comfortably in time for lunch after catching up on sleep on the plane.

LeisureFirst

And the questions for advanced students:

1. Does the word latino include
a. Spaniards?
b. Brazilians?
2. Is latino a racial description?

Betteronacamel

I don't think BA guarantee anything as far as NF is concerned. JFK is the route where NF is most prevalent esp on the 744s (see tracking NF thread) so you stand a very, very good chance. Unless you call YouFirst to confirm beforehand, you won't know until you see your bird on the stand.

Anselmi

Great TR Petrus. I wish I had took an helicopter ride too on my F boozing trip while I stopped in NYC. Did you managed to drink all fizz from F cabin?

Petrus

No, but we did our best to finish the Haut-Smith Lafitte!

Leisurefirst; agree on the 117. However, that one is rather tight if you are connecting the same morning. If you are on a 747 to JFK, not getting New First is beyond unlucky as BA advertise it as one of the NF routes, subject operational reasons.

Zamoyska

Gaz

Whilst everything you've said is true, I don't think the original TR was that bad, especially given some of the content you read on FT.

We all know the readers of FT are a little above the average in the privilege stakes, and the discussions here reflect that. Whether it's the above story, or people spending £500 on dinner at La Caprice, or £1200 a night at the Burj al Arab, it's clear that a lot of things FTers spend cash on would be deemed wildly indulgent / obscene by a majority of the general public.

Should we all put a disclaimer at the bottom of our posts? "I appreciate my good fortune and consider those not as lucky..." etc?

It's not as if Petrus used language similar to this post ('Forcing your way past the plebs'). If he had, I think your point would be more valid. But as it stands, there was nothing in the original TR that made me think the OP wasn't grateful or took his good fortune for granted.

Let's not forget FT is also an aspirational place. When I first set foot on this forum I'd never set foot in a business class cabin, let alone a first class one, but reading tales like the OP's motivated me to become more successful so I could achieve these things. Reading someone else's TR and thinking "I'd like to do that" is an integral part of the FT experience for many people, and it'd be a shame if people held back for fear of being labeled shows offs or out of touch with reality.

BAAZ

Nothing to do with people being stupid. It is however likely that pax from Madrid will be less well prepared than pax from London. There will be more pax on the plane who have not spent as much time preparing in advance for immigration and there will also probably be fewer regular travellers who know the rules.

It isn't racist to observe general traits in populations. Half of my family is Italian from Rome and they regularly explain to me the differences in approach. They and almost all of our Italian friends do not prepare or plan so much in advance as our English friends and colleagues do. They prefer last minute arrangements, changes, doing things on a whim. This makes for an interesting life but unfortunately doesn't speed things up when travelling. My English background has drilled into me the importance of proper preparation and arranging things well in advance. This has plenty of downsides as well of course.

My Italian friends also don't keep asking themselves "What if..."? (what if I lose the pen, do I have another one? What if I put the passport there, could it fall out? What if I can't remember the ESTA number, have I written it down somewhere safe? What if my mobile phone battery runs out, have I a backup or a printed copy of the documents? Etc) so if something does go wrong, they are less likely to have a Plan B in place, but then again they don't get stressed putting the probably unnecessary plan in place in the first place.

Of course the trends don't apply to everyone, but they do apply to enough people to make a difference when you are dealing with 500 of them.

It's more an issue for immigration officers ideally needing to plan in advance different staffing needs for different groups of pax. Language is possibly also an issue - some of the IB pax may have picked up English language forms, and some of the immigration officers may not be very good at speaking Spanish.

Also, in the green I94W days, how many first time travellers filled in the form putting the information above the line next to the question instead of below it? If I had £1000 for everyone I knew who did this the first time they travelled to the US I'd be able to fly paid F more often...

Petrus

Time to ship this report over to the regular TR forum. Appreciate the comments, thank you

somedude3210

Loved this reply and the TR.

amaroo

I laughed out loud when I read it - then the wife told me I was a tosser

DTS

The guy in the middle in the first picture: great watch!!!!

handsomestpete

NEVERTHELESS i still think this TR is rather vulgar----when i first read it i just thought YEUCCH----and amazingly, the usually wonderfully acerbic HIDDY hasnt trashed it--- mystifying.

fraisse10

Are you referring to their apparent inability to keep their legs together in lounge photographs?

kan148

Lol. I was about to say that. Is helicopter transfer included in the F tickets on BA? Awesome TR as usual and thanks for sharing.