I've Grown accustomed to your Nose - A RTW in F On OneWorld
 

I have debated with myself for some time about whether to write another report on a RTW in F on Oneworld.

As many of you realise this is something I have done a few of over the last few years and I fear they may be getting a little boring and somewhat repetitive. After all there are only so many routes one can take in F as they starting to disappear at an alarming rate.

As you have no doubt surmised I have decided to bore you, or not, with another trip around the world with Moomba in the pointy end.

I was lucky enough to push the button on an ex South Africa AONE5 before the price rises hit a few weeks back. The first job in hand was working out how to get to JNB to start the trip. I had booked two different routings, one being EY in J using my AA miles but it left little wriggle room to connect to my first flight.
BA opened up some award space to JNB at the right time so I cancelled the EY and booked BA using my AA miles with an onward connection to Cape Town a city I really like. I then purchased a one way back to JNB to connect with the start of the RTW for the following day. I wanted to make this part of the trip as short as possible and not miss too many days from work. By doing this quick turnaround it meant one day off work.

The routing for the round the world is quite fluid at the moment and date and routing changes are quite likely, knowing me. I have some thoughts in mind I am playing with but need to see yet if they will all come to fruition.

Before I had even started I have changed dates on the second, third and fourth sectors that were going to have me arrive in Melbourne in mid July. For reasons only my addiction therapist would know I ended up purchasing an AY ticketed routing to get me home to Oz in July where I would need to pick up a parked BA ticket that I purchased to go home last Christmas.
I had originally thought I would use the RTW to get me to Oz to pick up this BA ticket. Now I think early in the new year might be the go, but who knows.

Please don’t even bother trying to work out my convoluted ticketing routings or combinations, I barely keep track and only manage to do so with the aid of a spreadsheet. Any ways for now only the first sector from JNB-LHR is a definite and the getting there to start the trip and that first flight is the first part of this tome.

Right enough preamble ramble it is time to head on out to London Heathrow for the first part of this journey.


As usual I will post an index to the report posts here:

Colour Codes:
Round the World Ticket
Award Flight
Purchased Flight 1 - Ex Dubai CX
Purchased Flight 2 - Ex BKK MH one way
Purchased Flight 3 - Ex LHR AY return portion of LHR-SYD started in June
Purchased Flight 4 - Ex BRU QR J one way to HKG



Part 1 Concorde Room LHR T5 & BA F LHR-JNB
Part 2 BA F LHR-JNB & BA J JNB-CPT
Part 3 BA J CPT-JNB BA F JNB-LHR
Part 4 QF F LHR-DXB
Part 5 CX J DXB-HKG
Part 6 CX J HKG-BKK Pt 1
Part 6 CX J HKG-BKK Pt 2
Part 7 MH J BKK-KUL
Part 8 MH J KUL-SYD
Part 9 BA F SYD-SIN Pt 1
Part 9 BA F SYD-SIN Pt 2
Part 10 AY J SIN-HEL BA J HEL-LHR
Part 11 QF J LHR-DXB BA F DXB-LHR
Part 12 QF F LHR-DXB-MEL
Part 13 QF J MEL-SYD QF F SYD-HKG
Part 14 CX J HKG-CTS in F Seat
Part 15 Sapporo & Snow Festival
Part 16 CX J CTS-HKG & CX F HKG-SIN
Part 17 CX J SIN-BKK-DXB EY F AUH-LHR
Part 18 BA Y LHR-BRU
Part 19 QR J BRU-DOH & CX J DOH-HKG
Part 20 CX J HKG-SIN
Part 21 JL J SIN-NRT
Part 22 Japan DO
Part 23 JL F NRT-JFK
Part 24 AA F JFK-LAX AA J LAX-PBI-LAX
Part 25 BA F LAX-LHR
Part 26 BA F LHR-NBO

Awesome Moomba how can anyone tire of your TR's? Waiting with baited breath...

Part 1 Concorde Room Dining and BA F LHR-JNB
 

I left work half an hour early courtesy of a shorter lunch break and caught the tube to Paddington where I purchased my cheaper HEX tickets thanks to my Network Rail Card. For 2.40 GBP more than a normal one-way ticket I get a return ticket.

I was alarmed to see a peak time 17:25 service being run with a short train and it was packed to the gills. Of course there were the usual plonkers who had their bags on seats and didn’t offer to move them until people requested they do so. Some people had to stand all the way to Heathrow, which is a disgrace for a service that charges like a wounded bull.

Once at T5 I went up to a very empty looking departures area and made my way down to the far end. I had intended to get my BP printed at the Club desks but only bag drop desks were open up there so kept walking to the First check in area. I know I have said it before but will say it again; it amuses me that the F check-in is in Zone J at T5.
This too was quite empty and I walked up to a free agent. She checked me in and asked if I would like special services to escort me through to the lounge. I declined; I really am not VIP material BA.

Security was a doddle with no queue and no manual bag checks, swabs or wandings required. Off to the famous white door to the right that leads directly into BA’s Concorde Room the lounge that only BA First passengers can use.

Well unless you are the lucky recipient of a Concorde Room card that entitles you open doors in the lounge when flying on BA in any class. One needs to collect a warehouse load of tier points in order to secure one of those shiny white cards.

Oh dear is this going to be another rambling Moomba report with diversions, not of the airline variety, dotted throughout the report?

Once inside the lounge my BP was swiped and I walked on out the other side in order to grab a shower. There was one free and I was able to wash off the days work and feel refreshed for my flight to JNB.

I then proceeded back into the lounge and asked to be seated in the restaurant area to grab some food. The wait staff gave me a wine list and menu and asked if I would like some water to start. He came back with some bubbly water and asked what I would like to order. Mushroom soup and the Sea Bass please with a glass of the South African Sauvignon Blanc.

He came back with the wine and also offered some bread. The bread was a little tough around the edges seemed like it had been exposed to the air too long. Five minutes later the soup arrived. It was hot which was a good start, my last visit to this lounge resulted in luke warm meals. The soup was very thick and gluggy and didn’t really have a lot of taste.

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Mushroom Soup

My sea bass was up next and was lovely and crispy skinned and beautifully cooked with lots of flavour and it was hot! Yes BA can actually deliver a decent meal in the Concorde Room, occasionally.

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Sea Bass

After the meal I headed out onto the terrace area and sat down to check emails etc. Around 5 minutes after arriving there a member of staff asked if I would like a drink. I requested some champagne to get the ball rolling. I chatted with a friend for a while on the phone and 25 minutes later when I left the lounge I still hadn’t got my champagne. So mixed bag review of the CR for this flight.

My flight was boarding from the B gates, which meant a train journey under the apron to get to the infield terminal. When I reached my gate they had just started a boarding announcement and requested elites, F & J use the fast track whilst the tail end rows could board from the other area. Everyone queued up at the fast track so I walked down the other empty queue along with a few other people. Of course the people who jumped the queue in front of me then proceeded to faff about looking for their passports. I eventually made it down to the plane where only door two had a ramp attached.

Flight BA0033 LHR-JNB Seat 2K (First)
Aircraft: 777-200
Departure time: 20:00

The crew member at the door escorted me to my seat and walked on past it whilst I nicked into it. She said ‘Ah you know better than I do where you are going’.

The F purser came out of the galley and greeted me by name. Nice touch, with only 3 in F I suppose it wasn’t too difficult a task to know who we all were.

He asked if I would like a drink and of course I ordered champagne.
As no one else had boarded in F I took the opportunity to take a couple of pictures included the large empty space behind my seat. This particular 777 variety has only 12 seats in F and a flight crew rest where 3K & 4K would be but it left a huge space behind 2K.

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Legroom 2K

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Rear of the F cabin

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Where 3K would be

The purser came by and said are you 007, a spy? Why are you taking photos of the aircraft? I said because I know some geeks that would like to see this big space behind my seat. He laughed and said it was a useless waste of space. He said eventually these birds would be refitted with 14 seats in F and the crew area moved upstairs like it is on other 777. He did say it was good for me as when the flight crew are down there they rope off the aisle and there would be no traffic by my seat.

I sat back down to drink my bubbly and another crew member dropped by with PJs, slipper and an amenity kit.

A menu was then delivered to my seat. I was taking notes as I sat down and the purser came back with a refill my glass and I asked if they still served multiple champagnes in F as the menu only listed the one. He said they had some rose and he would open it if I wanted. He said but this is much better and retails for 150 GBP. He said I hope you wrote down how nice the champagne was. ;)

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Bubbly before take off


They had only loaded one of the starter that I asked for and it had already been snapped up by 1A. I had no trouble with the rest of my order. It has been explained to us on the BA forum that when F is lightly loaded that you are more likely to miss out on your first choice as there are fewer meals loaded than when full and they have over capacity of meals.

The captain announced that everyone was on board and that we were just waiting for the bags to finish loading. He announced a flight time of 10 hours 57 minutes and we would be pushing back on schedule. During his announcement a hot towel was delivered and another of the crew offered to fill my glass again. I declined and sat back waiting for take off.

We pushed back at 20:02 and took off at 20:19. Unfortunately 2K on this configuration has a badly misaligned widow so it is difficult to see out of the aircraft.

Part 2 LHR-JNB-CPT cont.
 

After the belt signs went off my purser dropped by and said can I get you a drink James (as in Bond 007)? I had been wondering if BA had vermouth on board as I really fancied a martini. He said please tell me you are not going to order a martini and I said ‘Well I was wondering if you had vermouth on board’. He laughed and said ‘you want a martini then?’ I agreed and he went off to make my drink.

He returned a little later with my drink including the olives on a stick and some warm nuts. It seems he was not a big martini drinker as he served it over ice and there was a little too much vermouth in it for my liking, but it was great he made the effort for me.

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Martini Mr Bond?

He came back a little while later and said he had asked the captain to wobble the plane about a bit so I could have my martini shaken not stirred.
After my drink he came back to set up for dinner. I dashed to the loo to change into the PJs as I inevitably get food on me when flying. When I returned there was an Amuse Bouche waiting of goats cheese balls served with salsa.

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Amuse Bouche

One thing I noticed about this guy that other crew of late haven’t done is that he took the cutlery away that I had used for the Amuse. Others usually leave it behind for me to use for the starter. It is the little things I notice.

He came back with the starter of crab timbale that was a bit tasteless and I really would have liked to have the meze plate I first asked for.

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Crab Timbale Starter

After this the salad arrived and was consumed. What can you say about a salad? It was fresh.

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Salad

I was drinking the viognier with these first two courses and he filled it regularly.

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Viognier Wine

He went to fill it again after my starter and I said I would like to try the South African Syrah with my main. He came back a little later with the bottle and left it for me to take a photograph and poured a glass for me. It was nice.

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Syrah Wine

Now for the make or break moment. I ordered beef on a plane. Ah yes it was not bad at all. It was overdone for my liking but tasty and tender none the less. I was a happy chappy.

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Steak Main Course

A refill later on the wine and I had made short work of the meal. Mr funny man came out and pointed to the very empty plate and said ‘good to see you eat all your food’. He said can I tempt you with some dessert or cheese? I said lets wait a bit until I sip some more of my wine.

A while later he came by and said hot or cold? I said I think I will have the tart, he said ah hot. He said it would take a few minutes to warm and he will be back. He returned and I said more red or something else? I said I was quite intrigued about the straw wine. He said oh it is lovely you must have some. I said I had had the SA noble wine they had served on these routes in the past and loved it. He said this is even better. Bring it on then my good man.

Again he left the bottle next to the glass for a photo opportunity.

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Dessert

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Straw Wine

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Hello Gorgeous


Luscious, unctuous, thick, golden, sweet, yummy, delicious. What a superb wine if you are a sticky fan. The dessert was OK but I didn’t really care about that. He filled my glass again and left the rest of the bottle for me. He came back later and upended the bottle into my glass with a smile. He said I normally don’t do this but you seemed to be appreciating it.

The IFE on these 12 seat 777 is still the older AVOD of BA that has limited choice for music and they seem to not change it all that frequently either which is a real pain. I did figure out I could still listen to music and watch the flight map by pushing the map button on the screen. This then does a side by side arrangement where the main IFE still plays music, movie whatever but you can see the flight map on the left. If you choose the flight map in full screen mode it turns off all the music which I hate.

Eventually after finishing my wine and listening to some music I decided it was time for bed. I went to the loo and a crew member asked if I would like my bed made up. She proceeded to do so and I was able to snuggle in under the duvet for a good few hours sleep. She also gave me another bottle of water as I had already downed the first bottle they gave me after the meal.


I awoke around 2 hours out of JNB and lay there for a while before getting upright again. I noticed that during the night my bottle of water had been replaced again; it is the little things that make a true first experience. The F purser dropped by and asked if I would like something to eat.

I said I would have some cereal a tea with lemon and the energiser drink.
He came back and set up my table and delivered the cereal.

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Cereal

A while later the tea and energiser arrived. The energiser was as thick as wall paper paste but very tasty.

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Smoothie

After breakfast I donned my civvies again and made ready for landing way too early as usual. The CSD made a brief visit to ask if I needed an immigrations form, no greeting or anything just the offer of a form.
The F purser dropped by one last time to wish me a pleasant holiday and shook my hand.

We landed at 07:55 and taxied up to the terminal. There was some confusion about which door the jetty would pull up to and in the end it was both 1 and 2. I was first out at door 1 and thanked the great crew on the way out. At the top of the ramp the escalators down to the immigration hall were right in front of me.

I managed to hot foot it in front of a whole swag of SE Asian people who were also making their way down. I joined a queue that doubled back 3 times but was moving quite fast. By 08:20 I was through and walking down and out into the terminal via customs. Upstairs I made the long hike to the domestic gates security section. There was no queue and I was through in a jiffy although I did beep and needed a quick pat down.

I made my way to the right and up to the SLOW lounge. Inside I ordered a lovely double espresso and check emails etc. After an hour or so I grabbed a nice shower to wake me up and then started to right this report.

Before any boarding announcement was made I decided to wander down and have a look around the gate area. There were a few stores selling sports gear, touristy items and books. I noticed that one of my favourite authors had released a new book; must look into that when I get home. Books aren’t particularly cheap in SA.

I also noticed that my flight was to leave from the E gates. Oh dear a bus ride to the plane. I eventually wandered downstairs to the bus loading gates and saw a long queue lined up for my flight. I figured what is the point of queuing to get on a bus? I wandered around for a while and boarding started and the queue shortened. I eventually joined a shorter line and had my BP scanned and PP checked. I then hopped on the second of the two busses. We eventually got the go ahead to pull away and drove out onto the apron and stopped to wait the passing of a CX 777 making its way out to the runway.

At the plane we queued up again to go up the stairs onto the aircraft. It was a beautiful day in J’burg and I didn’t mind in the least standing in the sun.

Flight BA6417 JNB-CPT Seat 3A (Business)
Aircraft: B737-400
Departure time: 12:50

On board I made my way to my seat and stowed my roll aboard above and my satchel bag under my seat. As the flight continued to board I was offered a newspaper and a pre-departure beverage of water, cranberry juice or sparkling wine. I opted for the sparkling wine and it was a bit sweet for me.

The first officer announced a flight time of 2 hours stating that we had a strong head wind en-route. When the doors were closed there were 8 in the business class cabin that was laid out in 4/3 rows of a 2-3 configuration.

We pushed back at 12:58 and after a short taxi we took off at 13:07. Once in the air a hot towel was handed out.

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Leaving Joburg

Up the front the service started with a round of drinks. I went with the usual scotch and dry and upon asking the purser reeled off a range of scotches. I went the bog standard Johnnie black on this occasion.
The drinks round were served with a packet of nuts.

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Scotch and Nuts

Before anyone had a chance to finish their drink he started to dish out the meal trays.

On the tray was a small Greek salad with leaves, tomato, olives, feta and capers served with a balsamic dressing. Also on the tray was a small chocolate.

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Lunch Tray with Salad

No further drinks were offered with the meal.

After I had eaten the salad the purser came out again with a tray with each of the main courses to view. On offer there was a beef fillet with mushroom sauce a chicken dish with roasted vegetables or a vegetable and cous cous dish.

I chose the chicken this time and the meal was very tasty and hit the spot as I was getting a little hungry by this stage.

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Chicken Lunch


Only upon taking the tray away did the crew ask if I wanted anything else to drink. I said could I have some red wine please. He said he would be back to show me what they had. A while later, after serving coffee to the flight crew he returned with a bottle of pinotage and a bottle of Shiraz pinotage. I went with the latter and it was cat’s bum young. You know the type of young red that makes you purse your lips when you drink it.

I just read through my report of the same flight I took last year and how things have changed. There were cheese and crackers on offer and I was served a refill of the scotch before lunch and offered wine with the meal. Also a dessert was offered as an option to the cheese course.

Despite the fact that the curtain was pulled between the cabins numerous economy passengers kept coming up to you the toilet and the crew did nothing to stop them.

Coming into Cape Town the first officer announced that it would be quite bumpy as there was a cold front blowing through. We flew out over the ocean and it was quite choppy down there and I wouldn’t have wanted to be in a boat. It was also quite choppy up where I was but we eventually made it down onto solid ground around 15:05.

After leaving the aircraft I made my way through the baggage hall and out to meet my driver who was waiting to take me into Cape Town and my hotel.

Blimey you jumped in there quick!

Thanks LeeT. I hope you enjoy the report.

Excellent so far Moomba! It makes all the difference when you get a great crew. Hope the return is as good!

Part 3 CPT-JNB-LHR
 

I had organised for a car to pick me up at 14:00 to go back to Cape Town airport and at the appointed time I checked out and the car was called round.
It was a quick trip to the airport, unlike my last journey from the Westin to CPT that took almost 50 minutes. This time I was at the airport and locating the check-in counters 25 minutes after I left the hotel. The BA counters were at the far end of the terminal building and that is where I made for. There was a separate queue for Club and OW elites and I lined up waiting for the agent.

She was dealing with a UM and had the Mum filling in some paperwork which took an age. Finally they were done and I was called up to the desk. I asked if the agent could also print my BP for my flight from JNB to LHR that was on a separate PNR. This turned out to be a mistake as we will find out later.
The agent printed the two BPs and sent me on my way. There was no mention of a lounge or anything, I suppose they think people know where they are?

Security was short and sweet and I was through without any ado. I then located the lift that would take me up to the CPT SLOW lounge.

Inside the lounge I was greeted and I made my way up to the windows and took a seat looking over the tarmac. Inside there was a manned bar, coffee machine, juices, a drinks fridge with water, soft drinks and beer and food options included; penne with Bolognese sauce, tomato soup, cheese and crackers, salads, rolls and sandwiches, chips (crisps), fruit, olives and other drink snacks and some small desserts. It was quite an impressive display for a domestic lounge.

After doing some email catch up and of course some FT surfing I made my way down to the gate, early as usual.

On the way I heard an announcement for boarding and once I got to the gate I was able to join the short queue. There didn’t appear to be any sort of priority boarding for elites.

My BP was scanned and PP checked and I was on my way down the ramp.

Flight BA6418 CPT-JNB Seat 3A (Business)
Aircraft: B737-400
Departure time: 16:00

On board I made my way to my seat and stowed my roll aboard above and my satchel bag under my seat.

I was offered a pre-departure beverage of water, cranberry juice or sparkling wine. I opted for the sparkling wine again just because it wouldn’t be right if I didn’t.

The captain announced a flight time of 1 hour and 40 minutes. The plane was quite full down the back and a gentleman came up with his bags and started to put them in the space above the Club seats. The CSD stopped him and told him not to as she had a full Club section and that space was for those passengers.
He then proceeded to have an argument with her about his family being shifted about despite booking last year. She told the man that if he can’t find room back where he was sitting she would have to gate check the bag. He eventually realised he was not going to win this battle and gave in to her. She later said to one of the passengers up front that she was about to say to him ‘either your bag goes off or both of you go off, your choice’.

A group of 5 unaccompanied minors boarded late in the game one of who managed to be sent back up front and seated next to me. Drinks orders for post take off were taken on the ground.

After the boarding drama had unfolded it was time to push back, which we did at 16:06 and after a short taxi took off at 16:15.

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Leaving Cape Town

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Snowy Mountains

In the air a hot towel was the first service item followed by the pre-meal drinks. Again being ever predictable I went with a Scotch and Dry that was served with the usual nuts.

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Scotch and Nuts

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Tiny Bubbles in my Scotch

The service was much more attentive on the flight and it seems the CSD on the previous flight was just a lazy sod.
After a suitable length of time to finish our drinks the meal service began. It was not a hot meal this time as it was an in-between flight. There was a Greek salad with chicken breast or a vegetable bagel. Rolls were offered with the meal and wine was also offered at the time of handing out the plates.

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Snack

More rolls were offered later along with regular offers to top up my glass. I had decided to steer clear of the red this time and was drinking an OK sauvignon blanc. The other white option was a chenin blanc.

After the meal I just watched the sunset and the landscape below change from hills to planes and the suburbia on the way into JNB. We landed at 17:55 and taxied up to our stand. I said my thanks to the great crew and walked on out into the terminal and made the long hike over to the A building where the international departures left from.

I spoke to person manning the F check-in queue and asked if they had any fast track security for F passengers and he just pointed me down through the doors behind the check-in desks. I saw a VIP queue and asked if F passengers could use this and she said no and directed me down to the normal lanes. The lanes were not too long and I was through security within 5 minutes. Then the nightmare of emigrations was before me.

A real mess of people with no defined queue and no one directing people where to go. I joined a line of sorts and it doubled back and doubled back again and people were joining it at various points as they spilled out of security. It was a complete shambles and utter disgrace and left a real sour note on my visit to JNB. Forty minutes later I eventually made it to a desk and was quickly processed out of SA.

I visited a couple of duty free stores only to find they weren’t that cheap and then made my way up to the BA lounge. I was welcomed in and invited to use the First class section of the lounge.

Inside there were snacks, self service drinks and wines with Henriot champagne and some hot buffet items including a chicken curry, beef stew, rice and rigatoni. The wifi in the lounge was dead slow and almost pointless to use.
A man came in and sat with the woman opposite me, and it was obvious that they were work colleagues. The conversation turned to the queues at emigration and the guy said didn’t the F staff escort you through security and emigrations? So if I had not have been so insistent on getting my BP in CPT I may have saved myself 40 minutes of queuing.

Again I left the lounge earlier and made my way down to the appointed gate. Yes I mean down, yippee another bus gate departure.

They had two queues one for Club, First and elites and another for economy. I had my PP and BP checked and waited for the busses to be ready. They eventually opened the doors and we piled on the bus. They didn’t cram it Heathrow style full so I didn’t get to find out if anyone had bad breath. At the plane they had stairs at door 1 and door 2.

Flight BA0054 JNB-LHR Seat 2A (First)
Aircraft: B747-400
Departure time: 20:45

I was the second person up the stairs at door 1 and at the top was welcomed by a crew member. He was on his own so he just directed me down to my seat.

Slippers, PJs and amenity kit were quickly delivered to my seat and I was asked if I would like something to drink. We all know what the answer to that was.

Not long after this a glass of bubbly was presented before me. I took it to my nose and it stank. I tried some and it didn’t seem right. I think it may have been corked. I took another few sips but left the rest. The captain announced a flight time of 10 hours and 40 minutes. The F purser topped up my champagne and I tried it again and it didn’t seem so bad. As boarding was completing another offer of a top up was made but I declined.

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Pre take off bubbly

We pushed back at 20:40 and took off not long after this as we were already on stand a mile away from the terminal. Well it seemed like it was that far.
After the belt signs were extinguished the crew dropped by with a menu and asked me what I would like to drink to start. I decided to go with some of the Sauvignon Blanc again instead of the S&D I would normally drink.

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Wine and Nuts

My wine and nuts were delivered soon after and the CSD dropped by for a brief chat.
I sipped my wine and nibbled my nuts whilst staring out the window. I know I have had a rant about this before but have I told you how much I dislike those stupid lamps in new BA first? The lamp is right at eye level and it quite annoying when it is switched on. I always turn it off when I first sit down but invariably the crew turn it back on again from some central controls. It also blocks your view out one of the windows,. Ok rant over.

The F purser next asked me what I would care to have for dinner.


The wine list was the same as my previous flight in part one of this report.

After he took my order I went to get changed into the PJs. As I approached the F lavs someone from down the back came through the curtain. As I stepped into the loo I caught the eye of one of the crew in the galley and pointed to my right. She came out and said to the interloper ‘can I help you sir?’. I shut the toilet door and thought about how DYKWIA that was. :o

Later I said to the crew member it makes you wonder what people think the curtains are for.

Back at my seat the table was extracted by the crew and set for dinner. An amuse bouche was first that consisted of two prawns and not much else. Sometimes I just want to whip out my computer and show the staff ‘This is an amuse bouche’ and show them my JAL meal photos from earlier this year.

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Amuse Bouche

I found an interesting CD on the IFE that was a mixture of Cole Porter and Noel Coward. It was very amusing sitting in BA First Class listening to ‘I’ve been to a marvellous party’. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOgyq3opK5k

The crew member working my side of the cabin was very good and attentive and there were plenty of wine refills offered during the meal.

I started with the sweetcorn medallion and mushroom salad which was OK but nothing mouth watering or even that particularly interesting.

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Starter – sweet corn medallions

I followed this up with the soup that was tasty and hot.

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Leek & Potato Soup

Both of these were consumed with the aid of a couple of glasses of the Sauvignon blanc.
I switched over to some of the pinot noir to have with my duck confit. The duck was quite a small serving but was reasonably tasty.

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Duck Confit

After the meal the F purser dropped by and asked me if I would like some dessert. I said I would like to try the Lemon and Ginger pudding. I said could I also have some of the lovely straw wine. I said to him the naughty F purser on my flight down had made me drink the whole bottle.

A while later my dessert was presented before me and a glass of the wine poured and the bottle left on my table.

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Dessert

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More Straw Wine

I scoffed down the dessert and sipped on my wine. The F purser topped up my glass and put the bottle back on my table. My empty plate was taken away and I was left with a glass a bottle and Noel Coward, what a marvellous party.

Try as I may I failed to do my job and when my lovely crew came back to fill my glass I said no more I have failed in my mission. She lifted the bottle to see how much was left and reprimanded me for such a poor effort. It was a little under half full.

Sleep was the task. I went to the loo and asked the crew to make up my bed. When I got back to my seat there was a bottle of water waiting and the crew member was just finishing up making the bed.

I slept reasonably well through the night and woke around 1 hour and 20 minutes out of London. I changed back into my civvies and the crew cleared away the bedding whilst I was in the loo. After I was back at my seat the crew extracted the table and asked what I would like for breakfast.


I asked for tea, yoghurt and fruit and an energiser drink.

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Breakfast

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Breakfast - Fruit

After breakfast I remembered I wanted to get some duty free booze and enquired if the carts were still open. Unfortunately they weren’t so I was out of luck. I think this had been one of the few BA flights where there hadn’t been any crew prompting for duty free at some point during the flight. Oh well a little less booze in the house is probably a good thing.

As usual I was packed up and ready to land way before necessary and was able to watch the clouds roll by. The captain announced we would be put into a holding pattern for no longer than 10 minutes. He also said that once we were at the gate could we all stay seated whilst the CSD sprayed the cabin for bugs. The canisters had not been loaded onto the outbound flight and would be delivered to the aircraft on stand.

We touched down at 06:58 and taxied up to our gate at the C satellite building of terminal 5. The captain again reminded passengers to wait in their seats until the CSD had sprayed the cabin. The jetty was pulled up to 1L and soon after the crew were out spraying the cabin. Once the F section had been sprayed we started to collect our things and make ready. The CSD was walking back up the aisle as we lined up and nodded to the crew to let us off. I thanked the crew and made my way down to the transit train and over to terminal A.
Immigrations was the usual complete balls up, I asked a staff member if IRIS was working this morning and they directed me down to the lane. Of course it wasn’t working again so I backtracked to Fast Track where the line had snaked out of the tensa barrier area and along the hall.

OH what joy welcome to London, this is how we appreciate your tax money you have paid us for the last 13 years. Fifty-five minutes later a border control officer processed me. Farce Track lived up to its name this morning. Like the last time I had to endure this queuing I noted a person in the normal lanes who joined at the same time as I did and yet again they cleared immigrations before I did. What a joke this is and reflects poorly on BA who are the major occupier at T5.

I headed up to the arrivals lounge and was given an invite into the First dining area.

Inside I noticed the menu had changed since BA contracted a new caterer to handle their LHR lounges. This change has not gone down well over on the BA forum and I knew already that the Eggs Benedict had been removed from the menu. I cheekily said ‘No Eggs Benedict any more?’ The waitress said ‘there is but only if people ask for it’. I said good can I have that please and some toast.

The Eggs Bene arrived a while later and was quite edible.

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Eggs Benedict BA Concorde Breakfast Room LHR T5

After breakfast I went to have a shower at one of the slurpy showers. After the shower I pottered for a bit longer in the lounge before going down to the HEX and my ride back home.

I will leave you now until next I pick up this RTW ticket and fly off to some other part of the world in the pointy end.

Brilliant photography! On your flight out it must have been a 777-200 not a 300 due to the ife and the seat configuration

J

Very nice, thank you for sharing ^

Thanks stu1985. As you have no doubt seen the return was quite a good crew as well. Things are looking up at BA.

Thanks Jenzo. You are of course correct and I have corrected the post.

A pleasure. Thanks for your feedback tagv12

Nice start to another Moomba RTW in F ^

Not boring at all and if it's even half as good as the Vietnam one then it will be excellent!

As you know I always have a regional connection to EDI so don't have to suffer the joys of LHR Immigration but I definitely see your point. You would think the chap would have known if IRIS was working or not!

Great photos and I do hope there will be your usual flickr links with 'additional' photos as this one goes along. I like that ^

Just a wee query why did you go to CPT for 1 night when your journey was starting from JNB?

An excellent start to your report, as always. I look forward to the rest of your travels.

Eric

I am going to contact BA and suggest that their immigrations queue monitors make it their business to know if IRIS is working.

Thanks PETER01.
There are a few extra photos from this section of the report but not that many so I haven't supplied a link. You can click on any of the photos and they will take you to my flickr account and you can see what else is in the set.

Umm, because I could? You haven't yet realised the extent of my addiction. :D I also like the Westin in Cape Town and it meant two more flights for the trip. :p


Thanks Eric. It will be a while before this continues but I might write a mini report for my next trip home mentioned in my introduction to this report.

Only as yet read the introduction, and know that I am going to enjoy your first three episodes which I see you have posted, plus enjoying all the culinary bits. Now down to business to get reading, this will keep me from getting bored at work^:D

Enjoying this Moomba, now subscribed. ^:)