Nov 14, 2013, 2:00 pm
Last edit by: olybeast
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Moscow BA F (LHR-DME-LHR)
Nov 1, 2013, 4:34 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: MAN
Programs: MUCCI, BA Blue, IHG Gold
Posts: 1,402
Moscow BA F (LHR-DME-LHR)
Moscow in BA F (LHR-DME-LHR)
Welcome to my trip report about our first First with British Airways for my 26th birthday! Please read the report in my signature from Feb 2011 to find out what I got up to for my 24th birthday.
I fly BA whenever I can and have done a few CE redemptions but I saved and saved my avios and blew the lot on a Moscow RFS in First. At the time I couldn’t wait to fly First and the Moscow route is the cheapest First route; it runs a long haul service on one rotation per day. Moscow is 60000 avios per person which took about 18 months to save for the two of us. We didn’t particularly want to visit Moscow but I was dying to go anywhere in First.
In total, the whole trip cost:
120,000 Avios.
2 Russian Visas = £250.
2 nights in the Hilton Moscow Leningradskaya Executive Room = 12700 RUB (£250 ish).
I won’t bore you with our domestic connection from BHD the day before and our overnight stay in the T5 Travelodge so the itinerary in this report is:
2nd Feb 2013 08:35 BA233 LHR-DME BA F 747 (seats 1A and1K)
4th Feb 2013 17:50 BA232 DME-LHR BA F 747 (seats 4E and 4F)
Disclaimer: I’m no photographer, or writer so take it as it is
My birthday is the 1st February, which was a Friday, so we decided to start out trip on that day and take our first First on the Saturday morning. I don’t think I have ever been as excited as I was that day! I have been reading about BA F and avios for years. I’ve had the BA credit card since June 2008 and now, in Feb 2013 I have enough avios for First!! We got the 4:40am Hoppa bus from the Travelodge and were at the First check in before it opened. Check in was a breeze and we were on our way to the Concorde Room with boarding passes for seats 1A and 1K.
First class check in at Heathrow Terminal 5
The magic door!
I have been to the Concorde Room once before in Aug 2012, thanks to c-w-s, and since then I had been itching for more LPGS! I love the Concorde Room. The feeling of exclusivity and the great service make it one of my favourite rooms on the planet. Without a care in the world, the finest food and drink at our fingertips, we sat in luxury. We had made it.
My attempt at an infamous FT photo
Concorde Bar!
Champagne Sir? At 5am? When in the Concorde Room!!
Out on the terrace with the horse lamp, lovely!
Looking into the Concorde Room from the terrace
A peasant as seen from the Concorde Room terrace
I’ve made it!
As we had time to kill (5:00 – 8:35) I booked a cabana ahead of time to see what they are like. There are a couple of photos below of us in the cabana that doesn’t have a door between the sitting area and the bathroom! Cabana number 3. I’m sure that isn’t the way it is supposed to be HAHA.
Lovely tap in the cabana
After checking out the cabana we headed for breakfast. I had the contemporary eggs and soldiers but my other half went for the infamous eggs benedict and she enjoyed it very much! All with a glass of Bollinger Rose of course!
Welcome to my trip report about our first First with British Airways for my 26th birthday! Please read the report in my signature from Feb 2011 to find out what I got up to for my 24th birthday.
I fly BA whenever I can and have done a few CE redemptions but I saved and saved my avios and blew the lot on a Moscow RFS in First. At the time I couldn’t wait to fly First and the Moscow route is the cheapest First route; it runs a long haul service on one rotation per day. Moscow is 60000 avios per person which took about 18 months to save for the two of us. We didn’t particularly want to visit Moscow but I was dying to go anywhere in First.
In total, the whole trip cost:
120,000 Avios.
2 Russian Visas = £250.
2 nights in the Hilton Moscow Leningradskaya Executive Room = 12700 RUB (£250 ish).
I won’t bore you with our domestic connection from BHD the day before and our overnight stay in the T5 Travelodge so the itinerary in this report is:
2nd Feb 2013 08:35 BA233 LHR-DME BA F 747 (seats 1A and1K)
4th Feb 2013 17:50 BA232 DME-LHR BA F 747 (seats 4E and 4F)
Disclaimer: I’m no photographer, or writer so take it as it is
My birthday is the 1st February, which was a Friday, so we decided to start out trip on that day and take our first First on the Saturday morning. I don’t think I have ever been as excited as I was that day! I have been reading about BA F and avios for years. I’ve had the BA credit card since June 2008 and now, in Feb 2013 I have enough avios for First!! We got the 4:40am Hoppa bus from the Travelodge and were at the First check in before it opened. Check in was a breeze and we were on our way to the Concorde Room with boarding passes for seats 1A and 1K.
First class check in at Heathrow Terminal 5
The magic door!
I have been to the Concorde Room once before in Aug 2012, thanks to c-w-s, and since then I had been itching for more LPGS! I love the Concorde Room. The feeling of exclusivity and the great service make it one of my favourite rooms on the planet. Without a care in the world, the finest food and drink at our fingertips, we sat in luxury. We had made it.
My attempt at an infamous FT photo
Concorde Bar!
Champagne Sir? At 5am? When in the Concorde Room!!
Out on the terrace with the horse lamp, lovely!
Looking into the Concorde Room from the terrace
A peasant as seen from the Concorde Room terrace
I’ve made it!
As we had time to kill (5:00 – 8:35) I booked a cabana ahead of time to see what they are like. There are a couple of photos below of us in the cabana that doesn’t have a door between the sitting area and the bathroom! Cabana number 3. I’m sure that isn’t the way it is supposed to be HAHA.
Lovely tap in the cabana
After checking out the cabana we headed for breakfast. I had the contemporary eggs and soldiers but my other half went for the infamous eggs benedict and she enjoyed it very much! All with a glass of Bollinger Rose of course!
Nov 1, 2013, 4:35 pm
#2
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: MAN
Programs: MUCCI, BA Blue, IHG Gold
Posts: 1,402
Beautiful
The one, the only, the infamous, eggs benedict!!! (my other half still goes on about it)
We then ventured back to the cabana for the rest of our allotted time there.
Drink that up and we’ll get another!
My other half went off for a treatment in the spa. I sat and sipped in awe.
Sadly it was soon time to leave the Concorde Room, but happily I was on my way to 1A on a BA 747, a dream of mine. The next few photos are of us boarding and settling into our seats. There were 4 of us in total in the First cabin: myself and my other half in 1AK, a businessman in 2K and a woman in 2A. I got some great photos of the cabin and the rest of the plane which was pretty much empty.
Our chariot awaits!
Boarding at gate B36 today.
Onboard: we passed the CW peasants
This is where it’s at
Spoiled forever I think!
The only way to fly!
The only way to fly 2!
Beakfast Menu
Champagne please!
You can lead a girl to First…..
Nov 1, 2013, 4:37 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: MAN
Programs: MUCCI, BA Blue, IHG Gold
Posts: 1,402
Let’s get underway!
It was time for breakfast number 2. We had fish, then fruit and yogurt then blueberry toast, it was all very nice, we were definitely caught up in the luxurious surroundings. I was feeling very full at this point so spent the rest of the flight sipping champagne which was always topped up! I also had the chance to chat to the crew a bit in the galley while in flight. They really are delightful people on BA.
It is a very tight squeeze in the buddy seat
I gave up my 1A for a crew member so she could feel the luxury
Obligatory leg room shot
And again
Time flies when in BA F. We soon landed into DME and made our way to the Hilton Leningradskaya.
The Hilton
The executive lounge in the Hilton, it’s really just the common area on the 6th floor.
The reception area in the hotel
The executive rooms aren’t massive
A couple of days later it was time to return to the airport. Below is a photo of the lounge available at DME. It is huge with great views, but the food offerings are terrible. We had a long wait. Maybe it just seemed long because the lounge was awful and I was so excited to get back on First!
The DME lounge
Nov 1, 2013, 4:38 pm
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: MAN
Programs: MUCCI, BA Blue, IHG Gold
Posts: 1,402
Our ride home in the snow
For our flight home we had seats 4E and F. These seats are in the centre of the cabin and feel very open. We were the only ones in the cabin! This made us feel very special indeed and although we were delayed for over 2 hours on the ground we really didn’t notice it while sipping champagne and watching the IFE.
Not a bad place to spend a few hours
Legroom/relaxation shot
Pyjamas and pillow
Can just about see the runway through the windows
let’s go!
Caviar to start I think
Because we were 2 hours delayed we missed our connection to BHD. So BA gave us a room at the Sofitel with a free dinner there also. I had the burger and my other half had the curry. It was a good meal but we were so tired we just wanted to go to bed.
Sofitel burger
Thai Curry
Nov 1, 2013, 4:38 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: MAN
Programs: MUCCI, BA Blue, IHG Gold
Posts: 1,402
The next day we got on our flight to BHD and had breakfast. I must say I do love the BA breakfast on domestic sectors. It is just right in my opinion.
Extremely tasty!
Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you too have the chance to fly BA First class in the future. It is well worth every avios-point-earning minute of your life!
Extremely tasty!
Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you too have the chance to fly BA First class in the future. It is well worth every avios-point-earning minute of your life!
Nov 1, 2013, 4:44 pm
#6
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: ORD, BOS
Programs: United, Hilton Honors
Posts: 91
What's up with calling people peasants?
Nov 1, 2013, 4:53 pm
#7
Suspended
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 4,959
Great report and great pics. Thanks for posting.
Nov 1, 2013, 4:55 pm
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: MAN
Programs: MUCCI, BA Blue, IHG Gold
Posts: 1,402
Nov 1, 2013, 5:00 pm
#9
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Geneva, Dubai, Paris
Programs: Disillusioned Cent
Posts: 1,880
Congratulations on your first flight in F! Love your enthusiasm, that's how it's supposed to be...
Nov 1, 2013, 5:12 pm
#10
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Lewes
Programs: HiltonH. Gold Starwood Gold BA BLUES! Mucci.
Posts: 4,833
My girlfriend wouldn't let me scribble on her face in black marker pen!
Looked colder than a cold thing in a cold place in Moscow.
Interesting read thanks, good to see BA offering caviar which is rare these days.
Looked colder than a cold thing in a cold place in Moscow.
Interesting read thanks, good to see BA offering caviar which is rare these days.
Nov 1, 2013, 5:24 pm
#11
Join Date: Aug 2010
Programs: TK Elite Plus, SAS EBG, QR Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,297
+1
I'd say it's very premature to call people peasants. Flying in a premium cabin doesn't give you the right to act disrespectful, which I guess is something most people on this board understand…
Apart from that a nice report. Looks like you and your partner had a great time. A bit surprised to see them serve Caviar in First, but I guess that's only offered on flights from Russia?
I'd say it's very premature to call people peasants. Flying in a premium cabin doesn't give you the right to act disrespectful, which I guess is something most people on this board understand…
Apart from that a nice report. Looks like you and your partner had a great time. A bit surprised to see them serve Caviar in First, but I guess that's only offered on flights from Russia?
Nov 1, 2013, 5:54 pm
#12
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Quite close to NQY
Programs: BAEC Silver,clubcard,clubcard plus, BA Amex................ And Mucci x3 ;)
Posts: 9,488
+1
I'd say it's very premature to call people peasants. Flying in a premium cabin doesn't give you the right to act disrespectful, which I guess is something most people on this board understand…
Apart from that a nice report. Looks like you and your partner had a great time. A bit surprised to see them serve Caviar in First, but I guess that's only offered on flights from Russia?
I'd say it's very premature to call people peasants. Flying in a premium cabin doesn't give you the right to act disrespectful, which I guess is something most people on this board understand…
Apart from that a nice report. Looks like you and your partner had a great time. A bit surprised to see them serve Caviar in First, but I guess that's only offered on flights from Russia?
Perhaps you both need to sit back and chuckle at the joke as it was no doubt intended by the OP
Exactly what I thought as I read the report and looked at the piccys ! I know mrs cs wouldn't allow me to scribble on her face with a black marker pen
cs
Nov 1, 2013, 6:03 pm
#13
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: LHR
Programs: Accor PLT,Thai Silver, HH Dia, SPG Titanium (LT Gold), Aegean Gold, BA Silver
Posts: 5,119
I am glad other picked up on that comment. Totally uncalled for.
Nov 1, 2013, 6:46 pm
#14
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 7,464
I'm afraid that calling other individuals "peasants" makes me somewhat underwhelmed with your TR.
I'm glad you enjoyed it, but I am sorry to say, just because you've sat for a couple of hours in a First class seat on a plane, I don't think you've "made it".
And those flyers on this board (myself included) that survive on the domestic breakfasts week in, week out would not agree with your review. It is not of great quality and is very unhealthy.
I'm glad you enjoyed it, but I am sorry to say, just because you've sat for a couple of hours in a First class seat on a plane, I don't think you've "made it".
And those flyers on this board (myself included) that survive on the domestic breakfasts week in, week out would not agree with your review. It is not of great quality and is very unhealthy.
Nov 1, 2013, 6:53 pm
#15
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: My existence is what matters
Programs: NZ, QF
Posts: 469
I'd really appreciate the 'joke' if OP described themselves as a couple of peasants moving towards the nose of the big bird, like how he described others. That's called inconsiderate.