I'm afraid you missed a trick, Petrus. If you photographed two of those fish dishes side-by-side you could have used the phrase "four quenelles".
I promise, it would have had them rolling in the aisles. Really.
I promise, it would have had them rolling in the aisles. Really.
Flew on BA1 yesterday (May 1).
This is the first time I have seen the flight COMPLETELY full with 32 passengers. Was very surprised by this. Normally it is only the JFK-LCY leg that is full.
Few if any banker-types on board. Looked more like a plane full of leisure passengers heading to New York for the May Bank Holiday weekend.
Crew were excellent, incredibly friendly but still professional. Handed out a Golden Ticket.
The fairy cakes served with tea was a surprise. Did not that on the same flight last month.
This is the first time I have seen the flight COMPLETELY full with 32 passengers. Was very surprised by this. Normally it is only the JFK-LCY leg that is full.
Few if any banker-types on board. Looked more like a plane full of leisure passengers heading to New York for the May Bank Holiday weekend.
Crew were excellent, incredibly friendly but still professional. Handed out a Golden Ticket.
The fairy cakes served with tea was a surprise. Did not that on the same flight last month.
Quote:
This is the first time I have seen the flight COMPLETELY full with 32 passengers. Was very surprised by this. Normally it is only the JFK-LCY leg that is full.
Few if any banker-types on board. Looked more like a plane full of leisure passengers heading to New York for the May Bank Holiday weekend.
Crew were excellent, incredibly friendly but still professional. Handed out a Golden Ticket.
The fairy cakes served with tea was a surprise. Did not that on the same flight last month.
I must have less original travel dates but I have had completely full several times! Originally Posted by KenJohn
Flew on BA1 yesterday (May 1).This is the first time I have seen the flight COMPLETELY full with 32 passengers. Was very surprised by this. Normally it is only the JFK-LCY leg that is full.
Few if any banker-types on board. Looked more like a plane full of leisure passengers heading to New York for the May Bank Holiday weekend.
Crew were excellent, incredibly friendly but still professional. Handed out a Golden Ticket.
The fairy cakes served with tea was a surprise. Did not that on the same flight last month.
Back to the topic and report 
As the flight was light with lots of seats free at the rear of the plane it was no problem switching sides catching the wonderful views of Massachusetts and then Long Island.
Bridgehamtpon, still suffering from the Arctic Winter that plagued big parts of America for months.
A couple of cabin snaps.
Whoever designed/commissioned the seat and decided to place the magazine rack just above the foot rest really needs to have their brain checked. I mean why would you obstruct prime real estate in this manner?! Anyone above 180cm/6ft get half their feet crammed against it. It is idiotic. If they had moved them up less than a foot, this bed would have one of the best in the sky.
We took the long turn over the Atlantic before approaching over Long Beach with magnificent views on this clear winter day. Taxi was quick and embarking swift. Unfortunately we would not be able to benefit from the domestic arrival as we had to go to BA arrivals to file a missing luggage report. What transpired surprised both of us and was perhaps not the best performance of the usually quite good BA JFK team.
We informed the agent that we had been told in Shannon that our bags did not make it onto the BA1 flight. Tags where checked and the lady adamantly claimed the bags did arrive on BA1 and had been loaded.
I repeated what we had been told at Shannon.
She then said you need to go back to Baggage Claim and get your bags.
I said no there are no bags.
She called someone near the baggage belts, who unsurprisingly told her there are no more suitcases there.
Finally she decides to go and check for herself.
Returns 5 minutes later and confirms, there are no bags.
Well I told you so...
She then updates her system and exclaims; your bags are on Finnair and will arrive JFK in about 30 minutes.
I say ok no problem, make sure they get sent to us asap in Midtown.
She mumbles something about that they will get to us in the evening.
Cool, lets get out of here.
We jumped in a Cab (both clapping our hands from excitement! Finally, NYC together again and no kids. I used to live in Manhattan and the then Ms Petrus came to visit and we managed a trip also after moving back) and steered the driver towards 5th Avenue and 41st Street. After recommendations from friends and many on FT we decided to try the Andaz 5th Av. Hotel. This is a Hyatt Boutique hotel.
And wow. This is our new favourite hotel in the world. It may not be top tier luxury, but the service, staff, breakfast, housekeeping, location and rooms are truly outstanding value for money considering this is NYC.
We paid around 265USD per night excl. taxes (corporate rate) and then used a Hyatt Diamond Suite Upgrade to a Andaz Balcony Suite. Unfortunately all the Splash Suites were sold out, but the hotel still bended policy and gave as suite. More about the suite later.
As a Diamond there is a great benefit in this hotel. As there is no club lounge, you get a 75USD daily allowance for breakfast. And there is no buffet, rather you get freshly cooked delicious meals, often artisan. It was all delicious.
Overall this is a very sleek looking hotel with tremendous staff.
All guests are offered free coffee in the morning and from the late afternoon hours and into the evening they also get complimentary wine which is consumed in this lounge area. It is brilliant. And you can bring it to your room.
Speaking of the room, the beds are quite comfortable and the view from floor to ceiling windows very nice. There is also a small balcony for a cheeky smoke.
Now, as we had no luggage, Mrs Petrus was not that keen on going for dinner wearing the same clothes she'd been in for 15 hours, most of that time in air planes. Dinner was at six, it was 3.30pm. Tell a woman to "do some quick shopping" and all hell breaks loose.
In the end, she found something but it did not help the biting cold. Poor girl!
Dinner was at Yasuda and it was brilliant. Post dinner it was straight to hotel for cuddly time. Lights out.
Breakfast 1... delicious!
No bags had arrived the previous evening and still nothing after Lunch. So we started investigating our insurance coverage vis a vis BA and it turned out the latter would cover more. The shopping spree began (which it would have done anyway mind, but nice to know the essentials are covered).
In all honesty, we both had quit a lot of nice clothes and shoes in our luggage, so not getting them back would have ruined the trip. I was a bit worried because it was over 24h and BA had no clue where the bags were.
Shopping went well with the usual stores and shops visited.
Back at the hotel while Mrs P was getting ready I took it upon me to investigate about the missing luggage. Passengers of the CWLCY service can call BA's premium hotline for assistance. This is separate from the normal Gold line. A very friendly young man assisted and started researching. He could see that bags had indeed been loaded on Finnair directly at ARN, but they had not been seen at JFK.
He promised to investigate, leave a note for the night shift and get back to me the following day in case nothing came up.
Mrs Petrus was now back in business and looked absolutely ravishing for our Friday night dinner with local friends down in Chelsea. As an added bonus they invited us to their wedding which would take place during European winter in Punta Cana. Splendid.
Dinner was great, but around 12pm I could not keep my eyes open and we decided to call it quits.
Breakfast 2... delicious!
Another epic breakfast.
The morning started with the usual; I could not sleep due to time difference. Ms P did not have this problem. Jealous. I called reception to check if any news on our luggage, they said we might have something here.
Rushed down to check, and indeed our bags had arrived. The relief! Spirits are even higher. It turned out, our luggage had indeed arrived at JFK about 30 minutes after BA1, but it took them nearly 40 hours to get them delivered to Manhattan. I did send polite letters to senior BA people about this, explaining that we where not happy about the delayed delivery. I mean bags go missing, it happens. But for them to be stuck at JFK for nearly 2 days is entirely unnecessary and cost BA cash and bad will. More on that later.
Saturday dinner would be at my favourite place in the world: Peter Luger Steakhouse, Williamsburg Brooklyn. Even a month out we could only get a table for 3.45 so we made it a combined late lunch/dinner. The meat was spectacular as always and so the Martini's. Service surprisingly friendly. This place is known for grumpy service. We shared a Porterhouse for three... just almost finished all of it.
Siesta after that monster dinner...
Evening drinks at The Peninsula Roof Bar. Suddenly it was spring in NY.
I love talking early morning strolls in Manhattan before the hustle and bustle starts. Also reminds of when I lived there. And of course, every morning should start with a freshly brewed Pike Place. Both of us are big fans of this American coffee chain, and half of our luggage is often packed with coffee beans to take home.
41st street
Another outstanding breakfast
True Blue
How cool is that? Jean Georges of 3 star Michelin Fame opens a Chicken joint in the rebuilt MSG. I love this city! The new MSG is brilliant. What an arena.
Next part shortly. Thanks for looking so far ^
As the flight was light with lots of seats free at the rear of the plane it was no problem switching sides catching the wonderful views of Massachusetts and then Long Island.
Bridgehamtpon, still suffering from the Arctic Winter that plagued big parts of America for months.
A couple of cabin snaps.
Whoever designed/commissioned the seat and decided to place the magazine rack just above the foot rest really needs to have their brain checked. I mean why would you obstruct prime real estate in this manner?! Anyone above 180cm/6ft get half their feet crammed against it. It is idiotic. If they had moved them up less than a foot, this bed would have one of the best in the sky.
We took the long turn over the Atlantic before approaching over Long Beach with magnificent views on this clear winter day. Taxi was quick and embarking swift. Unfortunately we would not be able to benefit from the domestic arrival as we had to go to BA arrivals to file a missing luggage report. What transpired surprised both of us and was perhaps not the best performance of the usually quite good BA JFK team.
We informed the agent that we had been told in Shannon that our bags did not make it onto the BA1 flight. Tags where checked and the lady adamantly claimed the bags did arrive on BA1 and had been loaded.
I repeated what we had been told at Shannon.
She then said you need to go back to Baggage Claim and get your bags.
I said no there are no bags.
She called someone near the baggage belts, who unsurprisingly told her there are no more suitcases there.
Finally she decides to go and check for herself.
Returns 5 minutes later and confirms, there are no bags.
Well I told you so...
She then updates her system and exclaims; your bags are on Finnair and will arrive JFK in about 30 minutes.
I say ok no problem, make sure they get sent to us asap in Midtown.
She mumbles something about that they will get to us in the evening.
Cool, lets get out of here.
We jumped in a Cab (both clapping our hands from excitement! Finally, NYC together again and no kids. I used to live in Manhattan and the then Ms Petrus came to visit and we managed a trip also after moving back) and steered the driver towards 5th Avenue and 41st Street. After recommendations from friends and many on FT we decided to try the Andaz 5th Av. Hotel. This is a Hyatt Boutique hotel.
And wow. This is our new favourite hotel in the world. It may not be top tier luxury, but the service, staff, breakfast, housekeeping, location and rooms are truly outstanding value for money considering this is NYC.
We paid around 265USD per night excl. taxes (corporate rate) and then used a Hyatt Diamond Suite Upgrade to a Andaz Balcony Suite. Unfortunately all the Splash Suites were sold out, but the hotel still bended policy and gave as suite. More about the suite later.
As a Diamond there is a great benefit in this hotel. As there is no club lounge, you get a 75USD daily allowance for breakfast. And there is no buffet, rather you get freshly cooked delicious meals, often artisan. It was all delicious.
Overall this is a very sleek looking hotel with tremendous staff.
All guests are offered free coffee in the morning and from the late afternoon hours and into the evening they also get complimentary wine which is consumed in this lounge area. It is brilliant. And you can bring it to your room.
Speaking of the room, the beds are quite comfortable and the view from floor to ceiling windows very nice. There is also a small balcony for a cheeky smoke.
Now, as we had no luggage, Mrs Petrus was not that keen on going for dinner wearing the same clothes she'd been in for 15 hours, most of that time in air planes. Dinner was at six, it was 3.30pm. Tell a woman to "do some quick shopping" and all hell breaks loose.
In the end, she found something but it did not help the biting cold. Poor girl!
Dinner was at Yasuda and it was brilliant. Post dinner it was straight to hotel for cuddly time. Lights out.
Breakfast 1... delicious!
No bags had arrived the previous evening and still nothing after Lunch. So we started investigating our insurance coverage vis a vis BA and it turned out the latter would cover more. The shopping spree began (which it would have done anyway mind, but nice to know the essentials are covered).
In all honesty, we both had quit a lot of nice clothes and shoes in our luggage, so not getting them back would have ruined the trip. I was a bit worried because it was over 24h and BA had no clue where the bags were.
Shopping went well with the usual stores and shops visited.
Back at the hotel while Mrs P was getting ready I took it upon me to investigate about the missing luggage. Passengers of the CWLCY service can call BA's premium hotline for assistance. This is separate from the normal Gold line. A very friendly young man assisted and started researching. He could see that bags had indeed been loaded on Finnair directly at ARN, but they had not been seen at JFK.
He promised to investigate, leave a note for the night shift and get back to me the following day in case nothing came up.
Mrs Petrus was now back in business and looked absolutely ravishing for our Friday night dinner with local friends down in Chelsea. As an added bonus they invited us to their wedding which would take place during European winter in Punta Cana. Splendid.
Dinner was great, but around 12pm I could not keep my eyes open and we decided to call it quits.
Breakfast 2... delicious!
Another epic breakfast.
The morning started with the usual; I could not sleep due to time difference. Ms P did not have this problem. Jealous. I called reception to check if any news on our luggage, they said we might have something here.
Rushed down to check, and indeed our bags had arrived. The relief! Spirits are even higher.
It turned out, our luggage had indeed arrived at JFK about 30 minutes after BA1, but it took them nearly 40 hours to get them delivered to Manhattan. I did send polite letters to senior BA people about this, explaining that we where not happy about the delayed delivery. I mean bags go missing, it happens. But for them to be stuck at JFK for nearly 2 days is entirely unnecessary and cost BA cash and bad will. More on that later. Saturday dinner would be at my favourite place in the world: Peter Luger Steakhouse, Williamsburg Brooklyn. Even a month out we could only get a table for 3.45 so we made it a combined late lunch/dinner. The meat was spectacular as always and so the Martini's. Service surprisingly friendly. This place is known for grumpy service. We shared a Porterhouse for three... just almost finished all of it.
Siesta after that monster dinner...
Evening drinks at The Peninsula Roof Bar. Suddenly it was spring in NY.
I love talking early morning strolls in Manhattan before the hustle and bustle starts. Also reminds of when I lived there. And of course, every morning should start with a freshly brewed Pike Place. Both of us are big fans of this American coffee chain, and half of our luggage is often packed with coffee beans to take home.
41st street
Another outstanding breakfast
True Blue
How cool is that? Jean Georges of 3 star Michelin Fame opens a Chicken joint in the rebuilt MSG. I love this city! The new MSG is brilliant. What an arena.
Next part shortly. Thanks for looking so far ^
Suspended
Really enjoyed this report of BA flight 1 - really good pictures of the cabin and interesting insight about the location of the magazine rack. Also interesting that a snack menu exists on this route.
xxxxx
Thanks for sharing!
I am really enjoying this trip report!
I am really enjoying this trip report!
Loving the trip report ^
...and the mild breakfast obsession
...and the mild breakfast obsession
Those breakfasts look wonderful! I know the Andaz Wall st which also has very nice ones but may need to try this alternative at some point! Enjoy the rest of your weekend "a deux"!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend "a deux"!Great report.
A while ago, I connected at LHR going to JFK. My bag didn't make the connection.
Good service. I was paged on arrival and told that it was on the next flight which was arriving around an hour later.
It took 24 hours for them to deliver the bag to my hotel. I really wish I had just stayed at the airport and collected it myself. Was this a consideration?
I spent the whole time picturing the bag sitting alone at JFK T7 with people walking past it.
A while ago, I connected at LHR going to JFK. My bag didn't make the connection.
Good service. I was paged on arrival and told that it was on the next flight which was arriving around an hour later.
It took 24 hours for them to deliver the bag to my hotel. I really wish I had just stayed at the airport and collected it myself. Was this a consideration?
I spent the whole time picturing the bag sitting alone at JFK T7 with people walking past it.