Richmond_Surrey

I think A321 Transcon was very good. I liked the steak, as you said, I couldn't fault it in any way.

The way the screens were set means there's not a lot of privacy and I could actually see your screen very well from my seat.

Admirals Club lounges were very poor in my opinion and I'm definitely not looking forward to go back.

madfish

I have often wondered about this as an issue with young children on flights if they can see other people's programmes which may not be suitable. Fortunately I watched 'Pride' which I really enjoyed and then it was mainly on the flight tracker.

madfish

Having made it to T8, I went straight to the checkin desk and spoke to one of the agents. She immediately sorted out my seat for BA2 as well as checking me in for my other flights. Don�t know why AA couldn�t have possibly made more of an effort?

From there I went to priority security, which seemed fairly slow going. I really don�t understand how security is so different between different places, liquids in, liquids out, shoes on, shoes off. Just as well I had plenty of time. Exiting security, I was straight up to Galleries to have a little mooch around. All fairy quiet but steadily became busier.

I was hoping to be able to get a massage before the flight, but with the spa not opening until 4pm it was a case of wait and see. Staff started to turn up well before four and I was able to book in straight away for a back, neck and shoulders massage. This was excellent and was a great way to prepare for the upcoming flight. I did pick at some of the food offerings but wasn�t overly hungry at this point. I was also meeting again with one of the others who had been in Vegas and wanted to see what he was planning in doing with regard to PreFlight Supper even though this was not officially regarded as a sleeper service.

One advantage of traveling on the same flight was that I could be guested into the Flounge at JFK as he is gold. There was clearly a step up from Galleries, and had a pleasant atmosphere. Not to mention bottles of champagne available to pour your own. If I recall this was Laurent Perrier, although not the fabled LPGS. I also tried some of the cheese and crackers. Not sure of the logic of leaving the cheese out in the open to dry out. However, this was nice alongside the champagne. About half an hour before departure we made our way towards the gate. We already knew the flight would be lightly loaded and were expecting two seats each! On boarding I was amazed by the site the confronted me. I was certainly made to look special with only 32 seats in a fair sixed cabin. I found no fault throughout he flight with the aircraft, and the crew were also very good. Perhaps a little too keen to be helpful at times. We pushed back more or less on time and were soon airbourne. It felt a tad rocky as we climbed out of JFK, and I was really hoping that this would not continue. The captain had already advised that we should make good progress across the Atlantic due to strong tailwinds.

I ordered dinner on board, consisting of the (really cannot recall if this is regarded as beef or steak.) I was disappointed with the starter. The two prawns were fine, but there was too much of the avocado and not really sure about the mushroom. This was probably more to do with my taste than anything wrong with it. The one, although beef/steak came separate. This was fairly well although not on the same level as that on the previous AA flight. This was perfectly edible and I was soon ready to try the chocolate and almond tart. Or not as they had none left by the time they cam eto me. Most disappointing. I really fancied something sweet and the two chocolates that I also received did not cut it for me. I should have remembered about the club kitchen but forgot to go and raid it.

I was given an iPad as expected and settled down to watch �Wild�. However, I dropped off whilst watching (I may have switched it off � I really don�t recall!) and never saw the end of it. Wanting to make the most of the experience, I had requested to be woken for breakfast, however I was already awake. Although this was a litter offering than that available on BA117 it was somewhat lacking in substance. I suppose though it was probably less than 4 hours since dinner was served. With 4 minutes to go a general announcement was made and the lights switched on. I found this somewhat surprising considering how they had planned for breakfast with various options to increase the time available to sleep for the passengers. The decent into LCY was a little bumpy due to the wind, and being my first time there, it was slightly disconcerting having the river on the left as we touched down. The doors were open fairly swiftly and we were on the bus and into the terminal where we quickly cleared immigration. Overall I was pleased that I had managed to try the babybus and the extra TPs were a clear bonus. But given the choice with future TPs being the same I would probably go for the ease of LHR on the return, although would still like to try it for the outbound.

I opted for the DLR and underground rout to LHR, and had slightly over 3 hours in which to make the connection. As it was I was in the queue for fast track security at T5 shortly after half past 8 and ready to meet yet more FTers in the CCR where I was able to have another breakfast. Although no champagne this time.

madfish

When I originally planned this itinerary it was with the idea of ditching the last leg to DUB and so I added a LHR/MAN connection as part of the booked PNR. However, realising that going for gold rather than just silver was more of a proposition due to the soft landing, I would effectively have gold/silver status for three years if I could achieve gold in this one. I therefore found myself in the position of having a flight to Manchester and having to then get back to LHR for to fly to DUB later that same evening.

It was all fairly easy getting to the gate for the flight and everything was very much as would have been expected. The flight was uneventful, apart from I found myself nodding off again as we began to taxi to the runway. This was becoming something of a habit.

We were a bit slow in getting to the runway and so were slightly behind schedule arriving into Manchester. On arrival I couldn�t recall the advice of whether to go through flight connections are to just exit and come back in. I knew I would have plenty of time so decided to just go out and back in. Getting through to security was fairly straight forward. Unfortunately Manchester based security continue to frustrate due to their bizarre queuing system. We were directed to join a line (no fast track this time) whilst other lines were clearly shorter or virtually empty. After waiting and getting nowhere, I asked to move. Fortunately a manager had come along and was happy to over-rule his colleague who really didn�t care about making it easier for the customer. I had acquired during the trip various amenity kits and had had no problem taking these through any of the airports, just leaving them in the original bag. However, this was not good enough at Manchester. It total security took around 10 minutes and would have been less had I been directed to an empty queue at the start. I headed to the lounge and was in there about 20 minutes after getting off the plane.

madfish

In order to get back to LHR I had to book a separate HBO fare. As such there was no lounge access with this ticket. I had various plans as to how I would tackle this. Firstly, I was going to make it known that I had a connecting flight in CE. Secondly, I had arrived that morning in CW (albeit into LCY). Thirdly, the app had upgraded to show Bronze and I was hoping to show that the recent flights were not included and would easily take me beyond Silver. This last one would be really pushing it and I didn�t know how successful it might be. However, the agent was more than happy to accept the first plan, and I even had a fourth when another FTer recognised me and offered to guest me in as he waited behind me in the queue. Turns out he was positioning to DUB on his way to HNL the following day. Small world.

This was my first visit to the lounge at MAN. It was fairly pleasant. Nice view of the runway and there were some food offerings. Not much else to report. I was staying off the alcohol. The inbound was delayed slightly and so we found our departure delayed. Once the gate was announced we headed down and joined the queue for fast track boarding. This was another fairly uneventful flight, with the exception that we possibly caught the runway change over at LHR which meant we had a short hold. Prior to leaving MAN FlightRadar was showing all flights just heading straight in. This may just be me clutching at straws to explain the hold rather than a genuine reason. I also found myself in row 4 on tis flight, the first time on AA/BA this week when I had not had the converted row 1 (with the exception of the TATL.)

On arrival at LHR we headed straight through flight connections and up into the flounge. There were a few people on the flight with tight connections, and given the delay on the inbound a few had clearly not met conformance and would need to be rebooked.

madfish

The final flight of the run itself was fast approaching, this would see me return to DUB where I would stay overnight before repositioning back to MAN the following morning.

The flounge was very much as expected and I allowed myself a couple of glasses of champagne before being joined by another FTer who was originally going to guest me in. Once again it was good to discuss travel plans with various people. I had quite a long wait for my flight having deliberately booked the latest flight to ensure that I had enough time to get to LHR from MAN should I have missed the flight. As it was the flight was delayed and despite being due to depart at 21.40 it was about 30 minutes later in the end. For the first time I was not at a window. This didn�t really bother me as I was just too tired to care. The CE cabin consisted of just three rows and yet the flight itself appeared quite full. Therefore we were served throughout the entire flight by the Purser. Very efficient service and he even had time to help out in the main cabin.

What was particularly interesting about this flight was that I overheard him welcome personally the passengers in 1A and 1C. Were they somebody special? I never did find out who they were but perhaps a bit of a clue was that they both ordered the champagne. Perhaps they weren�t used to it after all! I have learnt my lesson about the monopole and stuck with a G&T to accompany my salad which was the same as the one I received on the first BA flight back on Friday. It seems a million miles and a world away.


A short while later the same greeting was extended to myself and Mr1F. Had my increase in status been acknowledged, or had he just been reading the passenger list?

We eventually landed into Dublin about 11.30pm and it was time for me to find somewhere comfortable to spend the night before going back airside to catch the final flight of the whole itinerary.

schnapperin

Thanks for the lovely live triprot madfish! I'm looking forward to my HNL run later in July (but managed to fit a week in Hawaii in).

madfish

Final flight has just landed back at MAN. Details to follow. Need to pick up the car and drive home!

madfish

Knowing I was not going to be arriving at Dublin until late and then leaving early the next morning I decided to forego a hotel room for the night, especially as I would need time to get there and back ready to be on board at 5.50am. Realistically the most time I would have had in the room would be 5 hours and more likely 4!

Terminal 1 wasn't exactly quiet at that time of night, with quite a number of people ensconced near McDonalds. After a while typing up some of my report I decided to go an explore terminal 2. This was clearly a wise idea. It was much quitter and there was some nice comfy seats in which I was able to nap for an hour or so.

Wondering back to T1 I went through security and this was all fairly painless before making the fairly large trek over to the 100 gates. Boarding commenced on time, and what was quite interesting on this route was the lack of customers in the priority boarding queue. About 4, compared to the large numbers on the previous flight. Effectively this means you spend more time queuing on the stairs that at the gate. The flight itself was about 4/5ths full, or certainly seemed to be at the back where I was sat in a middle seat. What a comedown! However, as doors closed I self-upgraded to an empty window seat next to me, much to my relief and that of the person in the aisle seat.

Once again it seemed to take an age to get from pushback to takeoff, so it was a good job I was already dozing on and off.

The flight was uneventful, but I found the lighting to be very harsh and not conducive to sleeping. Sleeping passengers do not buy things! However, on landing we all had to disembark from the one set of doors at the front. Not great as this really slowed down the process. I was certainly glad to be off the aircraft and on the way to collect the car from the Meet and Great at T3. Have to say, the journey home was hard work and I stopped twice to have a rest, and probably should have stopped a third time.

madfish

Well, that was my first ever TP run completed. I managed to complete 12 flights over 7 days, 2 x FR, 6 on BA, 4 on AA. I experienced a range of aircraft and seats, including Club World for the first time. Over six nights I stayed in hotels for only two of these. In hindsight I could have broke this up a bit better to make a more enjoyable experience, especially towards the end when I was very tired. I also managed to meet various FTers both prearranged and by chance. I successfully avoided any irrops, although did suffer a long delay on the departure to JFK. Overall, this was a really good experience and it does have many additional benefits.

The cost of the original ticket was just over �1100, for which I achieved 920Tps. For this I estimate receiving 30,071 avios, plus and additional 9,672 for some flights that I will be taking in the summer.

Giving avios a notional 1p each, these are worth �397.43 and then add to the fact that I have now pre-booked seats for these flights have saved me a further �450. I know I don't need to pre-book these seats, but would have done had I not had the status to do it for free. So, this in itself makes it a worthwhile value.

Fitch

Hey, you missed something out !!! The pleasure of meeting me and teledude for drinks in the Bank Bar at Bellagio :-)

madfish

Of course, I am sure I made mention of meeting FTers in Vegas, although did not want to incriminate anybody by using names! And a very pleasurable experience it was!

teledude

Was actually Lily bar as someone was asleep whilst I was in bank!