Two studs do New York - BA First Class
 

I had a Companion Voucher to use from my Amex card and a load of Avios sitting in my account. Stud 2 was therefore the very lucky beneficiary of a seat in F to New York as my companion. I had never been to New York so was looking forward to being a tourist for 5 days and taking in the sights. The voucher runs out at the end of February and when I was looking to book last year, I had no holidays left to take. So it was decided that we would go in January. Cue cries from friends of "OMG it is gonna be so cold". I didn't mind though. I was quite looking forward to some really cold weather and didn't even mind if there was a bit of snow. The Mother Nature showed herself and New York was blasted with a sh!t load of snow about 10 days before we left. Thankfully, it had all but gone by the time we got there. I had prepared in advance by buying some thermals, a new thick jacket and some good boots to walk around town in.

BA1301, ABZ - LHR, G-EUYT, A320

I got to the airport around 5am and picked up the currency I had ordered and then checked my bag in. BA have started this ridiculous new rule which means that you can't through check bags when you are on separate tickets. Because I used the 2-4-1 voucher for the LHR - JFK flight, I had to book a separate reward flight from ABZ - LHR. So this meant that I had to pick up my bag in Heathrow and then go upstairs and check it in again. Annoying and even more so on the way back!

I headed up to the lounge and had a few espressos while watching the snow gently fall onto the top of the planes waiting to fly off across Europe. I was hoping that it didn't get any worse and disrupt my travel plans. However, I had made sure that I factored in more than enough time at Heathrow in case of delays. By the time I got to the gate, boarding was nearly done. I took my seat at the front of the plane, jackets were taken and we were off before long. Breakfast was served about 30 mins after we left Aberdeen. Usually, the hotel breakfast comes with warm bread, croissants, jam and yoghurt. This was lacking for some reason on this flight. This bugs me. If I pay for a flight, I want the service which they should be giving all of the time. The biggest consistency about BA is the fact that it is inconsistent pretty much all of the time. I messaged BA and asked what happened and got back a namby pamby response along the lines of "Yes, we know that the breakfast should come with those things and we are sorry that it didn't on this occasion." - completely ridiculous response. You either give your customers a service or don't. No in-betweens.

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The sunrise as we approached London was great - I'll bore you with a good few pics!

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I thanked the crew for the flight and headed to baggage reclaim where I got my bag within about 10 mins. I then headed up to departures and checked in at BA's first class wing. The check-in agent wished me a pleasant flight and asked me if I knew my way to the Concorde Room which I confirmed that I did. Security was relatively busy but very efficient. Once I got into the CCR, the first port of call was breakfast (given that I had only picked at the breakfast on board the flight down).

The eggs Benedict with ham hock were brilliant as was the smoked salmon and scrambled eggs. This was washed down with a delicious glass of Laurent Perrier Grand Siècle.

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I then found a seat out on the balcony. The furniture has recently been done up by BA and I wasn't sure whether I would like it. However, I thought it was quite nice. Sometimes the service in the CCR can be non-existent, however, today there was a guy who did regular walk abouts and was more than happy to get refills for people. It was very calm out on the balcony and I am always surprised that you can't really hear any of the hubbub coming from downstairs at the gate level.

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After a while of lounging around, I made my way to the Elemis spa where I had booked a back and shoulder massage. This was a great way to relax before the flight and I felt very chilled once it was finished.

I went back to the CCR and ordered some steamed buns which were delivered quickly. These were great and had a good spice with a kick to it. Washed down with a nice Tanqueray 10 gin and some spiced tonic.

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BA115, LHR - JFK, G-CIVZ, B747

We boarded after having to wait in the queue for a while. Once I was on, I was met by a lovely member of crew who told me that she had been waiting for me and to follow her. She showed me to my seat and said that she would be straight back with a drink for me - champagne of course. I got myself settled in and was given pyjamas, slippers and an amenity kit. I was looking forward to being in F for the next 8 hours (the flight was about an hour longer than usual due to some strong head winds..... not that I mattered one bit though!).

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Refills of LPGS were offered and then we pushed back and the safety video was showed. Before long we were on our way to New York!

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Service started with a drinks run. I started with a gin and tonic. Some mixed nuts were presented but I passed on them as they had some cashews in them (which I am allergic to). Two minutes later, my member of cabin crew had gone to Club and got some crisps for me which were presented in a bowl - great service!

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Tables were set as I was enjoying the film "Victoria and Abdul".

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A nice amuse bouche of salmon with a wasabi cream was laid down.

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I went with the asparagus for starter. It was good, although the cream that came with it was quite heavy.

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Mushroom consommé with croutons to follow - BA do know how to do a good soup!

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For main, I chose the rack of lamb with polenta tart, spinach and a ratatouille. It was great and the ratatouille was especially good.

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At this point, I was getting slightly tired given that I had been up since 4am so I decided to have a sleep. The crew made my bed and I slept soundly for a few hours in the very comfy bed. After I woke up, I ordered some dessert - apple tarte tartin with custard.

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After another few drinks and another movie, it was soon time for afternoon tea.

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A nice selection of sandwiches and tasty cakes all enjoyed while watching the sun set as we approached New York.

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Passport control didn't take too long but it took ages to wait for the bags. I got chatting to my member of cabin crew and loved hearing her stories about her time as crew on Concorde at the start of the 2000s. She was such a great example of excellent BA crew. Bags in hand, we took the metro into town and got to the Crowne Plaza at Times Square. Checked in to my room on the 40th floor with a Times Square view.

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After freshening up, we headed to Hell's Kitchen and settled on a burger joint. Washed down with a few IPAs, it was great. After that, we headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep!

Thanks for sharing, great report... that tart looks great!

Have I missed a joke or something, or have you really just called yourself a stud? :p

Another first class ( no pun intended Stu ) trip report. Looking forward to the next installment. Can I ask why you didn’t use the 241 to book Abz to JFK ?. Was it due to a lack of domestic connections ?

Thanks Schwann for reading! Haha - it was a sort of joke when I wrote the first TR in the "stud" series in 2017...... it's kinda just grown from there.... I certainly have no grand perceptions about my looks LOL!

Cheers mike&co. I didn't start from ABZ because the companion is in London and they wouldn't let me add on a domestic connection to one of the the tickets. No matter how much pleading convinced the agent on the line!

Oh dear my pet hate, the cutlery laid up incorrectly.

No need to be modest! You are quite charmingly photogenic.

And your trip reports are really a joy to read. I find myself looking forward to your posts.

Nice TR, stu1985!

Good TR, we await more

Great start!!

Looking forward to more!

You'll get plenty of use out of your thermals and jacket here! ;)

Great start to your trip report - making me excited about my trip to NYC this summer!

Out of curiosity, since you are a regular BA user, do you know what time check in opens in Aberdeen to drop off your bags? We're booked on the red-eye to LHR and not sure how early I need to get to ABZ to get the bags dropped off and negotiate my way through security.

Ha yes. Such a simple thing to get right....

Aw shucks! Thanks for reading along Vaterland - glad you are enjoying reading!

Cheers florens ^

Hopefully be able to post some more tomorrow!

Thanks roadwarrier!

Thanks! Have written it especially for you seeing as you said I had to do one..... haha!

So my next red eye is next week and I imagine there will be staff at the desk from 5am (maybe even earlier). When I'm on that flight and I am checking bags though, I just make sure I'm there about 50 mins before departure. Enough time to check in and then grab a coffee in the lounge before boarding.

Thanks for the info. Its been a while since I've checked in luggage with BA at ABZ for a trip and then we weren't on the red-eye so morning timing wasn't an issue.

Enjoy the greatest city. Flying BA F from London to New York is the best start possible visiting this city.

Thanks Petrus - was a nice way to start the trip (even better having some great crew to chat to!)

Gooooooooood morning New York! I wasn't too jet lagged - I think I woke around 6am and then dozed for a while longer but managed to get a look at the sunrise coming up behind a backdrop of New York's skyline.

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We grabbed some breakfast in the hotel restaurant and used our $10 breakfast vouchers which we were given at check-in for being Spire Elite members of IHG. There was a good selection of food - both hot and cold items and some interesting smoothies (apple and spinach and some berry one). The apple and spinach smoothie was nice but I didn't eat much as I was still pretty full from the massive burger I had eaten the night before. We got ourselves ready and headed out to take a walk. Unlike me (who was organised for the sub zero temperatures), Stud 2 hadn't taken any thermals and only had trainers and not boots. So, as you can imagine, after a good few hours, he was absolutely freezing and he had to go shopping and do a quick change in order to warm up!

We wandered down 5th Avenue and came across the Rockerfeller Centre.

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I love that there seem to be loads of little churches just dotted all over the city which you can't seem from up above because they are nestled inbetween the tall buildings.

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We walked by Trump Tower and both got a picture flicking it the middle finger but I think that such a picture may get me banned for being against the FT rules - haha!

Start of Central Park at the northern end.

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We then decided to hop on a tour bus in order to see a bit more of the city and get our bearings. We found a guy who sold us tickets (3 days for the price of 2 but I'm sure that he tells everyone that) and we hopped onto the bus which initially took us back to Times Square. We sat upstairs but under the canopy as it was freezing with the wind chill. The guy doing the commentary was great. I can't remember his name but he was an actor wanting to make it on Broadway. He had some great chat and got everyone laughing along with him.

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After our shopping detour, we decided that we would do the 9/11 museum. Seeing Freedom Tower for the first time was absolutely amazing. I knew that it was big but could never truly appreciate the size of it until I was standing beside it gazing up.

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And to think that where the two beautiful memorial water features are there once stood two massive buildings really is something which makes you stop and think about the magnitude of just what happened here back in 2001. It was a very sobering experience and I took some time walking around looking at the names of those who lost their lives etched into the memorial.

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Walking around the museum itself was an experience I will never forget. To see all of the pieces of metal that once formed part of the Twin Towers was something else.

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The highest point of the Twin Towers.

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The walls at the back are, as far as I can remember, the original foundations of the Twin Towers.

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There were a number of exhibitions in the museum where you couldn't take photos. One of them was a 10 minute video of the excavation of the site and the building of the new towers. There was another one which basically you walked through the day. It started off with TV footage of the news that morning, there was a piece of paper detailing the mayor's duties that day, there were papers from that day which were all talking about the local election that day. You then walked around and the TVs were showing breaking news, you could hear footage from the emergency services that day, you walked and followed a timeline of events that day. There were random shoes covered in blood, there were bits charred paper which had fallen from the Towers, there were IDs of people who lost their lives. One of the tougher bits was listening to voicemail messages left by people for their loved ones - it left such an impact. I spent a very long time walking around this exhibition in the museum. I would thoroughly recommend a visit here to anyone that hasn't been before.

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The architecture outside the museum is just amazing. The clear blue sky gave for some great pictures!

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We then took a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge where we grabbed a late lunch of pizza (which was absolutely amazing!)

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I loved the symmetry of the bridge.

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Exactly what was needed after a long walk! Washed down with a cold IPA.

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We waited for the bus back for AGES but it didn't turn up so we found a subway station and took it to Wall Street where we had a walk and then caught the most beautiful sunset over the Statue of Liberty.

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Looking back to where we were earlier in the day.

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That night we went to Greenwich Village and we were going to have a few drinks. We walked past one bar and the guy asked if we wanted to go to a comedy show. We thought we would so got escorted inside to a back room where the show was in full swing. We got one of the last seats and enjoyed over an hour of comedy from a number of different comedians. A lovely spontaneous evening. After that, we headed across the road to a Vietnamese restaurant where we had a brilliant meal (and where I tried some Sake for the first time!). After that, and all the fresh air we had during the day, it was back to the hotel for another good night's sleep.