I recently flew back from LAX to LHR with BA in F using points and these are just a few, short, observations.
Thomas Bradley International Terminal LAX
This is a terminal that totally hate having had one or two of my worst US Immigration experiences here and so I tend to avoid anything that would cause me to arrive here. Leaving can be pretty bad but I had connected from San Francisco on United and had a long layover so took a gentle stroll from Terminal 6 to TBIT. You do have to steer around passengers, but if you stick to the upper level you get to walk in the sunshine.
TBIT is located between the two sets of parallel terminals at the West End of the airport and is undergoing a huge renovation.
BA operate to and from here, as do many international airlines who do not have their own terminals or don’t share them with other carriers.
I was lucky to have printed by Boarding Pass from online check-in as BA were not open when I arrived – that is how early I was. Online check-in revealed that the plane had been changed from a 777-300 with guaranteed new BA First Class to a 747 which are hit-and-miss. Luckily Flyertalkers told me that as it was a plane with the larger Club cabin it would be new F. My first time you see.
The OneWorld lounge is at the Northern End of TBIT and so you should choose the appopriate security line. There was no wait….none, in fact they seemed pleased to see me and the TSA staff were friendly (gasp!). The lift is almost immediately opposite the exit from Security.
The lounge itself has two areas – First and Club – with OneWorld Emeralds getting in to the F side.
The lounge felt very much like a Qantas or Japan Air lounge – airy, lots of seats and a large food area with hot and cold offerings.
Wide selection of PC's/Macs
The lounge was quite restful except for one passenger I dubbed ‘The Incredible Shouting Woman’. The ISW was seated quite close to me and every mobile phone call – and she was on non-stop for 2 hours – was conducted at a volume that would make the ears of small animals bleed and in a tone that could only be described as offensive. I pity the poor recipients of her calls – all of whom were ‘morons’, ‘stupid, or ‘idiots’. It was a pleasure when we were called for boarding.
There was quite a queue for the lift and some people elected to walk down the stairs.
The BA flight was leaving from a gate on the South side of the Terminal and about a 10 minute walk. There was a Fast Track line and I was on board quickly.
On Flight
I was met at the cabin door and escorted to 1K.
The seat was comfortable and adjacent to the closet in the nose of the plane. I stored my bag there as there is no overhead bin for the first row.
The feature of new First is that most window passengers have larger windows with personal blinds.
I was quickly delivered my champagne and nuts, wash kit and pajamas.
When down the window blind is a lovely blue.
Unfortunately the passenger in 1A was trying to stay awake and so my part of the cabin was bright until we got to Canada which made it hard to sleep.
Food
I was not especially hungry so only had soup and a bacon roll. Possibly the smallest bacon roll in the history of mankind:
Bed Time
The crew made up my bed when I was ready for sleep and I did that until about 2 hours before landing at Heathrow.
Overall
A nice flight – I wish I could have enjoyed more of the service, but as I get older, sleep is precious.
