—————————————————–

We got to JFK at around 4PM for our 6PM departure. We proceeded to American’s premium check-in area, which is surprisingly “premium,” given that it’s even for domestic first class passengers. It’s partitioned off from the rest of the terminal, and is quite similar to Lufthansa’s first class check-in at Munich.

American’s terminal at JFK

American’s premium check-in at JFK

We had to wait for about ten minutes, but were then helped by a very nice lady who can most accurately be described as an older version of Wanda Sykes. The funniest thing had to be that she couldn’t tell my brother and me apart. Literally. And we look very, very different. Nonetheless she promptly checked us in, went over our seat assignments with us, and explained that we had access to the Flagship Lounge.

We headed towards security, where the premium line was quite short. As I was about to put my laptop into a bin, the agent that checked us in came running over and handed me the tag for my checked bag, as she addressed me by name and apologized for giving it to me earlier. Wow, very impressive!

Airside

Once through security we proceeded straight to the Flagship Lounge, which is located inside the Admirals Club. We handed the Admirals Club agent our boarding passes and she escorted us to the Flagship Lounge and opened the door for us, where yet another agent checked us in. She welcomed us and handed us wifi cards.

Admirals Club entrance

Flagship Lounge

Flagship Lounge

The Flagship Lounge at JFK is spacious with great views of the tarmac. At the same time it was a bit on the crowded side, so felt a bit more like a business class lounge than first class lounge. The snack and drink selection was great, though, at least by US standards. They had salad, sandwiches, wraps, cookies, etc.

Salad and drinks

Booze

More snacks

Lunch

After checking my email for a bit it was time to head over to our departure gate, which was a bit of schlep. As we approached boarding began, shortly before 5:30PM.

Our old bird

American 177, JFK-SFO, 767-200
Sunday, March 7
Depart: 6:00PM
Arrive: 9:45PM
Duration: 6hr45min
Seat: 3J (First Class)

Once aboard we were directed to our seats on the far side of the aircraft by two very friendly (and relatively young) flight attendants. I flew the 767-200 last year from New York to Miami, and while it was the same seats, it wasn’t the “Flagship Service,” so I was quite looking forward to trying the product. I was also especially interested in seeing how it stacks up to United’s Premium Service (review of that can be found here).

First class cabin on the 767-200

Looking to the other side of the aircraft

Business class (which I got to experience on the return, unfortunately)

Legroom from our seats

Screens and seats in front of us

Seat controls (if I’m not mistaken the electric seat controls are new)

Once we were settled in the very friendly purser came around offering us beverages. My brother went with sparkling wine and I went with water. Shortly thereafter dinner menus were distributed.

Pre-departure beverages

Boarding was finished up in about 20 minutes or so. I have to say I was a bit apprehensive about having booked this flight, since it left us only a little over two hours in San Francisco to make our connection. A US carrier plus a departure out of JFK isn’t exactly a great combo, either.

As departure time rolled around the captain came on the PA and announced we were just “topping off” our fuel tanks and would be underway shortly. I figured that was it, until I saw mechanics come aboard. Then I immediately started to worry, since I figured there was more to it.

The captain once again came on the PA and announced we were having an “issue with our hydraulics system” (that’s reassuring, isn’t it?) and that they were working on figuring out how they could fix it. He announced our flight time would be 5hr44min, which was a bit under schedule. He also rattled off the most detailed description I’ve ever heard of a flight plan. I swear he listed every single city we were going to fly over all the way across the country, which took the better part of two minutes.

View as we wait and the sun sets

By around 7PM, nearly an hour late, the captain announced that they just had to “run some tests” and we’d be underway shortly. I was still concerned we would miss our connection, especially since pushing back at JFK and actually taking off at JFK are totally different things, fearing we’d be number 69 for takeoff.

As promised we did push back ten minutes later, started our engines, and taxied out for departure. I was shocked when the captain announced we were number three(!!!) for takeoff. Number three at JFK? WTF?

Either way it put a smile on my face as I knew we’d make our connection.

After a smooth climb out the service began. First the flight attendants distributed the media players. These are the same ones United has on Premium Service. The only difference is that they come with Quiet Comfort 3 headsets, which is a huge plus, as they’re noise canceling. I’m pretty sure United’s headsets are just noise isolating, as the cover for each ear is about the size of a777 engine.

Entertainment system

Entertainment system

Shortly thereafter the very friendly purser came around taking meal orders. She started with us, although I wasn’t too worried about not getting our meal choice since there were only five people in first class including us and two air marshals (gotta love when two passengers talk to each other for much of the flight yet don’t sit next to each other, drink nothing but water, and don’t recline their seats while playing crossword puzzles nonstop).

The dinner menu read as follows:

Dining Service

To Start
Warm mixed nuts
or
Marinated cheese antipasto

Appetizer
Apple soy marinated beef
served with horseradish cream and thin potatoes

The Salad Cart
Fresh seasonal greens
offered with pepper cream dressing
or Sapori d’Arte olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Artichoke, wild mushroom and pea salad

Sliced chipotle chicken breast

Bread Basket
Assorted gourmet breads

Main Course
Chateaubriand with Onion Demi-Glace
Salt and pepper fillet of beef served with a
smothered onion demi-glace, roasted root vegetables
and smashed potatoes with spinach and Gorgonzola

Pork Tenderloin
Tender pork medallions served with a butternut
squash puree and a preserve of apple and onion

Stuffed Lasagna Roll
Tender lasagna pasta stuffed with ricotta cheese and spinach, topped with a creamy tomato sauce and shredded mozzarella

Dine Upon Request
You may choose one of the featured entrees
for your Dine Upon Request selection, presented
all at once, at any time you wish during the flight

Dessert
Ice cream sundae
Vanilla ice cream with a choice of hot fudge,
butterscotch or seasonal berry toppings,
whipped cream and pecans
or
Grand Marnier fruit salad

Light Refreshment
Freshly baked on board cookies

Pre-Arrival Beverage

For Your Enjoyment
Chilled sparkling water with a fresh citrus garnish

Service began with hot nuts or marinated cheese, although due to the light load we were offered both. I went with both along with a Diet Coke with lime, and my brother just went with the marinated cheese and a glass of red wine. He was a fan of the larger wine glasses, as opposed to the shot glasses on the previous flight.

Glass of red wine and marinated cheese

Massive ramekin of nuts, cheese, and Diet Coke with lime

Drinks were constantly being refilled and the service was really attentive. There were two flight attendants working in first class, and they were both top notch. With only ten seats it’s impressive that American has two flight attendants in first class, while United only has one in first class with 12 seats.

Next came hot towels and tablecloths, along with plates, napkins, and water. Shortly thereafter the appetizer was placed on our trays, which was delicious. I have to compliment American’s presentation. I know it’s a small touch, but putting the appetizer plate on top of another plate (with a napkin between them) really does make it feel a bit more “premium.” Next bread was offered from the bread basket.

Apple soy marinated beef

I had to laugh at the in-flight movie American was showing. As we were finishing up the appetizer I saw the “elite card throwdown” scene from Up in the Air.

“I didn’t think these actually existed.”

Next the flight attendants came around with the salad cart. And when I say salad cart I mean salad cart. Like, it was served on a cart. Take note, United!

I went with the pepper cream dressing and chipotle chicken. It was really, really, really good.

Salad

For the main course I went with the Chateaubriand, while my brother went with the lasagna. And yet again, the main course was phenomenal. Easily the best piece of meat I’ve eaten on a domestic flight, and probably among the best of any flight ever.

Chateaubriand

My brother’s lasagna roll

Besides the lack of being referred to by name, I almost felt like I was on Singapore Airlines. The flight attendants were super friendly, always said “would you like” as opposed to “ya want,” always responded with “you’re welcome” when I said “thank you,” and always kept glasses topped off. They also did a great job clearing plates. They didn’t take them away as I was still eating the last bite, but my food wasn’t sitting there for ten minutes either.

Before long my gastronomic experience on American peaked. The ice cream sundae cart was brought out. There’s nothing I can do to describe American’s sundaes that would do them justice. Simply amazing. Incredible. Delicious.

Ice cream sundae

As dinner finished up we were once again given hot towels and also some bottles of water. I started watching Couples Retreat on my personal entertainment system. I apologize to the air marshals if I ruined their concentration while playing crossword puzzles and sudoku due to my laugter. Great movie.

After that I decided to take a nap, since it would be a long night. American’s seats on the 767-200 are extremely comfortable in first class. While they’re not flat, they’re very well cushioned and much more comfortable for lounging than United’s Premium Service first class seats (though I would almost argue that United’s Premium Service business class seats are more comfortable than the first class seats when it comes to lounging). I’d probably give Premium Service the slight edge for redeyes since the seats are slanted flat in first, but for just relaxing, these seats were very comfortable.

Also, while this plane was ancient, it is kind of nice to be on a widebody. My one major frustration is American’s cockpit crews consistently not turning off the seatbelt sign. The seatbelt sign was off for a grand total of 30 minutes on this flight, despite minimal chop. Sorry, but in my book that’s dangerous. The pilots can’t realistically expect us to not have to use the lavatory for five hours, so we have no way of knowing when we really need to be seated as opposed to the seatbelt sign being on “just because.” I find this is something United’s pilots are much better at. While they’ll turn it on for every little bump, they’ll turn it right off again.

About an hour out of San Francisco I could smell the cookies in the oven. My understanding is that American actually bakes them aboard, as opposed to United, where they only reheat them.

The cookies were brought out on a cart once again, displayed very nicely. I went with some milk, coffee, and a cookie. Hot towels followed shortly once again.

Cookie!

Our entertainment systems were collected well into the descent, at which point sparkling water was distributed. This part of American’s service always cracks me up. It’s very creative on the part of American in that it makes the service feel more “complete,” but at the same time it’s not like the same drink couldn’t be ordered any other time during the flight. It’s just sparkling water! I’d love to see United add a pre-arrival “Diet Coke with lime” service.

Sparkling water

As we began our descent our tour guide, I mean captain, made another announcement advising us we’d be on the ground right around 10:30PM. Yet again he rattled off everything we’d be flying over, even the most obscure places. It wouldn’t have surprised me if he listed every street we would fly over for the remainder of the flight as well, since it was a really long list.

We landed on runway 28R at 10:30PM and had a pretty quick taxi to the gate. We thanked the crew for their great service and headed towards the AirTrain to transfer to International Terminal A for our Cathay Pacific flight, which is where the fun was really about to begin.

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The first (extremely logical) question you’re probably asking yourself is why the hell did we stay at a hotel on Wall Street when we were just laying over on our way to Asia. Well, originally I was going to book the Holiday Inn JFK, which is the one reasonably priced airport hotel that’s decent (not to mention my good friend Dwayne works there), but it seems that they’ve just rebranded it to the “International JFK Airport Hotel.”

Given that I’m a new Hyatt Diamond, I decided it would make sense to put my status to the test. Besides, why not take advantage of the opportunity to experience a new hotel “concept,” Andaz. While the rate at the Andaz Wall Street was a steep $250 (given the purpose of our stay), they currently have a promotion (code is “ANDAZ5”) whereby you earn 5,000 bonus Gold Passport points per stay, and also get a $50 hotel credit. That’s in addition to the “G2” bonus they have, which nets an extra 2,000 points. So add that to the base points, and assuming Hyatt points are valued at two cents each, and we’re looking at a very reasonable deal.

We made it to the relatively unmarked Andaz shortly after midnight after about four transfers on the subway, where we encountered our first struggle – they had the tiniest revolving doors that weren’t automatic. Wrestling with bags and a revolving door is not easy, as I learned the hard way.

Once inside we were greeted (not sure if that’s an appropriate term or not, more like acknowledged) by the two front desk agents sitting there. With a rather lame attempt at small talk (the male agent asked a question to start a conversation, but didn’t seem to pay attention or ask any follow up question) we were handed our keys within minutes and directed to the elevators.

My Hyatt Diamond status wasn’t acknowledged in any way, so I inquired whether we would receive complimentary breakfast. The male agent looked over at the other agent with a look of confusion and said “do we do free breakfast for Diamonds?” After a moment the agent said “yeah, I guess you could have breakfast in the restaurant or in your room.” That really is totally unacceptable. At the very least they should know the rules, not to mention they should have proactively explained our benefits.

We made it to our room on the 15th floor, which was very nice, except for one little hiccup – the room only had one bed, and we reserved a room with two double beds. So we went back down to the reception and mentioned this to the agent. His initial reaction was one of confusion – while I wasn’t in the guy’s head, based on his facial expressions I would imagine he was thinking something like “huh, you’re not shacking up?” After clicking around on his computer for a moment, he says “yeah, we don’t have any of those available.” I mentioned that availability of preferred bed type was a guaranteed Diamond benefit, although he really just seemed out of it. I asked whether they at least had a larger room available with one bed, so he upgraded us to a deluxe room. This makes me wonder why we weren’t upgraded to that room to begin with, as a Diamond should be. No apology of any sort was offered.

Elevator

The whole check-in experience was just beyond frustrating and shows a lack of training on the part of the hotel, though the rest of the stay really was quite good. Our room was large and very nicely decorated with modern furnishings. The floors were all wood, the ceilings were high, and the bed was very comfortable. There was a huge flat screen TV, there were plenty of plugs, and most things were quite easy to operate. The chair at the desk wasn’t exactly very good for anyone trying to get work done (an office chair would be nice), but oh well.

Room

Desk and massive TV

Comfortable bed

By the window

The shower was massive (you could have a party in there), but this brings up another frustration. Like a lot of newer hotels, the bedroom and shower are separated by a glass shield. It’s a nice option to have, as there’s usually some sort of blind that can be pulled down for privacy, should it be desired. Unfortunately the Andaz didn’t have that. There was a glass shield, so you better wanna make showering a spectator’s sport, or you’re staying at the wrong place.

Sink

View of shower from room

Bathtub

Bathroom

Another thing that makes Andaz unique is that the soft drinks and snacks in the minibar are free. This includes four bottles of VOSS water (two still and two sparkling), two bottles of Diet Coke, one bottle of Coke, one bottle of Sprite, one bottle of orange juice, and two bottles of tonic water. As far as the snacks go, there’s a Cliff bar, Dagoba chocolate bar, and two bags of Terra chips. This is just brilliant, in my opinion. Those snacks and drinks cost next to nothing (and chances are people wouldn’t otherwise pay an arm and a leg for them), yet it really adds to the experience. Furthermore, I’m betting it increases sales of the alcohol in the minibar.

Minibar

Snacks

View from room

Floor layout

The morning of our flight we had breakfast at Wall & Water, the hotel restaurant. As a Diamond I had a $50 breakfast credit (which I knew through FlyerTalk, not the front desk agent, sadly), and we also had a $50 credit through the “ANDAZ5” promotion. So basically we had $100 to spend on breakfast. Suffice it to say we had a very, very nice breakfast. The food was delicious and the service was good.

Wall & Water kitchen

Menu

Delicious strawberry banana smoothie

Fresh fruit

Crepes

Breakfast

Breakfast came out to about $85 with tip, well within our “budget.” After packing it was time to head to the airport for our evening flight to San Francisco, connecting onwards to Hong Kong and Bali.

The check out process was certainly more “professional” than the check-in process, though still took forever. First I was shown the folio by the agent on his portable computer, which still included the $85 breakfast charge. I reminded him that I was a Diamond and that I had booked through the ANDAZ5 promotion, at which point he took $50 off. He insisted that I really had “lunch,” since that’s what the restaurant tagged it as (guess we were done with breakfast shortly after 10AM). After explaining we had breakfast, he took everything off the bill and we were on our merry way.

Since I didn’t really get to “experience” the lobby the night before, I took a quick peak around. There were several agents standing around with their portable computers, which is usually how they check people in, and they also had a buffet set up with free snacks, which are apparently there in the mornings and evenings. They’re basically just samples, with larger versions available for a charge.

Lobby

Snack area

Exterior

Exterior

So, would I return? I’m not sure. I really like the hotel as such, from the hardwood floors to the huge TV to the comfortable bed to the rather large size of the room to the free minibar. But they have a lot of work to do when it comes to service. For one, the agents need to be informed better and know benefits they offer, and they also need to take a better “customer service” approach. When you screw something up you should apologize for it. Not offering an apology of any sort, other than a sigh and “oh,” is awful customer service.

Given that this is a new hotel I’m hoping they can improve the soft product a bit, in which case I’ll be back for sure.

The really bright spot in all this? I earned nearly 16,000 points for my one night stay. One night at a top Hyatt costs 18,000 points.

—————————————————–

The day had finally arrived. After packing in the morning my mom drove my brother and me to the airport at 2PM, getting us there an hour before our flight. We proceeded to the “Priority AAccess” line where we were immediately helped. We handed the agent our passports and I put my checked bag on the scale. Looking at my brother, the agent commented “is dad traveling too?” Eh, don’t think my brother looks *that* much older than I do. We’re still trying to figure out if that was a joke or not.

Check-in area

With boarding passes to New York (via Miami) in hand, we proceeded up the escalators to the F concourse, where we cleared security within minutes. Of course I was one of the lucky ones to get put in the full body scanner. As the agent basically tried to push me in there I indicated I would prefer a pat down instead. The agent, obviously pissed that I wasn’t playing his game, called over a colleague to handle my “non-compliant” self. As I walked off he said “it’s always the guys that act like girls and girls that act like guys when it comes to this.” Sorry, until I’m forced to I’m just not using one of those things.

After the pat down I got a chicken pesto sandwich from the great airside sandwich place, as boarding was announced. We were aboard in no time.

F concourse

American 1819, TPA-MIA, 757
Saturday, March 6
Depart: 3:40PM
Arrive: 4:45PM
Duration: 1hr05min
Seat: 2A (First Class)

As we were on the jet bridge we noticed the flight attendant at the door immediately handing the two commuting flight attendants in front of us full bottles of water, and telling them to let him know if they needed anything. Classy. Aboard we were acknowledged (as opposed to greeted) by that same male flight attendant that had his tie tucked into his shirt near the very top. Classy yet again. We took our seats in row two.

Legroom

Seats across from us

American’s 757 first class seats are ancient although quite comfortable. Boarding seemed to take forever with the spring break crowd, and somehow the flight attendants didn’t find time to do pre-departure beverages despite the less than full first class cabin. The captain announced that our flight time would be 36 minutes.

We pushed back on-time and the safety video started playing, in both English and Spanish, as is the norm on American. It finished just as we pulled up to the runway and had a particularly powerful takeoff towards the north.

About ten minutes after takeoff the purser offered us drinks. I went with a Diet Coke with lime and my brother went with tomato juice and water (trying to stay rather “pure” for his Krug destruction the following night). The drinks were served with American’s “premium snack mix.” I’m still trying to decide which I prefer between American’s and United’s “premium” snack mix.

Drinks and snack mix

The purser was busy serving drinks, while the other flight attendant sat in the jumpseat the whole time. No clue why, because the purser was quite busy. And no, the other flight attendant wasn’t commuting. This made it very difficult to ask for refills, as drinks were collected just as he finished serving the last row.

As usual the descent into Miami was beautiful.

Approaching Miami

We landed a few minutes early, arriving in the D concourse. While Miami is a decent airport, I swear they designed it in such a way to maximize walking time. We made our way towards the lower E gates to visit the Flagship Lounge (American’s international first class lounge). It must have taken 20 minutes to walk there. Insane.

D concourse

Flagship Lounge, here we come

Obviously not a very grand entrance for a first class lounge, although my understanding is that the lounge is temporary. Inside we were admitted by the friendly agent, who also offered us wifi cards.

Entrance

The lounge was tiny. Tiny. While it wasn’t too full at first, it did fill up over time.

Flagship Lounge

Cubicles

The food and drink selection was decent, comparable to a United International First Class Lounge. There were a couple of types of salads and sandwiches, cheese, crackers, and some desserts. Later in the evening they brought out some hot junk food which was quite tasty, like quiche, empanadas, etc.

Drink selection

Buffet area

Chicken salad and something with mushrooms

Tasty salad

Dessert

Cheese and crackers

Decent sparkling wine

Dinner

Hot snacks that arrived later

Nice view from the lounge during sunset

My only frustration with the lounge had to be one guy that was “roaming.” You know the type of person that will roam a lounge, desperate to start a conversation with someone, even if it only revolves around the most superficial subject? Yeah, well this guy was a roamer. And engaging him resulted in hearing his whole life story. He wasn’t telling it to me, but I had the pleasure of overhearing it.

After a couple of hours of email and eating, we headed to the gate at around 6:45PM for our 7:35PM departure. This time the gate was right around the corner, although they started boarding early.

Gate

American 1400, MIA-JFK, 757
Saturday, March 6
Depart: 7:35PM
Arrive: 10:29PM
Duration: 2hr54min
Seat: 2B (Business Class)

Aboard we were greeted by the friendly purser. We were quite excited about this flight as it was a 757 configured with American’s business class seats. We settled into row two, where we found our seats with comfortable pillows and blankets.

Seat 2A

Legroom

Entertainment system

The seat felt very “boxed in.” At first it even seemed comfortable. The seats were well padded and the entertainment system looked fancy, so we figured we were in for a comfortable flight. As the coach passengers walked by at least a dozen people commented on how these were the weirdest first class seats they had ever seen. We were soon offered pre-departure beverages.

Water

As the door closed the captain advised us of our flying time of 2hr25min. After the safety video we were ready for takeoff. Our climb out was smooth and after about 30 minutes the seatbelt sign was turned off and service began.

We were offered our first round of drinks along with hot nuts. Ah, hot nuts. I went with a Diet Coke with lime and my brother went with white wine. My brother was a bit peeved by the wine glasses basically being shot glasses. He expected he’d at least get a refill soon, but it took forever. After our first round of drinks we didn’t see the flight attendant for at least 30 more minutes. While she was friendly, a level of attentiveness was certainly missing.

Drinks and hot nuts

The way our console looked for nearly half an hour

30 minutes later the flight attendant came around with hot towels.

Hot towels

Next we were asked for our dinner preference, the choice being between a salmon salad and chicken parmesan. My brother went with the salad and I went with the chicken. This was quickly followed by tablecloths and then dinner.

Gotta love how big American’s tray table gets

Chicken parmesan

Salmon salad

I find it hilarious that American considers this to be a “snack.” As a point of comparison, this is what United considers to be a snack:

Anyway, dinner was delicious. The chicken parmesan was tasty, the side salad was good, and the pita chips and hummus were good.

After dinner we were offered cookies, which we gladly accepted. They were once again delicious.

Cookies

This leads me to the issues with the flight. First of all, the entertainment system in business class was down. The flight attendants didn’t know how to work the “system” to make the TVs work. And while the main screen video worked, the audio was broken in first class. So we were left totally without entertainment in this rather blinged out product.

So I decided to do what any other reasonable person would do — sleep. I reclined my seat and tucked myself in with the thick blanket. But then I realized just how uncomfortable these seats are. Holy cow. I’m not really tall (six foot), but I found these seats to be some of the most uncomfortable once reclined. Definitely more uncomfortable than any other business class seat I had ever tried. While the recline was okay, the area for my feet was just too restricted. I couldn’t place my feet straight up when reclined, and if I placed them sideways it was extremely uncomfortable.

Even using the footrest in any way got my feet into the “cubby” area, which was just too restrictive. I immediately brought my seat into the upright position and proceeded to twiddle my thumbs for the remainder of the flight. I felt like an air marshal. Oh wait, no, that’s just what they’re supposed to do, as opposed to watching movies and playing Play Station Portable as they usually do. Fortunately our descent soon began and we landed in New York right on time.

After a lengthy taxi to the gate we parked, deplaned, and hiked all the way to baggage claim, which is indeed quite a hike from the furthest gates. The bag was there in no time, so we boarded the AirTrain to Jamaica to catch the subway into the city.

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With two weeks to go till Spring Break, I still had no travel booked. I knew it would be a busy summer, so I wanted to go somewhere while I still could. My brother (who is in business school) had the same spring break as me, so we decided to go somewhere together. We had explored the various options for weeks, but nothing fit together perfectly. We were focusing mostly on Star Alliance, trying to piece together an Aeroplan first class award from the US to Asia via Europe. We kept holding out hoping something better would show up, and then talk of the Lufthansa pilot strike surfaced, which made me a bit apprehensive.

Just for fun I took a look at Cathay Pacific award availability, not expecting to have any luck. I had the pleasure of flying Cathay Pacific first class over spring break last year to Manila (trip report can be found here), and was itching to fly them again, and especially to be able to “introduce” my brother to one of my favorite airlines. After a quick availability check using the British Airways website, I was shocked to find two first class award seats from San Francisco to Hong Kong and back in Cathay Pacific first class. At that point I was excited and spent hours on end trying to piece together the perfect itinerary.

A couple of years back I took a trip to Bali with a friend and had an incredible time (trip report can be found here), and figured my brother would enjoy it just as much, especially since we were looking to relax and “disconnect.” And there’s no more relaxing place on earth than the InterContinental Bali, in my opinion. Fortunately Cathay Pacific had award availability from Hong Kong to Bali, which was operated by one of their three cabin 747s. Unfortunately they only sell it as a two cabin flight, meaning they don’t sell first class. Instead they’ll seat some top elites in first class, but provide them with business class service. I wanted to try Cathay Pacific business class anyway, so the lack of three cabin first class service was fine by me.

Next came the domestic segments of the trip, which proved to be the most time consuming. My brother lives in New York and I live in Tampa, but he was visiting for a few days before the trip, so we both started in Tampa. He was returning to New York, though, so we decided to sample American’s Flagship Service, which is the three cabin premium product they operate between New York and Los Angeles and New York and San Francisco to compete with United’s Premium Service. Besides, getting as many three cabin first class flights is a big part of maximizing the experience.

We then had to add the segments from Tampa to New York, which we routed through Miami both ways. Miami to New York was even operated by one of American’s 757s configured with business class seats. Overall I was really happy with the itinerary we got once it was finally booked, which cost a total of 135,000 miles and about $50 in taxes per person — a steal! As I blogged about before the trip, the booking process turned out a bit more cumbersome than I had hoped. Anyway, here’s what the finalized itinerary looked like:

March 06, TPA-MIA, AA1819, 3:40PM-4:45PM, First, 1hr05min, 757
March 06, MIA-JFK, AA1400, 7:35PM-10:29PM, Business, 2hr54min, 757
March 07, JFK-SFO, AA0177, 6:00PM-9:45PM, First, 6hr45min, 767
March 08, SFO-HKG, CX0873, 12:05AM-6:50AM+1, First, 14hr45min, 747
March 09, HKG-DPS, CX0785, 10:05AM-2:50PM, Business, 4hr45min, 747
March 13, DPS-HKG, CX0784, 4:00PM-8:45PM, Business, 4hr45min, 747
March 14, HKG-SFO, CX0872, 5:05PM-2:00PM, First, 12hr55min, 747
March 14, SFO-JFK, AA0018, 11:10PM-7:30AM+1, First, 5hr20min, 767
March 15, JFK-MIA, AA1079, 10:30AM-1:45PM, First, 3hr15min, 757
March 15, MIA-TPA, AA1960, 3:40PM-4:40PM, First, 1hr00min, 737

The only thing left to plan was hotels. We had four nights in Bali, and my goal was ultimately to stay at the InterContinental Bali as long as possible in a club room, since the club is really a resort within a resort. I managed to snag a “Friends & Family” rate of about $250 per night for the last two nights of our stay, although unfortunately that rate wasn’t available for the first two nights since it requires booking 14 days in advance. I decided to expand my miles and points horizon, and status matched to Diamond status with Hyatt. I then snagged the Grand Hyatt Bali for $160 per night and used one of my confirmed suite upgrades on the reservation. Not a bad value, especially with access to their club lounge and free internet!

On the way back we had a one night layover in Hong Kong (wish we could have stayed longer, but American no longer allows stopovers on awards), so I booked the Hyatt Regency Sha Tin. It was rather inconveniently located, although at $130 per night it seemed perfect for a quick layover given the points I’d earn, free internet, club access, and ultimately location in a part of Hong Kong I hadn’t visited before.

The biggest challenge came with choosing a hotel in New York on the outbound. The logical choice would be to stay near the airport, although JFK airport hotels have to be among the most depressing in the world. I was ready to book the Holiday Inn JFK (where, as some of you may recall, I have received excellent treatment), which, as I learned the hard way, seems to have been recently rebranded. Hope my buddy there at least still has a job.

So instead we got a bit creative. Still wanting to try out my new Hyatt Diamond status and a whole new “concept” of hotel, we eventually decided on the Andaz Wall Street. Totally out of the way? Yep. An area I really don’t want to be in? Yep. But nonetheless totally worth it. The rate was $250, which, while steep, came with some nice benefits. By using the “ANDAZ5″ promotion code I earned 5,000 bonus Gold Passport points and $50 hotel credit, which is in addition to the 2,000 Gold Passport bonus points through the “G2″ promotion at this hotel, in addition to the 1,000 point Diamond amenity. Add that to the $50 breakfast credit they already give you, and I was looking at over 10,000 points and over $100 to blow at the hotel for $250. Not a bad deal at all, especially since it would also allow me to review a new type of hotel that has been the subject of much hype.

And there ya have it. I’ll do my best to crank out the trip report as quickly as possible, ideally one installment a day. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the journey!

While the trip to Seattle as such never materialized, I did have a mileage run planned there for last weekend, and instead of staying near the airport I decided to venture into the city. I had a morning to do some sightseeing and I figured with the new light rail system that costs just $2.50 from SeaTac to the city there was nothing to lose (as opposed to the public transportation in San Francisco, which costs you more than lunch at Starbucks).

Anyway, in the interest of full disclosure I had made a reservation through Hotel 1000’s Social Media and Promotions Manager and received a special rate of $139. It’s worth noting that this wasn’t that much less than the American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts rate of $179 (which I qualify for since I have an American Express Platinum card), which would have included breakfast, a welcome gift, 4PM check-out, and a room upgrade. Anyway, let’s fast forward to the actual stay.

I arrived at the hotel at around 10PM and was promptly checked in by the friendly agent. I realized beforehand the hotel was on the small side, but the lobby really made it feel like a boutique hotel. It was modern and dimly lit, basically a smaller version of a “W” hotel minus the bad attitude.

Lobby

Lobby

Seating area to the side of the lobby

Hotel exterior

Hotel entrance

My room was on the fifth floor, and as soon as I got into the elevator I realized that was the lowest floor with rooms. That was a bit disappointing since I was looking forward to the great views the hotel boasts given its location, although the suite I received made up for it.

Hallway

I was assigned suite 507, which was located behind a separate entrance door which housed two suites; the suite was huge. Upon entering was a hallway with the bathroom located right by the entrance. To the left was the bedroom while the living room was to the right.

Entrance

Floor layout (to show the size of the suite compared to standard rooms)

The bedroom was spacious and modern, with a king sized bed, large flat screen TV mounted on the wall, vanity mirror, and big closet.

Bedroom

TV, closet, and vanity mirror

There’s only a glass “window” separating the bedroom and bathroom, although there is a privacy screen which can be put down if desired. The bathroom featured a huge bathtub, nice sink area, huge shower with two shower heads, and separate toilet area. The bathroom amenities were all Molton Brown, and the shampoo, conditioner, and body wash was all in large dispensers in the shower.

Looking into the bathroom from the bedroom

Looking into the bedroom from the bathroom

Sink and shower

Shower to the left and toilet to the right

Molton Brown bath products

Toilet

The living room featured a large dining room table with six chairs, large sofa with two more chairs, and flat screen TV. Both TVs had “Moodz” channels, whereby you can listen to natural environments in 30 minute intervals. Other than the waterfall, which sounded more like static, it was surprisingly relaxing! I wish more hotels would offer something similar.

Unfortunately the views from the room were non-existent. Actually, the room faced another building which was maybe 20 feet away, so it was near impossible to see anything. That was a bit disappointing, and I would have probably preferred a normal room with a view over a suite with no view. My only other gripe would be that lighting was somewhat limited and there weren’t any windows other than the ones on the far end of the living room, meaning the suite stayed pretty dark.

Living room

The hotel has a nice 24 hour gym. The treadmills all have mini-TV screens and were the same machines they have at the InterContinental London. There was also bottled water for free, surprisingly enough the same stuff they charge an arm and a leg for in the in-room minibar.

Gym

Gym

No doubt my stay was far too short. Would I return? If the rate were right, absolutely, even without hotel status perks. It’s worth noting that Hotel 1000 does offer guests 500 Alaska miles, for those of you addicted to miles/points like me.

I loved the interior of the hotel. It was modern without being bare, “hip” without being stuffy or attitude-filled (hello “W” hotels!), and the suite was very well appointed. If I stayed again I’d hope for a room with a view, even if it means a standard room vs. the very nice suite I received.

Either way I’d recommend this hotel if the price is right. They have their stuff together and I wouldn’t hesitate to return.

——————————————

After going with my brother to shop for a Halloween costume for him (and waiting in line for 20 minutes just go get in the door of the store), it was time to head to the airport for my flight home. Despite leaving three hours before departure, I hardly made my flight. I always take public transportation when possible, but it proved to be a bit of a pain this time around. After several transfers (due to some stations being closed) and not knowing where the hell I was, I made it to the AirTrain station at Jamaica by around 4:15PM. While I knew I would make the flight, I hadn’t checked in online yet, so was concerned I would miss the check-in cutoff. I called my brother and he checked me in online to prevent that problem.

I made it to the terminal and still managed to print my boarding pass. Of course terminal 3 at JFK is a total dump. There’s no elite security line, but fortunately the line wasn’t too long. The TSA agents were particularly militant, though. Fortunately my flight left from gate 1, which is right after the security checkpoint. As I walked up to the gate boarding began, a full 35 minutes before departure. This time there was no moaning about my carry-on.

 Delta 133, JFK-TPA, M80
Saturday, October 31
Depart: 5:10PM
Arrive: 8:41PM
Duration: 3hr31min
Seat 2C (First Class)

All three TPA based flight attendants were standing at the door. The purser was Kim, who was an older lady wearing one of the bright pink dresses that Delta flight attendants seem to be sporting to support breast cancer month, and then two older male flight attendants.

There was already a bottle of water waiting at my seat, which was quickly followed by pre-departure beverages of choice. I went with a Diet Coke with lime, which was promptly served, and I was even offered a refill (which I declined).

Boarding was done in no time, and I figured we might just have an on-time flight out of JFK. With 20 minutes to go till scheduled departure everyone was aboard, so we were just waiting for the paperwork. Much to my amusement, first class was a massive game of musical chairs. There were only two passengers (including me) that didn’t swap seats. There were also four Delta flight attendants commuting in first class (fair enough, I’m all for non-rev benefits).

The door closed with 10 minutes to go till our scheduled departure time, and the safety briefing quickly followed. There was no announcement from the flight deck and we spent a good 30 minutes standing there without any update. At this point Kim took the meal orders, the choices being between a mandarin chicken salad and a turkey cheese sandwich. I went with the salad.

We pushed back but then still stood on a taxiway for another 15 minutes or so. This is where I start to have small issues with non-revs. The commuting flight attendant seated behind me decided to use the lavatory despite us being on a taxiway and the seatbelt sign being on. Now, if she really has to go, fine, but let’s be honest, almost any revenue passenger on a US airline would be scolded (maybe even over the PA) for that. Fair enough, I figured, when you’ve gotta go you’ve gotta go.

But then she goes in the galley and starts chatting with the flight attendants. And she continued to stand there talking as we taxied towards the runway. Sorry, it just doesn’t look good when you’re flying as a passenger in uniform and break the rules, while we’re constantly reminded about the need to remain seated whenever the seatbelt sign is on, not just for our safety, but also for the safety of those around us. Set an example, please.

Anyway, we began our rather long taxi, and I was entertained as the guy sitting next to me started to count how many planes were waiting for takeoff. “One…. two…. three…. four…. five…. six.” After about 30 he decided to give up. The captain made a ten second announcement saying we were hopefully going to take off in the next 30 minutes or so, but didn’t say anything else (like, oh, I don’t know, “welcome aboard”).

I dozed off as we queued for takeoff, but soon enough it was our turn. We took off and the seatbelt sign was turned off relatively quickly (which more than made up for the lack of announcements), at which point service began. First came hot towels, which were quickly followed by drinks and then dinner.

The salad was awful. I really liked the one on the way out, but this one had mushy lettuce and tiny strips of chicken and all around lacked flavor. The fruit was fresh and the sugar cookie was delicious, though.

Dinner

After dinner I tried out the in-flight wifi, which happened to be free thanks to it apparently not working properly. I surfed the web for as long as my battery would allow, which wasn’t all that long. Kim came through the cabin every five minutes or so offering refills. She did a bang up job. 

After that I dozed off a bit more. It had been a long few days filled with limited sleep and a lot of walking (and exercise), so I basically slept like a baby till the seatbelt sign was turned on. Again no announcement from the captain, other than “flight attendants prepare for landing.”

Overall Delta has a decent domestic product. The flight attendants working first class both ways were phenomenal. MD80’s suck, and I realize I’m experiencing the worst Delta has to offer. Terminal 3 at JFK sucks. And lastly, non-revs that can’t follow the rules suck. But overall a decent experience. I really do need to try some of Delta’s pimped out domestic planes, but they never seem to fit into my travel plans.

Anyway, thanks very much for reading! Sorry about the slight delay with the trip report. I had an amazing trip. Club World London City, the InterContinental London, and the city of London itself, were all amazing. I can’t wait to return.

——————————————

Disclaimer: As I mentioned in the introduction post, British Airways comped me this flight. They asked for my honest feedback on the product, which is exactly what I’ll provide. I wouldn’t be doing anyone a favor by giving inaccurate remarks, since I hope my positive comments can reinforce what they are doing well and that my constructive criticism can convince them to improve in some areas.

While part of the lure of this flight is being able to check-in up until 15 minutes before departure, I decided to show up early to observe at what time other passengers actually show up (in other words, do most passengers take advantage of the benefit of being able to check-in up until close to departure, a huge time saver). So I got to London City Airport via the DLR at around 10:45AM. In fairness I thought the flight was actually at noon, but as it turned out it was at 12:30PM. Yeah, I’m so dumb that I didn’t even look at the e-ticket before leaving InterContinental hotel. Oh well, no biggie.

London City Airport DLR station

London City Airport is absolutely tiny. The check-in counters you see in the picture below are all the counters they have. There were a couple of dedicated “Club World London City” counters, where there was no wait.

London City Airport

Club World London City

Ah, New York!

Check-in was speedy and the agent was friendly. I was originally assigned a seat in row six, but asked whether there were any rows that were unoccupied as of now. She said seats 4J and 4K were unoccupied, so I decided to go with 4K, hoping the seat next to me would stay open. The agent indicated that we would be departing from gate 24 and that the gate lounge opens at around 11:05AM.

Once I was checked in I proceeded up the escalator towards security. There were two queues — one for New York and one for everyone else. The service felt almost like the Lufthansa First Class Terminal in Frankfurt for a moment. I got up to the “New York” line, where my boarding pass was checked and I was greeted by a British Airways representative that tried to make small talk.

There was a full set of security personnel working the line, despite it being just me they were screening. The whole security process took maybe a minute, and couldn’t have been friendlier or more efficient.

The airside terminal is quite interesting. It’s filled with restaurants and shops and leather chairs in the center area, but that’s about it. There’s also free wifi throughout the terminal, which is great.

London City Airport

Shops

If you stay to the right of the terminal there’s a hallway which leads to gates 21-24.

Off to gate 24

Hallway to gate 24…. notice the A318 out the window

Near gate 24 was a “Club World London City” sign and several agents standing around. I realized the lounge wasn’t open yet, but they told me to come back in about ten minutes. I walked around a bit (although there’s not much to do in the terminal), and mostly observed the two Club World London City A318’s that were parked and ready for New York.

Speedbird 001 & Speedbird 003

As I stood near the window I saw our crew walking towards the plane. One of the flight attendants even snapped a picture of the plane, so you know it’s a special flight! I’ve gotta give it to ‘em, British Airways has some of the most sophisticated uniforms.

Our crew

After about ten minutes I went back to gate 24, and this time around there were different agents. They indicated the lounge only opened in 15 minutes, at around 11:30AM. Hmmm. The misinformation from the earlier agents is rather frustrating, especially since there’s no other lounge option. I realize it’s only a gate area, but I think it would be nice if they opened the gate area a bit earlier, since I wasn’t the only passenger waiting.

After waiting until almost 11:30AM I went back to the gate. I didn’t realize those were actually security “agents,” as they closely inspected all my travel documents, gave me a full pat down, and meticulously searched my carry-on bags (as they did with everyone). I was then directed down the stairs to the gate lounge.

Gate 24

At the entrance to the gate lounge were two British Airways agent that checked my passport and scanned my boarding pass. The gate lounge is rather decent given that no one is spending more than half an hour there. There are exactly 32 seats (so it’s a tight fit with a full flight) and there’s a bar area with a limited selection of drinks and snacks.

Lounge at gate 24

View of our bird

Variety of international newspapers and magazines

The snack selection consisted of cookies, chips, peanuts, fruit, etc., and the drinks were limited to champagne, red wine, juice, coffee, and water (sparkling and still).

Bar

Snacks

Drinks

Ah, BA001!

Shortly after noon boarding was announced and we were directed towards the door.

Here we go!

British Airways 001, LCY-JFK, A318
Friday, October 30
Depart: 12:30PM
Arrive: 6:15PM
Duration: 9hr45min
Seat 4K (Club World)

The purser, Sandra, was standing at the door checking boarding passes and directed me towards my seat in row four.

Row four

Legroom 4K

The load today was 26/32, so much fuller than the outbound, but boarding was still quick and efficient. Within about ten minutes everyone was aboard and the captain made a welcome announcement, proudly exclaiming our callsign, “Speedbird 001.” He mentioned that our flight time to Shannon would be around an hour, and that there would be a change of pilots there. For those of you not familiar with this new service, the plane refuels in Shannon which would usually be an inconvenience, but they also have a US Customs & Immigration pre-clearance facility, which means you land at JFK as a domestic passenger. Stay tuned for the analysis of that.

Cabin just before departure

At around 12:25PM the door closed, and shortly thereafter the safety demonstration began. Given that London City Airport is so small, we were taxiing on the runway before the safety demonstration finished. We then took off on runway 09.

Here is a video of the takeoff:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The takeoff out of London City Airport is quite fun, even more so than SNA, for those that have flown out of there. Not only is there a short runway, but there’s a very steep initial climb. Fun!

About five minutes after takeoff the fasten seatbelt sign was turned off and the purser distributed the menus, while one of the other flight attendants distributed immigration forms.

View on climb out

The menu read as follows:

Welcome aboard this Club World
London City service to New York.

British Airways is proud to be working
in collaboration with Roast to design
and develop your onboard menu today.

Roast is a popular restaurant drawing on
the best of Britain’s seasonal produce and
cooking traditions set in a landmark building
in London’s oldest surviving food market,
Borough Market, just by London Bridge.

We have created a dynamic food development
team combining the years of inflight catering
experience of British Airways with Roast’s
head cook, Lawrence Keogh.

As a British airline passionate about food,
we are delighted to embrace Roast’s food
development philosophy. Using British
ingredients wherever we can, placing
emphasis on the sourcing and provenance
of products, we intend to explore dishes
and recipes that also highlight seasonality.

From succulent spit roasts and deeply
flavoured puddings cooked over days,
to organically grown salad leaves that have
real taste, British cooking can rightly take
its place on the international stage.

We have the great pleasure of taking this
philosophy and bringing it to life for you
to enjoy onboard today.

All paper used for menu production is made
from an environmentally friendly source
from sustainable forests.

London City – Shannon

Shortly after take off, we will be serving
you an appetiser and drink service on
our short journey to Shannon.

Appetiser

Welsh Carmarthen ham with Cox’s
apple potato salad with pea shoot

Shannon – New York

Shortly after take off, whilst we prepare
your lunch order, we will be offering you
a selection of drinks from the bar to
enjoy with your meal.

Lunch

Dedham Vale Farm fillet of beef with
Scottish girolles and Madeira sauce

British corn-fed chicken
cooked in a Somerset cider sauce

Grilled sea bass served with
a roasted fennel and caper dressing

Penne pasta in a courgette
and aubergine tomato sauce
with chestnut mushrooms
and Berkswell cheese

Inverawe smoked salmon and prawns
with new potato and horseradish salad

We apologise if your first choice is not available.
For allergen information, please ask your crew for more details.

Dessert and Liqueurs

We will be pleased to offer you
a liqueur to savour with your chosen
dessert option.

Eton mess

Cornish Yarg and Cropwell Bishop
Stilton with Bath Oliver and Orkney
oat biscuits

Working Lunch

If you prefer to eat later whilst you
finish off some work, we will be
happy to serve you a main meal salad
together with your choice of dessert
from the lunch menu.

Inverawe smoked salmon and prawns
with new potato and horseradish salad

Club Kitchen

After lunch, please help yourself
to a selection of tasty treats including
crisps, chocolates and biscuits
available in the forward galley area
for you to choose from.

Drinks are available throughout
the flight.

Afternoon Tea

We will be serving a traditional
British afternoon tea service
approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes
before our arrival into New York.

Sandwich Selection

Roast beef with horseradish cream
and beetroot chutney

Smoked salmon with cream cheese

Mature English farmhouse Cheddar
with tomato

or

Laverstoke Park Buffalo Mozzarella
with roasted figs and Port reduction

A selection of plain and sultana
scones served warm with English
preserves and Cornish clotted cream

Afternoon Tea cake selection
of coffee éclair and lemon tart

Drinks

Tea, ground coffee
or decaffeinated coffee

Selection of herbal teas
includes green tea with jasmine,
peppermint, blackcurrant
and camomile with honey

And here is the wine list:

Wines

Please ask your crew to advise you of the choices
available on today’s service.

Champagne Cocktail
Kir Royale
Crème de Cassis gives this cocktail its distinctive taste
Buck’s Fizz
Crisp, dry Champagne and naturally sweet orange juice

Champagne
Heidsieck Monopole Blue Top
Generous nose, with toasty and buttery aromas
Ayala Brut Majeur NV Champagne
Elegant and lively, with delicate fresh and fruity notes

White
Terra do Gargalo 2007 Monterrei
Intensely flavoured with lemon, lime and apple
Marmesa Vineyards Chardonnay 2006, Edna Valley
Appetising and dry, with an aroma of white peaches
Château de Rully 2007, Rully
Lemony, smoky and taut
Arboleda Coastal Sauvignon Blanc 2008
A super-refreshing dry white

Red
Montes Alpha Syrah 2006
Flavours of spice and blackberries, rounded off
by soft, silky oak tannins
Château Bournac 2005
Pretty and succulent, from an outstanding vintage
La Haute Marone 2007, Gigondas
Essence of spicy Grenache, intense and full-bodied
J. Lohr, Los Osos Merlot 2006, Paso Robles
Scented, rich blend from California’s Central Coast

A selection of traditional and modern drinks
to suit all tastes

There will be a complimentary bar available
serving alcoholic beverages and soft drinks.

Menu

So as you can see they just serve drinks and an appetizer on this short flight. The service was rather slow to begin with, as the two flight attendants began to wheel the beverage cart through the cabin, which was quickly followed by the purser, who had the appetizers. The flight attendants were all friendly and professional, although not quite of the caliber of the outbound crew. More to come on that later.

Welsh Carmarthen ham with Cox’s apple potato salad with pea shoot

Before the whole cabin was served we began our (long) initial descent. It was rather bumpy, and about 20 minutes out the captain turned on the seatbelt sign and told us we were going to be 30 minutes early into Shannon. Not sure how we can be 30 minutes early on such a predictably short flight….

The landscape looked beautiful as we approached and I kind of wanted to get off and spend a day or two in Shannon.

Approaching Shannon

It was raining as we made a smooth landing, at which point the flight attendants explained the arrivals procedure. They explained we would have to take all our carry-on bags with us, clear customs, and then would wait in the lounge area until boarding starts. We pulled up next to an Aer Lingus A330.

I was among the first dozen people off the plane and proceeded down a series of long halls containing dozens of banners proudly exclaiming that Shannon has the first US Customs & Immigration pre-clearance facility. Good for them. I was kind of excited to see how it all worked.

Before entering the queue for C&I there was an agent at the door asking anyone with a checked bag to take a seat in the nice waiting area they had set up. Fortunately I didn’t have any checked bags, so I ended up being the first to the immigration desks.

Ah, talk about choices! There were several agents without anything to do, and I carefully made my selection. I went with the first counter where I immediately recognized the agent. She was the same lady that appears in the CNN Business Traveller episode where Richard Quest takes this flight, as she welcomes him to the United States.

I’m pretty sure I made her day (and mine) when I walked up to her and said “you’re famous, you were on CNN Business Traveller.” Her face lit up as she began to chuckle. What followed was the most pleasant conversation I’ve ever had with any immigration officer. Because there were hardly any other people we talked for a good five minutes and discussed how they filmed that show, how nice of a guy Richard Quest is, and how the new pre-clearance immigration was so awesome.

The agents are all American, although this one had a common Irish last name. She mentioned that she was from New York and has lived in Shannon for years and loves it. While the stopover in Shannon is theoretically inconvenient, this agent actually made the stopover fun! No rude US immigration officers, no lines, and no interrogations!

Just past immigration was a small sterile area with a seating area blocked off for Club World London City passengers. There was a tiny duty free shop, but not a whole lot else. There were several British Airways agents standing around to advise us that we would be boarding in about 15 minutes. There is free wifi at the airport, so it was great to be able to check my email while “crossing” the Atlantic.

Departure monitor

Seating area

To New York!

Sterile area

Within about 15 minutes all the passengers were through immigration and in the waiting area, at which point boarding began.

Gate 8

Once we were aboard we were greeted by the same three flight attendants, who had been busy clearing customs and immigration and tidying up the cabin before crossing the Atlantic. Everyone was settled in within about ten minutes, at which point the door closed. The captain for this segment (a new cockpit crew, as the LCY-SNN pilots lay over in SNN and fly to JFK on the next flight, which happened to be Sunday) came on the PA and welcomed us aboard this “very special service.” He informed us our flight time would be 6hr55min and advised us we would be landing in New York about 45 minutes ahead of schedule, er, “shed-jewel.”

We began our pushback as the purser announced that all safety guidelines from the safety demonstration applied, and reminded us of a few regulations (although didn’t go through the whole safety demo). After a rather long taxi in the rainy weather we made it to our departure runway and rocketed off. Here’s a video of the takeoff:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Minutes after takeoff the seatbelt sign was switched off and the flight attendants sprang into action. The purser started by taking meal orders, although she didn’t address anyone by name. When she came up to me she said “have you chosen your beef?” She laughed as she realized her mistake, but I said “great guess, I’ll go with that please.” That’s also when the two other flight attendants started distributing the media players, which took about 20 minutes. When the purser was finished taking meal orders she distributed amenity kits followed by hot towels.

Hot towels

We’re on our way

View from the window

Amenity kit

Once that was finished the beverage service began. Service was a bit slower on this flight than the outbound due to the rather full load and more service intensive flight. It was probably an hour or so into the flight before I had a drink, which was served with packaged nuts.

Diet Coke and nuts

First a tray with salad was served, which was accompanied by the breadbasket. The salad was tasteful. About midway through the salad the entree was served. I’m not sure if that’s how it’s supposed to be, but it struck me as being a bit sloppy. The beef was delicious, definitely one of the best business class steaks I’ve had.

Salad

Main course

Once the main courses were picked up the dessert trolley was brought through the cabin. I wasn’t really familiar with either option, so I asked the flight attendant for a suggestion. She said the eton mess was “beautiful and lovely,” so I went with that. And yeah, it lived up to her word. Very good. I had coffee with dessert.

Eton mess

By the time the tray was cleared it had been 2.5 hours since departure from Shannon, which strikes me as a long time for a meal service. The flight attendants were efficient, although it seemed like they more than had their hands full.

After lunch I decided to watch a couple of sitcoms and then got started on my trip report. I then reclined into the fully flat position and tried to nap for a while, but the loud guy seated behind me prevented that (due to his excessive laughter) until I reminded him that he wasn’t on a private jet. You can read more about that, erm, situation here.

About 1.5 hours before arrival the pre-arrival meal service began. Everything was on one trolley, and I went with the sandwiches. They tasted fresh, and the clotted cream and scone were great as well (although I restricted myself to one scone).

Sandwiches, tea, and scone with clotted cream

Next up was dessert, which consisted of a coffee éclair and lemon tart. Both were delicious.

Coffee éclair and lemon tart

As the trays were cleared up the captain came on the PA and indicated that we had 40 minutes to go to New York and confirmed that we would still be arriving 45 minutes early. At this point the flight attendants began to collect the entertainment systems and prepare the cabin for landing. I restowed everything I had taken out during the flight, and couldn’t help but smile. Why? Well, I fly international premium cabins into JFK somewhat frequently, and no matter how wonderful the flights are, I can’t help but dread immigration. After being pampered for hours and having everything brought to your seat, it’s tough to get back to reality and race people to immigration, wait in long lines, deal with rude agents, and be interrogated as if I had bad intentions. But there was none of that today, so I couldn’t help but smile. My passport was in my travel wallet and I didn’t have any immigration form to deal with.

After a smooth approach we touched down at JFK and taxied to our gate. We did make it in 45 minutes early, and I was sad to have the experience come to an end on one hand, but on the other hand couldn’t help but proudly walk straight into the terminal instead of queuing for immigration. I was at the AirTrain station exactly five minutes after I exited the plane. Now that’s awesome.

So what’s my conclusion about this service? Well, I think it’s awesome and actually adds value to the market. The main thing I noticed was how proud British Airways employees were of this service. The crew on the way out was one of the best flight crews I’ve had on any airline, while the return crew was exactly what I was expecting (although nothing more). As far as clearing immigration in Shannon goes, otherwise known as “the Shannon shuffle,” I think it’s great. On one hand it’s a pain to get on a transatlantic flight, only to have to get off so quickly. But on the other hand, the rest of my flight was that much more pleasant, knowing I wouldn’t have to deal with long queues and rude agents in New York. I might not feel as great about it if my immigration agent were rude, but having such a gem added to the experience (although I realize this is outside of British Airways’ control).

Thanks again to British Airways for the opportunity to sample the product. If anyone has any questions about the service, feel free to post them here or email me.

——————————————

Amazingly enough this was my first time in London. I’ve flown through Heathrow many times and have technically visited the UK by going through customs instead of transferring terminals, but this was my first real visit. London was always one of those cities I assumed I would see anyway, so I guess my reasoning was something like “why ’waste’ a trip there when I could go to places I otherwise might not visit, like New Zealand or Vietnam” (both of which I love). Of course this trip presented the perfect opportunity.

Beyond that, I’m not sure why, but my expectations weren’t that high for London. I always assumed London and New York were alike, and I’m not really a fan of New York (despite having been born there). I know almost everyone will disagree (everyone seems to love New York), but New York just ain’t that great, in my book. It’s nice to visit once in a while, but I’d never want to move back there permanently. Anyway, I’m starting to get off on a tangent, so let’s get back to London.

What can really be said? Holy cow, what a city! My perception couldn’t have been any further off. It’s easily one of the coolest major cities, and I’m already looking forward to returning. London is a combination of a bustling metropolis, a laid back city, and Disney World (based on the number of landmarks virtually everyone will recognize). It ranks up there with Hong Kong, which is currently at the top of my list for major cities.

The first thing to note is that the weather was incredible. Absolutely the nicest weather I’ve experienced in well over a year. It was sunny for most of my stay, and more importantly, it was that temperature where you don’t feel hot or cold. Simply perfect.

I didn’t get to do a whole lot the first day (between taking a nap upon arrival, taking care of some work I had to finish, going to the gym, and dinner, the day was basically over), but the second day I was exploring London from morning till evening.

Now, I should have probably taken a tour on one of those buses, but when I’m traveling alone and don’t have a lot of time, I prefer to just wander with a map and see how far I go. I realize my method doesn’t get me all the facts, figures, and statistics I could possibly want about a city, but I do find that it gives me a good overview of the city, the people, and most importantly, the vibe. When I left the InterContinental that morning at around 8AM, the only thing set in stone was that I was meeting a friend for lunch at 12:30PM.

So with a map in hand I started my stroll. While I’m no London expert, I love the location of the InterContinental. It’s near Hyde Park, Green Park, and St. James’ Park, which is how I started my walk. It’s great to be able to start a day of sightseeing with fresh air and falling leaves (especially as a Floridian). While New York might have Central Park, it can’t compare to this, in my opinion.

Ah, leaves….

The next stop was Buckingham Palace, which was on my way to the Thames River. While I was expecting lots of cops, there was some special event going on. It involved “Delhi 2010,” although I’m not sure what exactly the purpose of the ceremony was. I stopped for a few minutes to watch the guy on the big screen talking, which was rather painful to watch. There was some sort of delay issue, and he kept saying that they were talking into his ear, so they took at least a few (dozen) takes.

Buckingham Palace

Yes, I’m a tourist, and yes, I had to take a picture…. get over it

I then continued my walk past Westminster Abbey, Westminster Hall, and of course Big Ben, which brought me up to the Thames.

Westminster Abbey

Big Ben and the London Eye

Big Ben and Westminster Hall from the Thames

I crossed Westminster Bridge and walked along the river towards the London Eye. My plan was to do as much walking as possible before lunch, so I was going to come back and take a ride on the London Eye after lunch (since this was close to where I was going to meet my friend for lunch).

I continued walking along the Thames towards Southwark, where I crossed the bridge to the other side. At this point the London Bridge was in sight, so my goal was to make it all the way down there before lunch.

London Bridge in the distance

Of course I got distracted on the way by what I believe is called “The Gherkin,” which I had seen pictures of but knew nothing about. I felt like I had to navigate a maze to get there as I took at least a dozen side streets, but I did eventually make it. I even walked by the Salvation Army headquarters. One thing I noticed in London is how many office buildings have offices on the first floors without blinds, so you can see the person sitting at their desk, or in many cases a meeting room filled with people.

The Gherkin

After that I walked towards the London Bridge. Since I was meeting my friend Lewis for lunch at 12:30PM, I didn’t quite make it all the way, as I wanted to leave plenty of time to get back in time. I got pretty close, though.

London Bridge

Lewis suggested a traditional British restaurant where we had — you guessed it — fish and chips! While my diet might not approve (I think I’ve worked it off in the meantime), it was delicious. He insisted we go for the brownie sundae dessert. Again, not diet approved, but excellent.

In addition to discussing everything miles, points, and flying, Lewis was able to provide some suggestions for what to do in the afternoon.

Fish and chips

Brownie sundae

The first thing he suggested was taking one of the “duck tours,” which are those fancy driving boat things. We went to the “duck tour” office, but they were sold out for the day. Next he suggested the London Eye, but the line was quite long, so I passed (no, it had nothing to do with my fear of heights when there are no wings involved).

Anyway, many thanks for lunch and all the tips, Lewis!

At this point it was just a ridiculously beautiful afternoon. I think the picture below speaks for itself.

Ahhh….

I decided to cross the River and headed towards Trafalgar Square. On my way I took just about every turn possible, so it was about an hour before I made it there. I stayed there for a while and just observed, as it is an interesting place for people watching.

Trafalgar Square

After a bit more walking I found myself approaching the parks again, which were beautiful as the sun slowly began to set. I decided to head back to the hotel for the time being (it was around 5PM).

St. James’ Park maybe?

Later in the evening I headed back out to see Big Ben by night, which was incredible. Now that I’m looking at the map I’d say I walked around 10 miles or so. The above is only the highlights, mainly because there are many areas I walked through that I can’t identify every detail of.

Despite only having a full day in London, I think I did a pretty good job of maximizing my time. London is an incredible city. There’s no description I can give that would do it justice, other than to say that I can’t wait to return.

——————————————

After a ride on the DLR to Canning Town and a switch to the Jubilee Line, I made it to the Green Park station. From there it was a pleasant ten minute walk to the InterContinental, which was easy enough to locate.

InterContinental London

The reception desk was located immediately inside, where I was promptly checked in by the friendly gentleman that introduced himself as the guest relations manager. I was assigned room 310, a one bedroom suite. I had used free night certificates from the big promotion earlier in the year for my stay.

Lobby

Soon enough I made it to my room on the third floor.

Hallway

I was impressed by the room. It was “fresh,” well furnished, spacious, and had great views. First as I walked in there was a half bath on the left.

Bathroom

Next was the living room, which had a desk, a table with four chairs, and a couch with two chairs

Living room

The room had a Bang & Olufsen TV and Bose stereo system — very nice!

Living room

The view from the room was towards the parks with lots of greenery and not much noise.

View from the room

Living room from the other side

Under the TV was the minibar, and yes, I had to take the obligatory Royal Ambassador minibar picture.

Minibar

On the table was the welcome gift, consisting of fruit and cookies. There was also a large bottle of mineral water near the TV.

Welcome gift

The bedroom featured a very comfortable bed, large closet, Bang & Olufsen TV, and yet another Bose stereo system (not a bad way to wake up in the morning).

Bedroom

From the other side….

The main bathroom was large, with both a shower and bathtub. The highlight of the bathroom was definitely that it was stocked with 100ml bottles of Elemis products. I know that might sound insignificant to some, but Elemis products rock and I’ve never seen bottles as large as 100ml in hotels. It’s even perfect for bringing through airport security. And no, I had no part in the disappearance of the Elemis bottles near the bathtub at the end of my stay.

Shower

Toilet

Bathtub

For those interested, here’s a floor plan of the hotel:

Floor plan

After taking a nap (and sleeping like a baby for a few hours), I hit the gym, which is located on the first floor. It was never busy and was well equipped. It had two towels at every machine, along with water and fruit too. The highlight of my gym usage had to be the middle aged man (very clean cut business type, I would assume) who spent at least 30 minutes kicking and punching the crap out of the punching bag. I’m guessing some deal didn’t go through.

Gym

The Club InterContinental is located on the seventh floor and boasts great views, not only of Hyde Park, but also of Buckingham Palace and on a clear day the London Eye. The lounge is stylish and offers plenty of seating, both at tables and on couches. It also has a couple of PC’s.

Entrance

Breakfast starts at 7AM and goes till at least 11AM. There’s both a buffet with continental breakfast options, like fruit, croissants, meat, cheese, pastries, etc., along with a menu, with omelets, pancakes, etc.

Club for breakfast

Table

Views, views, views!

Continental breakfast selection

Pancakes from the menu…. well present and tasted great!

The wait staff couldn’t have been more professional either. In the evenings there’s also a nice spread. First I was offered a “taster plate” and drink, which consists of a variety of things to nibble on which change every night. After spending the entire day walking (a total of about 20km.), there was no better place to sit and observe bustling London by night.

Taster plate the first evening

Taster plate the second evening

There’s also a buffet set up with cold options, such as cheese, meat, breads, etc.

Lounge at night

Lounge at night

Lounge at night

Unfortunately I didn’t have a chance to try out the afternoon tea as I was out and about both days around that time.

Club lounge access often goes for £40 per night for Ambassadors and £80 for everyone else at check-in. Club access also includes free internet, which is usually £15, so as an Ambassador you’re often only essentially paying £25/night for lounge access (when the £40 promotion is running) . That’s a bargain, and a steal if you’re traveling with someone else.

The highlight of my stay, however, was dinner at Theo Randall, the award winning (London Restaurant Awards 2008 Italian Restaurant of the Year) Italian restaurant located inside the InterContinental. I was invited to join two lovely people from InterContinental (one from the hotel, one from corporate) for dinner. First of all, I’m no foodie, so please take my comments with a grain of salt (no pun intended) if you’re looking for sophisticated food analysis.

I love Italian food, and this was among the best dining experiences I’ve had, including in Italy. For one, the service was phenomenal. In the US we’re so used to being rushed in and out of restaurants, even in nicer establishments, as opposed to the more reasonable pace here. Second, the company was fantastic. Maybe I was the zaniest when it comes to travel (in the form of mileage running), but I wasn’t the only one passionate about it!

The food was absolutely incredible, and after the kitchen tour we had (after dinner), it was apparent why. They literally spend all day making making pasta and the ingredients are imported from Italy. Simply incredible food.

Theo Randall

Restaurant

Buffalo mozzarella with grilled red peppers, basil, Swiss chard, marinated artichokes, and Taggiasche olives

Mixed green ravioli with Swiss chard, rocket, spinach, sheep’s ricotta, butter and sage

Roast rack of new season’s Somerset lamb with wood roasted carrots, globa artichokes, fennel, beetroots and salsa d’erbe (which we shared)

Dessert plate

I’m not usually one for gourmet dining, but I had a blast, the food was incredible, and I’d even consider returning on my own dime (which is saying quite a bit since I’d usually rather spend money on other things).

My stay at the InterContinental was fantastic. I love the location (as a tourist it was nice to start and end my day with a stroll through the parks), the hotel was modern yet elegant, and the service was great. All around it’s everything you’d expect from one of the flagship InterContinental properties and I’ll definitely be back soon.

——————————————

Disclaimer: As I mentioned in the introduction post, British Airways comped me this flight. They asked for my honest feedback on the product, which is exactly what I’ll provide. I wouldn’t be doing anyone a favor by giving inaccurate remarks, since I hope my positive comments can reinforce what they are doing well and that my constructive criticism can convince them to improve in some areas.

Upon entering terminal 7 I turned left towards premium check-in, and quickly spotted the “Club World” sign. There was no wait and I was immediately helped. Given that it was only 4PM and I had seven hours to spare the agent offered to put me on the earlier flight, which was a nice gesture, although I declined since I wanted to get some work done in the lounge. I confirmed that the seat next to me was still empty, and the agent indicated that it was. I chose seat 8A, the last row, because I figured it gave me the best chance of an empty seat next to me, and since it’s in the last row, I felt like it would give me the most accurate representation of their service (since I’d be served last). It’s worth noting that British Airways doesn’t allow free seat assignments for non British Airways Gold members in business class more than 24 hours out. It doesn’t really matter on a flight like this where all the seats are the same, but I can see it being a bit of an inconvenience on other flights.

Check-in is also where the first sign of the pride British Airways takes in this product shows – the check-in agent proudly exclaimed that this was the same flight number as the Concorde. I of course knew this and was thrilled about it, but it was nice to see that the employees shared a similar enthusiasm.

Premium check-in

Club World London City

British Airways has a dedicated premium security line located by the premium check-in area, where the line was pretty short. Unfortunately there was a family at the front of the line that took at least five minutes to get all its stuff on the x-ray. I had all day so couldn’t have cared less, and within about 10 minutes I was through. I proceeded to the Terraces Lounge, which is located on the other side of the terminal, where I was admitted by a rather matronly agent that didn’t say a word (interestingly enough, the only person in that lounge that didn’t go above and beyond).

I had never been in the Terraces Lounge before. It’s actually right in front of the Red Carpet Club, so I nearly made the mistake of walking past it as I’m so used to looking at the fancy glass doors of the Terraces Lounge on my way to the dungeon which is the RCC. My first impression was that the lounge was HUGE. I wasn’t really surprised given that BA has at least six flights a day out of JFK, along with an OpenSkies flight, two Club World London City flights, along with lounge access for ANA, Cathay Pacific, Iberia, and Qantas passengers, so it probably houses over 1,000 people a day. So the lounge didn’t feel particularly private, but it was functional and had a lot of amenities.

Entrance to the Terraces lounge

Each area of the lounge had a different theme, which was interesting given that there wasn’t really anything that separated them. It did look a bit weird, but nonetheless it’s easily one of the best business class lounges in the US. There were lots of snack options available, like chips, cookies, finger sandwiches, etc., so I only had a small snack.

Terraces Lounge

Terraces Lounge

Terraces Lounge

Terraces Lounge

Terraces Lounge

Terraces Lounge

Terraces Lounge

Wine bar

Snacks

Snack

There is no full dinner service on the Club World London City flight, but instead there’s pre-flight supper in the lounge, which I was saving my appetite for. First I spent about an hour on my laptop, and then at around 5PM I headed over to the Elemis Spa to book an appointment. Business and first class passengers are entitled to a 15 minute service, ranging from back massages to foot massages to mini-facials. Given that they only have a few dozen slots for hundreds of passengers, I made my appointment early. I booked a power back massage for 9:40PM, just before my flight. My plan was to have dinner, then shower, and then enjoy a massage.

I got some more work done in the meantime, but really just enjoyed sitting in the lounge. What makes this lounge unique is that it’s so huge, which means you can do a lot of people watching, which is one of my favorite things to do at airports.

At around 7PM I decided it was time for dinner, so I went to the pre-flight supper room. There are dozens of tables, most of which were full, since it was probably a peak time. The food is all served buffet style, and there’s a good variety. The menu read as follows:

Pre Flight Supper North America

Soup
Mushroom Veloute
(Wild Mushroom Bisque)

Salads
Organic Mixed Greens
Cucumbers, Grape Tomatoes
Calamata Olives

Baby Arugula with Balsamic Pears

Roasted Acorn Squash with Black Eyed Peas Salad

Roasted Beef Salad with Crumbled Goat Cheese and Toasted Almonds

Prosciutto
Peppered Turkey Breast

Honey Dijon Dressing
Balsamic Vinaigrette

Entrees
Vegetable Curry

Mushroom Lasagna with Gorgonzola Cream Sauce and Toasted Walnuts

Lamb Sheppard’s Pie with Chive Mashed Potatoes

Baked Haddock with Caramelized Onion Potatoes and Roasted Tomato Ragout

Dessert and Cheese
Chocolate Chip Cookies

Lemon Bars

Seasonal Fresh Fruit

Cheese Board
Saga Blue
Double Gloucester
Brie

I have to say, the food was fantastic. I’m not a foodie or a fancy eater, but it tasted great, better than the quality I typically get in business class. And the concept of pre-flight dining is a great idea on a short transatlantic flight, in my opinion. The only let down was the dessert, which consisted of somewhat tasteless lemon bars and stale cookies, although that was actually a plus for me since it helped me not break my diet too much.

Pre-flight supper area

Buffet

Buffet

Salad and soup (mushroom soup was AMAZING)

Main course

Dessert

After dinner I got some more work done, and at around 9PM headed to the shower rooms, which are located next to the Elemis Spa. A room was ready for me within a few minutes. The rooms were large, the water pressure and temperature were good, and they had one of those fancy showers that requires a two page instruction booklet to operate.

Shower room

Elemis Spa Desk

When I was all showered it was time for my massage. I went to the Elemis Spa and was asked to take a seat on one of the comfortable lounge chairs they have in the waiting area. Within a few minutes a guy named Joe introduced himself as my “massage therapist.” Remember that ex-NYPD cop that I had as a flight attendant a while back? Yeah, well I think Joe may very well be related to him based on his personality.

Spa area

He was easily one of the funniest guys ever. As he was massaging my back he said “I can tell you have a good taste in shirts, I can feel the great quality.” I responded “thanks, but I bought it at Ross for $20 yesterday.” Then his story quickly switched to “well, it’s not the shirt, but rather the man under it that counts.” LMAO!

Either way, he did an incredible job for the 15 minute massage (which was closer to 20 minutes, so I left him a $10 tip (don’t flame me, I didn’t have smaller bills and I realize a tip isn’t required, but he was that funny and that good that it just felt right). Despite leaving my shirt on he used all kinds of oils and I was fully expecting to have my shirt drenched, but it was totally dry. After the massage there’s a quick sales pitch for Elemis products, although that didn’t last for more than ten seconds.

By that time it was approaching 10PM and I went to the front desk to see if the seat next to mine was still open. Someone had selected it, so I wanted to see if there was another seat they had available with an empty next to it, and indeed they did. The agents were hilarious about it, too. Definitely had the spunky New Yorker attitude as well (as one agent told the other “what do you think I am, hard of hearing?”). Loved ‘em.

I checked my email one last time and headed to the gate at around 10:30PM for boarding at around 10:50PM. You’ve gotta love a plane with only 32 seats. I was the only person in the gate area, which you won’t see anywhere else. I started talking to the gate agent, who was awesome. She indicated the load on tonight’s flight would be 17 out of 32, and it was clear that she took pride in the new product. She also reminded me that these were actually the same flight numbers as the Concorde. Every time an employee mentioned that to me, it just came across as passion for the product, and there’s nothing more important than passion when it comes to doing a good job. Interestingly enough she also indicated that she works the same flight every night and that there are already quite a few regulars. Good for BA.

No gate lice!

At around 10:50PM boarding was announced, yet I was still the only passenger in the gate area. Nothing beats a private boarding experience!

British Airways 004, JFK-LCY, A318
Tuesday, October 27
Depart: 11:10PM
Arrive: 10:45AM +1
Duration: 7hr35min
Seat 8K (Club World)

I got aboard and was immediately greeted by the two male flight attendants, Olivier, the purser, and Chris, as they directed me to my seat. I quickly asked if I could snap a few pictures before other passengers boarded, and they happily obliged.

My first impression of the cabin was one of awe. I’ve been on a few all business class planes, but this was a new one for me. While the cabin was small, it felt spacious and couldn’t have been classier. There was music playing along with mood lighting, and the cabin just looked so fresh.

Cabin

As I got to the rear of the aircraft (where I was seated), I was greeted by Sara, the other flight attendant. To say she was proud and excited to be working the flight would be an understatement. As soon as she saw me taking pictures she started talking about the product and also mentioned the Concorde flight number connection. You know the drill by now. I also asked how bumpy this flight tends to be, not because I was concerned, but just because I was curious about what her answer would be. She said her flight out was the smoothest flight she has ever had. Stay tuned for that.

From the back

From seat 8K

Seat 8A & 8B

Seatback

Seat controls

There’s even an air nozzle!

Within a few minutes passengers slowly started to board. There were only 17 of us, so the door closed in no time. While there were no pre-departure beverages (I assume due to the short boarding time), bottled water, amenity kits, and menus were immediately distributed.

Water, amenity kit, and menu

Amenity kit contents

Before we pushed back Captain Piers introduced himself and First Officer Ian, once again very proud about the product, labeling this the “special Club World London City product.” I don’t know if all the employees are always this good or if it’s just a matter of pride, but either way they were on top of their game and could take on the cabin crew of any airline. Captain Piers informed us that our flight time would be 6hr45min, and that we should be landing about 45 minutes ahead of schedule (pronounced in my favorite way, of course, “shed-jewel”).

We pushed back and as we taxied towards the runway the purser Olivier came to every passenger, wanting everything to be taken care of so that we can rest after takeoff. He really did an incredible job. He addressed every passenger by name, and despite being rushed, took his time with everyone. He asked whether we wanted to eat a snack after takeoff, whether we wanted to eat breakfast, whether we wanted to be woken for breakfast (for those that wanted to eat), and whether we wanted a personal entertainment system. I was the only passenger that said yes to everything. As a matter of fact, as far as I could tell, no one else ordered a post-takeoff snack.

The menu read as follows:

We hope you enjoyed the pre-flight supper in the
lounge this evening. Tonight’s menu is designed around
helping you maximise your sleep on this short overnight
flight, enabling you to arrive in London well rested and
ready to start your day.

If you wish to settle down and sleep shortly after take
off you may like to have a look at our breakfast options
available to you when you wake up in the morning.

Good night.

NightCap

On tonight’s flight, we have a selection of night cap
options for you to choose from should you wish to eat
something to help you settle down and get some quality
sleep before our arrival into London.

Four cabbage slaw with pequino peppers
topped with crab cakes
or
Croque-monsieur
or
Bruschetta sandwich with goat’s cheese

Wildflower and honey cheese cake

Please accept our apology if your first choice
is not available.

Club Kitchen
Should you wake up and feel hungry during the
night, we have a selection of tasty treats including
crisps, chocolates and biscuits available in the
galley area for you to choose from.

Please ask our crew for a drink from the bar,
or you may wish to enjoy a hot drink. We have
a choice of tea and freshly ground coffee.
We also offer a selection of herbal teas.

Prior to Arrival

We will be serving you a light breakfast
approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes
before our arrival into London City.

Chilled fruit juice
An energising fruit smoothie
Fresh seasonal fruit

or
Special K with dried berries
Warm bacon roll served with tomato ketchup
Selection of warm breads and breakfast pastries
Your choice of coffee or tea

City Breakfast

If you wish to maximise your sleep during the
night, we won’t wake you up if we see you are
still sleeping soundly. When you do wake up,
we have our City Breakfast option available up
until 20 minutes before landing, which you can
eat on descent or on your journey into the office.

Chilled fruit juice

Fresh fruit

Breakfast pastries

And here’s the drink menu:

Wines

Please ask your crew to advise you of the choices
available on today’s service.

Champagne Cocktail
Kir Royale
Crème de Cassis gives this cocktail its distinctive taste
Buck’s Fizz
Crisp, dry Champagne and naturally sweet orange juice

Champagne
Heidsieck Monopole Blue Top
Generous nose, with toasty and buttery aromas
Ayala Brut Majeur NV Champagne
Elegant and lively, with delicate fresh and fruity notes

White
Terra do Gargalo 2007 Monterrei
Intensely flavoured with lemon, lime and apple
Marmesa Vineyards Chardonnay 2006, Edna Valley
Appetising and dry, with an aroma of white peaches
Château de Rully 2007, Rully
Lemony, smoky and taut
Arboleda Coastal Sauvignon Blanc 2008
A super-refreshing dry white

Red
Montes Alpha Syrah 2006
Flavours of spice and blackberries, rounded off
by soft, silky oak tannins
Château Bournac 2005
Pretty and succulent, from an outstanding vintage
La Haute Marone 2007, Gigondas
Essence of spicy Grenache, intense and full-bodied
J. Lohr, Los Osos Merlot 2006, Paso Robles
Scented, rich blend from California’s Central Coast

A selection of traditional and modern drinks
to suit all tastes

There will be a complimentary bar available
serving alcoholic beverages and soft drinks.

In no time we made it to our departure runway as we rocketed off after a 30 second takeoff roll. It was a rather rainy evening, although the picture below makes it look a bit worse than it really was.

Taking off

For the first two or three minutes there were some decent bumps, but just a minute later the seatbelt sign was switched off. The purser made his after takeoff announcements, which were intentionally brief. He mentioned that the On Air service would not be turned on until we were off the US coast, about an hour after takeoff. Within less than ten minutes of takeoff immigration cards were passed out (I didn’t need one since I was using my German passport) along with hot towels. The lights were dimmed all the way, as almost all passengers immediately reclined in order to get a decent night of sleep. Speaking of the lights, they have some very nice mood lighting. The light transitions slowly, as opposed to the rapid change of light on planes without mood lighting.

Cabin lights being dimmed

Moments later Olivier brought me the entertainment system (I think only one other passenger requested one), and explained to me all the features. It’s basically the same system United uses on Premium Service, with lots of movies, TV shows, and music. Unfortunately it’s portable, so there’s no Air Show.

Here is the movie selection:

Angels and Demons
Australia
Capote
Che Part 2
Cheri Fargo
Five Minutes of Heaven
Imagine That
Independence Day
Looking For Eric
Moon
My Sisters Keeper
Roman Holiday
Telstar
Terminator Salvation
The Assassination of Jesse James
The Dark Knight
The Day The Earth Stood Still – 2008
The Good The Bad And The Ugly
The Hangover
The Last King of Scotland
The Lives Of Others
The Other Man
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
The Taking of Pelham 123
The Thomas Crown Affair – 1968
Transformers – Revenge Of The Fallen
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Whatever Works 

Entertainment system

I started talking to Olivier for a few minutes, and just to start conversation said “so, are you Heathrow or Gatwick based?” He responded “Gatwick, is there a problem with that?” with the most brilliant inflection and a smile on his face. Brilliant. He addressed me by name throughout the whole flight.

Five minutes later the drink trolley was brought through the cabin. I went with a Diet Coke with lemon, which was served in a rather small glass (as is the norm with BA). The snack quickly followed, consisting of a bruschetta sandwich with goat’s cheese, along with a light cheese cake. It was delicious and a perfect snack for such a flight. At this point we were hitting quite a bit of turbulence, and as Sara walked by I couldn’t help but say (with a smile) “you lied to me.”

Diet Coke with lemon

Snack

After dinner I wasn’t quite tired, so I talked to the crew for a while, in particular Olivier. I found out that he commutes from France to Gatwick on EasyJet, and even has to pay for the privilege. He loves his job and was so passionate about what he does (and British Airways), that I would easily say he’s among the best flight attendants I’ve ever flown with. We talked for about an hour, but like any good flight attendant he excused himself every so often to check on the other passengers. I also loved his accent, which was French, but at times he pronounced words with a thick British accent. As it turned out this was the second time all the crewmembers had worked the new service.

After we talked I decided to take a nap, and I did sleep very well for nearly three hours. As far as the seats go, they are somewhat similar to United’s new business class seats, with a few differences. First of all, they seem to be a bit wider, especially in the flat position, which is a plus. Furthermore, I love the material of the seats. Not sticky leather, not easy-to-slide on cloth, but something awesome. The blanket and pillow were rather simple, although I’m not a huge fan of thick duvet’s on European airlines since I typically sweat my rear off at the temperatures some airlines keep their cabins at. Not only was the cabin cool throughout the whole flight, but there were individual air nozzles at the seat, which is the key to a good night of sleep, in my opinion.

Flat bed

Cabin lighting

I woke up naturally about two hours before landing as the sun creeped ever-so-slightly through my window shade. I decided it was time to watch a movie, and I eventually decided on “The Hangover.” While the selection was vast, not very many of the options interested me. In other words, there weren’t very many comedies. Fortunately “The Hangover” has to be one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a long time. Absolutely brilliantly hilarious.

As I was about half way through the movie breakfast service began with about an hour to go till London. I went with a smoothie and orange juice to start, both of which tasted fresh. I was then served fresh fruit, which was delicious, along with a warm croissant. As far as I’m concerned breakfast can stop there on a short transatlantic flight like this.

Breakfast

Just to see what all of the hype is about on the British Airways forum on FlyerTalk I decided to try the bacon roll, which was the only main course option. Now, I should say that I’m probably one of the two people in the world that HATES bacon. Nonetheless I wanted to see what all the buzz was about. I had one bite and had enough. I think if they’re going to serve a main course, they should offer another option. While many may like bacon rolls, it’s not exactly the healthiest option, especially for those going office-to-office. I’d actually prefer to see a yoghurt or muesli option and keep the breakfast continental. But I think I had my first and last bacon roll.

Bacon roll

About 40 minutes prior to landing the captain came on the PA and announced that we were quickly approaching London, confirming that we were still on “shed-jewel” to touch down 45 minutes early. As the flight attendants had noticed my picture taking, they asked if I wanted one of the “to go” breakfast bags as well. This is actually a pretty cool idea, since you can eat it anytime, either on final descent, on your way to the office, or at the office. It’s simple, consisting of a muffin, apple, and orange juice, but it does the trick, in my opinion. It even has a hook practically designed should you finish it during the final descent, so that you can just attach the bag to the coat hook at your seat.

Breakfast to go

20 minutes out the seatbelt sign came on as Captain Pears once again thanked us for flying “on this special service.”

Approaching London

There were quite a few bumps on final approach, and as you can see in the video below, the landing into London City Airport was quite an adventure. The A318 is the largest plane that serves this airport, and with less than 5,000 feet of runway, you’ve gotta touch down at the marker regardless of how rough it is. As you can also see in the video, the speed breaks were deployed until just a couple of seconds before landing, which was a first for me. After a back taxi on the runway, we reached our stand within seconds.

Here is the landing video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Olivier thanked us for flying on Club World London City, and within minutes stairs pulled up to door 1L so we could deplane. I thanked Chris and Sara for a phenomenal flight before leaving my seat (as they were in the rear galley), and thanked Olivier on the way out. The captain was also standing there thanking everyone. When I thanked him for the safe ride (as I always do), he almost looked perplexed.

Upon arrival

It was so nice to walk off the stairs and onto the tarmac, as it was a beautiful cool morning, not too hot and not too cold. It was a 30 second walk to the entrance to the terminal, where we queued for immigration.

Ah, what a beauty!

Off to immigration

Our big little bird

There was only one immigration officer, but we were the only flight they were taking care of. I was intentionally last in line as I wanted to see how long it would take. I was through in less than five minutes, and on the curb in six minutes. Right after immigration was the “arrivals” team, offering Oyster Cards (which are for the transportation systems and got me a free ride on the DLR and tube) along with more information about the London Marriott, which acts as the arrivals facility for this service should one care to freshen up. I didn’t end up giving it a try since it was after 10AM and I just wanted to get to the hotel.

London City Airport

DLR at London City Airport

So what are my conclusions based on the outbound? Club World London City is an un-friggin-believable product. The Terraces lounge at JFK is quite nice and the seats are great, although that’s not what sets apart this product. First and foremost, were the phenomenal employees. Never before have I seen three flight attendants so passionate about good customer service. They genuinely seemed like they wanted to be there. Not only that, but they were polished. They really knew what they were doing, and it showed. The cabin crew get a perfect score in my book, and that’s very rare for me.

Beyond that, flying on a 32 seat plane is just an amazing experience. No queues, no 45 minute boarding time, and no long lines at immigration. It really feels like a private jet. This product is a winner.