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BA had an award sale at the end of last year where all awards tickets were 50% of normal miles. This seemed to me to be a deal too good to miss and even better there was availability in F for the exact dates I wanted to SFO my favourite city in the USA.
I took the HEX out of Paddington to LHR. The HEX brings you into T5 at the North end of the terminal. The First check in area is right to at the South end of the terminal. I started to walk down towards to First check in area. As soon as I found an empty check in machine I used it to get my boarding pass. I then continued towards the First check in area to check my hold luggage but when I got to the business class check in area all the bag drop desks were free so I decided to use one of them rather than continue all the way down to the First area. It took just a couple of minutes to drop of my bag and I headed towards security.
There was no queue at the fast track security queue. Dumped everything into a tray and walked through the WTMD which went beep. I was hand searched and wanded. The security guy kept on having to check the wand was working because I had absolutely no metal on me so it never beeped. This does kind of support what I have heard that the WTMDs beep every so often even if they have not detected any metal. Anyway I was soon through and on my way to the Concorde Room.
The CCR is very nice and relaxing place to wait for the flight. I had had a large breakfast so was not hungry so just had a drink and read the newspaper whilst waiting for my flight. About 30 minutes before departure time I decided I had better head to the gate. I had a quick look at the screens and saw that the flight was due to depart from Gate A10, not good as this is the bussing gate. Anyway it is a bit of a trek from the lounge to Gate A10 so off I went. When I got there I had a look at the screens to see which gate at A10 the SFO flight went from but I could not see it. So I went back to the main departure area to look at one of the main screens and saw that my flight actually went from gate A18 (definitely need to get my eyes tested when I get home). So off I went back all the way I had come from as A18 is right under the BA lounges. I got there about 10 minutes before departure time and went straight on board.
On entering the plane I was escorted to my seat. I could not help but notice that I was the only F passenger to arrive. Anyway I settled in and asked for a glass of champagne. Soon afterwards the Captain came on and said that all passengers were on board and we would be pushing back soon. So yes I was the only passenger in F. Great for me pretty poor for BA with only passenger and he had not actually paid cash for his seat.
Soon we were pushing back and they started the safety briefing. Now when you are the only passenger in a cabin and you have a member of staff standing right in front of you, well you really do have to pay attention. There was not too bad a queue for take-off and we were soon on our way to SFO. Shortly after take-off the Purser in the F cabin came and introduced himself. He was really nice and explained that as it was only me in the cabin he would be looking after me and that the two other crew members who normally work in the F cabin would help out in the other cabins which I have to say sounded sensible to me.
I was brought be a copy of the menu and asked if I would like a drink. I almost asked for another glass of champagne as I felt guilty having only had one glass but then thought no I’m really not a big champagne fan and they do have a rather nice 18 year old Glenlivet so asked for one of them instead.
Shortly afterwards the CSD (BA’s equivalent of the IFS on SQ) came around and introduced herself and had a bit of chat with me about where I was going in the states.
Soon I was feeling peckish as I had not had any lunch so I asked the purser to start cooking my lunch.
He was back soon to lay my table
I had the white asparagus for my starter which was excellent.
Followed by a salad (sorry no photo but it looked just like a salad). For the main course I chose the duck.
The duck was very nice but the bean cassoulet it came with was not my sort of thing.
Dessert was a strawberry sponge puddings which was just gorgeous.
There were some great views out of the window of Iceland during dinner.
And then over Greenland
After lunch I watch a film. BA does have AVOD now but the selection is quite limited compared to SQ and the screen size is tiny. Then I decided to have a bit of a snooze. My jet lag beating plan for travel to the West Coast is to have a bit of a snooze on the way so that when I arrive I can stay awake until my normal bedtime.
I took the HEX out of Paddington to LHR. The HEX brings you into T5 at the North end of the terminal. The First check in area is right to at the South end of the terminal. I started to walk down towards to First check in area. As soon as I found an empty check in machine I used it to get my boarding pass. I then continued towards the First check in area to check my hold luggage but when I got to the business class check in area all the bag drop desks were free so I decided to use one of them rather than continue all the way down to the First area. It took just a couple of minutes to drop of my bag and I headed towards security.
There was no queue at the fast track security queue. Dumped everything into a tray and walked through the WTMD which went beep. I was hand searched and wanded. The security guy kept on having to check the wand was working because I had absolutely no metal on me so it never beeped. This does kind of support what I have heard that the WTMDs beep every so often even if they have not detected any metal. Anyway I was soon through and on my way to the Concorde Room.
The CCR is very nice and relaxing place to wait for the flight. I had had a large breakfast so was not hungry so just had a drink and read the newspaper whilst waiting for my flight. About 30 minutes before departure time I decided I had better head to the gate. I had a quick look at the screens and saw that the flight was due to depart from Gate A10, not good as this is the bussing gate. Anyway it is a bit of a trek from the lounge to Gate A10 so off I went. When I got there I had a look at the screens to see which gate at A10 the SFO flight went from but I could not see it. So I went back to the main departure area to look at one of the main screens and saw that my flight actually went from gate A18 (definitely need to get my eyes tested when I get home). So off I went back all the way I had come from as A18 is right under the BA lounges. I got there about 10 minutes before departure time and went straight on board.
On entering the plane I was escorted to my seat. I could not help but notice that I was the only F passenger to arrive. Anyway I settled in and asked for a glass of champagne. Soon afterwards the Captain came on and said that all passengers were on board and we would be pushing back soon. So yes I was the only passenger in F. Great for me pretty poor for BA with only passenger and he had not actually paid cash for his seat.
Soon we were pushing back and they started the safety briefing. Now when you are the only passenger in a cabin and you have a member of staff standing right in front of you, well you really do have to pay attention. There was not too bad a queue for take-off and we were soon on our way to SFO. Shortly after take-off the Purser in the F cabin came and introduced himself. He was really nice and explained that as it was only me in the cabin he would be looking after me and that the two other crew members who normally work in the F cabin would help out in the other cabins which I have to say sounded sensible to me.
I was brought be a copy of the menu and asked if I would like a drink. I almost asked for another glass of champagne as I felt guilty having only had one glass but then thought no I’m really not a big champagne fan and they do have a rather nice 18 year old Glenlivet so asked for one of them instead.
Shortly afterwards the CSD (BA’s equivalent of the IFS on SQ) came around and introduced herself and had a bit of chat with me about where I was going in the states.
Soon I was feeling peckish as I had not had any lunch so I asked the purser to start cooking my lunch.
He was back soon to lay my table
I had the white asparagus for my starter which was excellent.
Followed by a salad (sorry no photo but it looked just like a salad). For the main course I chose the duck.
The duck was very nice but the bean cassoulet it came with was not my sort of thing.
Dessert was a strawberry sponge puddings which was just gorgeous.
There were some great views out of the window of Iceland during dinner.
And then over Greenland
After lunch I watch a film. BA does have AVOD now but the selection is quite limited compared to SQ and the screen size is tiny. Then I decided to have a bit of a snooze. My jet lag beating plan for travel to the West Coast is to have a bit of a snooze on the way so that when I arrive I can stay awake until my normal bedtime.
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