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**wsssaero** · 24 December 2008, 10:47 AM

I love those cabin shots!

**SQflyergirl** · 28 December 2008, 04:32 AM

Some thoughts on the R class product

Seat selection:
1A and 1F are sometimes said to be undesirable due to the belief that people ascending and descending the staircase can peer in - truth is, I did try it out to see how much I could see in, but you'd really have to have half your body over the side of the railing to get any sort of view.

4A and 4F is indeed close to the galley, but they're trained to "keep it down". From what i could tell, the most noise actually came from the Y galley just aft of the R galley.

This must be one of SQ's most homogenous cabins around - I could sit anywhere and be happy, maybe with only a very slight nod to 3A and 3F because of the extra window.

Food:
Did not notice anything "beyond first" about the menu (not that the First menu isn't any good), just that the product differentiation relies heavily on the hardware upgrade (and different crockery)

Service
This particular crew was very good, and I was told they've got special R training - but to be honest, I think any number of crew I've flown with in F could step in there and I wouldn't be able to tell the "R training" difference.

Next up:

Leroy and Bubba wander through London Heathrow's Terminal 5 on their way to Eternal City, complete with aircraft swap due to fault and subsequent big delay. EU261/04 anyone?

**StarG** · 28 December 2008, 01:30 PM

Originally posted by SQflyergirl

Did not notice anything "beyond first" about the menu (not that the First menu isn't any good), just that the product differentiation relies heavily on the hardware upgrade (and different crockery)

Crockery is the same as F on 77W (and now 744) I think.

**Leroy and Bubba** · 28 December 2008, 02:15 PM

So mummy gets up and ready, teeth brushed and fur combed to catch a taxi from Aunty JJ's house to Hammersmith, where we'll connect to a Piccadilly line tube run down to Heathrow Terminal 5.

Here's us on the tube! The run from Hammersmith is only about 35 minutes, but boy it's cold!

Terminal 5's nice, bright and airy, and a far cry from the other 4 Terminals at LHR. We'd give 2 thumbs up each, if we HAD thumbs!

. Having OLCI'ed the day before, mummy managed to get us 2 exit row seats on BA's A320 to Rome. 11E and F. We also used the check-in machines when we got there, and those gave us our BP's, however, they were printed on Fax paper, so a bit low rent, we think.

**Leroy and Bubba** · 28 December 2008, 02:21 PM

No idea what these balloons or balls are for, but they're cute, so we thought we'd add this piccie in

Mummy, Aunty P and us were Galleriesless today, so we decided on getting some Pret A Mangy for breakkies. We like pret. Mummy always has a BLT and Deluxe Sushi. Very tasty (although a bit steep). Here's Aunty P queing up to pay whilst we wait for our munchies

Not long after, it's off to gate A19 for our departure on BA554 to Rome. Scheduled to be operated by G-EUUD. So please wait, and wait we did. A long time!

Some 10 minutes before scheduled boarding, the captain of the flight comes on and says that he's just brought Uniform Delta in from Copenhagen, but it developed a serious electrical fault during the taxi into the stand. We'll now be getting a new plane, towed from the hangar, but we had to make our way to A3.

Groans/Moans and Sighs - and the whole complement of pax and crew trudge their way across this vast terminal (uncle JHM will know full well the distance between A19 and A3!

)

**Leroy and Bubba** · 28 December 2008, 02:29 PM

No matter, as gate A3 is close to the active arrival runway today (mummy says this is 09L) - so we could take some piccies.

Here's G-VHOT, little miss Tubular Belle - arriving from some far flung destination no doubt!

N660UA - coming in from some US destination no doubt. Dunno if it has been reconfigured yet, but mummy says she really enjoyed a transcon on this very plane once (in 2003, long before we were born!)

Lots of nice aircraft - Heathrow's lovely in that regard. Quite comfy gate area to wait too:

And wait more we did. Finally, some 75 minutes after scheduled departure time, the appropriately named G-EUUW pulls up into stand 503 (A3). Uncle Mr. Captain says he'll need to check out the plane, and fill it up with gas, and we'd be off! Hurrah - as mummy and aunty P were getting very annoyed already! Can't see the rego well in this pic, but it is EUUW

**Leroy and Bubba** · 28 December 2008, 02:36 PM

Boarding, some 100 minutes after STD, was quite orderly. They called rows 16-26 first, then the rest of the plane. Unlike Asia, when EVERYONE gets up when someone's voice comes over the intercom, it's much more civilised here. The flight is very full, and there were some Opups - we did see a lady who got one, and her printed BP had the words "upgrade" or some thing printed boldly across the front. Not very discreet though, we thought. If you're going to give someone an opup, the whole world doesn't need to know.

HSBC everywhere! We're at HSBC airport probably!

Uncle Mr Pilot, just as he's finished his face to face cabin announcement! Don't know if this is standard BA practise, but we are impressed! He took the time to explain everything and how he'd try to make time up.

SQTalk standard safety christmas message - please take the time to read the safety cards when you fly even though you may have flown many times before! It may save your life. If a couple of teddy bears that won't go squish and splat when a plane goes down can read it, you can too!

**Leroy and Bubba** · 28 December 2008, 02:43 PM

Pushing back, it's quite easy to see the sheer size of T5

LHR is of course, home to this small regional carrier. Dunno the name - but here are some of their prop jets

Another one of their light aircraft at stand 512 (A12). G-BNWT

Taxiing out to rwy 09R - here's their smallest aircraft of all - we think this is a 4 seater. G-BNLT

And we're off! above the London gloom

According to uncle mr. Pilot, todays route is a right turn after departing 09R, tracking south-ish across the Channel, west of paris, a slight left turn overhead Geneva - tracking straight down the west coast of Italy.

**Leroy and Bubba** · 28 December 2008, 02:51 PM

Seat pitch looks quite tight on this plane. Mind you we're in an emergency exit row, so there's a bit more room, but still, it was not easy to do the cross legged test. Dread to think what the other rows must have been like.

Legroom when bum is all the way to the back of the seat:

Legroom when bum is in a more relaxed position

You get a nice sandwich on this flight. We had the Chicken coronation. Quite tasty, but felt a little odd since due to the delay, we were well into Lunchtime already.

Some stunning scenery over France (according to mummy) - but we know she's lying as we've seen the Empire strikes back. It's definitely Hoth, where the rebels had a secret base, and Mr Darth Vader sent an invasion force to go kill them.

**Leroy and Bubba** · 28 December 2008, 03:07 PM

Some 100odd miles out from Rome, uncle Mr. Captain comes back with some good news: he says he's begged Rome control for a more direct approach that's shaved 15 minutes off travel time. We're happy!

Descending below the cloud cover we saw this:
It's either
1) A beautiful sunset which we're only able to see part of
2) The Zoronian mothership which has just fired her rockets as she departs earth. You pick!

We turn back to a slightly northeast heading, and prepare for a landing at Rome's Fiumicino Airport!

Just coming up to 4pm local now - and we're about to touch down. Dunno which airline this is though....

FCO airport seems a little quiet today though. Only saw these three jets - and AR 343, an unmarked 757 and a Microsoft Internet explorer A330

After a long long walk through a multitude of confusing corridors and mazes - we're finally Landside. Luggage delivery, having said that, was fairly quick though. A quick call to Uncle LukeGT (who's given us some instructions) and we're off to within the Aurelian Walls!

Next up: More of the world's favourite airline back to Blighty!

**MAN Flyer** · 28 December 2008, 04:21 PM

Originally posted by StarG View Post

Crockery is the same as F on 77W (and now 744) I think.

Yep, my SQ319 a few weeks ago no longer had the 'F' crockery, which is another of those 'SQ things' that have slowly disappeared over the last few years.

**jhm** · 28 December 2008, 06:23 PM