End of Trip – Lisbon to Washington via London

 Flights, Portugal, RTW 40th Birthday Trip  3 Responses »
Nov 162011
 

Awake early, and out on the last segment of the trip. Lisbon to London was the last segment of the ticket from Mozambique, and ended it all with a one-way award from London to Washington. For a trip that was this big of a deal for me, I wanted to make sure I ended it right, and that meant an award in first.

We completely skipped check-in since we still had boarding passes from the previous day, and headed straight to security which was quick and a complete non-event. We hadn’t been to LIS in about five years, and were pleased to see there was a new TAP lounge. Had some good munchies for breakfast, and soon it was time to board.

TAP flight 354, Lisbon to London Heathrow
Depart 7:40 Arrive 10:30, Flight Time 2:50
Airbus A320, Registration CS-TNS, Manufactured 2009
Seats 2A, 2B

Not too much to say about this flight. It was completely full in both classes. Service was efficient and we got everything we needed (which was mostly a couple diet cokes and a bit of rest) and the flight flew by. We circled for about 15 minutes just west of Heathrow, and landed just about 5 minutes late – not bad at all.

The end of this segment really brought home the reality that the trip was finally over. Matt was staying in London, and I was back to DC. Having never taken a trip over 16 days before, I was amazed how a trip twice that long just flew by. I guess that’s the perfect sign that it lived up to all expectations and was an amazing time!

Chilled for a bit in the Star Alliance Lounge at Heathrow (where the staff was unusually cold – no bacon rolls today!) and then it was time to board the final segment of the trip. At least there was some decent self-serve champers in the lounge!

Continue reading »

London to Washington in United Business

 New Years 2009-2010, Trips, United Kingdom  No Responses »
Aug 242011
 

Woke up in the morning, and was honestly feeling quite a bit better.  The hallucinations were gone, the shivers and fever had mostly passed, and it was just residual stomach sketchiness.  A bit off coffee and immodium and I was pretty sure I could make it back home.  Pretty clear this was either food poisoning or some short-lived virus, so I was pretty fortunate.  The tube ride to Heathrow (at just under 90 minutes) was barely tolerable, but no major drama, and was soon ensconced in the Star Alliance lounge and sipping water before boarding the flight back to DC.

United Flight 925
London, Heathrow to Washington, Dulles
Boeing 777, Registration N778UA, Manufactured 1996
Depart 16:20 Arrive 19:45
Seat 11B

So departure came and went, and was very uneventful. Normally, I look forward to the business class meal as a way to pass a bit of time, but…this time…no WAY. Every time the crew passed through, I was either in the lav or asking for a ginger ale. But, at least I felt a thousand times better than the day prior, so that was a huge accomplishment. I considered asking for parts of the meal a couple times, but quickly realised just how bad of an idea that would be!

However, after the meal service, there was a bit of drama. The pilot came by, and asked if he could speak with me for a moment. Seems my behaviour was “suspicious” (refusing meals, etc) and they were concerned about the amount of time I was spending in the lav – I wasn’t doing anything wrong in there, was I? So, I had to explain to the guy the details (yeah, I left out the Iraq part) and he was pretty satisfied – I think. At least he didn’t bother me again, so I can only assume everything was fine!

Arrival was on time, immigration was easy, and soon I was home and relaxing. In the end, just having the extra space in business made this flight worth it. When you never know when you’re going to have to give up, just having that extra space to not have to excuse yourself past several people makes all the difference in the world!

Zagreb to London, Heathrow in Croatia Airlines Business Class

 Croatia, Flights, New Years 2009-2010, United Kingdom  No Responses »
Aug 232011
 

Before I get started on this, I have to be up-front.  This post might be a bit graphic in nature, and contains absolutely no pictures for reasons which will very very quickly become obvious!

We were safely ensconced in the Croatia Airlines lounge, where I believe I immediately collapsed on one of the couches…and go figure, just when I needed it most, this was one of those evil lounges that made you leave the lounge and go into the common areas of the airport to find facilities.  However, they had apple juice.  Ice cold apple juice.  The one thing that made me feel even remotely-human.  I spent most of the next hour as a shivering mess on the couch, to the point I vaguely remember Matt telling me to try and pull it together long enough that they didn’t pull us from the flight, lol.

Down to the gate, bus to the plane, and I managed to hold it together long enough to get on, board, take off, and get in the air!  Fortunately, there were only 3 people in all of business class, so I didn’t cause myself TOO much embarrassment!

Croatia Airlines Flight 492
Zagreb, Croatia to London, Heathrow
Depart 14:40, Arrive 16:05, 2 hours, 25 minutes
Airbus A319, Registration 9A-CTL, Manufactured 2000
Seat 2A

Now, as I am typing this I just realised this: no matter how badly I felt, one of two things was at work. Either I’m an über travel geek, or I wasn’t quite as bad as I thought, because I was still with it enough to manage to get the registration number of the plane. I’m going with the geek part, because I seriously was quite a mess. To the point when offered food I gave the flight attendant the look of death and asked for a ginger ale, and proceeded to try and sleep flat on the row of three seats in between bouts of shivering uncontrollably.

There’s not much to say about this flight. I managed to survive the two hours, land at Heathrow, AND make it all the way to immigration…and through immigration, without causing an international incident.  From what I remember, economy was packed, business was empty, and the crew was as nice and accommodating as could be expected.  But then again, I probably wasn’t the best judge!  Then…it was the tube. I don’t remember lots of the tube ride home, but suffice to say you regret living in Canary Wharf when it takes 90 minutes to get there and you’re barely feeling alive. I remember the following pattern: shiver, fall asleep, kick random guy across the aisle, wake up, apologize, repeat. Somehow, again, I made it, without causing serious drama.

The next 12 hours or so was a continuation of the pattern, but at least it was in bed! By morning, enough had passed that I was ready to consider the trek back to DC. I had considered just staying in London the next couple days, but the thought of going immediately with a confirmed upgrade to business far outweighed any potential recovery and going two days later in a middle seat in economy. NO THANKS!

IAD-LHR-BRU on United, and time in Brussels

 Belgium, Flights, New Years 2009-2010, United Kingdom  No Responses »
Aug 182011
 

Shortly before we booked this trip, United had started the London-Brussels flight as a way of holding onto their Heathrow slots for the off-season.  I didn’t expect it to fit so perfectly into our needs, but there you have it.  This year was exceptionally difficult (I found) to get award space over the holidays, so this extra option really helped out.  After Christmas with family, it was time to head off on the adventure!

United 922, Washington, Dulles to London, Heathrow
Boeing 767-300, Registration N646UA, Manufactured 1992
Depart 9:46 Arrive 22:00
Seat: 6H

Honestly, not a whole lot to say about this flight. It was quite uneventful, and after the drama the year before on the same date (22 hr delay after boarding, etc) we were just glad it was uneventful. The food was pretty standard: full hot breakfast shortly after departure, and full hot dinner shortly before arrival. All in all an uneventful flight, and after several dozen trips between IAD an LHR the past few years that’s how I like them. Landed on-time around 10pm, and we were home in the flat around midnight and off for a short night’s slept before grabbing some coffee and catching the DLR/tube back to Heathrow.

United 935, London, Heathrow to Brussels, Belgium
Boeing 777-200, Registration N784UA, Manufactured 1997
Depart 13:20 Arrive 15:35
Seat: 2J

When we got to the gate for the flight, it was clear there were maybe 50-60 people on the entire 777. I’d heard rumors of rampant op-ups on this flight, but didn’t want to get our hopes up. Then, one of the agents I knew from many previous trips came over, started chatting us up, and came back with two new boarding passes…1J and 2J….yes, it’s only an hour tops to Brussels, but the op-up is certainly appreciated. That said, we weren’t the only ones. I think business was booked to 1 or 2 people, and ended up with 10-15 people in it. I suspect all elite Milage Plus members were upgraded one class.

We did our best on the short flight to do serious damage to the champagne stocks (and I do believe we managed an entire bottle) before landing in Brussels on-time and ready for a short bit of exploring before catching our 20:55 flight to Ljubljana. With 5 full hours in Brussels I knew we had time to train into the city, walk around and grab a short dinner, before heading back to the airport for the flight to Slovenia.

Walked around the city a bit, and soon, as the sun was setting, it was time to head back to the train to the airport.

Got to the airport, quick check-in, and we were in the lounge well in advance of our Adria flight. I still think the lounges in Brussels are majorly sub-par, but you can’t really complain too much – they’re comfortable enough with internet (albeit very very slow) and no shows, but it beats the alternative!

…oh and being Belgium, it wouldn’t be a pre-flight lounge snack without a tasty beer. Soon, it was time to board, and off to another new country: Slovenia!

London, Heathrow to Washington, Dulles in United First

 Caucasus Trip, Flights, United Kingdom  1 Response »
Aug 142011
 

One of the best things about this itinerary was that despite having to wake up at 3am or so for a 5:45am flight I was able to connect to the noon flight out of Heathrow still getting me home at a really good hour! I wasn’t going to complain about that!

Through transfer security, and soon I was in the Star Alliance lounge. I find even the main lounge to be a great improvement over the old Red Carpet Club in T3 at Heathrow (well, I have to admit I only tried it once before using the SAS/Air Canada lounge, and that was before I discovered the Singapore Lounge that was also available!) but the First side is quite nice. It looks nearly the same as the regular lounge, but is far less crowded and has food to order. However, this trip, there was no listing of what was available, so one was left to guess. No matter, my request of a bacon roll was soon delivered!

 

Quick shower in the lounge, and it was time to head to the gate to board.  Since United now boards from somewhere out in Wales, it’s a good 10-15 minute walk from the lounge to the gate. Continue reading »

Yerevan – Warsaw – London in LOT Polish Business Class

 Armenia, Caucasus Trip, Flights, Poland, United Kingdom  No Responses »
Aug 132011
 

Now, before I start this segment there are three things I must confess.

1)  Those of you expecting a fabulous business class report are going to be sorely disappointed.  Not only is this “European Business Class” it is all on ERJs!

2)  I don’t do redeyes or early morning flights.  Matt REALLY doesn’t do redeyes or early morning flights.  Our flight was set to depart Yerevan at 5:45am.  Yes, this would be lots of fun, and I admit I fudged a bit.  “Oh, it’s early, before 7, like 6 something I think?”

3)  Neither of us had flown LOT, so I was kinda excited, Euro business or not, for this.  Though, EVN-WAW-LHR-IAD was going to make for a very very long day.

So that said, on with the show!  We’d made it to bed somewhat early, but the room was a bit warm and wouldn’t cool down much, so I’m not sure how much sleep we really got.  Alarm was set for something like 3:45 if I recall directly, which was a nightmare not to be repeated….at least until next month. Continue reading »

Dubai to London on the Emirates A380 in First Class

 Flights, New Years 2010-2011, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom  No Responses »
May 222011
 

You may have noticed the title of this post, yes, the plan was to fly Lufthansa. Up early and to the airport for the final segment of our trip. We were flying LH first from DXB-MUC-LHR and then on another ticket I had to unexpectedly continue on LHR-IAD on United with a 2 hour or so connection in LHR. Piece of cake.

Check-in at DXB at the LH F counter was horridly slow. They had called some passengers over from another line, and it was an elderly couple with lots of issues to sort out. Nearly 15 minutes later a supervisor finally realized what was happening, and called us to the business queue to check-in. Not the best, but also not totally their fault.

We didn’t have a lot of time, so opted to skip the lounge in favour of caffienation at Starbucks, and then off to the gate for boarding. I didn’t spot it but when when we hadn’t started boarding 45 minutes before departure the other Mr Ironmanjt realised one of the engines on the A340 was open…and they were tinkering around with something. Not a great sign. Even worse when it was announce that there has been a “mechanical issue with the aircraft” and more information would be available in 2.5 hours. Um, say what? There goes my connection…. Continue reading »

London to Doha, Qatar in Qatar Airlines Business Class

 Flights, New Years 2010-2011, Qatar, United Kingdom  No Responses »
May 172011
 

Part I of the trip was a positioning trip, and being it was booked with miles I needed to find a route with two seats up front to the Middle East from London. Easier said than done just about six weeks before the holidays. After much digging (and many thanks to United’s new one way awards) I scored a route that I thought would be perfect: LHR-FRA on LH followed by FRA-RUH-DOH in business. Unfortunately, I found out later there’s no way to get off the plane in RUH, so well technically in Saudi Arabia, some people would debate counting it….it wasn’t to matter in the end.Made it to Heathrow around 8am thanks to the rare trip without a hitch on the Piccadilly Line, and checked in with Lufthansa. No problems at all, everything looks good, off to the Star Alliance lounge to wait. Unfortunately, that’s when we noticed the inbound was still at the gate in FRA thanks to a combination of LH’s website and arrivals monitors. When it became obvious we weren’t going to make it….we hit up the Lufthansa transfer desk. Took the agent a bit to figure things out, but very soon we had something I’ve never seen before: confirmed tickets on the nonstop flight on Qatar leaving at noon, and actually arriving in Doha at the same time! I was quite shocked LH would do this on a UA-issued award ticket….no way United would have booked offline to protect award passengers!

Soon we were FIM-ed and off to make the bus trek over to terminal four at Heathrow. Qatar uses the Skyteam lounge, which was actually quite nice except for the barely functional internet connection. Now, onto the flight!

QR 12
London Heathrow (LHR) to (DOH)
777-300 registration A7-BAQ delivered just 4 days before this flight! Continue reading »

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