Trip Report: Creating a Photo – To New York with British Airways Airbus A318E (Introduction)

Creating a Photo: Back to New York with British Airways
Featuring the British Airways Airbus A318E.
Or – “World. Enough now. Stop it. Please. Pretty Please…”

• The Introduction – THIS SECTION
• To London
  
• BA 1 – London City Airport – Shannon – New York JFK
• One Time Exception: Apple Store, Grand Central Terminal
  
• Holiday Inn Long Island City Manhattan View
• A trip to a camera shop
• Time with Friends  and back to JFK
  
• JFK T7, Pre-Flight Dining
  
• BA4 – New York JFK – London City Airport
• Radisson Edwardian and the Trip Home
• The wrap up
  
• The Photo

Welcome to yet another Kevincm/GhettoIFE Trip report… and at the pointy end of the plane again!

What’s this?  TWO sets of Business Flights in year? Am I going soft in my old age?  Hardly – this is about getting the best value and enjoying it as such.

However what is given with one hand is taken with another- and watch how this degenerates as the trip progresses…

So I went into the cheap furniture shops again (The introduction)

I love cheap furniture shops. Mainly because there are source of ideas and inspiration (yes, photographers get inspiration for everywhere. Even in the crappy furniture shops that really shouldn’t be on the high street).  Last time I went into one was the germination of an idea that ended up in this canvas:

NYC – Times Square Photo. (c) Kevincm 2011.
PLEASE DON’T REUSE WITHOUT PERMISSION.

Oh yes, I sell these as pretty canvases if anyone is remotely interested 😉

The story behind this photo is documented in Re-Creating a Photo – To New York with United, British Airways and BMI Baby –  BHX-AMS, AMS-IAD-LGA-IAD-FRA, FRA-LCY

This is looking towards one end of Times Square, but I always thought I could improve this photo – and thus I’ve been keeping an eye for reasonable fares to New York.

Other things have happened in the meantime however in the aviation and miles world.

Star Alliance is a fading memory for me as I’ve decided to embrace British Airways Executive Club full on, with all my BMI Diamond club miles migrated over.  Even though I have a reasonable amount of Avois thanks to that transfer, it’s always a good idea to top it up with actual flying (as opposed to earning all my Avios in a supermarket). That and get some Tier Points in the bank too would be helpful.

Thankfully there was a BA fare sale in Club World. Now normally I wouldn’t touch this with a barge poll, but sometimes you have to say “screw it” when you’re invited to go and see friends

And at £1200 to New York it wasn’t overpriced compared to how some restricted Economy Class fares were pricing (about £600-£700) for the time of year I was flying out (the 2^nd week of the London 2012 Olympics).

However – to get to New York, there are choices.

Map by the Great Circle Mapper – www.gcmap.com

1. The Traditional LHR-JFK route – This would had got me there the olde fashioned way, and a chance to use the posh lounges and LHR.
2. The Non Traditional LHR-EWR route – I go through Newark enough with the New United. Even though it’s a new Terminal, it’s still the back end of New Jersey…
3. The new route – LCY-SNN-JFK – The Baby Bus and its promise of a single business class service.

There was some thinking, and I’ll be honest – the EWR route was dismissed first. Then it was the matter of LHR vs. LCY. I’ve done my fair share of 747-400’s in my time, and I felt it was time for something different – very different.

So after punching the credit card digits into BA.com, and seeing the card was accepted, I had a confirmed PNR for London City – Shannon – New York JFK – London City on the British Airways Club World London City Service.

After booking that (and watching the money empty out of my credit card account), it was time to turn my eyes to the hotel. My friends in NJ kindly offered me a bed for a couple of nights (which I accepted).

However, that would be the weekend part of the trip. For the first two nights, I needed a place to stay in New York – and as usual, summer prices are enough to scare anyone senseless.

I therefore defaulted back to the property I stayed in last time – The Holiday Inn Long Island Manhattan View. Whilst it was in Long Island, it was 1) Cheap as chips for a New York Hotel, 2) It’s one block away from the N, Q, R subway lines and 3) Priority Club points are always helpful…

Finally, there was the matter of getting to London and getting back from London. Being the peak of Olympic traffic, trains were pricing up expensive. Therefore it was back to National Express on the way out for £9.50 all in, and on the way back an Advance Ticket from Chiltern Railways for a grand total of £6.

Map by the Great Circle Mapper – www.gcmap.com

Well this all sounds simple enough.

Well that was the plan. And we all know happens when the best laid plans of mice and men collide.

Watch how this descends into chaos, absolute madness and why I hate technology… and why I think the world had it in for me this trip…