Creating a Photo: Back to New York with British Airways – Part 8 – BA004 – New York JFK to London City Airport
Featuring the British Airways Airbus A318E.
Or – “World. Enough now. Stop it. Please. Pretty Please…”
- The Introduction
- 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 – THIS SECTION
- Radisson Edwardian and the Trip Home
- The wrap up
- The Photo
Apologies for the delay in getting this report forwards. I’ve been ill again recently… and I’m slowly discovering the joy of having no curry… or no lactose.
I’ve split this section into two parts – one covering JFK T7 and the premium experience there and BA4 itself. Hopefully this will motivate me to get the BA4 part out tomorrow!
BA004 – New York John F Kennedy International to London City Airport
British Airways, Airbus A318 Elite, Seat 3A
Club World London City (Business Class)
3,461 miles flown, 210 Tier points earned, 3,461 Avios + 3,461 Avios Cabin Bonus 3,461 + 3,461 Avios Gold Bonus
I was welcomed aboard the plane and directed to 3A where a lot of the plane had already loaded. After catching up with a couple of friends who I knew were onboard, I settled into 3A.
Home
The plane itself was in night mode, with the lights comparitivly down for boarding and the blinds already down through the plane.
With 32 passengers – well 31 as I was the lucky person with the empty seat next to me on the flight, the plane was buttoned up quickly, with a greeting from the flight deck (with the next one shortly before London). Preflight bubbles and drinks made their way round
At this point 3J decided to try and put her seat into a bed position, and was rather disgruntled that she had to put into seat and put her feet up on the Ottoman. It took about 3 attempts for the crew to persuade her to finally keep her seat upright till after take off.
The safety demonstration was given by hand, again with the usual care and attention it deserves. During this time, 3J decided to read 50 Shades of Grey. Now, I’ve got a lot of views on this piece of… “work” (least of all from every other viewpoint in terms of consent and alternative lifestyles views -the writing style that makes me look good) but I read erotica like that on a plane I’d be shouted off the plane. Meanwhile if a woman reads stuff like that, suddenly it’s all right.
The plane pushed back and begun a slow taxi around JFK, before finally lining up for take off and heading into the night sky
Take off was quick and the plane was up in the air turning towards Manhattan and then off into the night sky across the pond.
As soon as the seatbelt sign went off, the crew lept into action – offering iPads for those who wanted them, then a drinks service followed by a dinner for those who wanted it. 3J also put her seat into the flat position (and that was the last out of her until 20 minutes to landing).
Closed
I meanwhile snapped what I could before writing off the rest of the flight for snacking and sleeping. It is of course at this moment my iPhone decided to wander down the back of seat. Knowing i could do nothing till morning, I sighed and waited for the champaign supper to arrive.
Kir Royale – I have to learn to make these.
Breakfast orders were also taken for the morning to save time for those who were awake too.
Chibatta with roast fillet of Beef, piquillo peppers, rocket greens and Manchego cheese
butter
Flatware – Note the speedmarques
Back to “plain” fizzy bubbles.
The sandwich was of reasonable quality and filling – although a knife was needed to cut the sandwich into edible parts (and the cheese didn’t help as that added extra “lubrication” to the cutting – no I have NOT been reading 50 shades of crap – I have a life…).
Bottles of water were issued – I took a couple so not to disturb the crew.
The snack was cleared down quickly, and I decided the only course of action was to place the bed into the flat position and let sleep take over – and I’ve got to admit I got a good 4 to 5 hours in the seat without disturbance which goes to one of the best sleeps I’ve had on a plane. I didn’t use the blanket as I was pretty warm already, so I just got comfy and rested. As far as I could tell it was a smooth flight over again with the seatbelt sign off for what there was of it
Seat controls
Seat in seat mode
Relax mode
Bed mode
I woke up reasonably early – early enough for breakfast which was delivered shortly after I woke up.
Breakfast table
Danish
smoothie
The smoothie whist not knocking me awake seemed to tasty enough, whist the Danish – well it was better than an US Airways Danish pastry – although lets face it that’s setting the bar rather low.
I skipped cereal (I’m not a hot fan of cereals anyway) and went straight onto the the main breakfast.
Breakfast. Lots of Pork products…
Salt and Pepper sachets? How economy.
The breakfast itself was very edible – nothing burnt to a crisp and everything tasting as it should – the sausage was well cooked, the bacon was edible without being rubbery, and the omelette resembled and omelette. The potato hash also worked well too.
So sadly, it seems to get a decent breakfast across the pond, I have to fly Business Class – or I propose setting up a bacon sandwich van on the Heathrow Approach road so those who suffer a crap Y class breakfast stand a chance of edible bacon, bread and whatever condiment you love on your bacon roll.
As the breakfast service was being complete, I had a chat with the cabin crew who had another hunt with me for the phone, and advised me to stay in my seat upon landing so they could have a dig for it.
Meanwhile around me, window blinds were going up showing another blue sky morning with lots of fluffy clouds below the plane
Meanwhile you can see these little planes do go through the ways, with wear and tear showing on these birds sadly – it’s a fact of life, but its a shame to see rough treatment like this:
Not the console has some of the silver scratched off
the floor has also seen better days sadly
Soon enough, the pilot gave a 40 minute warning allowing people to get ready for landing, and then the 20 minute warning. Seemly, the seatbelt on 3A decided to embed itself in the seat, so I shifted to 3B for the landing procedures
Crossing Father Thames
London
A quiet Olympic Park after the action of the games.
With a bit of power and a bit of zealous braking our little Airbus A318 touched down after its long journey across the Atlantic.
Finals
Down and turning off the active
The plane parked up outside gate 24, and the bongs went. I packed my stuff away as the crew came around to inspect the site and help me fish out the phone.This took a few minutes and finally I was told to head to the terminal where I would be reunited with my phone. As I headed for the exit of the plane, the engineer had fished out the phone and it was recovered. I gratefully accepted the phone and thanked all the crew profusely and headed the steps.
Where I think I gave a 30 people the shock of their life.
Allow me to elaborate. The backpack wasn’t particularly balanced on my back, and in the rush to get off so the bus could head to the terminal, I slipped on the air stairs, slipping down the by a few steps and introducing a fair few swearwords into the London City Lexicon.
Thankfully all I damaged was my pride. The worst part was – I wasn’t drunk in the least.
I tried to hide as I got on the bus to the terminal by the door. That failed spectacularly.
Overall: The sleeper service from JFK to London allowed me to do that: Sleep in comfort. The service whilst not as personal as the outbound flight suited the service perfectly as the only thing you want to do on this service is collapse in your own little world – and only to wake up near enough arrival as possible. The crew did a great job both in the air and especially on the ground when they rescued my phone from the jaws of a hungry seat. I just wish the airstairs aren’t so slippery sometimes…
Coming up: A cracked bottle of gin, my front door and a missing lens…
