Mmmmm! BAcon! Back to DIA, AA Admiral’s Club – Off to Denver and Beyond with Aer Lingus and British Airways

Mmmmm! BAcon! – Off to Denver and Beyond with Aer Lingus and British Airways
Back to DIA, AA Admiral’s Club

Index:

• A Conference… why not?
• Early morning New New Street, Aer Lingus EI263 London to Dublin
• A Dublin transit, DAA Lounge
• BA827 Dublin to London Heathrow
• The Hell of A Heathrow Transit, BA F Lounge
• BA219 – London Heathrow to Denver
• Staybridge Suites, Denver Tech Center and a road trip
• The Cheyenne Mountain Resort, Colorado Springs
• A road trip back to Denver, Crowne Plaza Downtown Denver
  
• Photographic Interlude: Downtown Denver
• Denver Airport, American Airlines AAdmirals Club – THIS SECTION
• BA218 Denver to Heathrow
• Heading Homeward
• Interesting times

Now the Paris Air Show is over, and life returns to normal… so do things on this blog… and this trip report isn’t going to write itself..

Back to the Airport, AA Lounge

I pre-booked a shuttle back to DIA – as I really could not be bothered heading back to 16th Street Mall with my trash (which had expanded due to my friends asking me to fill their American candy shopping lists).

The driver turned up (without a working card machine – good thing I paid cash!), and we were off. The driver made a few stops around the Central Denver district to find no other passengers heading back to the airport – and it was then a drive up to Denver International Airport, taking in some of the sights of Denver from afar before the long trip to DIA (which is seemingly in the middle of nowhere).

Leaving Denver

Whilst I like the convenience of shuttles like this, I’m not prone to taking Public Transport – and this is one area Denver is lacking in between DIA and the city. Thankfully, they will be introducing new rail lines out to DIA in 2015 – which will make the airport a lot more accessible to visitors like me who hate the idea of driving on the wrong side of the road (and if I’m blunt – I’m not too hot on driving either)

After being dropped off at airport (and a seemingly long discussion with the Shuttle bus driver), I was at the Jeppesen Terminal again in all its tented glory. The next challenge was finding the BA check in… which was at the far end of Terminal West.

I dropped my bags off, and my boarding passes were issued for the flight home – with me checking in only so far as Heathrow (lets say part of Monday morning was dealt with emails to the office sorting out a replacement part for a server, which would require me to skip the last segments of this trip). I was also informed of the lounge and how the AAdmirals Club lounge works at Denver for BA passengers.

I also checked the load for the flight – which indicated as full (I should had guessed after the Warrior Games in Colorado Springs in the weekend – who’s guests were filling up that plane)

With that it was one last look at the tented terminal before heading to Bridge security

This way it seems…

At Bridge Security, it seems the TSA were in full flow today. Of course, the lines were full – even the priority line was, so there was a delay getting through the queues before the choice of Body scanner or pat-down was given.

Regular readers know what I went for – the pat down. But I never explain why, so this is my reasoning. Whilst I trust medical people with instruments that handle radiation and know of its dangers, I have very little trust in those who operate the machines in security services. Whilst there are arguments either way – that’s my stand on it, with me submitting to those scans if it is the only way of being screened. If there is another way, I seek to use that first.

Once I was declared as clean by the Itemisizer, it was time to head over the Bridge and watch one of the rare sights in aviation – the ability to walk over an aircraft as it taxi’s by. Whilst one such bridge exists at Gatwick Airport, I love the bridge they have at Denver.

A line up of Frontier Animals. Well at least they’re not bursting into song….

… and it makes for good spotting to.

After watching planes for a bit and dealing with duty-free, it was time to head to the lounge.

Lounge Stop: American Airlines AAdmiral’s Club

I found my way through a small maze to the AA Club, and was welcomed. My boarding pass was stamped, and I was informed that as a BA passengers, drinks and food from the menu were complementary in the lounge.

Which is nice.

Also on the way, I spotted this beauty.

Should BA wish to dispose of this lovely world tails model, please contact blog@ghettoife.com  in the first instance, where a good home can be found for it… in my hallway or living room. Thank you 😉

I headed into the lounge, and it’s very much an AA Club – which isn’t a bad thing.

The lounge itself is a reasonable facility, with the usual bar, work area, quiet areas.

My junk – sorting out images before the long flight home.

I ordered a Club sandwich and a drink from the bar. It wasn’t exactly bad, but not exactly memorable – or put it another way: I didn’t take a photo of it.

Oops.

Menu

In addition to the bar food, there was also snacks laid out for the British Airways flight:

Still, it was a pleasant enough place to wait.

Shortly before departure the BA representative lounge member of staff came around asking for names. One of them happened to be mine.

And my luck struck out as my seat for 26K was taken away, with an upgrade into World Traveller Plus in 16A.

Well, that’s a bit of a turn up for the books!!! An upgrade is an upgrade – no matter how you cut it. No longer would I have an emergency exit slide for a friend, but a bulkhead wall… and a window! Still better than a kick in the teeth!

With that, I began to gather my items together, knowing that as I’m in WT+. Well – it would help a fair bit as my leave had been curtailed by a day or so, and I could well be heading to the office rather than to home.

Heading down to the gate, there was a short delay before boarding, giving me time to take one last look around.

Eventually, boarding was opened up to Club World and Executive Club holders. That’s when I took my leave of Denver and headed for the plane home.