Heathrow Terminal 3 Lounges… and more delays
Taking the Longer Way Home
In this trip
- So. Keeping it original for autumn, aren’t we?
- Off to Heathrow in the Dead of the Night
- Terminal 3 Lounges… And more delays
- American Airlines AA99 London Heathrow to Chicago O’Hare (Main Cabin)
- In the USA, Candlewood Suites O’Hare
- TRAVEL PLUS: Fooding around Chicago
- Hyatt Regency O’Hare
- Airplane Art Extra – from the 10th Floor of the Hyatt Regency O’Hare
- TRAVEL PLUS: The Art Institute, Chicago
- Back to O’Hare, Air France/KLM Lounge
- Finnair AY010 Chicago O’Hare to Helsinki Vantaa
- A Helsinki Layover
- Finnair AY1335 Helsinki Vantaa to London Heathrow
- Coaching Homewards
- Sometimes, it’s more the journey
Cathy Pacific Lounge, Heathrow Terminal 3
I was welcomed into the lounge and directed to the business class side of the lounge. I can live with that.
I’ve written about this lounge more than a few times on this blog, so I’ll settle into procedure rather than anything else.
In we go
Dining area
After entering the lounge, I headed to the noodle bar to select breakfast. This was harder than usual – as they had egg fried rice on the menu.
And if you think I’m going without the Dan Dan Noodles and Dim Sum basket – you’ve got another think coming.
With that order – along with a glass of bubbly – it was time to relax enjoy the start of this trip.
Bubbles… tick.
Soon enough, there was vibrating and flashing from my table – breakfast was ready.
Add condiments…
I did add oil.
Add Oil. Always. Especially when it comes to Hong Kong.
The fried rice was a little oily – but very stomach filling – just what the doctor ordered. Meanwhile, the Dan Dan noodles were done pretty well, with the soup/sauce base complimenting them as always.
The tray
Dim Sum basket
Dan Dan noodles
Fried Rice
The dim sum basket was a little less impressive, with the dumplings either a bit soggy or hard. I think these had been in the steamer a little longer than needed.
But as a breakfast combo – it was better than anything I could have got in the terminal building.
There were more traditional help-your-self offerings, with sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs and so on too.
This was a good base to relax in – knowing that I would be leaving these surroundings soon enough for the AA Lounge.
I tend to split my lounge time so I can have an enjoyable breakfast in the Cathay Lounge and wait out the final bit of the wait at the Amerian Airlines lounge (in case something goes wrong).
I headed over to the AA lounge and checked in – and was noted they would be starting boarding at 6:50 this morning.
That’s a first – AA trying to get early boarding.
I settled in and grabbed a bottle of water. And the boarding call went straight out.
Oh well, that was short and sweet..
Round 1.
Boarding…
I headed down to the gate pen, where we would depart from. And with it being Gate 29 – it’s a fair old hike – especially when the walkways are out of order.
I checked in at the Gate lounge and was waved through by the security agents. With that, I sat down.
And I started watching the clock. If we were commencing a 6:50 boarding – and it was 7 am… this was not shaping up to be a good sign at all
My suspicions were right – at 7:20 – they made a call that there was a fault with the aircraft and that boarding was delayed by an hour.
Here we go again.
Hold it. I’ve been here before…. American Airlines, Boeing 787-8, Rolling delay.
Whilst I did have some time to play with on this trip- another five-hour delay did not even bear thinking about.. The Chicago trips are busy for me – and this is the sort of time I cannot loose.
Regular readers will remember last time this happened, I had a six-hour delay into O’Hare. I was quietly hoping it would be a lot less this time
The gate staff allowed premium passengers to leave the holding area and head back to the lounge. I took advantage of this and headed back.
So, back to exploring the American Airlines lounge… and something has changed about this lounge. I can’t verbalise it as much, but there are subtle changes like the breakfast offering feels scaled back, the wine and juice bar in the middle has gone and the sweet bar has been replaced with cheaper sweets.
And we’re back in the room.
None the less, I plonked myself down and grabbed another bottle of water and a coffee.
Today was turning into a long day.
After 40 minutes, a second boarding call was made. Again, some of the lounge visitors packed up their stuff and headed out.
Finnair Airbus A319 pushing back.
American 787 tail.
I followed them back to the gate, with the agents looking rather perplexed why I was back.
No it isn’t
It seems that there was a miscommunication between the gate and the lounge. Oh well, these things happen. And on top of that – I needed to get my step count in for the day.
It was back to the lounge again, where I was sheepishly re-admitted.
With the rolling delay growing, I grabbed a little bit of breakfast, as well as vodka and orange. Because at this point of the game – it was the only logical thing to do at this point.
Tomatoes
Badgers. I mean snakes. I mean Mushroom Mushroom!
Sausages
Scrambled Egg
There was also a cold selection too
Youghurt pots
Cereals, Fruits and cold cuts.
Tea. Hot.
And of course, the sweetie jar – which gone through a few changes to say the least.
All sorts. But a cheaper selection…
With a delay – there’s not much to do. Other than watch planes and try to stay awake. At least the arriving Finnar Airbus A350-900 provided some interest and amusement for a while.
As well as watching other traffic arrive or depart.
Arriving British Airways A38
I picked away at the food and drunk the vodka and orange.
There’s a time for Vodka and Orange – ad when stuck on a delay, this isn’t a bad idea.
At this point, you’re stuck – for good reason. The rolling delay continued until 10:15, (a good 2 hours 15 past departure time) when boarding was finally called.
One more time we’re gonna celebrate….Oh yeah all right don’t stop the dancing… One more time
At least from the time I reported these not working to the time I was called for boarding, Heathrow Airport managed to fix the travelators..
Hello Raccoon.
By the time I had got to the gate, the waiting area was empty – it seems they were holding back the premium passengers until the last minute to board in case of another hold up.
My boarding pass was blipped once again, and I was cleared for boarding.
With that, I headed on the waiting Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner for this delayed trip to Chicago.
Next: American Airlines AA99 London Heathrow to Chicago
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