Introduction:

Hello dear readers and welcome to my first TR on A.net. like many others after reading many reports for about 5 years I have finally now decided it was about time to add my adventures to this wonderful website, please give me some constructive criticism if you feel I need it, as Im not very good at these things!
So lets get started with the important stuff!

This trip originally started when I had just had my 19th birthday, and my mum asked me what I would like to do for it. So instead of being a normal teenager and asking for money or clothes etc… I researched flights to NY on BA and found a very cheap offer of around $300 PP. also I have 200 shares with BA and if you didn’t already know, 200 shares gets you a 10% discount as well, also mum wanted to go with my sister to take advantage of the shopping opportunities (as women like to do!).
We also came to the conclusion that we would add Nantucket Island to the itinerary for 5 days just to have a bit of a beach holiday (we were in need of sunshine as our last long-haul trip was in 2008 to asia).


LHR-JFK
BA
ETD: 10:40am
ETA: 11:20pm
AC: 747-400
Class: WT
(sorry I did not get the registration as I am not much of a registration guy, if ya know what I mean!)


Unfortunately on this part of the trip I didn’t get any pics, as I was not originally going to do a TR and my camera was in the hold, so very sorry in advance!   
The flight out was like any other Atlantic crossing: Quick, simple and painless.
Although a few things to note: BA did not offer any amenities on the flight except simple headphones and blankets. I guessed it was due to cost cutting measures (or that times have changed, the last time we went to NY was in 2003). But the flight felt quick anyway, and it was a daytime flight, so I guess eyeshades and toothpaste was not needed. I spent the majority of my time watching movies on the IFE and my laptop, son enough we were making our final approach into JFK and landed on time at T7 without any hassle.

We spent 3 days in new york and only on the last day did it stop raining! (talk about bad luck!  &nbsp  here are a few pics from the top of the Rockefeller centre:

looking at central park

And so soon it was time to head back to JFK T5 to catch a JetBlue flight to ACK.

If anyone doesn’t know, JetBlue have taken over T5. I apologise once again for so few pics of the terminal and departure hall, as I was still not planning on doing a report.

JFK-ACK
JetBlue
ETD: 12:50pm
ETA: 1:35pm
AC: E190

I had read in previous posts that jetblue had Personal IFE for each seat, and was looking forward to that very much, as it would make the flight go much faster.
We boarded the plane on time and found our seats 9A,B and C. the aircraft was in a 2-2 configuration which was strange as when I booked online it showed the aircraft in a 3-3 config   . Oh well, mum would have to sit across the asle. Legroom was also better than BA, it felt like 32-33 compared to BA’s 31 inches. As I am 6”1ft this is very important!



At the gate:


It was a quick taxi to runway 13R And soon after about 5 aircraft we launched into the sky turning slightly north towards ACK. Cruise altitude was 19000ft.

take off


The flight time was a quick 40 mins with smooth air and no clouds. I passed the time watching comedy central on the IFE (I wish U2 installed this feature! As I fly with them a lot). We followed the coast north and then turned right to head out towards Martha’s Vineyard and on to Nantucket.

Service on board consisted of a free bottle of water or coke etc and either a bag of cookies or purple chips. I took the latter and they were very dry and average tasting, but I soon washed them down with some coke which seemed to fill the hole in my stomach for a while.

Once we overflew Martha’s Vineyard, the captain descended towards ACK, we flew parallel to the island at about 2000ft and then made a sharp left turn to intercept ……

just before our left turn:



Approach was quite bumpy as we were going with the wind and then when we made our left turn to line up the wind seemed to push the plane down, quite sharply, this caught the stewardess off guard, I saw her fly up about 20cm as she passed us, to sit down, this made me smile    as she had not been very kind handing out the drinks, literally throwing the coke at me and squashing some of the cookies in the bag before handing them to me. (of course she did not do this on purpose, but when I opened the bag I found about ¾ of them looking like they had just come out of a magi mix or something!  &nbsp 

Anyway, we landed without a hitch, the pilot exercised his use of the brakes as the runway is quite short. we screeched off the runway and made our way to the small almost boutique looking terminal and de-planed via these sort of step free air stairs (or should I say air ramp ?) and made our way to baggage reclaim:

Air ramp thing and our craft



Outside of the terminal and Nantucket airlines…. Ready to take passengers to Martha’s Vineyard I think.


Baggage reclaim was rather simple, as is in most small airports (sorry for dark pic)


Here are a few pics of Nantucket it was sunny all week:

Patriotic flags everywhere

nice beaches


I highly recommend Nantucket to anyone seeking a quiet getaway, many people back home have described it as the American version of cornwall, and I can see why. With white sandy beaches, boutique little shops and cute little streets. But after a few days and being a guy, the tanning on the beaches got a bit repetitive for me, so I set off one day in pursuit of the airport on a bike! Hoping to catch ACK in action.
Eventially I found It and did a little spotting:

There were many private jets:


and a few props:


Soon though it was time to depart and we made our way to the airport an hour before departure, dropped our rented car back, and procedded to check-in, which was effortless, as there was no one else in the check-in area.

ACK-JFK
Jetblue
AC: E190
ETD: 2:10pm
ETA: 3:10pm

Boarding was painless as well, even though it was a full flight. We made our way to seats 9 B, C and D and again mum was across the aisle from us. Take off was nothing spectacular and we were soon at cruising altitude of 18000ft. Once again cookies and blue chips were offered and this time I went for the blue chips which were completely tasteless  , oh well it was only a short flight I thought to myself as I switched on the IFE and turned to MTV.

Take off with overview of Nantucket


Landing was on runway 4L we parked up at T5 and made our way over to T7 for our BA flight which was departing at 22:45.


Now some people would be wondering why we would not take an earlier flight home, well when I booked the flights I researched and found out that BA had now deployed the 773 to New York so missing this opportunity was out of the question! And I’m sure most of you would have done the same thing, even if it did mean being stuck in an airport for 7 hours. Of course Mum and my sister could not understand this and immediately started shouting and demanding that we get put on an earlier flight. But we came to a conclusion that we would check our bags in early and then they would leave me to wonder round departures for several hours and that they would head back into the city to do some late shopping, Great success!!   

So once we checked our bags in at the already heaving BA counters I proceeded through to security which was painless and on to departures where I then looked for somewhere to charge my laptop and grab a bite to eat.

The rather cramped T7 with low ceilings


Eventually after searching for about an hour I found the perfect spot, with laptop charging ports and a great view of the action, I was in Heaven   

Qantas A333 off to LAX I think ?




guess who's hiding around the corner ???


off to Madrid


Quite interesting a now rare MD11


personaly i am not much of a fan for the alitalia livery


look who's come to town...


early evening dep to LHR


glad i found this cute little guy! i must go on you one day!


Iceland 757 with sexy winglets


departures this evening:


it was now getting towards departure time, so i headed towards the gate, ever eager to spot my bird for this evening, but the gate was in an aqward position with no views!

gate area

This was the best shot I could get of our bird as it was tucked away



JFK-LHR
BA 777-300ER
ETD: 22:45
ETA: 10:10AM
WT
Load in Y 80%
Boarding was called at 22:20. By this time I was literally drooling at the mouth with excitement!    I tried to get ahead in the line to snap some pics of the empty cabin, but to my dismay they were boarding by row number and we were in the front economy section in 32 G,H,I but I managed to wiggle my way on board, turning right at the door.
I will let the pics do most of the talking here:

our seats:



IFE and the infamous legrooom shot:

Power socket for anyone who is interested, there are two sockets underneath your legs


remote and USB port


Boarding was completed very quickly and by 22:40 we were being pushed back. We then joined a line of about 5 other aircraft for the late night rush hour.

Take off was uneventful but we made a sharp right turn about 500ft off the ground which was quite thrilling in such a big aircraft.

Soon the seatbelt sign was extinguished ant the IFE commenced. I sprang to life and fiddled with the Brand new screen and remote, I must say the entertainment system was simple enough with about 30 movies and around 50 tv shows (still nothing compared to ICE or Krisworld). But it was adequate for this short journey of 6 hours.

Dinner soon followed with either chicken or pasta, I opted for the pasta. (sorry about no pic) but I took one bite and immediately put the little foil top back on, bleughhh!!! It tasted horrible   . Oh well at least I had a sandwich in the terminal!
After dinner had finished the lights were dimmed so everyone could get some shuteye. I am not a sleeper on planes unless I’m sitting up front with the lie flat seats (which isn’t very often!) so I set about watching a few movies and listening to my ipod whilst looking at the map.

Cabin with everyone settled in for the night


But soon the captain came on the PA and announced that everyone strap themselves in because we were expected to come across some high winds and as soon as he had finished the plane suddenly lurched to the side and dropped suddenly, the coffee on my table nearly slid onto my mums lap but I caught in just in time phewww! The turbulence continued for a good 2 hours more. Now I am not the greatest fan of being bumped around so I tried to keep occupied by watching some movies which seemed to take my mind off things a little.

But after the 2 hours of nightmare for me were over I relaxed back into the flight and tried to enjoy the rest of the trip. I leaned across to the window (as my sister likes to sleep on the wall, which works out for me because I like the aisle on long lfights) and nudged the shade open, this was the best shot I could get light was already upon us after 3 hours of flight time


A few things to note: the plane definitely felt much drier on the way back than on the way there, is it something to do with the type of aircraft???

Also the seat was just as comfortable if not better that the old WT seat (I did not feel my ass get numb after a few hours unlike the old seat) but I definitely did miss the old style pull down headrest. If they had the old headrest with the new seat then BA would definitely have a winning product I think!

The screen and map

back of the remote, with ful qwerty keyboard


Breakfast was served about one and a half hours before landing, as I was starving I was expecting the traditional English breakfast, but was really let down when the flight attendant hurriedly thrust a little muffin into my face. Is that it I said, half expecting another cart to come down the aisle with the main course, but alas there was none   Oh well…

At top of descent, we only had a 10 min wait till we were cleared to approach into the usual low cloud and drizzle:


Sister getting as much zzz as possible (she was not too happy when I woke her p and asked if I could sit at the window for landing.)


docked at a grey and rainy T5c


some last few cabin shots:


WT+


It was great to experience the new BA product and I hope you all enjoyed reading. As I said please inform me on what else you think needs improving (if anything)

My next trip will be at the end of September to Antigua on BA as well, so I hope to follow that up soon

(ps: sorry for the amount of fisheye pics, as this was the only wide angle lense i have, also sorry for the lack of meal and other pics, please keep in mind that i was not planning to write a TR, thanks)

Thanks for reading!

EZY0134

[Edited 2011-08-26 14:57:07]