Sean-SAN- From United States of America, joined Aug 2002, 752 posts, RR: 1 Posted (10 years 5 months 2 weeks 6 days 2 hours ago) and read 3775 times:
Thanks to BA's great $198 fares to my favorite city, London, I took a quick 7 day vacation to Europe for thanksgiving. I was planning on staying in London, but couldn't resist getting an easyjet ticket ($80 w/tax) to Madrid for a few days.
**I'm sorry some of my pictures are a bit dark, but I didn't want to use my flash in some places..**
I had the best luck in the world on the flight home to San Diego.. I got a free upgrade to Club World (business class)!
My flights were as follows:
Nov 26 BA 274 SAN-LHR
Nov 30 EZY LGW-MAD
Dec 02 EZY LGW-MAD
Dec 03 BA 275 LHR-SAN
Here are some scenes from the going to, and at the San Diego airport:
The flight attendants on this flight were not exactly charming, about as bad as flying AA transatlantic. When they pushed the food trolly around, the F/A asked, "beef or chicken".. when I asked what kind, he said "it's the good kind." Thanks for the help dude.
The Easyjet flight to Madrid was fine, I like EZY better then southwest, except paying $1.60 for a soda is stupid.
Leaving Madrid was more interesting, lots of Ibera flights lined up in front of us.
Here's the good part!!!
I took the underground to LHR, getting there about 2 hours early. I went ahead and used self check in since the lines looked really long, and confirmed I had my planned seat 23F for the ride back. I toured the airport for a bit, and was one of the last to get on. As I was sitting near the gate, I watch a woman bitching out the gate agent, cause she couldn't get a seat and was stuck on standby. I thought, "looks like a full flight." When I handed my ticket to the gate agent, she did some typing on the computer, and says, "looks like you have a seat change." I thought, shit, now I'm going to get stuck between two fatties... but then she says, "your new seat is 16E, an isle.. and it's in business class. I stood there in disbelief, and then took the ticket and thanked her repeatedly. As I walked into the cabin I noticed First was mostly full (people with business tickets probably got moved up) and business was completely full. The only reason I can think I got upgraded was my HP Flightfund Platinum number I used for my flight. It wasn't based on my dress, since I used self checkin. Most of the people in business looked like regular coach pax also.
Our plane:
Near the gate:
The taxi was very quick because our gate was right across from the runway threshold. The takeoff was normal.
The Club World seats were very comfortable, except for the too-short leg rest, but I'm 6' so most people would be ok.
The only disappointment was the food -- personally, I almost always LIKE airline food, but this sucked. The appetizer I chose was :
Wild mushroom terrine with tarragon dressing
Fresh seasonal salad with vinaigrette
The food was delivered by two beautiful F/A's, along with some Bailey’s on ice... (good for a morning drink cause it tastes like chocolate milk).
Lunch was not good.. It was basically beef stew, not what I was expecting to see. Dinner was acomanied by a basket of bread rolls offered by the F/A:
Braised beef with red onions and mushrooms, mustard mash, roasted carrots and brocoli
Dessert was pretty good.
Chocolate morello cherry crumble tart
After the meal service, the F/A's pretty much hid in the gally until 1.5 hours before landing. A few times they came around offering OJ and water. I went up a couple time for a soda, and I "raided the larder"... basically a self service area for business class with sandwiches, chips, and cookies. I came back to get another sandwich cause they were so good.
1.5 hours before landing snack was served:
Egg and Chive brioche roll
Smoked salmon and cucumber on whole meal bread
Pastries
It was better then nothing, but not great.
Overall the flight was great, I enjoyed the bigger seat mainly. After 11 hours I felt totally relaxed even though I didn't sleep. BA was offer a good selection of movies this month too, I watched Austin Powers 3, K19 widow maker, and The Barbershop.
Flpuck6 From United States of America, joined Jun 1999, 2119 posts, RR: 33 Reply 2, posted (10 years 5 months 2 weeks 5 days 21 hours ago) and read 3564 times:
Wow, awesome man. LOVE the photo-trip report!
Indeed, Jeremiah, it looked like this BA 777 was still the old 2-3-2 biz class and not the new "cradle" configuration, which is actually now 2-4-2, forwards and backwards facing!
Ryanair!!! From Singapore, joined Mar 2002, 4652 posts, RR: 27 Reply 3, posted (10 years 5 months 2 weeks 5 days 19 hours ago) and read 3540 times:
Hey, I see you had lunch with Dr Evil, Foxxy Cleopatra and Austin Powers! Gee... the pitch looks really tight in Business Class. Or was it the angle you took you photos?
Welcome to my starry one world alliance, a team in the sky!
Sean-SAN- From United States of America, joined Aug 2002, 752 posts, RR: 1 Reply 4, posted (10 years 5 months 2 weeks 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 3527 times:
I think BA uses the old business class on the San Diego flights because this used to be a LGW flight -- the LGW 777's were last in line for the new seats.
The seats had plenty of room, so much in fact that I had to unbuckle my seatbelt to get into my backpack on the floor. Some of the pictures show the person in front fully reclined, so it may look worse than it really is.
Sorry about some of the pics being dark, but I didn't want to use the flash in the cabin.
Arsenal@LHR From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2001, 7791 posts, RR: 23 Reply 5, posted (10 years 5 months 2 weeks 4 days 1 hour ago) and read 3352 times:
Excellent trip report, the pictures make it even better!.
DALelite From Switzerland, joined Jun 2000, 1770 posts, RR: 28 Reply 6, posted (10 years 5 months 2 weeks 4 days 1 hour ago) and read 3343 times:
best trip report ever... i enjoyed it ! it is a mix of airlinersnet.trip report
and the airlinesmealsnet. maby a guide line to future trip reports...???
regards DALelite
Continental From United States of America, joined Jun 2000, 5476 posts, RR: 21 Reply 7, posted (10 years 5 months 2 weeks 4 days ago) and read 3340 times:
EXCELLENT TRIP REPORT! Best I've seen in months! Lucky that you got upgraded, even though I don't mind being in economy overseas, I'd really like to try first or business someday! Once again, very nice!
Sean-SAN- From United States of America, joined Aug 2002, 752 posts, RR: 1 Reply 9, posted (10 years 5 months 2 weeks 3 days 8 hours ago) and read 3290 times:
DC-10 Levo From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2001, 3432 posts, RR: 5 Reply 10, posted (10 years 5 months 2 weeks 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 3273 times:
Capt.Picard From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 11, posted (10 years 5 months 2 weeks 3 days 4 hours ago) and read 3258 times:
Thanks for the photos!
I remember a couple ahead of me having been upgraded as we boarded the flight to SAN, unfortunately that courtesy wasn't extended to the next person in the line (me).
Yep, both my flights there and back were in aircraft where the new Club class wan't yet installed (G-YMMC and -F).
Glad you enjoyed the trip. We must have been in Madrid at around the same time, I flew out with Ezy on the 28th November (ex-Luton) and flew back from MAD on the 30th (Saturday). Made a trip report, must be somewhere down there....was impressed, given so many people here exaggerate about their low standards!
Sean-SAN- From United States of America, joined Aug 2002, 752 posts, RR: 1 Reply 12, posted (10 years 5 months 2 weeks 3 days 2 hours ago) and read 3259 times:
Ya, sounds like as you were coming from MAD, I was going. I was pleased with EZY because the planes were clean, and flights on time. I think it's extremely chintzy not to at least offer water or a limited supply of soda, but for $80 inc tax, who cares.
It sounds like SAN-LHR might be one of the great upgrade opportunities on BA since it's consistently oversold. Being a BA or OW elite probably gives you a decent shot every time for Club World. I did notice the F/A's giving lots of special attention to the older, wealthier looking English couple next to me, perhaps they actually paid for their ticket, or maybe they were BA elites. In any case, they got first dibs on all meals, and other special attention during the flight.
Trvlr From United States of America, joined Feb 2000, 4430 posts, RR: 24 Reply 14, posted (10 years 5 months 2 weeks 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 3215 times:
Amazing trip report, Sean! Sounds like BA is the carrier of choice out of SAN going transatlantic. I hope one of these days I'll be able to take BA 274/275 (and upgrade, of course ).
Great pics and videos! Glad you had a good time in Europe!
Aloges From Germany, joined Jan 2006, 8357 posts, RR: 47 Reply 19, posted (10 years 5 months 1 week 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 2941 times:
Definitely one great report! For I'm lucky enough to have DSL at home, I wish there were more multimedia reports like this... Keep 'em coming, please!!
thank you, Sean!
aloges
Walk together, talk together all ye peoples of the earth. Then, and only then, shall ye have peace.
Sean-SAN- From United States of America, joined Aug 2002, 752 posts, RR: 1 Reply 21, posted (10 years 5 months 1 week 1 day 3 hours ago) and read 2930 times:
Thanks guys! I was just looking at the movies I posted, and I mistakenly labeled the 777@LHR, it's actually the 737 landing at MAD..
Sponsor Message: 
From United States of America, joined Aug 2002, 752 posts, 
From Belgium, joined Nov 1999, 5264 posts, 
From Singapore, joined Mar 2002, 4652 posts, 
From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2001, 7791 posts, 
From Switzerland, joined Jun 2000, 1770 posts, 
From , joined Dec 1969, posts, 
From Puerto Rico, joined Dec 2000, 5968 posts, 
From , joined Dec 1969, posts, 
From Finland, joined Aug 2001, 188 posts, 
From Canada, joined Jul 2003, 30 posts, 
Sponsor Message: 
Printer friendly format
