As per usual, this trip report is filled with photos, insightful (and not so insightful), witty (and completely sarcastic) comment, and of course, the little details that as travellers, we come to know, notice and laugh/cry/go ballistic at. I'm travelling in Y... I'm allowed one luxury at least!
Comments are always welcome
I'll be updating this as the trip progresses, and of course will happily natter on about things that are completely irrelevant ;). Standard Photos rules apply (ie, the best of will be featured here - everything else on my Photoblog - which of course, I encourage you to visit ;) ).
Preamble:
Well its time for me to travel again, and alas, I'm being completely original in my destinations (have a look at my flight memory... yes the same cities again). With a standing invite in Seattle, and a bit of catching up to do in Chicago just after, this seemed like the perfect late summer break I need after doing my normal work for "mother service".
This time, as well as the flights, I'll be doing more "trip" aspects of the report (as opposed to a flight report)- so public transport, hotels, what I didn't do, etc will be factored in to round off the report). Well I can try at least can't I people?
Booking
Normally I'm a loyal BMI supporter. I'll happily pay a bit more to fly with them and abuse lounge facilities etc etc. At £100 more to fly them, however much I love BMI, its not worth £100 ($200) more (or is it? I'll work that question out by the end of this report).
So off to Kayak and co, and route research was done. At one point I considers BA/AA (nice direct flights, but £620, UA (with routing's to SFO) for £580 and even Northwest for £580 (Tempting, but still in the 25% mileage land) Of course CO's BHX-EWR hop was tempting, but the thought of crossing the pond in a 757 still doesn't exactly make me happy.
However, a little digging on Kayak, followed by a bit of delving into the US Airways website gave an attractive price of £484 at peak season (not too wallet crunching), with a nice 12+k of status mileage too (and we mustn't moan at status miles)
After using the Amadeus-like booking engine that's available to the UK users of US Airways website, the following convoluted routing was booked:
London Heathrow > Philadelphia > Seattle Tacoma > Phoenix Sky-Harbour > Chicago O'Hare International > Philadelphia > London Heathrow
Map provided by the most wonderful Great Circle Mapper - http://gc.kls2.com
For those of you who aren't map readers:
Far Right - LHR (London Hellhole)
Where everything comes together - PHL (Philly)
Top Left - SEA (Seattle)
Bottom Left - PHX (Phoenix)
The chink in the link back to PHL from PHX - ORD (Chicago O'Hell).
A lot of new firsts for me, including 2 new airports, NOT going through Chicago T5 International :D (- Those who know know why are invited to look back at my constant blathering about ORD T5 in previous reports and its complete and utter uselessness) and risking US Airways.
And an Open Skies flight (and no I'm not talking about the BA mini-me airline ;)), this is one of the new routes that have appeared since Open Skies finally opened up LHR a bit more. So as NW, AF, DL and US moved into Heathrow thinking of easy pickings and to "lower fares", so I'll be looking at if they provide value in comparison to my normal routing's.
A check in June proved to be interesting as US decided to schedule change a few things - thankfully just times (with a few more precious minutes at PHX)
So there's the planning done. I mean to say - How bad could it be? :rolleyes: (apart from the little gun incident, the lack of pretzels, lack of IFE on the domestic legs, charges for everything - do I now have to tip even??? - maybe I should had spent that extra £100...)
Off to LHR!
National Express
Birmingham Digbeth (Oxford Road) - Heathrow Central Bus Station
Being based in heart of the country (Birmingham) of course, its a choice of rail or coach to get to London (as London is the centre of the UK and there is no other life beyond London so some say, and to send an aircraft 100 miles to LHR is considered a bit silly by others). So once again like most of my adventures I booked a coach journey. £29 later for a 06:15 departure from Birmingham, to arrive at LHR for 8:55. The next departure might had got in for 10:30... but knowing Heathrow traffic, that would had left the times dangerously close for my liking (and yes - I'm one of these people who insist on arriving 3 hours at least before a flight).
As i had been up packing and repacking (you try lugging a studio around - it gets on your nerves very quickly) a 42hour doze was the best I was going to get. I called my local cab company which after they relived me of £5, I was at Digbeth station.
<pic - digbeth>
Feel that chill people? Thats heck frozen over ;)
The coach arrived as I did thus, niot a lot of time was wasted, and u was quickly aboard and then let the coach and weave its way down to LHR via BHX, Banbury and finally Heathrow 3 ours later. Enough time for a few z's, but not enough for a full kip.
The coach finally pulled into Heathrow Central bus station, where I was disgorged out of the coach and I collected the ski bag and rucksack.
<pic - lhr, with trolley>
I'll learn to travel light one year...
Tradition states that I go inside and wait for a bit with check in not due to open for a while. This was the perfect time to grab a coffee to attempt to stay awake until my friend arrived
Heathrow T1
After I caught up with my friend who would be my travel companion for this little jaunt, we proceeded to check in , which was thankfully uneventful, with of course the fun of negotiating luggage prices.
There are some little blessings for being a *A Silver (and these are little ones). As most of you are aware, a lot of the US Airlines are doing impressions of RyanAir (sans Michel O'Leary's charm and wit) and charging for every little thing. Thankfully they 1) haven't tried it on Long Haul international routes and 2) my silver spared me the indignity of extra luggage charges, as well as my friend as we're on international legs.
After a quick cigarette break for my friend (the last one for a good 12 hours for her), it was time to pass through security and the rat run known as Terminal 1.
As per normal, it was the standard LHR shoe shuffle, but the laptop remaining "in bag" (thanks for the introduction of 3D scanners), and we were clear into the Heathrow Mall... I mean Terminal 1, but not before registering for IRIS
IRIS seemed to be busy with use today, and with building contractors coming to take a peek at the office, they closed it after I had re-enrolled into IRIS.
<lhr public zone>
Hellhole ;)
Alas being a Silver, no free hopping into the BMI lounge to get a hit of coffee, so it was stuck in the public zones awaiting the departure call. This being BAA of course and to maximise your time shopping at their shops, no calls are made until about 45 minutes of your flight (with the lights changing from Boarding to Last Call as fast as you can blink).
After the long hike to gate 40, and another APIS check, I was finally through, with boarding commencing by class then two grouped zones.
<the gate>
Escape from London!
US Airways US729 LHR -> PHL,
Airbus A330-300, Seat 16H, Economy
Booked Departure time: 13:05 BST, Booked Arrival Time: 16:10 EST
Actual Push-back time: 13:10, Gated at:
Boarding
Boarding was completed in zones, with Envoy, then economy seating in groups. We were seated later as we were "closer to the front" in row 16. A good thing really as these seats have an inch or so extra room so it didn't feel like a total sardine can.
Boarding was through 1L, stampeding the excusictiviy of Envoy and through to Economy.
<boarding>
Lets see how cheap we are then. Headphones. $5, alcholic drinks $7 . Since I hadn't brought my United ones, it was back to the cheap over the ear jobs that get sore after 10 minutes. I really need to invest in a pair of noise cancelling ones one year.
The aircraft pushed back on time, and after a chug around Heathrow, we turned onto the runway, and strgiht up in the the big blue. After takeoff, it was a a it turbulent and cloudy – a nice start. What didn’t help was the seat wasn’t exactly behaving. If I leant back too much the seat started leaning back of it’s own accord.
After a while, the IFE started (AVOD), however, where is the airshow function? Didn’t seem to be one ☹. The addition of an old edition of Click, Fast Track, and How I met your mother
IFE Boots!
Service began after 30 minutes , with a sales pitch for the headphones (Guilty), and then lunch and drink service (alcohol declined) and a “meal” service.
Lunch – of sorts.
Hmm. Ok, taking this apart – it was Chargrilled chicken with mash with peas in a Spanish sauce (main – although to be honest, I’m not sure if the sauce would have been anywhere near spain), Bean Salad (side), Chibatta bread (Rock level). The portions were a bit small, but as far as TATL Y food goes, it was edible. That’s’ all you can ask for in Y I suppose.
The seat itself. A bit worn, and a bit narrow I think, and with a few cables here and there… this A330 has seen better days. Even Envoy looked a bit tired – think BMI Premium Economy for those who have seen my previous reports. Personally, I’m not sure if I would pay for the extra – especially for a 7 hour 39 minute hop. I’ll think about that on the return leg.
Drink runs were reasonable, with FULL cans of Diet Coke served *hint hint*, with softs remaining free for me, not a bad thing as that what I mostly drink ;)
AVOD selection was reasonable ie – not great, but I’ve had worse selections in the past
The flight itself started soothing out after crossing into the Atlantic, but it was sill heavily cloud covered. After 3 hours – the llghts finally went down.
The flight itself was quite choppy with cloud cover from end to end for all pratical puroses – a shame as I was looking forward to Greenland as usual.
Midroute, there was a pretzel and orange juice water run. Standard Pretzel fare, small, nibbable and overdone with salt, where as the organe juice came from a can. Oh the fun.
Towards the end of the flight, there was a snack run with turkey ham and cheese herb bread warm snack.
Yes, it was completely artificial. But at this point of the game, it tasted *good*.
Little did I know that this snack would have fuel me...
At PHL
The A330 pulled into PHL on scheduled… but then the chaos commenced. It seemed that every other long haul flight had pulled in at the same time, thus the queues were horrendous. As the time ticked on, we moved forward slowly. 30 minutes later we finally got seen to.
The INS agent was firm but friendly, digging deeper with each probe. Amazingly, they can’t fathom the concept of people visiting the USA for fun. Oh well.
A quick run to the belt, and the luggage was already offloaded. Rather than pay PHL a cent more, we headed to Customs where they were practicing their Eric Cartman impressions today (You WILL respect my authoritah!). This didn’t help, as it was 17:20 and our bird was pushing back in 25 minutes. We made it through, and through to recheck the luggage. As this is being written, I think I’ll probably see it tomorrow, and not making this flight. Drat you INS!
It was then a straight run for the plane, after clearing TSA. Of course the queue I was pushed into had the scanner break down. So after going into another queue, I was screened, and my friend and I rushed to the gate, where boarding had been pretty much completed.
US Airways US753 PHL -> SEA
Boeing 757-200WL, Seat 14F
Booked Departure Time: 17:55 EDT, Booked Arrival Time: 20:53 WDT
In June, the first equipment change came out from a A321 to a B757 (with a slightly more advantageous arrival time)
The last time I was aboard on of these was an ORD-SEA-ORD leg on UA in E+. This of course being US Airways, no E+ seating, thus it was time to be squished all the way for the next 6 hours (and it didn’t help that the person in front of me reclined her seat after take off)
Of course, now everything is chargeable, it makes that journey slightly more hellish. And with no time to get anything, I was held captive to US Airways random demands for drinks and snacks.
Sigh.
The equipment that we were booked on today was a complete surprise of a Wingletted Boeing 757;
Although boarding was probably done in zones, by the time I got to the gate with my friend, boarding was mostly compete.
After boarding completed, the aircraft did a taxi around PHL as the runways reversed, and it was back off into the cloud.
The adverts played, then some movie was also put on. As I couldn’t be bothered to get the headphones out, I just typed for a bit.
Food run was done and we both went for the turkey sandwich option. At $7, overpriced, but I wasn’t in a position to argue. To be fair, it wasn’t that bad – the bread was drying slowly and the turkey lacked some moisture, but I’ve made worse at home. The crisps and cookie were passable and the coffee… at a buck a cup, it wasn’t that bad, but did lack some umph.
The flight itself wasn’t that bad, but deeply could covered, so for the first 4 hours, it was seatbelts on at all time. Quite a choppy ride
The crew seemed to be pretty good for the first 3 hours, before disappearing off to hide fir a bite but they made regular walkthroughs the cabin.
Landing in Seattle was quick, and after a short taxi, the plane pulled into the gate. After the aircraft shut down (and the lights went off too), we deplaned.
Luggage delivery – was slow to put it blunt. The CLT service had arrived before us , so was occupying the belt for some time. I was half expecting the luggage still be in PHL, but then 2 suitcases and a very familiar rucksack spat out of the belt, and an almighty rumble from oversized luggage.
Everything arrived.
A short trolly push to the link bridge, a queue for a taxi and about an hour after we touched down and got luggage and at the hotel – we had arrived.
Thanks fudge for that.
I was expecting worse, but at the end of the day, it was a pair of normal flights, but with US immigration being more useless than normal. Nothing outstanding, yet nothing that was completely below the belt.
