THE 52 HOURish* MEGA JOURNEY - TOKYO TO DUBAI VIA SINGAPORE, LONDON, NOTTINGHAM AND LONDON, THE FINAL CHAPTER FOR NOW - FINALLY MAKING IT TO DUBAI
Sector - LHR-DXB
Flight number - BA109
Class - Business
Seat - 10D
Aircraft - B777-200
Check-in at T4 was slow as. There was a long queue at Club World, whilst only 1 counter was open for the non-bag drop peeps. I couldn't use bag drop as OLCI and SSCI both failed on me - and the queue dragon was strict about only letting those who've actually checked in to use the bag drop desk. Meanwhile the W queue was practically non-existent and 5 counters were open - but we weren't allowed to hop over to W! I found this strange; surely the whole point of having a separate queue for Club is to allow Club pax some priority and checking us in more speedily - so when the W counters are empty whilst there's a long queue in Club and virtually none in W, why not transfer some of the workload over to the W counters like what happens in other airports?
I then proceeded through slow track and the shoe carnival. The zipper on my LAG bag chose this time to come off, but I was given a fresh one to hold my LAGs temporarily.
We were boarding at gate 6 and so I used the BA lounge at gate 1. The lounge itself was not too busy at that time. I tried out some of the wines and checked my email at a computer terminal (no free wifi!). When it was time to board the gate was only opposite the lounge.
The load on this flight was quite low. I had no one sitting next to me and so I could dump my pillow, blanket and other stuff on the adjacent seat within easy reach. This was my first time in Club World on a 777 and it looked very much indeed like a dormitory. However the trick to this is to get a forward facing seat as close to the front as possible. Seat 10D was a bulkhead and as such I couldn't see the rest of the cabin - thus negating the dorm feel.
We had the Club World config immediately prior to NGCW (edited to add : NNCW, thanks serfty). It was comfy enough for me, although I couldn't seem to make the foot stool stay in place and levelled with the rest of the seat. So my feet were dangling off the seat all night. I managed 4 hours of sleep though - and for a flight of 6 hoursish with 2 meal services at each end I reckon 4 hours is pretty decent.
The catering onboard was a pleasant surprise. The champagne was Charles Heidsieck Mis En Cave 2004! A nice change from Monopole! I tucked into a pretty nice dinner; I found the entree of crab salad particularly tasty.
Full menu here.
I was chosen to fill out a survey - that makes 5 out of the last 6 BA flights I've had to fill surveys. I wonder if there's any rhyme or reason to it, as I didn't think the manifest would have me down as a rather commercially important pax given my lowly AA sapphire status.
We landed pretty much on time in DXB - where it was cold and raining. Quite a contrast to the warm and sunny place in the middle of a desert I'd imagined!
Next: Sheraton Dubai Creek
Sector - LHR-DXB
Flight number - BA109
Class - Business
Seat - 10D
Aircraft - B777-200
Check-in at T4 was slow as. There was a long queue at Club World, whilst only 1 counter was open for the non-bag drop peeps. I couldn't use bag drop as OLCI and SSCI both failed on me - and the queue dragon was strict about only letting those who've actually checked in to use the bag drop desk. Meanwhile the W queue was practically non-existent and 5 counters were open - but we weren't allowed to hop over to W! I found this strange; surely the whole point of having a separate queue for Club is to allow Club pax some priority and checking us in more speedily - so when the W counters are empty whilst there's a long queue in Club and virtually none in W, why not transfer some of the workload over to the W counters like what happens in other airports?
I then proceeded through slow track and the shoe carnival. The zipper on my LAG bag chose this time to come off, but I was given a fresh one to hold my LAGs temporarily.
We were boarding at gate 6 and so I used the BA lounge at gate 1. The lounge itself was not too busy at that time. I tried out some of the wines and checked my email at a computer terminal (no free wifi!). When it was time to board the gate was only opposite the lounge.
The load on this flight was quite low. I had no one sitting next to me and so I could dump my pillow, blanket and other stuff on the adjacent seat within easy reach. This was my first time in Club World on a 777 and it looked very much indeed like a dormitory. However the trick to this is to get a forward facing seat as close to the front as possible. Seat 10D was a bulkhead and as such I couldn't see the rest of the cabin - thus negating the dorm feel.
We had the Club World config immediately prior to NGCW (edited to add : NNCW, thanks serfty). It was comfy enough for me, although I couldn't seem to make the foot stool stay in place and levelled with the rest of the seat. So my feet were dangling off the seat all night. I managed 4 hours of sleep though - and for a flight of 6 hoursish with 2 meal services at each end I reckon 4 hours is pretty decent.
The catering onboard was a pleasant surprise. The champagne was Charles Heidsieck Mis En Cave 2004! A nice change from Monopole! I tucked into a pretty nice dinner; I found the entree of crab salad particularly tasty.
Full menu here.
I was chosen to fill out a survey - that makes 5 out of the last 6 BA flights I've had to fill surveys. I wonder if there's any rhyme or reason to it, as I didn't think the manifest would have me down as a rather commercially important pax given my lowly AA sapphire status.
We landed pretty much on time in DXB - where it was cold and raining. Quite a contrast to the warm and sunny place in the middle of a desert I'd imagined!
Next: Sheraton Dubai Creek
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