British Airways Flight 192

Few experiences in life unfold to be so profound they they seem truly surreal. I had heard about the excellent quality of British Airways flights before, and the fantasy that is the first class cabin, and had even seen a few amateur videos on You Tube about it, but it was impossible to truly comprehend for me... Until now.

I am not going to, nor would I ever lead on that I could under any circumstance, afford a flight in the first class cabin of any airline, much less British Airways. In fact, the retail cost for this flight, (which I did not pay) was around $13,000.00 (no, not Pesos, US Dollars!). Instead, I was fortunate enough to have enough American Airlines frequent flyer miles to supplement the cost of the flight, paying only the taxes and security fees... (BA and AA are partners in the "One World Alliance", making their services interchangeable with one another's frequent flyer programs. In the end, the flight cost me 125,000 miles and $970.41 (again, US Dollars)... It did not come so cheaply, however... The miles were earned over a 12 year period whilst toiling away from here to there, meeting to convention under the direction of corporate america (which, if you've been reading this blog for very long, you know I am no longer a member of). Oh, whoa is me! (if you're not good at sensing sarcasm in writing, that was a prime example of my best attempt). For the record, I was more than happy to purge the miles in order to fly first class to and from my European adventure...

All of the flight attendants are from Britain, (as their accents suggest) and they were amused to see me taking pictures of everything in my "cabin", which you will see momentarily. They giggled when I asked "what are these". Well, these turned out to be Macadamian nuts... But whole ones... I don't know if I should be embarrassed to admit that prior to this experience, I had only seen slices of them, mostly in the cookies at Subway... They are mistresses (isn't that the feminine for "masters"?) of fantastic customer service, they are as polite as anyone I've met and they call closets "wardrobes" and overhead bins "lockers". This just keeps getting better...

You must know that I have flown first class before... Mostly on American Airlines and always on domestic flights... That is important because I've noticed a difference in the way people act... On a normal AA first class flight, everyone seems to act entitled to be there, as if they've never flown coach... I've even caught myself acting that way from time to time, making the labored effort to peer up from my Blackberry just long enough to give that "I'm in first class and you're not" gaze to those "less fortunate" souls who have to sit in coach... Wait a minute... I've never felt like that... But it's almost impossible to avoid... When you've flown coach and been so unfortunate as to walk past the already seated first class passengers, you have no doubt been victim to the gaze from someone peering over their free copy of the Wall Street Journal at you as you pass by... The funny thing is, myself, like most of the other passengers up there, were given the seats for free as reward for flying a certain number of miles loyal to American Airlines... The sense of entitlement comes free with the flight... However, on this flight, there are no such attitudes, and the other 13 passengers in the cabin with me seem just as excited as I am about the seats that turn into beds, the pajamas and the gift baskets that we all received. I gave up very early on thinking that I could (or wanted to for that matter) fool anyone into thinking that this is something I do all the time on the way to my second home in London... I admitted to the attendants very quickly that I was a first timer, and that I was having as much fun as a Texas A&M alum at the Dixie Chicken... (they obviously didn't get that joke)

THE MENU (a small sample, as each course had 4-5 selections...)

Starters -
-Fig and goat's cheese tart with tomato tapenade and mache lettuce.
-Chilled gazpacho soup.

Main-
-Grilled fillet of beef with wild rice gallettes and black cherry Pinot Noir reduction.
-Roast halibut stuffed with marmalade and basil with roast potatoes, heirloom tomato, fennel and citrus cream sauce.

Bistro Selection-
-Chanterelle mushroom and cannelloni pasta with smoked aubergine cream sauce, sautéed chanterelle mushrooms and tomato.
-A selection of cheese and fruit.

Dessert-
-Strawberry tiramisu with raspberry and mint.
-Chocolate mudslide cake.

As I write this, I am only about 30 minutes into the flight... I don't think any number of descriptors or photos could make sense of this experience. So after adding a picture or two, I'm going to shut this down, recline my seat and enjoy one of the thirty or so "still in theaters" movies that I have to choose from... And oh yeah, my appetizer is almost here... Lobster with mango salsa and Thai sweet chili glaze... Whatever that is...

Cheers!
-L



All the stuff awaiting me in my "suite" when I got on board... A few nice pillows, plush blanket, a set of pajamas, slippers, a toiletry kit and some Bose headphones...



The contents of my first class toiletry kit, included this stuff as well as ear plugs, socks, slippers, and an eye cover...



My table setting for dinner...



My dinner appetizer. IT. WAS. FANTASTIC!



Best sleep I've ever had on a flight, thanks to my seat that turned into a bed and my Bose noise canceling headphones (which I had to give back when we landed...)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:DFW to LHR