Trip Report 7 - Part 2 - OS - VIE - LHR

And so back to the joys of London Thiefrow, I think one journey a year is about right for that destination personally. A nice checkout, followed by a quick journey on the CAT meant that we were well in time for our flight, checkin was painless and of course, security is at the gate at VIE, so after a bit of shopping (fags for me, choccies for work), I went to the Austrian Business Lounge in non-Schengen. The Schengen Business Lounge is rather colourful, the non-Schengen is a bit better than that, seats were found easily, even ones with plugs near them and there was a small selection of cold food and drinks. I was there for the pretzel sticks myself and lots of fizzy water.

Going to the gate area spoilt the pleasant experience, security was a badly signposted zoo, there was a priority sign, but it was for the Beijing flight, which was not clear at all, then you went through to a small area which didn't have enough space for a full A321, never mind a full A321 of Austrian teenagers with multiple hand luggage items. The luggage police were in full operation, many bags were weighed, many were tagged and taken away. There were quite a few protests, mainly from a couple of ladies who had a backpack each, a roll-aboard each, a laptop bag each and a handbag that could hold my laptop each. They also had a longer bag hidden from the baggage wardens.

However, we were eventually settled aboard about 20 mins late and after some more bags had to be taken out for gate checking and took off in towards Heathrow.

Service was a bit slow to start with, but we were soon served a fairly large lunch.

It must be said, it was a very crowded tray, even more crowded after it was insisted that we took two warm bread rolls (LH, please take note). I washed it all down with some Grüner Veltiner.

Nice prawn salad on a bed of remoulade, leaves were terribly bitter though.

This was sort of like a cross between goulash and pasta and reminded me of a scratch meal I had in Malta once, it like that scratch meal was delicious and suited to air travel.

Bad, bad dessert, very nice, all disappeared.

The crew came around with seconds of bread, refills on the wine and a selection of tea and coffee. Very enjoyable and a nice traditional contrast to LH's bistro boxes or LX's fine cheese and dubious dried meats.

Being an EU flight, there wasn't any OK, Scum whose for booze and fags so we watched the weather get better as we got closer to London. We ended up about 10 late, which is pretty acceptable. As is usual at LHR, you walk for five miles to immigration, where there are plenty of staff to deal with the forrins and one bloke to deal with EU/EEA and he was on the phone. So, you'd expect bags to be out and indeed they were, but not the priority bags, oh no, they came off dead last. I expect there's some horny-handed son of toil at Heathrow delighting over his small victory over the "rich bastards"

After finding the latest refuge for smokers at Terminal 1, I proceeded via HEX, taxi and a slightly faster and less dirty Virgin back to a very sunny Brum. Now, how can I lurk OS to BHX.

Next another Berlin in a few days.

Trip Report 7 - Part 1 - OS - LHR-VIE

OS462
LHR-VIE
2C, 15:35 (16:20)-19:05 (19:40)
Airbus 321

The journey to the Great Wen was not without it's horrors, the Pendolino was a Voyager, the crew were sullen and stroppy, the power didn't work. There was the curious logic that it was not breakfast for food, but it was breakfast for beverages. I really must remember to book on Chiltern next time.

Anyway, with my pre-meeting over, it was off to Heathrow, which was done via the usual painless but pricey route of the Heathrow Express. A final fag in whatever gangrenous corner we addicts are allowed in now and then on to check in. Check in was reasonably painless in Zone K (which will be familiar to old BA flyers), although the business class check-in desks are not well signposted. Security was even more painless even if there wasn't a fast track and no nude-o-scopes were noted.

We went into the Star Alliance Lounge, which is on the site of the old BA Terraces lounge in Terminal 1 but has been substiantially changed. It was fairly full and it took a while to find a table with a spare plug. Actually, there wasn't a spare plug, but there was an unneeded light :-)

There were snacky bits - mainly of the "goujon" and diet coke, this made up slightly for the bag of crisps on the train.

Eventually, boarding was called, but knowing what it's like, I popped to WH Smug and bought a copy of *wallpaper so I could avoid anything praised in it. Needless to say, despite boarding being called, the gate staff from whatever British Midland are calling themselves this week were not in evidence.

However, eventually they turned up and eventually we all boarded the A321, although there was a bit of bag grabbing as a full 321 means no room in the bins. Especially for some of the odder items, such as the tyre someone tried to board with. Perish the thought that I checked my boarding pass said VIE not LOS.

We then had a comedy moment, one of the BD gate crew stood at the front of business and said "Whose the upgrade" very loudly. Very Penny from "Great British Airways" (hint, love, it was the Unaccompianied Minor in 1A) and really rather rude. I do not want to know that the person sat next to be has been upgraded, mind you, they usually tell in whilst in the process of drinking the bar dry. Anyway, we had about two minutes of gate agent/Purser discussion with the purser speaking very quietly and the gate agent booming over the cabin. Basically, the gate agent wanted the purser to know who the Upgrade was and the Purser didn't think it was important. In my view, the purser was correct.

However, after the usual fun and games with bags having to be removed, we missed our slot, but we didn't have to wait too long for another one and then joined the usual Heathrow takeoff queue. Once up in the air, the crew sprung to life and fired up the ovens and started rattling the bars and quickly came around with drinks, I had a Weißwein and my seat opponent had a full sized can of Coke Light. The Weißwein turned out to be a very good Chardonnay. So thumbs up on the drinks for OS.

A nice dinner tray was then presented, it was rather full to the gunnels

The starter was a thick piece of white lightly smoked fish on a bed of cream cheese with a bit of smoked salmon and some salad. The white fish was very enjoyable. The main was chicken with potatoes and veg, the chicken was a bit dry, but it was a decent portion size. The pudding was some baked apple with custard. Several passes were made with a bread basket with a fine selection of breads and top-ups were offered on drinks. Sadly, the coffee was poor, coolish, thin and watery, the only downside to the F+B experience on this flight.

Arrival at Vienna was further delayed by a go round at VIE, obviously I should be ringing up the Daily Hate and claiming "Flight of Terror", but as usual with go-rounds, it was absolutely nothing. We landed at a wet and cloudy VIE a few minutes later, immigration was a doddle and I used the Raucherhütte which they have kindly put in arrivals before Shiny Case came off the belt. All in all, a pretty positive and pleasant experience.

Trip Report 4 - Part 6 - SIN-LHR, SQ J

And finally....

SQ 318 SIN-LHR

7^th January 2011

Airbus 380-800

Business Class, 12A

I arrived at Changi quite early, mainly because I need to get some last minute shopping done and partly because I dislike hanging around hotel rooms on the final day of a stay and Changi is a nice attractive airport with lots of places to look at. The added advantage was that my flight was from Terminal 3, which I've never really had much time to explore before.

I checked in very quickly and proceeded through immigration to try and find my last gifts for friends. This took a bit more time than I thought, some people are just so hard to shop for. After I got all that sorted, I went to have a smoke on the outdoor terrace and then into the SilverKris J lounge in Terminal 3. It’s a quiet time for SQ at Changi, so the lounge was fairly empty. I snaffled some very good pakora, some nice rice and some indifferent sweet and sour pork washed down with ginger ale. After an hour or so reading some English newspapers. I decided to go and get some tranquillity in the Butterfly Garden and then have a final smoke before boarding.

Boarding had started by the time I got through security, as I had left it a little later than usual, but I quickly went through the jet bridge for the upper deck of the WhaleJet.  As usual, there was a greeting, a welcome drink (apple juice and bitter lemon) and the offer of newspapers and magazines which gave me an The Economist to enjoy over the wait for take off.  We joined the take-off queue and eventually rumbled into the sky with that looooong WhaleJet take-off roll.

Pretty much as soon as we were up, our pre-ordered drinks were served (a weak Gin and Tonic) and orders were taken for main courses. The lunch menu today was:

Satay

Mesclun with marinated lobster and sun-dried couscous salad

Fillet of salmon Florentine with vermouth sauce, pureed spinach, carrots and sweet garlic puree potatoes

or

Singapore Chicken Rice

or

Grilled Beef Fillet with green peppercorn sauce, parsnip puree, roasted vegetables

or

Lamb Biriyani

Movenpick raspberry panna cotta ice cream

Or

Azuki red bean ice cream with vanilla sauce and granola

Fresh fruit, cheese with garnishes.

Gourmet coffees and teas with pralines.

The famed Singapore Airlines Satay was pretty nice, but you can get better at most hawker centres in Singapore, but it’s a refreshing entree and despite this being my eight flight with SQ, it's the first time I've managed it.

Satay

The lobster salad was generous on the Lobster and a bit mean on the greenery, the couscous was properly cooked (unlike Qantas’ efforts before Christmas). The dressing was Thousand Island - one of the few non home-made dressings I enjoy. I enjoyed this dish. 

Lobster Salad

I had picked the biriyani and the Indian Flight Attendant taking the selections said it was a a good choice. It was not a good choice, it was an excellent choice. Two lovely Lamb Chops in a dish of piquant sauce, two nice crispy papads (one of which was sesame coated) and a nice sides of pilau rice with nuts and pickled vegetables. One of the nicest airline dishes I’ve ever had and I’ve had a few over the years. 

Excellent Lamb Chop Biriyani

I decided to have one more drink and the only thing that would stand a chance with biriyani was the Shiraz, it managed, but it wasn’t a stunning example of the fine breed of Aussie Shiraz (the Bordeaux was infanticide), I wasn’t tempted to a second glass.

I had no idea what Red Bean ice-cream tasted like, but it slipped down fairly well and unusually wasn’t utterly rock-hard. 

Aduki Bean Ice Cream

I skipped on the fruit, but had a little cheese, the cheddar was meh, but the brie and the other soft cheese were nice. I then tried to relax over a cup of Earl Grey with Lemon, but by this time, the flight had gone into a short period of Clear Air Turbulence and most of it ended up over my tray table.

When did I last refuse a cheese course

I was going to read books on this flight, but I noticed that virtually the whole of series 4 of Dexter was on KrisWorld, so for a change, I actually used the in-flight entertainment. Not that I didn’t get on fairly well with my latest historical tome - Defenders of the Faith towards the end of the flight. 

The Singapore Airlines Business seat is unusual in it's width (and the 1-2-1 layout is spiffy). The seat  showed the odd sign of wear, but was pretty much well maintained. I did not bother go into Bed mode, but did spend several hours, part reclined and using the width of the seat to get a nice “half-snuggle” position whilst watching Dexter.

In Flight Entertainment

During the flight, there were constant top-ups for drinks and a snack basket passed around a couple of times. There was another period of turbulence which delayed slightly the second meal.

Before landing we had a light meal served

Antipasto

Braised ee fu noodles with prawn dumplings, leafy greens and mushrooms

or

Banger and mash

or

Penne with arrabiata sauce, grilled chicken breast, arugula, shaved parmesan cheese

Ice Jelly with Fresh Fruit

The antipasti were quite nice, a couple of shrimps, a stuffed artichoke, some “parma” ham, salad and parmesan shavings. I took the penne and they weren’t bad, generous portion of chicken with it. The Ice jelly was vile. Teas and coffees were not offered due to it still being a bit bouncy, which was a shame, I could have done with a cuppa at that point. 

Penne with Chicken

Approach to Heathrow was fairly direct and the landing was a greaser. We didn’t have the “waiting for a stand problem” at Terminal 3, we did have the slow immigration (no fast track for EU citizens) and even slower bags, although they seemed to have gotten the priority baggage out first which is unusual for Festung Heathrow. 

A train and a taxi later I was at Euston, having missed the Birmingham train I had hoped to get by about 2 minutes. However, there was another one along in 20 minutes and the Virgin Bendyleaner soon got me to International where my flatmate was waiting to drive me back home. 

After a 28 hour day I was greeted by the cat with a "Where the hell have you been for three weeks and where's my salmon" look.

Trip Report 4 - Part 1 - LHR-SIN, SQ R

SQ321

LHR-SIN

1A, Suites

Having seen that the flight was boarding, I decided to leave the lounge slightly before the main horde mainly to have a stretch of the legs and because I tend to like to board early. On reaching the gate, I was cordially escorted to a separate seating area for Suites passengers and then within seconds escorted on board. My suite was 1A, it reminds me a little of a railway sleeper carriage of the couchette era but in done out in lovely wood and leather earth tones and with a fascinating selection of cubbyholes, crannies and buttons. The charming crew introduced themselves one by one, distributing a cornucopia of goodies, a Givenchy sleep suit (yes, the XL fits even huge old me), some slippers (very comfy), socks, menus etc whilst carefully establishing drink preferences and making professional chit-chat. Some people say SQ crew are robotic, I’ve never found this, I’ve always found them consistently very good and very charming. 

Of course, I was swiftly given the most difficult choice of them all, Dom or Krug, I’m not allowed to drink much on my new exciting medication, but I trust the pharmacist in that a couple of glasses will help sleep as opposed to the quack who has cultural reasons to say no alcohol at every opportunity. I chose the Dom and it was delicious. Sadly, we had one of those lengthy slot and de-icing delays which are so common in the winter, so we ended up on the ground for about an hour. Refills were of course offered, but declined as I was rationing the consumption.

Soon after we took off the second glass was taken with some roasted cashew nuts and huge macadamia nuts – lovely. 

The menu today was:

Chilled malossol caviar

or 

Maine lobster with celeriac-crabmeat salad and lemon dressing

Chicken and sweetcorn consommé with smoked chicken dumpling

or

Chinese style seafood soup

Salad of frisee and endive garnished with feta cheese, ligurian olives and semi-dried tomato. (Basil vinaigrette or ranch dressing)

Beef Wellington, Mushroom duxelle, green beans, bordelaise sauce

or

Prawn Sambal

or

Roast pork loin with caraway seed sauce, sauerkraut with bacon and potato dumplings (hello, am I on LH)

or

Salmon in oriental sauce with braised noodles

or

Assorted wild mushroom risotto with roast capsicum, rucola, shaved parmesan

Rhubarb crumble with vanilla ice cream and syrup

or

Vanilla ice cream with fresh mixed berries and passion fruit coulis

Somerset brie, Butlers secret mature cheddar, wensleydale with cranberry and Shropshire blue with the tracklements

Fresh Fruits in season

Coffee & Teas with pralines

Choices, choices, eh. Even the first choice is difficult, I am fond of caviar but I am also fond of lobster. I take the punt that there will be a similar choice on the next flight and opt for the caviar which comes with all the trimmings. I take a nice brown roll from the bread basket to go with the echt but too cold Normandy butter.

After that, I go for the consommé, this is quite nice, especially the dumpling, but not quite right. I skip the salad, one has to save some calories somewhere in a feast such as this, plus I like my salad to be nude leaves.

I then choose the Salmon with noodles, which also has a selection of fresh veg cooked with it. Like any reheated non-soup noodle dish, the texture is a bit variable, but a bit of crunchy is good as far as I’m concerned. It’s light and delicious and I could have eaten it all over again.

I skip dessert in favour of cheese, I’m happy to report that the cheese comes in generous portions, the Brie was a little meh, but the Shropshire blue was delicious – it’s not in the photo because it got scoffed  very quickly, as did the very good cheddar – I prefer my cheddar a little strong, but this had fine texture.

A nice cup of tea and a single praline rounded off the meal for me, with a few more pages read of Dominic Sandbrook’s latest magnum opus – State of Emergency. At this point I went to the bathroom whilst the bed was brought down and the seat folded away and changed into my sleepsuit. The bed is very ingeniously positioned in the wall and provides a decent length, single mattressed bed. It’s quite hard, but I like that and with the duvet and the doors shut I was soon snugly heading towards sleepytime.

I slept with the odd interruption for about 7 hours, the A380 is sufficiently quiet that I can sleep without using earplugs! There was a bouncy bit just over India, but otherwise the flight seemed pretty smooth.

Having the cabin converted back, I breakfasted over the Andaman Islands. I had some fresh fruit (too cold, melon a bit unripe), tomato juice and a nice large glass of it at that, two mugs of delicious black coffee, a small bowl of fruit yoghurt (very good), a croissant and Nasi Lemak. As is usual, I was asked “are you OK with spicy”, I say I’ve had it before (which is true, usually in food courts in Singapore). 

The Nasi Lemak was a good choice, the prawns in the sambal were plump and the sambal was nice and spicy but not that spicy, the little fried fish were salty heaven, the rice was good, the omelette was fine and the chicken was well, chicken.

Unfortunately, with the delays at Heathrow, it’s unlikely that I’ll have much time on my transfer at Singapore. My plan of a nice hour in The Private Room looks scuppered, but I should be able to get a look inside even if it will probably mean I don’t have chance for a shower. Well, I have no seat opponent on the next flight, I can afford to whiff a bit J

Unternehmen Changi is basically, smoke fag, buy fags, go to lounge for a bit of Intertubes, smoke fag, board. If I get chance, I might see if I can get a UK-OZ adaptor as well, but I doubt if I’ll get chance. I’m sure the hotel will have one.

I’m actually slightly regretting this flight. I have a terrible feeling that i’ll never be happy in Business Class to the Far East again. Now, I wonder how much a D to R cash upgrade is for SIN-LHR on the way back.