Our trip was preceded by a few days in London (we live in Devon so rarely get up to town much these days). I drove to LHR and arrived late evening. We stayed at the Premier Inn on Bath Road to take advantage of the Purple Parking Stay, Park, Fly deal. It worked very well. We parked the car at the Premier Inn overnight (the car park is adjacent to the runway and you get fantastic views of the aircraft just before touchdown. A perfect spot for ‘plane spotting). The next morning we drove the car around to the T3 Short Stay car park where the Purple Parking Captain took care of everything. We ordered an Uber car for the first time to take us and our cases into town (I was making good use of the First baggage allowance so an Uber XL was required!). I found the Uber service excellent, both to and from LHR and will certainly use it again.
We had a great time in London, taking in a show, a tour of Parliament, a few restaurant visits and of course a bit of shopping. We stayed in Fitzrovia this visit and loved the hotel and location.
Departure day arrived. Again we ordered an Uber car to LHR. It arrived within 90 seconds of requesting it! The driver was so helpful and at £40 for 2 people and 5 cases in morning traffic I thought it was very reasonable.
Check-in at LHR T3 was a breeze. No queue and straight through to Fast Security, which was efficient and we were in the Departure area within minutes. A quick shop for gin (The Botanist- great stuff) and I treated myself to a Bose travel speaker which, thanks to a Heathrow Rewards offer attracted 3000 Avios (I am already collecting for the next flight obviously!).
We arrived at the BA lounges. Now you all know I am sure that BA mainly fly out of T5 but since October 2015 they have moved some long-haul flights to T3. They have always had a First lounge there but with the arrival of long-haul in addition to European flights, they have opened a Elemeis Spa. There is an adjacent Club lounge also.
The First lounge was surprisingly busy when we arrived (at 11.30 for a 15.50 flight). It soon quietened down when a few flights departed. Overall I had a great time there, but the Virgin Clubhouse is better overall (better facilities, friendlier and of course a great cocktail service). But there is no denying the First service was a true step up from BA Club lounges. The Champagne bar offered 3-4 different champagnes, self-service. I am no wine aficionado by any stretch if the imagination but I know what tastes good and what does not and this was quality champagne. I settled on the Tattinger in the end though I tried them all, including the pink
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There was a self-service bar with a good selection of quality wines. There was an extensive self-service buffet and also a menu with made-to-order items. I especially liked the Duck and White Bean cassoulet. And of course one has to sample the famous BA burger! There is a dining area or you can eat at your chair, as we did. Later on afternoon tea was served for those who had room. I certainly did! Champagne afternoon tea of course!
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There are showers, office areas, papers (but no show shine!). Overall the atmosphere was very calm and quiet. You cannot book spa treatments in advance but I did on arrival and had an Aviator facial whilst sat in the massage chair. Both were great and the chair was VERY vigorous.
Overall I did not feel I had been missing out by not being able to visit the Concorde Room in T5.
Our flight was delayed by 30 minutes. The gate was a good 10-15 minutes walk away but on arrival were able to board immediately.
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We were greeted by name and personally escorted to our seats, 2A and 2K. We could have requested 1A and 1K which opened up 3 days earlier but on the advice of reviewers settled for row 2 and are glad we did as Row 1 did seem a tad claustrophobic to me
The seats were great, very comfortable, private and the controls simple. I loved the blinds on the window. We were offered champagne, pyjamas, an amenities kit and an extensive menu with a wide selection of wines. The cabin was not full, there were 3 empty seats after boarding completed, one passenger was unable to fly due to “US immigration issues”. Their bags were offloaded.
The crew were New Fleet (as opposed to the BA Worldwide fleet) and service was exemplary, I was always addressed as Dr Maximus, they couldn’t do enough for you. There were three cabin crew looking after the nine of us in First. One did all the food prep whilst two attended to the cabin.
This was a day flight so I did not change in to my pyjamas, instead I ate, watched films and ate some more. Many fellow passengers did sleep, there seats converted into 6.5 foot beds with mattress, duvets and pillows when requested.
I chose to eat 2 hours in to the flight. I had pre-ordered my main course several days earlier.
My meal was as follows:
Amuse bouche
Spicy parsnip soup with curry oil and vegetable crisp
Fresh seasonal sald with noney mustard dressing (probably the tastiest salad I have had)
Corn-fed chicken ballotine with broccoli couscous, salsify batons, roasted shallots, glazed chicken oysters and thyme jus
Chocolate and orange parfait with mascapone cream and fruit crumble
Cheese platter (Oxford Blue, Old Amsterdam, Duckett's Caerphilly and Somerset Camembert
Chocolates by Lauden
Nespresso coffee
I drank the following from their extensive wine list:
Laurent-Perrier Grand Siecle Champage
Kir Royale
Sancerre Le Grand Roc 2012, Domaine Gerard Fiou from the Loire Valley
Coteaux du Layon L'anclaie 2011, Chateau Pierre-Bise, Loire Valley
I shall upload more photos below as I have reached capacity for this post.
Needless to say by this point I was ready to explode
We enetered a period of rather severe turbulance over Greenland so I decided to lay back and watch some films. The BA 747 IFE is not the best, the choice of films was limited but there was enough to keep me amused until we landed early evening in Las Vegas.First passengers were de-planed first. I was the first passenger to enter Immigration. It was empty! Not quiet, entirely empty apart from the Immigration Officers. So we were through in 2 minutes. Our bags were first off and I was first through Customs too. Result!
Our driver was waiting for us and took us to his shiny black Merc and we were on our short 10 minute jaunt to The Strip.
Overall a great travel experience.
Last edited by Maximus on 29 Dec 2015, 00:06, edited 3 times in total.
