Round The World and other travel

Flight Log 2: BA227

London Heathrow (LHR) - Atlanta (ATL)

Having selected 10K many months previously, I had no trouble whatsoever finding my way to it and getting settled in. It was only my third time in the now-standard 'next generation' version of BA's Club World cabin, which preserves the unique and patented 'yin-yang' layout concept of its predecessor, while presenting cleaner lines and offering increased privacy. The clever part of this design, from the airline's point of view, is that it maximises capacity by recognising that a passenger requires less space at the feet than at the shoulders; matching up a forward-facing passenger with a rear-facing one therefore consumes less cabin width than a conventional pair of seats where both passengers face the direction of travel. Despite the cleverness of the design and many enjoyable experiences of the original incarnation of the product, my personal record in the latest version was mixed: one of my previous flights had been excellent and the other had been frankly rather poor. I was keeping an open mind and was prepared to be delighted, unmoved or disappointed as appropriate.

After some dubious experiences of cabin presentation on BA's short-haul fleet of late, it was most gratifying to see straight away that this aircraft was clean and tidy. An inevitable consequence of boarding from Door 2 was that the entire passenger complement of the Economy and Premium Economy cabins had to pass through Business Class, but this did not prevent some attentive pre-departure service in the Club World cabin. I was relieved of my jacket and offered a newspaper within seconds of arrival and was also quickly offered a glass of nicely chilled champagne. The cabin crew, often with loaded drinks trays in hand, seemed quite adept at sashaying in and out of the foot areas of the various aisle seats, so that they could make progress and carry out their duties despite the throng of boarders heading rearwards, many of whom would pause to scrutinise every row number in turn, as though afraid that 35 (say) might turn up between 11 and 12.

We finally pushed back at 1528, just a few minutes behind schedule, after being advised that the expected flight time was 8hrs 20mins. An added bonus for me at this point was that neighbouring seat 10J had remained unoccupied. Although it was a comparatively short distance to Runway 09R, it took just under 20 minutes from leaving our stand to take-off. Once airborne, we executed a sharp U-turn to the right, which seemed like a reasonable idea for a plane flying east and hoping to reach a destination in the USA.

Once the cabin crew had been released from their seats, the distribution of amenity kits, hot towels and US Customs forms followed in short order. I temporarily extricated myself from my seat in order to retrieve my bag from the overhead locker and place it on 10J; this would have the dual benefit of making my various possessions easily accessible, while discouraging anyone who might have the bright idea of using the seat as a waiting area for the nearby lavatory. The drinks trolley appeared quickly thereafter and I was soon sipping a glass of the Taittinger in between gulps of ice water to quench my thirst, which may have been partly induced by the Out of Africa nuts that I was nibbling. Orders for lunch were taken once passengers had been given a chance to peruse the menu:

LUNCH MENU		WINES
Starters		Champagne
Poached salmon, prawn and tarragon timbale with saffron		Taittinger Brut Réserve NV
mayonnaise and asparagus		Champagne de Castelnau Brut Rosé NV
		Champagne Boizel Grand Vintage 2004
Middle Eastern mezze plate
		White wines
Salad		Pouilly-Fumé 2011, Domaine Bardin, Loire Valley, France
Fresh seasonal salad served with vinaigrette		Cline Viognier 2011, North Coast, California, USA

Main		Red wines
Seared tenderloin of British beef with Cajun potato wedges,		Château Blaignan 2010, Cru Bourgeois, Médoc, Bordeaux,
sautéed carrots, green and broad beans and peppercorn		France
sauce		Reata Pinot Noir 2010, Sonoma Coast, California, USA

Grilled sea bream, lime and parsley risotto, turned carrots
and courgette with chermoula sauce

Penne pasta with ricotta, spinach, sun-dried tomato, basil
and mascarpone sauce

Chilled main-course Caesar salad with chicken

Dessert
Chocolate and orange délice

Barber's 1833 Cheddar and Cropwell Bishop Stilton cheese
served with fig compote and biscuits

Vanilla and dulce de leche ice cream, by The Ice Cream
Union

A selection of fruit

Chocolates

Drinks were topped up as we left Ireland and indeed Europe behind by crossing the Connemara coastline. I couldn't help noticing how loud the 777 sounded after my previous two transatlantic flights on board the whispering whale that is the Airbus A380. My meal tray was delivered with my choice of the salmon starter and the standard salad and I enjoyed both with a glass of the Pouilly Fumé. The beef main course also went down nicely, with the help of some French mustard and a glass of the Californian Pinot Noir. Finally, I had some cheese (with the all-but-obligatory glass of port) and a coffee.

It was only at this stage that I decided to check out the choice of in-flight movies and quickly discovered that the airline seemed to be engaged in some kind of James Bond celebration. I watched the classic You Only Live Twice which, amazingly, brought us over Canada with a mere 3.5 hours left to run. I took a break from the Bond-fest to fit in an episode of what was apparently the 2013 version of Yes, Prime Minister. I had seen a fairly recent, up-to-date stage play bearing the same classic name but had no idea that a new TV series had also appeared. Returning to the main subject for the final instalment of my in-flight entertainment, I watched Goldeneye, towards the end of which I also had afternoon tea:

AFTERNOON TEA

Snacks

An individual selection of sandwiches featuring roast beef with mustard, prawn cocktail and egg with watercress

Sweets

Plain or fruit scones served warm with clotted cream and strawberry preserve

We touched down at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson at 1905 local time and after a long taxi, still managed to arrive at our allocated gate comfortably ahead of schedule.

While it lacked the sense of finesse and generosity of the best Asian carriers, this was a good, solid performance by BA and I was very satisfied with the overall experience. As previously mentioned, the apparent improvement in cabin presentation went down particularly well with this observant and inexplicably fussy frequent flyer.