Round The World and other travel

Flight Log 8: BA284

San Francisco (SFO) - London Heathrow (LHR)

The first thing that I noticed on entering the nose area of the 747 was that it was still fitted with the older generation of the First product, in familiar beige and grey tones. I didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed. On the one hand, the cabin was really quite tatty-looking and had clearly been 'let go' in the run-up to a refit. It would also have been interesting to try the new-generation product for the first time. Then again, I still had some doubts about the new product and at least I would have the comfort factor of dealing with a known quantity. My second observation was that, after considerable recent exposure to the spacious First Class cabins of Lufthansa and SWISS, the British Airways layout really seemed to pack us in - excellent for the company's revenue, no doubt, but noticeably more crowded than competing offerings.

With boarding directly from the lounge, the cabin filled up very quickly and it was just short of a capacity load. I had some champagne and water while we waited for the rest of the aircraft to fill up. I was brought a sleeper suit and a washbag; a set of headphones, blanket, slippers, pillow and cushion were already in place in the seat area. In due course I was offered a newspaper and presented with the menu and wine list. Hot towels - the cheap kind - were distributed prior to closing the doors, and dinner orders were also taken around this time. The expected flight time was given as 9hrs 25mins. I noticed that nearly all my companions in the cabin were Americans - not a single one, thankfully, of the 'loud' variety.

Pushback came a little behind schedule at 1705. We taxied across runways 1L and 1R, in between waves of parallel landing aircraft, to make our way out to 28R. As anticipated, there were some excellent views of the city and the bay as we first crossed the coastline and then overflew the Golden Gate itself, high above the iconic bridge. As we continued to gain height, the Embarcadero and its multiple piers were visible far below to the right, almost merging into the downtown skyscrapers and the impressively long Bay Bridge.

I was soon enjoying another glass of champagne, accompanied by some warmed mixed nuts, the introduction of the latter being part of a recent package of measures designed to harmonise with the American Airlines product, following the granting of permission for the two carriers to operate a joint service on transatlantic routes. Having already exhausted all the new movie releases that were of interest on my outbound Lufthansa flight, I fired up Tomorrow Never Dies to keep me entertained - thoroughly familiar, I admit, but always fun. The tables were soon being set in preparation for dinner.

DINNER		WINE LIST
Starters		Aperitif
Trio of salmon, including smoked salmon on fingerling		Kir Royale
potato salad, salmon rillette and balik-style salmon
Corn and spinach flan with cherry tomato confit and mache		Champagne
lettuce		Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle, Champagne, France
Chicken consommé
Fresh salad leaves with your choice of balsamic or creamy		White
Greek dressing		Chablis 1er Cru Vau de Vey 2008, Jean-Marc Brocard,
		Burgundy, France
Main courses		Peter Schweiger Riesling Heiligenstein 2008, Austria
Steak and creamed spinach, roast potatoes and maître		Sancerre Reserve 2009, Domaine de la Chézatte, Loire,
d'hôtel butter		France
Seared sea bass with celeriac purée and baby spring
vegetables with Italian salsa verde		Red
Lamb shank Shepherd's pie with peas and pancetta		Château Labégorce-Zédé 2004, Cru Bourgeois Margeaux,
Salad of grilled prawns with blood orange vinaigrette		Bordeaux, France
		Keenan Merlot 2006, Napa Valley, California, USA
Bistro selection		Edmeades Zinfandel 2007, Mendocino County, California,
Cheese manicotti with shimeji mushroom, leek cream		USA
sauce and Parmesan tuille
Warm bacon roll		Dessert
A selection of biscuits		Jackson-Triggs Proprietors' Reserve 2007 Vidal Icewine,
A selection of cheese and fruit		VQA Niagara Peninsula, Canada
		Warre's 1992 Colheita Tawny Port
Dessert
Mixed berry chocolate gâteau with vanilla anglaise and strawberry
American-style s'mores cake with roast marshmallow, chocolate and graham crackers
Ice cream sundae, custom made with your preference of ice cream, sauces and toppings
A basket of fresh fruit

Cheese plate
New England Cheddar, Rouge Affinée and Wisconsin Blue Stilton

First to arrive was an amuse-bouche, which some time previously had replaced the once-familiar selection of three pre-dinner canapés. My salmon starter was pleasant enough. I had asked for some soup to follow the salmon, so was a little taken aback when the steak arrived next. I decided not to cause a fuss as I was keen to get a good night's sleep and therefore didn't want to delay proceedings, but it was disappointing nonetheless. I formed the impression that departures from script were not necessarily encouraged. By way of consolation, the steak and accompaniments went down very nicely, especially with the addition of some French mustard.

Having scoffed every last morsel of the main course, I realised that my appetite was rapidly waning. I finished off with a simple ice cream and a cup of lemon and ginger tea. Once my movie was finished, I went off to the washroom and was pleased to see that my bed had been made up for me by the time I returned. I thought the bed was one of the more comfortable that I have slept in on board an aircraft; all the more surprising, then, that I didn't actually manage to get a sound night's sleep. I felt that I was just dozing lightly most of the time. It's difficult to pinpoint the reason, although the cabin did strike me as being far too warm, to the extent that I discarded the quilt altogether at one point.

With about 1hr 45mins left to run, the cabin lights were switched on. The breakfast menu was as follows:

BREAKFAST

Starters

Chilled fruit juice

An energising fruit smoothie

A selection of yoghurts

A selection of cereals

Fresh seasonal fruit

A wide selection of breakfast pastries and rolls

Main

Traditional English breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, pork sausage, mushrooms, tomato and hash-brown potatoes

Wild mushroom and cheese herb crêpe

Peaches and cream stuffed pancake with maple butter custard and five-spice pineapple

Beverages

Teas - Traditional English Breakfast, Darjeeling, Earl Grey, Pure Green, Pure Camomile, Pure Peppermint, Lemon & Ginger or Blackcurrant, Ginseng & Vanilla

Coffee - Freshly roasted and ground, decaffeinated, espresso or cappuccino

Still feeling quite full from dinner, I decided to have a cut-down breakfast of Fruit 'n' Fibre cereal, toast and marmalade, apple juice, Earl Grey tea and some scrambled egg and bacon. An otherwise nice breakfast was spoiled slightly by the fact that all of my pieces of toast - those served with marmalade and those accompanying the scrambled egg - were horribly stale. I don't know how the bread managed to get into that condition so quickly, such that even toasting couldn't disguise it. What a shame!

The final part of our route took us across Northern Ireland, over the Isle of Man and across North Wales towards Birmingham. We were told to expect a temperature of 15C on arrival, along with some strong winds. A second round of hot towels effectively marked the end of cabin service. Due to an air traffic control delay, we had to describe circles over south-east England for some 7-8 minutes, before making a truly spectacular approach over central London. We touched down on runway 27R at 1101 local time but, in age-old LHR fashion, found that our allocated stand at the T5B satellite building was already occupied. Once this ancient Heathrow ritual had been acted out one more time, we finally arrived at 1115. All things considered, it didn't seem too far adrift of the schedule.