Dallas Fort Worth International

After doing some last minute shopping in the nearby outlet mall and some work in my hotel room and the hotel lobby, I was on my way to the airport. The shuttle of the hotel dropped me at terminal D, where the check-in counters of British Airways were located. Long lines had formed at the Economy Class Counters, but the Club World and First Class counters were less busy. One agent was asking everybody if one was flying Club World of First Class. She tried to direct a few passengers with Economy tickets to the regular line until she noticed that they were holding Oneworld Emerald Status. One passenger was a bit upset about this attitude …

I was unable to check in online and also the self check in machines refused to let me check in. The reason might be that the flight was currently being delayed and my connection to DUS in LHR was now very tight. In so far I had to visit the counters, were my boarding passes were printed but the agent also notified me that if the flight would be further delayed I would most likely need to be rebooked on a later flight to DUS.

London was experiencing fogs during the last couple of days and therefore a number of flights had to be cancelled among those was on two days the flight to DUS I was booked on. I was informed about the lounge used by British Airways and was on my way to the nearby security checkpoint, which was not very busy and I could pass it quickly without need to be padded down or have the carry on searched manually.

With plenty of time, I decided to do some lounge hopping and pass a quick visit of the American Airlines Admirals Club first.

I was allowed to enter the lounge without any further comment regarding that I was flying British Airways rather than American and there was another lounge available. I received also two drink vouchers and took the elevator upstairs, where the lounge was located.

The lounge is quite large and consists of two main parts. The reception area where the elevators arrived separates these two areas. To the left is a sitting area with business centre while to the left are also chairs but is also the bar and a quiet area, which is a bit hidden.

The quiet area was not busy at all and to my surprise quite empty which was a contrast to the buzzing and busy other parts of the lounge. I exchanged the drink voucher against a glass of sparkling wine and read in the available papers about new of the recent airline crash in Egypt and also tried to connect to the internet, which was possible but not very fast and it was barely possible to set up a stable VPN connection. I spent more time in the lounge than I had planned as the quiet area was indeed quiet and a nice place to do some work. Food offerings of course were reduced to some carrots, celery and olives as well as humus and tacos.

Finally, I decided to walk over to the “The Club at DFW”, which is used by British Airways as lounge. The International Lounge consisted of different ‘lounge rooms’, used by different airlines at different times. One ‘lounge room’ is also a Priority Pass Lounge and e.g. Lufthansa and KLM are also using this lounge for its passengers.

British Airways was using lounge 5. The lounge was busy, but there were plenty of seats available at the window, which had the disadvantage that the sun was shining on the screen if working with a laptop. The lounge offered different types of wine, sparkling wine (not Champagne) and also a selection of different types of sandwiches, a soup, sweet snacks and a small selection of newspapers.

Boarding was announced to start at 16:10, which was early for our delayed 17:20 departure, but BA hoped so speed up things and got everybody on board timely. Boarding had not yet started as I arrived at the gate, which was busy and a bit chaotic.

Boarding was announced to start with passengers needing assistance and those travelling with small children. Later passengers in First Class were allowed to board the plane and passengers on the upper deck of Club World before passengers on the lower Club World Cabin were invited to board the plane. A little bit later Oneworld Emerald and Oneworld Sapphire Members were allowed to board the aircraft. Two agents at the lines, who also checked the passports, verified also that only those in the correct class of service or holding the right frequent flyer status boarded the plane.

02 November 2015
DFW – LHR
[Dallas / Fort Worth International Airport – London Heathrow]
BA 192 (British Airways); Boeing 747-400 (G-CIVC)
Gate D 18
16:40 – 07:25 [effective 17:05 – 07:49]
World Traveller Plus
Seat 12 C

My seat was in the first row in the middle section of World Traveller Plus at the aisle of the four middle seats. Word Traveller Plus was nearly fully booked and only three seats remained empty, among those two seats in the middle section and one at the window side of the plane. Unfortunately but not unexpected was none of these seats next to me. The middle section of the first row does not offer much more legroom due to the bulkhead in front – expect for the aisle seat due to the possibility to use the aisle - but no one reclines into you, which is also an advantage.

Blankets, pillows and headphones were placed on the seat. The headphone also contains the small amenity kit which consists of toothbrush, earplugs, eye-mask, socks and a biro.

While the passengers were boarding the plane, time for some information about our Boeing 747-436 for the flight to London. The Boeing 747-436 with registration G-CIVC was one of the older planes in the large fleets of Boeing 747-436 of British Airways. It was delivered as new plane on February 26, 1994 to British Airways and now fitted with 14 seats in First Class, 52 seats in Club World, 36 seats in World Traveller Plus and 235 seats in World Traveller as British Airways calls its Economy Class. It was powered by four Rolls Royce RB211-524H engines. The plane was painted in several different special liveries in the past; in March 1999 it was painted in the “Delftblue Daybreak Colour Scheme”, in June 2003 it wore the “Union Flag Colour Scheme and since March 2009 it is painted in the “Oneworld Colour Scheme”.

A pre departure beverage was offered and among the orange juice, apple juice and water I went for orange juice.

Pre departure Drink

Orange Juice

In the meantime, boarding was completed and the captain welcomed us on board. He apologised for the delay and hoped to speed up some things in the air but also mentioned that LHR was experiencing heavy fog causing major delays in the last days. For this reason we might be delayed and have to fly waiting patterns. He would update us prior to lading in Heathrow. He also announced the safety video.

The crew made sure, that the screens of those of us in the first row were folded out. While it was showed, we were pushed back and it seems everything was done a bit in a rush. The crew was very busy to prepare the cabin for take-off and stow many things during and after the video was shown and we were taxiing to runway 18 L. They had to rush for their seats, as the captain asked them to be seated after it was our turn after we had to queue after a few other planes waiting for our turn. During our taxi, also were offered the small printed menu announcing the two main courses and the started and dessert on this flight.

Finally at 17:23 the captain powered the four powerful Rolls Royce engines and we took off in Southern direction before turning to the East and after we passed Dallas Love Field Airport in the South turned towards a more North Eastern direction heading in direction of New York.

After the seat belt signs were turned off and the crew went for their stations. 30 minutes after we left DFW, a hot towel service was done. World Traveller Plus was served by one flight attendant alone, which is as far as I know the norm for this aircraft type. It is also served individually and not as part of the service of World Traveller, as between the World Traveller Plus Cabin and World Traveller Cabin is a Club World Cabin located, which has a different service procedure.

The first beverage service started after the hot towels were collected around 18:00 DFW time. The service started in the left aisle between seats B and D and went to the back before it went from the back of the right aisle between seats G and J. I asked for tonic water without ice and was also offers a small packet of sour and cream pretzels.

Time to look in the menu (click on icon, opens new window)

Dinner

Tomato and mozzarella salad
Gnocchi filled with Asiago cheese
and fire roasted pepper sauce
Passion-fruit posset

Half an hour after the first beverage service had started it was time for the meal service which started in the other aisle, which means I was served last this time. I went with the Gnocchi, which looked not very appealing but tasted quite good and were very filling. The salad was also quite fresh and the pesto for the mozzarella-tomato salad quite good. I went with a white wine for the main course, which was one of the PET bottles, which were less heavy and I have already described in the report of the flight to Montreal.

Later tea and coffee were offered by the flight attendant, but I declined the offer and instead reclined my seat and tried to get some sleep for the remaining time. The lights were also soon dimmed, while we were passing New York in direction for Nova Scotia and began our transatlantic crossing South of St. John’s in Newfoundland.

Our arrival time was showing as 07:35, which was only ten minutes behind schedule.

The Premium Economy Seats offer an increased recline and sitting in the first row at the aisle I was also able to use the aisle to stretch my legs. I plugged my in-earphones and listen to some relaxing music from my MP3 player. I think I dozed more than I really slept but the flight time passed quickly.

Looking around the cabin, I would say that the most passengers were trying to get some sleep while others were watching a movie or working on their laptops. Some passengers went to sleep right after take-off and were awake closer to touch down.

90 minutes prior to landing, the lights were turned on again and 15 minutes later an arrival snack was offered. I only went for a coffee, as I was not really hungry. The service started in right aisle between seats B/C, so I was among the first passengers to be served.

The service of the only flight attendant serving World Traveller Plus was friendly and attentive. She did make eye contact while serving and most important looked at you while giving you your requested beverage or serving the tray. To me, this is a major detail. Handing you a beverage but not looking at you is in my eyes not only impolite but also not very service oriented. I have experienced it a couple of times, mostly on US airlines, but occasionally also on Lufthansa.

The captain came over the microphone some 40 minutes prior to landing. He informed us, that Heathrow was not foggy this morning, only misty, which means we were not further delayed but would need to fly a few circles south of Heathrow due to the usual morning rush hour which would add five minutes to our expected arrival time of 07:35.

The items from the breakfast serving were already collected as 20 minutes before we were schedule to arrive the crew were asked to prepare the cabin for arrival. The curtains between each cabin were opened and the last cups and glasses were collected.

We had already passed Ireland and were flying over Bristol and approached Heathrow from the South flying an S shaped approach passing Windsor Castle.

At 07:39 we touched down on runway 09 L and taxied for our gate at terminal 5 C, where we arrived ten minutes later at 07:49; a bit later than expected as another plane was blocking the taxiway.

We could disembark through the fist door, which means we in WTP were able to leave the plane right after First Class but before Club World, which is one of the advantages of this configuration, especially if only the first door is used.

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