BA 294 ORD – LHR 26th November 2006
After three very quick, but enjoyable days in Chicago it was time to make our way home. We had stayed at the Palmer House Hilton, which was in downtown Chicago and only 1 block away from the blue metro line which goes straight to O’Hare airport.
We arrived at the airport at 15:00 for our 16:45 flight. Check-in was quiet and we were through in a few minutes, although they informed us that the flight was delayed until 18:05 due to the late departure from LHR as there had been a severe thunder storm in London that morning that had delayed many flights.
We went through security and it was fairly chaotic. There was a fairly young TSA guy there putting the bags through the x-ray machines and he was losing it big time with some people in front of us, who clearly could not understand him. He started throwing bags around and through the machine (mine included!!) and just seemed to have lost it completely. I found him rather rude and arrogant and not a good advert for the TSA. Quite a few people around us were thinking of reporting him, I’m not sure if they did, but he deserved it!
Once past this chaos we made our way to our gate, M11. One thing I now know, O’Hare is not the most exciting airport in the world! There were a couple of small stands selling food and drinks and a small selection of duty free. We decided to go back out to the main area; at least there was a food court there, and a decent sized duty free shop. We went back through security again about an hour later, but thankfully there was a different person on the x-ray machine and things were fairly calm.
At about 17:30 were started to board. It was a 777 again, and this time we were in seats 38 G, H + K. The flight, which was virtually empty when we checked in, was now nearly full as they had moved loads of people who had connecting flights to make in LHR, from the 2 later flights that evening as they were delayed by a few hours as well. It made sense I suppose, but we had been looking forward to spreading our selves around the empty seats a bit to try and get some sleep.
We pushed off the stand at 18:05 and were soon on our way. Drinks were served fairly quickly and then dinner. There was an announcement made that due to the delays, and shuffling around of people on the flights, that not all the special requirement meals had been loaded, and there was also no veg option which seemed to upset quite a few people. I had the chicken risotto which was fairly tasty along with some cheesecake and the usual water, wine and salad.
After the duty free run we did not see the crew again until they served breakfast, about 90 mins from landing, although there was an announcement that there was water and juice available in the galleys, and we could help ourselves. Breakfast was served in a deli bag, and consisted of a muffin, yogurt and orange juice. Tea and coffee was also served.
We landed shortly after 07:30, just over an hour later. We than had to de-plane at a remote stand by T4, and then bussed to arrivals. Immigration was fairly quick and we were soon on our way back to the hotel and then the 5 hour drive back to west Wales.
Again it was another fairly good flight, the crew were fairly pleasant but we did not see much of them, (I suppose this is the norm on night flights!), the entertainment was OK but again there was not really a very good choice of movies to watch.
Other that the in-flight entertainment I would have no problem in using BA again, even on Virgin served routes if the price was better.
After three very quick, but enjoyable days in Chicago it was time to make our way home. We had stayed at the Palmer House Hilton, which was in downtown Chicago and only 1 block away from the blue metro line which goes straight to O’Hare airport.
We arrived at the airport at 15:00 for our 16:45 flight. Check-in was quiet and we were through in a few minutes, although they informed us that the flight was delayed until 18:05 due to the late departure from LHR as there had been a severe thunder storm in London that morning that had delayed many flights.
We went through security and it was fairly chaotic. There was a fairly young TSA guy there putting the bags through the x-ray machines and he was losing it big time with some people in front of us, who clearly could not understand him. He started throwing bags around and through the machine (mine included!!) and just seemed to have lost it completely. I found him rather rude and arrogant and not a good advert for the TSA. Quite a few people around us were thinking of reporting him, I’m not sure if they did, but he deserved it!
Once past this chaos we made our way to our gate, M11. One thing I now know, O’Hare is not the most exciting airport in the world! There were a couple of small stands selling food and drinks and a small selection of duty free. We decided to go back out to the main area; at least there was a food court there, and a decent sized duty free shop. We went back through security again about an hour later, but thankfully there was a different person on the x-ray machine and things were fairly calm.
At about 17:30 were started to board. It was a 777 again, and this time we were in seats 38 G, H + K. The flight, which was virtually empty when we checked in, was now nearly full as they had moved loads of people who had connecting flights to make in LHR, from the 2 later flights that evening as they were delayed by a few hours as well. It made sense I suppose, but we had been looking forward to spreading our selves around the empty seats a bit to try and get some sleep.
We pushed off the stand at 18:05 and were soon on our way. Drinks were served fairly quickly and then dinner. There was an announcement made that due to the delays, and shuffling around of people on the flights, that not all the special requirement meals had been loaded, and there was also no veg option which seemed to upset quite a few people. I had the chicken risotto which was fairly tasty along with some cheesecake and the usual water, wine and salad.
After the duty free run we did not see the crew again until they served breakfast, about 90 mins from landing, although there was an announcement that there was water and juice available in the galleys, and we could help ourselves. Breakfast was served in a deli bag, and consisted of a muffin, yogurt and orange juice. Tea and coffee was also served.
We landed shortly after 07:30, just over an hour later. We than had to de-plane at a remote stand by T4, and then bussed to arrivals. Immigration was fairly quick and we were soon on our way back to the hotel and then the 5 hour drive back to west Wales.
Again it was another fairly good flight, the crew were fairly pleasant but we did not see much of them, (I suppose this is the norm on night flights!), the entertainment was OK but again there was not really a very good choice of movies to watch.
Other that the in-flight entertainment I would have no problem in using BA again, even on Virgin served routes if the price was better.
