I arrived at IAH on a connecting flight at terminal A and was transported to terminal C by an airside bus that was almost impossible to find without the help of groundstaff. There was a long walk from terminal C to terminal D, where BA fly from.
There is no First lounge at Houston, so First are in with the hoi poloi BC pax. The lounge is OK but there's no Champagne. There's a very limited menu as there's no pre flight dining, you simply help yourself buffet style to cheeses and savoury snacks. But on the plus side the American Brie was really good - I didn't know the US could make good cheese until today. The service in this lounge was excellent - the staff really seemed to care about keeping the place clean and tidy, and the reception was exceptionally welcoming and helpful.
Boarding was as quick as it gets, with the lounge being right next to the gate and no line. There were four of us in First for the first segment up to Chicago with three more joining us there.
Pre flight drinks are whatever you like - I settled for a Tanqueray No. 10 and tonic. But these days there are no longer canapees - just nuts. This, the quality of the Champagne and the tiny wine glasses were the only drop in standards I found since I last took BA First about eighteen months or so ago.
On board there's just oodles of personal attention: it's not over attentive, it's just right. You are never sitting around twiddling your thumbs waiting for anything. Flowers are all over the cabin and the loos although they looked ever so slightly tired.
You get real metal cutlery. Not just forks and spoons. But knives too! OK little knives, but they are real metal knives. So I guess this proves the point I've been making since they removed metal knives at all from flights, that it was totally a knee-jerk reaction. It's a real shame we've all had to suffer plastic for so long for no reason.
Now I had a salad starter in the IAH-ORD section and the quality of the ingredients was top notch. Fresh blanched asparagus and sun dried tommies were the best I have ever had in the air. On the menu there was a Chablis but no big chardonnay, although they had one hiding with my name all over it - a Raymond Reserve Napa Valley 2002. I have a feeling they nicked it from BC for me. It was a little too warm even for my love of bigger whites being served around cellar temperature. Shame about the tiny wine glasses, getting a proper nose-full is never going to happen.
The only food disappointment came in the form of the only main course on the snack menu between IAH and ORD. I should've just kept to just the salad. However the '95 Chateau Branaire St Julien was enough to keep me from sending all of it back!
I have been close to bursting in anticipation of describing the dessert. Let me tell you that airline food and beverage does not get much better than Willi Opitz's Goldackerl Trockenbeerenauslese 2002 sticky and the 'selection of petit desserts'.
Now this was a mere two hour hop. Why oh why can life not be more like this on all two hour flights? Please?
On the ground at ORD we didn't deplane. They started re-catering, and I went to the galley and asked one of the crew for some water. The FA, realising that there was no water around the galley due to re-catering, went straight to the cockpit and handed me the Captain's bottle of water. The timing could not have been more apt, as when I turned around to make my way back to my seat there was the Captain who'd just boarded standing right behind me. There was then an ongoing in-joke throughout the rest of the flight between the crew, the Captain and myself about me raiding the Captain's supplies.
On the second segment unusually I didn't have anything from the menu and went straight to sleep instead. As this was my forth flight segment that day I was getting pretty tired and emotional with all that messing about at airports - not to mention all that free booze.
As has been my experience in the past on BA FC, my sleep was interrupted by another pax snoring away. My own fix for this is two-fold and usually works: I put in some ear plugs and also put on a pair of Bose noise cancelling headphones. These are comfortable enough for me to fall asleep wearing.
I woke up 45 minutes before landing, the purser saw I'd woken within ten seconds and immediately asked if I'd like breakfast. I was served a full English breakfast within five minutes which was absolutely yummy except that the scrambled eggs were ever so slightly watery.
Deplaning was a disaster as there was no-one to operate the jetway. This is the second time recently on BA that there's no-one to move the jetway, so we sat on the tarmac for twenty minutes waiting. I was second off the plane. BA continue to do a great job getting the FC pax off first.
Immigration at T4 was empty at this time of day (~11:00am)
Unusually for me, rather than popping home for a shower on my way to the office in London, I was going straight to a job in Cardiff so I used the arrivals lounge. I had my suit valet'd and shirt ironed while I took my shower. They really do seem to have this part sorted.
Took my Limobike to Reading station then on to Cardiff to work [xx(]
In precis:
Not enough noise insulation between neighbouring seats. Crew attention is second to none, the best I've ever had. Quality of food and beverage is, in general, excellent. Great to see the return of metal knives. The 11.5 hour flight was too short! I did not have enough time to try everything on the menu. Deplaning was a joke. The ultimate test - did I want to stay on board the plane? Yes please.
