I have decided to summarise both legs into one (and connections) to save time and because Im feeling a little jaded after my stormy experience more to follow![:$]
As a reminder I had to fly to MCO via ORD on BA/AA as I could not find any directs on VS or BA for my dates.
So
Outbound..31st March BA295
We arrived rather early at T4 after trekking from a hotel on the Bath Road via the bus and Heathrow Express. Had I remembered we were leaving from T4 I would have just stayed at the Hilton, however I forgot! The other reason for arriving early, as per a previous trip report, is that BA do not allow you to check-in online if you have children in your itinerary. Why? I wish I knew. You would have thought they could tag seats so that you cant book an exit row with children. But if you have an adult ticket then you can book an exit row (even though you may be 12). This is a major gripe when leaving on a 930am flight as it makes a large difference in wake-up time.[?]
As far as the airport is concerned, T4 is still so much nicer that T3 and they have extended things which was perfect as I had to buy my good lady an anniversary pressie for the morning (on April fools day!). The flight was roughly on time and a 777. I had pre-allocated seats which were honoured at check-in which was nice. The only problem I have is the 3 rows of 3 which are pretty rough for couples and families of 4 and there did seem to be lots of split groups however I know that for lots of people it doesnt make any difference.
The flight was fairly uneventful. We were served lunch first which was very good. The IFE was awful - even Odyssey on the NAS flight was better. The Cabin Crew were very good. They did enough to keep you happy without being obtrusive. I have to say that I felt they were more professional than the NAS flight in December. The BA pitch and seats were much better than VS. Before we arrived we had a quick snack half a wrap. Whilst it was tasty I wish I had brought a packed lunch!
We were delayed on our arrival and had a bit of a bumpy approach due to 45mph winds in Chicago. I thought that at least it couldnt be any worse but I was wrong, our return leg was to be far worse.
On arrival at Chicago we had a mad rush to Terminal 3 for our connection to AA and onto MCO, which luckily we made. I hate MD80s and we had one. Every cloud has a silver lining and we were at least at the front away from the whining back of the plane. This flight was OK but typically and American internal..little service and a dirty plane. They also dont bother to enforce the seatbelt rules.
[B)]
To summarise the outbound:
Check-in Poor (due to no OLCI and inability to use FF card machines)
Seats - Excellent
IFE Rubbish
Food Good
Crew Very Good.
Ive now decided to split my reports due to length so to be continued shortly..
