We had flown to San Francisco the previous night from Las Vegas and stayed at an airport hotel. We were booked on BA286 which wasn't due to depart until 7pm which meant we had the whole day to kill and as we had our two children with us we really just wanted to get home. I was also a bit concerned because the 286 looked like it was full and I hadn't managed to get 4 seats together. BA won't let you use OLCI with children so we thought we would get to the airport as soon as possible to try and sort the seats out.
We arrived at SFO at 12.30 just as the BA check-in desks were opening and were second in line for the Clubworld desk. We asked if there was any chance of transferring from the 286 to the 284 which was due to depart at the earlier time of 4.30 pm. The check-in clerk then disappeared for about 10 minutes to make some phone calls. She came back and confirmed that she had managed to 'shift things around' and had not only put us on the earlier flight but had also given us our favourite seats 12 & 13 J&K. Full marks here to BA!
We were informed that for some reason SFO was on a high security alert (just what you want to hear when you are about to fly!) and security was quite slow. Despite staff going up and down the lines telling people to remove laptops and videos from bags, shoes, belts etc. there are still the people who wait until they get to the front of the line before they start even thinking about sorting their things out - v. frustrating. Finally unloaded all our stuff into the trays and ushered the kids through the detector. The security agent then called me through and as I walked through made me and all other passengers around jump a mile by pretending to scream as I went through. As I came back down to earth he smiled, put his arm round me and said 'only joking!. I wonder what he would have done if I had done the same to him.
We arrived at the Terraces lounge shortly after it opened. It's quite a small lounge with a library and business area and just the basics in way of food and drink. Only food on offer was packets of biscuits, cheese and crackers and crisps. It makes you realise just how good Virgin's Clubhouses are. Nevertheless it was comfortable enough and a bonus was that you can board directly from the lounge.
A little later I took the kids out to the main departure area for some lunch and as they were sitting eating their pizza we watched Cosmic Girl arrive and park at her stand right underneath us.
Eventually we were called to board along a separate bridge for first and club passengers. Our jackets were immediately taken and hung in a wardrobe and we were offered champagne, orange juice or water. Menus, amenity kits, kids packs for the children and newspapers were also given out within a few minutes of boarding. I was pleased to see that the kids packs have improved greatly since our last BA flight (believe me they needed to!).
Forgot to pick up the menu so can't remember exactly what was on offer. Dinner was served about 1 hour into the flight and for starters I had a crab salad - very good with fresh crispy salad and a nice balsamic dressing. This was served with various types of warm bread rolls. For the main course I had salmon and my son had fillet steak - both were ok but not outstanding. The pudding was key lime pie and this was followed by cheese and biscuits both of which I skipped. I can't really remember any of the wines but I think there was a choice of 2 champagnes, 2 whites (one of which was sancerre) and 2 reds. The meal was rounded off by coffee and a little box of chocolates. Throughout the meal more bread rolls and drink top-ups were offered several times.
When the dinner service was over hot towels were brought round a each passenger was given a bottle of water. The lights were then dimmed and I reclined my seat and settled down to watch Pride and Prejudice. I do like the fact that the BA seat fully reclines until it is in the flat bed position as opposed to the Virgin seat which really is an 'either/or'. On the other hand the IFE is really quite poor and I found myself longing for VPORT. Everybody around me managed to sleep soundly but for some reason I just couldn't. I was pleased to see that the crew didn't just disappear but every few minutes did a walk-through with a tray of drinks even though there were no takers. Our little section was being looked after by the Purser and when he noticed that I wasn't sleeping he offered to make me a hot drink - he brought me a very welcome cup of coffee and offered to top it up 3 times.
Breakfast was served about an hour and a half out of Heathrow. From memory it was fruit and cereal followed by a bacon roll or pastries. I skipped breakfast but the purser noticed how much my son enjoyed his bacon roll and brought him a second with extra ketchup.
As usual we had to circle around Heathrow for a few minutes and once landed there was a long taxi and we then had to wait a few minutes for another aircraft to exit our stand. Luggage was quite slow to come through but when it did ours was among the first few bags so we managed to make a fairly quick exit to a relatively clear M4.
This was actually a great flight with probably the best BA Crew I have come across. Throughout the flight they addressed me by name and my son by 'big man'. They were really lovely with our children and were working constantly throughtout the flight. They told us that the First, Club and World Traveller+ cabins were completely full and there were only 6 free seats in economy. We were therefore really lucky to be transferred to the earlier flight and get such good seats (I guess they must have upgraded some pax to first to accomodate us). Interestingly they told us that BA are currently trying to introduce a third daily service to SFO. I was really impressed that they gave such a high level of personal service despite the full load. The only real problem is that dreadul time difference between the UK and West Coast!
