V-Flyer

Morning everyone.

Whilst it might be a bit early for some of you, in the recent ex-EU thread, I mentioned about documenting my experiences with fly into SFO using the infamous ex-EU trick.

Well. 05:49 CET in the BA lounge and here I am!

After leaving my friends house at 04:30, arriving just after 05:00 outside the Terminal at BRU, I made my way to an empty BA check desk where th ready kindly checked in my two bags all the way to SFO. With my PassBook boarding passes for both BA and VS, I declined the printed versions and headed to boarder control.

I really like BRU, especially at this time in the morning. It's empty! So empty I whizzed through security (Club Europe gives you priority screening) and ended up at the B Gates.

Upwards to the BA lounge which I was haughtily told by the desk clerk that it doesn't open till 05:30. Waited 10 mins before getting in here and choosing a remote seat to enjoy a coffee and naturally being primarily french even though it's on the Flanders side of Belgium, the morning pastries are excellent!

Boarding begins at 6:15 which I'm hoping for a quick push back with the incoming storms scheduled to arrive later on this morning.

More thoughts when I land at LHR T5!

Good morning, Ryan.

I shall follow with interest. Hope you don't have too bumpy a ride !!

Safe travels Ryan

Good Morning Ryan , some of us are up at this time too but my journey across the wind swept M 62 will not compare to your sunny SFO , have a great trip

Thanks Ryan. I have first trip like this coming up next year, albeit from gatwick, so very interested in how it goes.

Landed at LHR! It was a bumpy ride above 20,000 feet so we stuck below for the short hop. Just pulling up to the gate now and about 1hr gate to gate. Crew have been lovely. Decided against the BA sausage - think I made the right call.

Onwards to flight connections!

So. Exactly 8 mins from leaving the plane, I'm on a bus to T3. We docked at A19 so had a little walk on one of the longer her bridges at T5. As I walked down the flight connections escalator, a bus to T3 turned up!

Now just at the T5 B pier picking up more connections before heading straight to T3.

Onwards and upwards, Ryan !

Have a good flight.

hiljil wrote:Onwards and upwards, Ryan !

Have a good flight.

Thanks Hilary!

So after a 10 min bus journey in the rain, I arrive at T3 security check point. Again it's empty at this time of the morning. Still manage to shave some time off by using the priority lane and sailed through.

If you've never done connections , after security you get to walk through a multi coloured tunnel and this eventually brings you out by the ticket/transfers desk. It does mean you get to escape "most" of the shopping mall that is the departure lounge.

Now in the clubhouse with breakfast and treatment booked enjoying a coffee.

You can probably guess what happens next, food, redheads etc till my VS19 gets called at 12:10.

All in all, it's been a seamless transfer. If there is just you or two of you travelling, I can highly recommend the ex-EU routing. To save so much money whilst getting the benefits is an excellent way to gain miles and tier points.

Next update will be when I get to SFO!

Great idea Ryan, this will be good to follow.

thanks

David

Blacky1 wrote:Safe travels Ryan

Thanks Blacky!

jfenney wrote:Good Morning Ryan , some of us are up at this time too but my journey across the wind swept M 62 will not compare to your sunny SFO , have a great trip

Thanks jfenney, hope your trip managed to escape some of the incredible rain I've seen in LHR this morning!

Great idea for a post! Enjoy your trip!

Very interesting, we're looking at ex EU for our next trip to save some pennies.
Have a great flight to sfo

Love the live TR!! look forward to the next installment.
hope you have a good onward flight.

RyanJW wrote:Waited 10 mins before getting in here and choosing a remote seat to enjoy a coffee and naturally being primarily french even though it's on the Flanders side of Belgium, the morning pastries are excellent!

Never though the local language spoken made a difference to the quality of pastries... Indeed, found most food in Belgium excellent.

And having lived in Antwerp, Wallonia and Brussels, I'll repeat what I said when I left Brussels...

"Having left Brussels and got off the train in London, I'm now hearing a lot less English spoken."

Never reckoned Brussels to be french speaking city...

After a wonderful massage and spending a small fortune on Spa products (not just for me honest!) it is now time to just relax and enjoy a rather quiet clubhouse this morning.

I really like this time of the day in the Clubhouse, everyone seems to riding a smooth wave of relaxation and calmness. The staff seemingly are coming round at exactly the right moment to top up my drink! With an Egg's Benedict ordered, I'm already planning lunch and trying to decide whether to eat in the Clubhouse or on the plane.

The weather seems to have cleared up considerably and I can see blue sky's and only a small amount of clouds racing across the sky, so the wind is still up which should be interesting for flying.

Time for the second RedHead of the day.

Smid wrote:Never though the local language spoken made a difference to the quality of pastries... Indeed, found most food in Belgium excellent.

And having lived in Antwerp, Wallonia and Brussels, I'll repeat what I said when I left Brussels...

"Having left Brussels and got off the train in London, I'm now hearing a lot less English spoken."

Never reckoned Brussels to be french speaking city...

My pastry tastes are usually very simple and I'm easily impressed with any kind of Danish! I spend most of my time in Belgium nearer Ghent so its all Flemish speakers on that side. I do enjoy the food though, Stoofvlees is a personal favourite!!

RyanJW wrote:. Decided against the BA sausage - think I made the right call.

Given that a BA Sausage once made our dear Honey Lamb very you made the right call !

Real time reporting at it's best...let's hope your luggage has a good trip as well!

tontybear wrote:

RyanJW wrote:. Decided against the BA sausage - think I made the right call.

Given that a BA Sausage once made our dear Honey Lamb very you made the right call !

Wot tonty said.

After the first call to gate was made, I decided to gather my things and slowly meander down to the gate. A number of other passengers seem to being doing the same thing walking to the unusual gate 1. In all my VS flights, can't say I've been this side but as most of the other passengers had boarded, it was a quick and easy process to get boarding.

It wasn't long till I'm sitting where Im typing this, seat 18A. After a pre flight check of all the functions of my seat working, it's a clean if a little chipped suite on G-VHOT.

I'm in the A zone with a significant number of our US cousins. One of them is doing a stretching routine in the centre of the cabin which has raised the eye brows of us gentle English folk! It is really a sight to see a 60+ gent using the Center cupboards to literally limber up! Each to their own I suppose!

No name check when boarding but was quick offered some Lanson. Not yet noticing a cabin crew I recognise but they seem to be wearing grey waist coats. Is this part of the new uniform?

Yes it is.

Got to say - you were lucky this morning. 80-odd short haul cancellations at LHR due to the weather today, mostly BA. Glad it all worked out!

Have a good flight.

After being strapped in and getting ready to depart, I was thinking that we are experiencing a lot of movement whilst on the ground. It feels like we are on a boat as we wallow around on G-VHOT in the wind. Initially I put it down to the couple of redheads that I had, but actually it's the incredible wind we are having here at LHR!

This should be an interesting take off!

Just announced journey time of 10:50. Pretty intense head wind.