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My last trip to BHX had been rather short notice (see the trip report). I decided that I would do my best to make this trip not nearly as last minute.
The first order was finding the flights. My preferred trip was the one we took last July - DL 2700 (SN 534) BOS-BRU, SN 711 BRU-BHX, SN 712 BHX-BRU, DL 2701 (SN 533) BRU-BOS. EZS disgorged a fare of just below $1000 (M class, in other words, upgradable to C class). Same fare as BOS-JFK-MAN even (which is typically less).
So I rang up DL Int'l Reservations, who said that the lowest upgradable fare was $1500 per seat - a "Y" fare. The agent (very brusque, btw) said that there was not an M class fare in that market (WEIRD, since EasySabre had so obviously displayed one).
Next task was to kick off a note to my Delta Guardian Angel (aka "GA"). He found the same abnormality that the Int'l Res Agent found. So in the end, he reserved the following:
25 August DL 2700 dep BOS 1945 arr BRU 0810 A340 5A&5C BA 1745 dep BRU 0930 arr BHX 0940 737 (no seats assigned) 1 Sep UK 2042 dep BHX 0815 arr AMS 1030 BAe 146 (no seats assigned) DL 81 dep AMS 1125 arr JFK 1325 767-300 (BE) 4F&4G DL 81 dep JFK 1455 arr BOS 1610 767-300 (BE) 4F&4GYes, via BRU on the way out (and switching to BA instead of going SN the whole way through), and going via AMS on the way back!! I've always wanted to see Schipol (nothing against Brussels Zaventem, but it's getting a bit "old"!).
The "BE" noted above means that the flight is coded "Business Elite" - DL's new combined first/business class product. Heh heh heh - in seat laptop power! OK, so we have three batteries for our Powerbook G3, so what? :-)
One Saturday towards the end of March, my husband and I went with our Systemwide Upgrades in hand to purchase the tickets. Previously we had done this kind of purchasing at the Federal St City Ticket Office near South Station in Boston. But we knew it wasn't open on Saturday... Turns out, however, that the Boylston St CTO *was* open on Saturdays. And even better, it was a mere 30 minute walk from home (and that's going via my office, so I could pick up the email that had the record locator number in it).
There was a very funny flap going on when we arrived. First, DL shares the space with Continental, American, and FedEx (the latter did not have a counter open on Saturday). The space was a bit tight (unlike the Federal St CTO), so you couldn't help but hearing other people's problems. There were two agents at the DL ticket counter. A woman, who was helping an elderly man (more on that in a moment), and a man, who ended up helping us (and who, by the way, was very impressed that we knew our record locator number and already were aware of what segments were and were not being operated by DL :-). Back to the elderly man - turns out he'd lost his ticket and he wanted Delta to issue him a new one. So the agent tells him what fare he has to pay. Man *insists* on having a paper ticket "because then I have something to prove that I've paid in case I need to complain". Obviously didn't help him in this case! :-)
The man helping us didn't have much time for chit chat as there was a line (and the grumbling man next to us took up WAY too much of the nice agent's time. This woman was a *saint* in the way she was dealing with him! She certainly had more patience than I would have. I would have said "look, moron, if you'd bought an ET to begin with you wouldn't BE in this predicament!", and then slapped him silly :-). About fifteen minutes after walking in, we walked out with a DL "Delta Business" ticket jacket and two tickets. The ticket jacket had a discount coupon inside for a subscription to "The Economist" - but the coupon had expired in 1997. Obviously the Boylston St CTO does not get many Business Class pax (for the non Boston area residents, it's not in a particularly business-heavy district [unlike Federal St], but rather is next to Newbury St, one if the biggest shopping streets in Boston). Either that, or they were trying to use up all of their old stock before the Business Elite jackets come online later this year.
Last year, SN ended up changing equipment on us and changed our seats out from under us. A few weeks ahead of our flight, I checked with GA who said that our seat assignments were still secure on DL2701 (aka SN534). He said he wouldn't know until "closer to the date" if DL81 AMS-JFK-BOS would be on a fully equipped BusinessElite configured plane or not. Since I planned to read my email in England (I always do), I figured he could just email me the information.
The weeks leading up to England seemed to go slooooowly. Gradually, I used up my English-acquired food/drinks. The first to go was my Ribena (I brought 2 2liter bottles with me to the US in January). Luckily, a local supermarket chain could replace it (at approximately 4 times the price). The next to go was my sweets (polos and chocolate). Then my curry sauce (which I can also get locally, but at $4 per tin rather than 80p). I can get Salt & Vinegar potato crisps locally (Trader Joes) which are almost Walker-esque. I also regularly get good British cheeses (the kind that rip the roof off your mouth they're so sharp). I truly was getting homesick. As the weather got dingier in mid-August, I started pining for England. Silly it may sound, but it's complete truth.
Wednesday August 25. We'd prepared for the trip by going on our usual jet lag diet. Four days of funky eating, starting Sunday with a "feast day" (protein-heavy breakfast and lunch, carbo-heavy dinner), Monday a "fast day" (don't eat much and try not to think about it), Tuesday was feast again, and Wednesday, departure day, was a fast day. We also got up earlier and earlier each morning, culminating in a 0415 wake up time on Wednesday morning. This wasn't *just* to reset our body clocks (but that did help), since we had lots of packing to do.
Our flight was due to depart BOS at 1925, so we wanted to aim for arrival at BOS at 1700. Yes, that's early, but by arriving at 1700 we would miss a good part of the traffic that would be around if we left even 15-20 minutes later. The last thing we wanted was to be stuck in the Tunnel waiting for all of the traffic to go through. We had already decided to take a taxi, since we had two suitcases (our big green hardsided case and a grey soft sided case). Yes, I suppose taking the T would have been POSSIBLE but hardly desirable. We're not poor kids anymore, we can afford the occasional cab ride.
I left work just before 1500 and arrived home shortly thereafter. I proceeded to finish with packing (basically shoving the carry on stuff together and putting the laptop in its carrying case), and took a shower. Christopher (my husband) arrived home about 1555, later than he'd hoped for, but still with enough time to take a scrub shower of his own. We called for a cab right on time at 1630 and were at Logan by 1700. My only complaint is that the cabby didn't have a/c (or wasn't using it), so the tunnel was stuffy. Luckily, we weren't in the tunnel for long.
Terminal C at Logan was pretty crazy! United has started shifting some of its check in desks to the left hand side of the terminal (former TWA space), and those passengers were blocking the main (centre) entrance to the terminal from the departures level. We first went to the Medallion desk to check in, where the check in clerk informed us that we had to have upgrade coupons before we could sit in business class. "But we did all of that in March!", I insisted. She talked to a supervisor who straightened her out. She ended up sending us over to the Sabena check in rather than checking us in at the DL Medallion line. (Last year we were able to check in at the DL desk in almost exactly the same circumstances).
The Sabena check in desk was quick and perfunctory - so perfunctory that they didn't even look at my husband's passport, and he had his Irish one out, too! With me, on the other hand, they wanted to see my I-94 or green card. Did I look more menacing than him? Was the check in clerk being selectively picky? Would anyone else get on the plane without having proper ID because it wasn't checked by this woman? Oh well, not my problem. We checked our two bags, and were left with two carryons (one each) and two jackets (likewise). The woman told us where the gate was (28, I knew already, I'd looked it up online!), and told us where the Crown Room was (which of course we knew, but how would she know we knew?). One plus - we had been given connecting flight boarding passes. I didn't know if DL would be able to issue BA boarding passes, but they were, and there was even BRU gate information on it!
A quick swing through Press Relay (my favourite American newsstand), and we were off through security. There was a long line and they had two out of three x-ray belts operating. Then, while we were almost at the front of the line, they shut the line we were in and moved everybody to the third belt. Very weird! Usual trick through security so we wouldn't lose our beloved laptop, and we were heading towards Crown Room.
Crown Room was MOBBED. Wow, if DL continues this they will be forced to expand it. We had a hard time finding two seats together (there were only occasional ones around). After a little while, we decided to move over to the business area of the Crown Room to try and log in and get one last email check done. We managed to move and plug in, etc, but the email check wasn't to be. The AT&T phone refused to take our Sprint calling card information. Don't you love discrimination? Our laptop then decided that it was a nice time to crash (not fatally), so we wiled away the next little while debugging it. Our plane (OO-SCZ, A340-300) pulled in while we were waiting.
The Crown Room, while full, was quite nice. They have dumped their horrible snack mix from last year in favour of bags of "Summer Harvest", the bagged snack mix that they give out on domestic flights. Free drinks were also available (wasn't that supposed to have stopped?). I had two glasses of water while there. I saw several people, on the other hand, who probably were hammered by the time they got on board their flight. Charging for drinks may not be such a bad thing, in my opinion.
Boarding was scheduled for 1840, so we were out at the gate then (it was such a long way, not!). It was called a few minutes late - at 1845 they called "small children", etc. Some people did come forward who I considered to be reasonable (carrying a car seat), but others came forward with older children. I honestly don't think that eight year olds need to have extra time to be settled. Oh well! They reminded US Citizens that they had to fill out a card with contact information in case of an emergency. We hadn't been given one at the front desk (perhaps the check in woman *did* see Christopher's Irish passport after all!), so Christopher grabbed one and filled it out. Not long after we finished, Business Class boarding was called.
We got on board and sat down. Same boring Sabena seats as last year (seat pitch not too generous, lumbar support that doesn't work, non-electronic controls). I had been hoping for SN to sub their A330-200 on this route. That plane has in-seat laptop power (albeit the same manual seats). OK, Sabena technically forbids CD/CD-ROM drive use in flight, but they never said a word about DVDs! I wondered if they would find this little "glitch" in their memories. It wouldn't matter, we ended up not watching a movie. We had seats 5A&C, window and aisle. I took the window (so I could snooze) while Christopher took the aisle. I made a lav trip and noted the computer in the front said the temperature was 23C. No way! I was COLD, cold enough to put my polarfleece jacket on. Do A340 thermostats lie? Another note, this SN A340 did not have gaspers (individual air vents)!
After boarding the FAs came around with drinks, a selection of water, orange juice, or champagne. I was hoping they would do the rest of the procedures on the ground as well (handing out menus, etc), but unlike last year, I knew the A340 would not be able to make up time en route. Last year we were on a 747-300 which left Logan an hour late and only landed into Brussels about 10 minutes late. On that flight, they handed out menus and amenity packs on the ground.
While at Logan we saw an AF 767-300 (odd, it was VERY early if it was the DL/AF CDG-BOS codeshare), and later, on taxi-out, an AF 747-200! What on earth was *that* doing at Logan? Was Kennedy closed? If so, what was happening to my poor parents who were flying CLE-EWR-BHX?
We taxied and were in a long line (about 12 planes). The line cleared and we were underway. After takeoff the FAs brought around amenity kits (sleep shade, socks, toothpaste/toothbrush, hand cream, ear plugs. The usual), and menus. I was very glad of the ear plugs, as I was wishing that I had brought some with me. I told Christopher what I wanted to eat (a piece of bread and a glass of water), put the ear plugs in, and went to sleep. I woke up for a few moments after his bread arrived (and I downed it. I was starving!). I then saw his entree arrive and immediately fell asleep until MUCH later.
I will now detail the menu choices. Food only. If you want wine information, email me and I will send that to you.
Appetizers:
Entrees:
From the Cheese Board:
Emmenthal cheese, brie cheese, Port Salut cheese
Desserts:
Belgian chocolates
I got a goodly amount of sleep - somewhere between 3 and 4 hours (much more than Christopher - he had NONE), and woke up not long before they started serving breakfast. Breakfast was served approximately 90 minutes ahead of arrival time. It was a bit more substantial than last year: in addition to croissants or rolls (both offered hot) there was also yoghurt (blueberry) in a dish (not a Yoplait container). The yoghurt was of excellent quality. The FAs offered drinks and I was difficult again, asking for milk, rather than taking either coffee, tea, or orange juice. We were encouraged to take as many rolls/croissants as we wanted. There was butter and strawberry jam on the tray for rolls, as well as sugar. I wondered what the sugar was for until I realized it was for the coffee drinkers!
Landing preparations began not long after. I was not quite awake enough to remember that I had wanted to visit the cockpit. Oh well, another chance wasted. We landed at 0810, gate by 0815. We docked at gate B30 (we had been told of this gate ahead of time. The SN on-board video had the arrival gate as well as all of the SN connection flights). The jetway dumped us out on the arrival concourse. I don't really understand what the point of dumping us on the arrival concourse is. I mean, if they didn't trust security, why let us on the plane to begin with? Do they think we'd be cavorting with people out on the ramps? It doesn't make much sense.
In the past, when we've arrived on the arrival concourse we had to go all the way up to the terminal, clear security, and come back down the same concourse (on a different level). Not this time. Our connecting flight was listed as gate B19 (this info was on the boarding pass that we'd collected before leaving BOS). There was a sign for gates B19-B25 halfway down the concourse, and we followed it. It took us to a bored looking newspaper-reading woman who was "manning" the security station. We went through security and ended up at our gate!
As it turned out, we had MUCH too much time to sit there and kill, so we decided to go up to the terminal anyways! After a walk round, we followed a bunch of BA-clad staff (cabin crew, probably, they had those little BA hats) through security and headed back to B19. Upon arriving there, we noticed with amusement that there were three BHX flights leaving from adjacement gates! BA's, BD (British Midland) and SN (Sabena). The BD one was listed as "delayed". Upon checkin, the BA woman told us that the inbound flight was late but that we should push off ontime. The SN flight did go off on time.
We were called for boarding at 0930 (departure was scheduled for 0935) and bussed out to an old-colours BA 737-200 (cigarette engines and all!). The bus was pretty empty, which led me to believe we were going to be on an empty flight. Well, we got on board and headed for our assigned seats (18B&C), only to find they were the VERY last row on the plane. The flight attendant said to "take any seat in the back" because "there are only seven of you back here". Business was a little more full - about 15 pax. How can BA make money on this flight? I certainly hope they make more money on the incoming BHX-BRU flight.
My husband was a very bright guy (considering he'd had NO sleep the night before). He suggested we take the very first row of coach (immediately behind the divider for business class). I didn't quite understand why (and I'd had more sleep than he did!), but later found that the seats we were sitting in were business-class sized seats. BA has 3-3 in coach on the 737 and covertible 2-3. Our seats, 12A&C, had a very VERY tiny seat in between us. Funnily enough, that seat had a tray table with fold down edges so we ended up using that to store stuff on later.
We pushed off late (0950), with a revised arrival time at Birmingham of just over an hour later. The captain said that there was something wrong with the forward door but that it wasn't dangerous, "just noisy". Since we were on a hardstand, we taxied out, actually reversing using our own engines. I suspect this plane is due for retirement before too long, so what the hell, ruin the engines!
Immediately after takeoff the single flight attendant for coach came back and handed out the snack. The snacks came in "world images" boxes, and contained a (cold) bacon & tomato sandwich, small cake, and a tiny cup of orange juice. YUM. I found the snack amazingly good, probably because I was so down on calories. The FA also handed out newspapers. She said "would you like a newspaper?". I asked her what she had, and she said "Mail and Telegraph". I sneered and took the Telegraph. Chris took a Mail. I'd rather have had the Financial Times!
The flight went quickly and smoothly. We landed at BHX at 0955, gate by 1000. On the taxi over, I noticed the CO plane pulling out for EWR, and the AA plane at Eurohub. We had to wait for a few minutes before getting our gate because there was another plane pulling out of the gate next to us. Eurohub at BHX (of which BA is the main tenant) has a cul-de-sac on one side of it. It's jammed right up against the road, so we couldn't pull in there until the other plane pulled out, even though we weren't at the same gate.
The captain never *did* turn off the fasten safety belt signs, but once he spooled down the engines I figured we were OK to get up. Most people seemed to be sitting there in a daze, so Christopher and I gathered up our things and dashed up to stand behind a couple of the people from business class. The door opened remarkably promptly and a BA gate agent walked us down to immigration (really, I could have found my own way!). Two desks open at immigration - one for Euro citizens and one for everybody else. There weren't any non-Euro pax on the flight, and they waved people over to the non-Euro desks even if they had Euro passports.
Most of the passengers on the flight seemed to be day trippers or those with just cabin luggage. After clearing immigration, my husband and I went over to baggage claim. I grabbed a trolley (making sure to pick one with "Cadbury World" on it!) Within moments of walking over, the claim started running and our grey soft-sider was the first bag out. And then our green hard-sider was the THIRD bag out. We didn't stick around to see if there were any more bags. We cleared customs (nobody there) and went out to the arrivals hall. Both my parents and the guy meeting us for the car hire were waiting for us. No waiting involved! We signed the paperwork on our Honda Accord rental and were on our way to my Auntie & Uncle's.
Our first flight on the journey from the UK back to the US started, of course, at Birmingham International Airport. The flight was UK 2042 (KLMuk), a BAe-146/ARJ. I'd heard bad things about KLMuk's seating arrangements (they use 3-3 rather than the standard 2-3 on that type) but good things about their food, so I looked with mixed feelings toward the flight. The flight was scheduled to leave from BHX at 0815. We planned on leaving for BHX at approximately 0700 (my Auntie and Uncle's house is a comfortable 15 minute drive from BHX), but were ready so early we left at 0640 (and could have left earlier if my parents had arrived. They were staying one extra day and were going to drive us to the airport). We arrived at 0655. They dumped us at the curb and we went in to check in while they parked the rental car.
We looked for the KLMuk check in desks, which were 46-47, and went over. The check-in agent told us that there was a "hitch" with our record but if we went over to the ticket desk across the hall they would sort it out quickly. Well, I went over, but it was far from quick. The ticket agent insisted that we had no reservation for the flight. What do you mean, no reservation, I asked. The tickets were in front of her and marked with "OK" status. She never said we had to reconfirm (perhaps that's an oversight on my fault). It took her ten minutes but she finally gave us a new reservation, and I was sent back over to the check-in desk. Once I got back there there was MORE trouble, as the agent could check our bags through to Boston (I knew I'd be seeing them at Kennedy, or at least I HOPED so!). She also could not issue us an onward boarding card for AMS-JFK-BOS and told us to check at the transfer desk at AMS.
We went upstairs with my parents (who had parked the car and come in to the terminal while all of the kerfluffle was going on). They sat down to have their breakfast of beans on toast (Christopher and I had both had Weetabix at my Auntie & Uncle's). We sat with them. The pre-security eating area was MOBBED. Everybody wanted their sausage and beans, it seemed. Yum. Sausage and beans. Of all of the British foods I like, Sausage was the one I missed on the trip. Oh well, too late now...
My parents bid us farewell at about 0735 and we cleared to departures. We spent a tame few minutes browsing through the shops while waiting for our flight to be called. It was called at 0755 to gate 55. Great, I thought, not the leper gate like Sabena! We walked and walked and ... walked. Down to the gate NEXT to the Sabena gate. Actually, more leper-like, since the KLMuk plane was out on a hardstand. We got to the gate and the crew wasn't quite ready to board, so we queued up English style while the gate agent took our boarding passes and glanced at our passports. Christopher took the opportunity to pick up a Birmingham Post which was at the Sabena desk (hey why not?). I had picked up a Guardian earlier at WH Smiths in the departure lounge.
We were invited on board, so we all trooped down the stairs to the waiting KLMuk BAe-146. We had been given seats 6A&B. I hoped that they would not be the seats with the lousy overheads (due to the wing spar), but we were lucky. The wing spar started at row 7, so we had a full overhead. The seats WERE 3-3, though. This didn't seem very narrow until my husband pointed out that there were only two of us in that particular half row. We were lucky; nobody showed up for 6C, so we spread out among the three seats. It was a single-class aircraft.
Our captain came on board to wish us a welcome, and she was a she-captain! KLMuk is further ahead than Delta in that regard; I've yet to encounter a DL she-captain. I have come across DL she-first officers, of course. She told us we'd be taking off shortly and on our way to Amsterdam. After the safety instructions, we were on our way just like the captain said. The senior flight attendant then made an announcement that a hot breakfast would be served. Hot breakfast?? On a flight of less than one hour in length? I had been expecting cereal and yoghurt!
While waiting for our hot breakfast to arrive, certain passengers were asked to complete a quality survey on the flight. I was one of them (probably because I made eye contact with the FA handing them out :-). I answered very honestly and hoped that KLMuk would appreciate my feedback.
Two flight attendants rolled down the aisle with the meal cart, and I waited with bated breath. They reached row 6 quickly (they started in the front), and immediately I could see that milk and cereal, as well as OJ & a roll, were on the cart. The trays were all cold and they added the hot portion before passing out the meal. My meal tray arrived and I opened the hot container to find ... a sausage! with beans! and potatoes! and eggs! ohmygod I'd died and gone to HEAVEN (or at least a British airline :-). I soon made short work of the poor lonely sausage and accompanying beans. I'm not a fan of airline eggs so I left them. The roll was okay (soft, not crusty. I prefer crusty :-), and the marmalade accompanying the roll tasted a bit strange. YUM. The breakfast was wonderful. I noted that fact on the quality survey card I'd been given. Are all European airline breakfasts this delicious?
We were due into Amsterdam early, and early we landed, 1010. We were at the gate (D27) for 1015, and set off in search of our Delta desk. People on rec.travel.air had told me that I'd have a looooong walk, and boy were they right. Christopher and I are not slow walkers, however, but it still took us a good 10 minutes to get from D27 to the G concourse, where Transfer Desk 9 was located. T9 is the desk that we had to check in at for Delta.
We scouted the gate out, gate G4 (only to see if we could check in there and not the check-in desk with the looong line), and returned to the Transfer Desk. I realized, after seeing how far G concourse was from the main part of the airport, that I wouldn't be able to get back to see more of Schipol. Oh well, I'll just have to book a better connection with more time for sight-seeing next time!
Before we could even see the agent at the transfer desk, we were questioned by a security officer. All passengers using the transfer desk were so questioned, we were not singled out. The agent was very thorough, asking us not just were we carrying anything that we did not pack ourselves, but also if we were carrying any electronics (of course, one laptop and two palmpilots for one), and if so, had we lent them to anybody lately. Seems that they're treating the security threat VERY seriously. I was impressed, and completely serious.
After getting our boarding cards, both for JFK and for BOS, we proceeded back to G4. There were x-ray machines at the gate, and we went through with no hitches. Many others were having difficulty, however. One woman was actually bitching enough that she demanded the name of the security officer and his supervisor. I didn't hear the full story but it sounded bogus to me. Passengers should NEVER bitch about airline security. As long as planes continue to not fall out of the sky due to terrorism or other security troubles, passengers should be glad for the security provided. End of diatribe.
We collected our bags and proceeded straight on board, at about 1300. N1502 (no "DL" at the end). I later found out this plane was delivered in May 1999. It certainly was in top condition! There was a bottle of Evian water (bigger than the 8oz standard Delta bottle) for each passenger. We stowed our things: jackets and the laptop went overhead, our other two carryons went under the seat. Note that the in flight entertainment in Business Elite does not take up all of the underseat stowage like it does on some airlines (on Sabena it took up almost entirely one half of the underseat stowage for two seats). The flight attendants came around to offer more drinks. Christopher and I each had orange juice, which arrived in little plastic wine-type glasses. Very nice.
Before pushback the captain came on and announced that the flight was carrying an extra pilot, so if the passengers saw anyone walking around, not to panic. Would normal passengers really panic? The 767 can practically fly itself (at cruise), for goodness sake! Why would it matter if there WAS just one cockpit crew in the cockpit?
Menus were handed out before pushback. We pushed back one minute late, 1126, and taxied directly to the runway. We took off shortly thereafter. I noted that Business Elite wasn't close to full, at least 10 seats were open that I could easily see. Another note, the cabin temperature was perfect. I neither needed my jacket nor felt too hot. I did put a blanket over me later, more for comfort than temperature.
Not long after takeoff, meal service started. Delta also offers "express classics", which used to be an entirely separate dish. Now it's just any one of the entrees. They've obviously been able to time the meals more to the passengers' liking than to an actual schedule.
Menu. As usual, food only:
Appetizers:
Salad:
Fresh Garden Salad topped with Cucumber and a Julienne of Sun-dried
Tomatoes, offered with your choice of Parmesan Peppercorn dressing or
Mustard Vinaigrette
Assorted rolls and butter
Entrees:
Dessert:
Continuous Snacks: at the conclusion of the first meal service, a variety of snacks will be available for your enjoyment.
Afternoon refreshments:
Fresh Fruit
Warmed cookies
After takeoff, the flight attendants came around to offer more drinks and take lunch orders. The meal service was quite unusual. Carts had been set up and rolled down the aisle with each course laid out on it. First, the cart had all of the "set up", which was the tablecloth, napkin with silverware, mini salt & pepper, a small crock of butter, and a bread plate. I noted that the bread plate was in a Delta-commissioned design (the rest of the china was the same design). After that, bread was offered, followed by the appetizer (I think it was supposed to be the opposite way around, but who cares!). The bread choices were white, wheat, cheese, and Irish soda bread. I passed on the bread (for then) and Christopher had soda bread. Christopher had an appetizer; I did not.
Next was the salad. Instead of individually plated salads, there was a massive bowl filled with mixed greens. They made each salad to order. When I said "small salad", I got a small salad! More bread followed. After that, the efficient FAs whisked away the salad plates and started bringing out entrees one by one. I had noted earlier that I was the only person who had selected the soup. I was one of the first to receive my meal. It arrived in a Delta-commissioned designed bowl, with the bowl on a plate. The soup was to DIE FOR. Soup with bread in it, bread on top, and I had bread on the side. For somebody as bread-addicted as myself, it was heaven. Christopher had the pasta with chicken and mushrooms. He said it was "quite good". Both of us scraped every last drop of the food out of our respective bowls.
During the main course the FAs kept offering wine. It wasn't wine I wanted, but water. I actually ended up flagging down an FA to get it. Each cart that was used to bring food out (not the entrees, they were individually carried) had a jug of iced water on it. Very civilized. After dinner, the plates were removed and a cheese cart rolled down the aisle. I passed. Sundaes were next. I passed but Christopher had one (I had a couple of spoonfuls of his). Chocolates were last, after everything else had been cleared away.
The FA's then did the duty free service (no thanks), and dimmed the lights for the main cabin movie. Christopher got out our computer and we watched a DVD. About 15 minutes into the DVD I got sleepy, so I took my headphones off and fully reclined. WOW the recline was terrific. I fell asleep shortly thereafter, sleeping for about 90 minutes. This is one of the most comfortable airline seats I've ever slept in, including the MD-11 old first class seats we were in in January. During the movie the FA's were very good in distributing water. After I woke up, I noticed I had water waiting for me. I visited the lav (after draining the bottle), and came back to find MORE water waiting for me. Very efficient.
Let me take a few moments to write about the seats some more. The pitch was a very generous 60". Not once was I concerned about getting around somebody who was sleeping (ok, I was on the aisle, but still!). The recline was VERY generous. I wished I'd had a protractor to measure it. The seat controls were very fussy. There are fifteen different ways to alter the seat's position, from "landing" (fully upright) to "sleep" (flat out), and everything in between. The personal reading lights were a nice touch, especially when I didn't want to turn on my overhead light. The overhead is nice for general light, but when I was fully reclined in my seat reading, it was quite nice to position the light exactly where I wanted it to go.
I was hungry, then, so I went to find what was available for mid-flight snacks. The FA told me that the afternoon snack would be served "in about 15 minutes" so I skipped the mid-flight snacks preparing to wait for the prepared one. I chose the pasta salad and Christopher had the pastrami sandwich. Neither of our cookies were warm, though (oh well). My only complaint is that I wish bread would have been offered with the snack. There was a butter crock on the tray so I thought they would have been. Oh well. If that's my only complaint I'm doing okay!
We were due into JFK early, 1252 (scheduled 1325). We actually touched down at about 1258 and were at the gate for 1305. We took the grand tour of Kennedy airport, from the TWA terminal, all the way around past the IAB and then pulled into gate 6 at the Delta Worldport. Yay, we were lucky enough to get a gate at the actual Worldport (last time we flew MAN-JFK, we had to use those silly mobile lounges from T2 to T3).
We were off the plane quickly, managing to squeeze past the slow moving passengers in front of us, and quickly into the immigration hall. The hall was not too bad in terms of being full. There was a DL agent making sure people went to the correct line, but people with red passports and no green cards still managed to slip into the US Citizens/Permanent Resident's Line. Probably because the agent at the line just said "USA", and if you didn't pay attention, you could think that was the line to get IN to the USA. Once those wannabes were removed from the line and sent back to the foreigner/leper line, we were through in minutes. The immigration agent was solemn and quiet, not exactly like the guy shown on A&E Investigative Reports on LAX!
We found our carousel and the bags had already started coming out (efficient!). One bag was already coming around and the second one soon followed. We piled the bags up on a cart and pushed through customs. Just two customs agents taking all of the declarations from the green channel passengers. There was quite a queue, but we were through quickly. We walked over to the baggage recheck desk and got our bags situated to go to Boston. One of our bags was quite heavy (31kg), but the tiny baggage agent had no trouble hefting it onto the belt. Yikes, she could probably throw me around...
Through security (again) and upstairs. Our flight was listed as gate 9 in the Worldport, so we settled into the Business Elite lounge nearby. I know that DL has converted some former Business Class lounges to Crown Rooms, but JFK managed to maintain three BizElite lounges. The lounge had better furniture than the last time we'd visited it (for the aforementioned BOS-JFK-MAN-JFK-BOS trip), but was VERY quiet. I suspect not too many people want to rest in that lounge at approximately 1330! I had a drink of water, and while waiting at the bar for the drink saw a JAL 747-400 take off. Voooom. It used much more of the runway than the AA 757 had!
Our flight for BOS was scheduled to leave at 1455, so I went to the lav at 1420 to make a quick trip ... only to find that we'd been gate changed! I ran back to tell Christopher .... and saw BA Concorde take off! It was LOUD and SMOKY. The new gate was 21, over in Terminal 2, so we had to pack off and haul over. No big deal, we'd left plenty of time. By the time we arrived (after bouncing on the moving walkways made by Dunlop of Coventry England!), they hadn't even started boarding. We ran upstairs to the BizElite lounge to check it out. Like its counterpart in Terminal 3, it was pretty much the same, just newer furniture.
We boarded for BOS at 1430, and settled back into 4F&G. N172DL. This plane was not nearly as spiffy looking as the first one. I first thought it was because they put their really nice planes on the important transatlantic destinations (not knowing where N172DL started its day), but as I mentioned earlier, I later found that the first plane was just brand spanking new. We sat down and were offered drinks (more water), and we pushed back early at 1448.
Business Elite wasn't full on this flight either. The plane was fully crewed with 8 cabin crew, however. Doesn't that seem excessive for a plane of that size, or am I imagining things? What's worse, they didn't even do a drinks service (not even "fast break") in coach. Surely they could have managed to get up and down the aisle quickly. Oh well. I had more water after takeoff and a bag of the Summer Harvest snackmix.
We were due into Logan a few minutes early, and landed at 1555. We taxied over to our gate of C26, and got most of the way there. An odd thing happened, then. The captain came on to say that we had to have a tug put on to pull us into the gate. I've never been tugged into a gate at BOS before. What's so special about C26, its proximity to the terminal? It is the closest gate (on the DL side) to security...
We left the plane and went downstairs to claim our bags. DL81 was not listed on any of the monitors, so I went in to the baggage office to ask. While I was there, I answered a question ("has the Delta flight from New York due at 4:10 arrived yet?" "yes, I was on it"). The bag agent told me that the bags should be delivered at carousel 3 (unusual). I went outside and walked towards carousel 3, and on the way answered two MORE questions ("which way to the TWA bag claim?" and "which claim will the bags from Delta flight 81 arrive on?"). The porter nearby was bemused and offered me his hat to wear. No thanks, I'll pass. I enjoy computer work much more!
We collected our bags and went out to the curb. The only hitch of our entire trip happened after we got in the cab. We made the decision to take the Sumner rather than the Ted Williams Tunnel. Well, the Sumner had a disabled vehicle in it and thus was backed up. Never mind that, but the Big Dig work on the far side was blocking traffic going southbound and thus the northbound traffic couldn't actually get into the proper lane. Grr. It took us 35 minutes to get home. But home we got, to a pile of mail (mostly junk), a bunch of answering machine messages (ditto), and tons of email (which I'm still going through).
I really REALLY liked Delta's Business Elite. I'd be hard pressed to fly on SN again. Never mind that it's up in the air what's happening with DL/SR/SN/OS, but the DL seats were head and shoulders better than the SN ones. And the food was better and not quite as strange. Plus they were willing to serve when the passengers were ready for food, and not when it was time to clean up the cabin. The SN crews certainly were more cosmopolitan, though. I didn't feel like they'd just come off the peach farm (unlike the DL crew :-). And transitting at BRU was much easier than at AMS. The walk at AMS was a long LONG way. In retrospect, I'm glad I had a chance to stretch my legs, but at the time it just seemed frustrating.
Acronyms/Abbreviations/Etc:
BOS = Boston/Logan International
BHX = Birmingham (UK) International
BRU = Brussels National (Zaventem)
AMS = Amsterdam Schiphol
JFK = New York JFK
DL = Delta Air Lines
SN = Sabena Belgian World Airways
UK = KLMuk (formerly Air UK)
BA = British Airways
Helen Rose /
hrose-web@ckdhr.com
Last modified: Wed Sep 1 18:50:36 EDT 1999