Tier Point Run to Los Angeles in May 2024: Day 6 – New York (JFK) to London Heathrow (LHR)

After arriving at the lounge complex at JFK T8, I made a conscious decision to check whether there were any decent window seats in the Soho lounge before defaulting to the Chelsea Lounge.

Luckily, I found a spare seat with a half-decent view of the apron, so I made that my base for the few hours I was going to be here.

Whilst I was there, I received an email from another TP Runner that has done a similar trip to me, specifically heading back to Helsinki and on to Malaga (and back again).

Apparently, he (and others) have received a hard time at passport control in Helsinki as they transitted from the non-Schengen area to the Schengen area.

I needed to make sure I leave plenty of time to answer lots of questions.. Why this is of any real concern to passport control is unclear, but perhaps I’ll find out more on Mon afternoon!

Forewarned is forearmed!

I did my normal things at JFK: I wandered around the terminal, I did some admin, and I indulged in some food.

I ordered a ceasar salad in the Soho Lounge as a starter. It came as three huge leaves, so I had to cut it all up and mix it myself. What sort of service is that?

It was tasty, though, so there was nothing much to complain about.

Next up was a burger and fries. It had a lot to compete against, considering I had a Double Double at In n Out Burger yesterday.

Note: I still don’t understand why it’s called a Double Double…

Anyway, it was very tasty indeed. The fries were good as well. No vanilla shake was available to complete the comparison

Due to the amount of time I had available at JFK, I decided to pop down to Gate 20 and see how boarding was handled for BA112 due to depart at 18:30.

Fair to say I think it was handled well, and it was another success for Group 0 boarding.

Two members of staff were in control of boarding: one was manning the biometric gate checking machines; the other was in control of the announcements.

Wheelchair passengers and a couple of families with small children were allowed through initially (at 45 mins prior to departure) and then there was a clear announcement for Group 0 passengers.

Two passengers came forward and went through without any issues. There was a visible check between the two guys controlling boarding, and a deliberate decision was taken to announce Group 1.

I.e. they gave Group 0 passengers a min or so to make themselves known before moving on to Group 1.

Obviously, as soon as Group 1 was announced there were loads of passengers that came forward.

I didn’t bother waiting any longer. The team seemed to have everything under control, and it was handled pretty well, in my opinion.

It was also interesting simply to observe the boarding process when I didn’t have a personal interest in it! 

My flight was due to leave from Gate 12, so to be on the safe side, I headed down to the gate early.

I arrived at the gate 50 mins before departure, and there appeared to be a lot of activity going on.

I was about to ask the gate team as to whether they were doing Group 0 boarding (my way of encouraging them to follow the new process), and I heard an announcement for Group 2 passengers to board.

How did I miss the main event? Made me laugh anyway…

On board into seat 02A and I was warmly welcomed by an excellent duo of cabin crew.

I was pleased to see it was the new First Class suite on board the 777-300 aircraft. It’s so much nicer.

I got a genuinely hot, hot towel, which was fab. I got a menu, a glass of bubbly and some nuts.

We pushed back early and didn’t have to wait too long before we were on the runway.

I was surprised how quickly the captain turned off the seatbelt sign. I got ready for some sleep and the cabin crew made up my bed.

I didn’t sleep for that long, and after getting up, I started watching Zodiac.

I was provided with tea and some pastries for breakfast. Whilst eating, I was thinking about how long I had to make my connection to Helsinki.

I needed to switch to T3 at Heathrow, and from recollection, I didn’t have that much time. It did look like we would be landing earlier than expected.

We landed on 27L and arrived into Gate 47 of Terminal 5 about 10 mins ahead of schedule.

I managed to get through most of the small business class cabin to door 2L, ready to disembark.

It didn’t take very long for the airbridge to be attached, and I was on my way to T3.

Follow the whole story here: Tier Point Run to Los Angeles in May 2024