Tier Point Run to San Francisco in Jan 2022: Day 4 – New York JFK to London LHR

By Nige on Mon 24 Jan 2022 at 10:19
Type: Post
Story: Tier Point Run to San Francisco in Jan 2022
Tags: British Airways | JFK | LHR | London | New York | Trips | USA

From the Air Train, I went down on the escalator (in the middle) for a change (rather than using the lift at one end) and it took me into a tunnel before I needed to cross the road.  It felt very different to my normal walk when arriving into T7 and heading to the Air Train.  The Arrivals floor is obviously much broader than the Departures floor.

I used First Check-in to get my boarding pass.  The lady asked for evidence of my vaccination and my covid test.  I soon had my passes to get me to AMS and for a change, security was empty, so I scooted through that obstacle as well.

Flight: BA0172 Equip: 777-200
Sched Depart: 20:55 Actual: 20:59
Sched Arrival: 08:20 Actual: 08:26
Takeoff: 21:18 Landing: 08:14

Finally into the CCR and I got a very warm welcome.  I bumped into Fiona, the bubbly Indian-Jamaican lady that looks after all of the celebs when they visit the CCR.  Her daughter is 13 years old now; father was Indian; mother Jamaican. I enjoyed my catchup with her – she always seems to be on duty when I pass through.

The flight left from Gate 9 and there didn’t seem to be many passengers waiting to get on board.  Into seat 08K, which I was hoping would allow me a quick exit once I arrive into Heathrow in the morning, (assuming they deplane from door 2L).

I had all the normal perfunctory interactions with the cabin crew: glass of champagne and a glass of water; menu for the flight and amenity kit.  No specific welcome or recognition of status. It can be a bit hit or miss with BA at the best of times.

Flight time was to be 5 hours 50 mins and we pushed back a few mins late.  Taxiing was about average for JFK, smooth take off and before I realised, I was thinking about arriving back in the UK.

I hadn’t eaten in the CCR, so planned to eat something on the plane.  I went for the chicken dish which sounded really nice; coming with sprouts (for Vick’s benefit later).  I didn’t bother with any of the other aspects to the dinner service.

I then turned in.  Wearing a covid mask as well as an eye mask really makes me hot when trying to sleep on a flight – it’s the one thing that is not easy to deal with in this covid era.  Everything else is easy to live with.  I managed to get a couple of hours of kip but no more than that.

It was clear it was a very murky day today on final approach.  No view of London city available to brighten the start of my day.

We landed on runway 27L – I found an interesting PDF on the net which describes the Runway Alternation Programme which provides predictability for noise pollution to residents that live under the flight path.

We arrived into Gate B38.  The air bridge was moved to door 2L so I was first off – actually just behind a member of cabin crew who was in a rush to catch a flight back home to Glasgow.  We were first onto the train and then I scooted off up the escalator to Flight Connections, which was empty.

Follow the whole story here: Tier Point Run to San Francisco in Jan 2022