#62 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings.
967 reviews
Back in February 2020 I had spent a few days before a trip to Phoenix planning a trip to San Diego for 2021 but thankfully never booked it. So when things started to open up again and I had the funds, the trip was back on the table.
I would fly Club World on the way out and World Traveller Plus on the way back - an overnight flight and I had a few days off afterwards so this felt like a good compromise. This was an Avios & Money purchase using about 44,000 Avios.
I arrived at Heathrow Terminal 5 at about 09:30, a 30 minute drive at that time of day from home. I spent most of the journey trying to book additional car insurance - I wasn't the one driving to Heathrow obviously!
At check-in I was informed that the flight may depart from the A gates and that I should use the lounges in the main terminal rather than going to T5B. Bad advice! I hadn't realised at this point that you could get back from T5B if required but now I know that…
I spent about an hour in the Galleries Club North watching departures on 27R and wondering why one of the airport vehicles was showing on ADS-B Exchange as being on the M4 near Reading, before heading to South for a change of scene. At this point the flight was still showing on-time despite the equipment allocated having changed, with the new plane arriving at about 12:00. The departure time of 12:55 came and went but the gate was announced soon after at about 13:00.
I made my way to T5B via the foot tunnel - it's my favourite way of getting to the satellite terminals as a speedy walk before an 11 hour flight seems like a sensible idea. If only I had known that you could get back from there too… I enjoyed a view of this A380 preparing to depart (to somewhere) before looking at the rain about to deluge Heathrow.
Once on-board G-XWBH I took my seat in 10A, in the main Club World cabin. I'd spotted that row 9 and 10's window seats have the pleasure of two windows and I wasn't going to let that opportunity pass me by when I chose the seats! The first officer's daughter was sat in the seat in front of me and I wonder whether they had got the same idea. Menus were handed out shortly before departure.
This was my first time in Club Suites and my first impressions were good. There was clearly loads of room and the storage seemed more than adequate. I'm over 6 feet tall and still had plenty of space.
I wasn't sure about that estimated arrival time - somehow I doubted that we would be on the ground 1 minute before the current local time. The whole system seemed confused about where we were until we took off - which was about an hour and a half late.
The meal service commenced approximately 30 minutes after take-off with a choice of beverage and some nuts.
The menu was as follows…
I chose the salmon starter which was very good - not a huge salmon eater on the ground but I always enjoy it in the air! Glass of water and a lemonade to accompany. The bread was crumbly but tasty and the butter wasn't rock-hard. Presentation was excellent throughout.
For the main course I went with the lamb which was cooked perfectly. Again, lamb is not something I eat regularly on the ground but this was an excellent meal.
For the dessert I was in a bit of a quandary as I am not a fan of cheese and find the taste of bananas fairly repulsive. That left the fruit or the apricot soufflé and I went with the latter. It was actually a great choice and I'm really glad I went with it - hot and well-presented.
Overall I was very impressed with the speed and efficiency of the service. Everything was done within 2 hours of take-off and I settled back and relaxed.
At this point I attempted to close the door of the suite but it didn't move. I spoke to one of the crew as they passed down the aisle and they had a look, but couldn't get it to move either. At the same time the first officer was speaking to his daughter in the row in-front and he offered to have us swap seats - I declined as I wasn't particularly fussed and she wanted to get some sleep. Everything else on the seat was fully functional so the door was really a non-issue. The cabin crew member I spoke to reported the defect on their tablet and encouraged me to make a complaint which I did - 20,000 Avios which was unexpected.
I didn't watch anything on the IFE other than the moving map. I was starting a new job two weeks after my return from the US and I took advantage of this time to complete some onboarding exercises and familiarise myself with lots of information about what was a slight change of career.
Obviously this was interrupted by regular looks out of the window - stunning as always (when the cloud allowed it).
About three hours out from landing there was a brief outage of Wi-Fi for approximately 30 minutes - during this time I had completed all the things I needed the internet for so I put my phone and laptop away for a while.
About two hours before landing the second meal service began. I wasn't feeling too hungry so I skipped the starter (would've probably gone for the smoked chicken if I had been more peckish) and went for the pesto trofie pasta.
The presentation was slightly inferior to the earlier meal but the flavours were excellent. It was a bit on the heavy side considering the time of day and I didn't finish it all; I was subconsciously aware that I would likely have an evening meal in San Diego once I had checked in at my hotel.
The crème caramel was lovely. Don't think I'd ever had a ginger one before so it was a nice change.
After the pre-landing meal was cleared away we were shortly commencing our descent, during which I spotted this American Airlines flight (AA1348) from Palm Springs to Phoenix doing a loop underneath us for reasons I have never fully understood.
Soon we were passing over the Cuyamaca Rancho area and before long it was time for landing.
After perhaps the shortest taxi post-landing I've ever experienced we were on the way off the plane. Not the greatest view of the aircraft from the gate but the weather was better and I was happy! We were almost exactly an hour late which was fine, nobody seemed to be in too much of a hurry.
A rapid bag delivery meant I was through immigration (and the slightly peculiar secondary X-ray) and waiting for a taxi in less than 15 minutes. Well done San Diego!
I took a short taxi ride to my hotel (The Bay Club Hotel & Marina on Shelter Island) and I was there for only about an hour and a half before I headed out to dinner.
Yes, I am apparently a walking stereotype. Fish and chips from Ketch Grill and Taps was just what I needed to help get my head into a very different timezone.
Whilst this flight was slightly late it was a great first exposure to Club Suites. The food was excellent and the crew were helpful, kind and eager. Whilst the broken door might have been annoying on an overnight flight it didn't affect me too much - the Avios compensation which was 50% of what I had spent was appreciated! Arrival at San Diego was as efficient as everyone has said it is elsewhere. All in all, a great start to a holiday.
Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 4 avis concernant 1 compagnies sur la ligne London (LHR) → San Diego (SAN).
La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est British Airways avec 7.3/10.
La durée moyenne des vols est de 11 heures et 7 minutes.
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2 Comments
I always say the West Coast flights are the best to truly enjoy the service on board as they're a bit longer, allowing for more time to rest between meals. In my experience, catering in J has vastly improved over the last few years since the pandemic, though I do miss the trolley service they had just pre-Covid where different options were elegantly displayed (though I understand the reasons for not having brought that back).
Definitely bad advice...I don't think I've ever seen a US flight depart from T5A...or any long-haul flight. Not knowing which gate a flight will depart until about an hour before is one of the most annoying things about UK airports. I've noticed that sometimes they'll at least display the concourse ahead of time, but that's been hit or miss.
Beautiful aerial shots! It's funny to see all that snow up there at Cuyamaca a year ago as I was just up there yesterday (though mostly Mount Laguna Area) and there was plenty of snow again from all the storms we've had lately. I remember last March was very rainy with some flooding in San Diego, though not as bad as these last few weeks. Hopefully you had a few days of sunshine to enjoy our beautiful region.
Thanks for sharing and welcome to Flight-Report!
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