Part 2 of 8 flights in 9 days

Firstly my apologies for the big delay in writing up the second part of this trip. Way overdue, but I have struggled to find time and enthusiasm for getting it done. Anyway, better late than never. So we pick up the story as I arrive at JFK, ready to have to explain my short stay in the US.

Now the good thing about the SQ26 is its one of the first westbound aircraft to arrive on US soil from Europe resulting in short lines at immigration. I had about a 10 minute wait in line before being processed. To be fair the agent was not too bad. Kind of grumpy but not a total jobs worth. I was asked how long I was staying stateside and my answer was met with raised eyebrows. A brief description of my passion for air travel was enough to get a muffled laugh and a “well I sure hope you enjoy yourself this weekend” in a kind of sarcastic way. Most importantly my passport was stamped and I was on my way to T8.

Home of the AA jets

I had a couple of hours to kill so I just kicked about the terminal until my E140 jet to Raleigh/Durham was called for boarding. My original intention was to have a run down to Fort Lauderdale on JETBLUE, but plumped for RDU as I didn’t want to go too far south and risk the weather throwing a spanner in the works. My roll aboard bag was left at the valet luggage section as I boarded the aircraft to find a chap sat in my assigned seat. As it turned out a couple had decided to sit together, even though they weren’t assigned those seats, and the bloke in my seat had decided to sit anywhere he wanted because one of the couple was in his seat. Fair enough, but why not wait, and then ask if you mind switching seats so they can sit with there partner? Anyway I got my seat back. The traffic at JFK blew my mind. Those ATC guys earn there $$$ sorting all that traffic out. After a 30 minute ground delay we were on our way South. Unfortunately no pictures from the southbound leg as the cabin was so cramped I could hardly reach down to my bag. It was my first flight on American Eagle, and I found the airline to be of the usual US standard. I was surprised to be offered a complimentary drink and bag of nuts though. As we descended into RDU the clouds were building and looked quite fierce. I could see the sides of them swirling and some moderate turbulence was encountered. COOL… Well the clouds never brought any rain and we touched down to a dry and warm runway.

Once off the plane and into the airport I was quite impressed with the new feel to the place. Not sure if this is a new terminal but it looked that way?

Again with a couple of hours to kill I just grabbed a burger and a beer and generally watched the world go by. There was an AA (767-777 can’t remember?) loading up for LHR, and a lot of familiar accents were heard. I had a walk about the gates to see what planes were going where and checked out some live weather feeds to see how things were shaping up. Looked like some big T storms down into Florida and a few scattered bright echoes between me and JFK.

In no time I was back onto another E140 and waiting to head back to New York. The flight deck door was open and the pilots were chatting away. Captain, cool as a cucumber with a foot up on the centre pedestal, just chilling out before doing something as mundane as flying back to and landing at JFK ha ha. We pushed back on time and cruised back with constant light/moderate chop almost all the way.

A couple of pictures taken from the E140.

It would appear we just missed a heavy downpour as we lined up for final into JFK and were met with a long ground delay as is common for the late afternoon. I noticed the SQ 744 I flew in on was still parked up. Not sure if it had gone tech or just spent the day parked up waiting to fly back? I thanked the crew as I left the plane and jumped into a courtesy shuttle bus to my overnight stop the Fairfield Marriot. The hotel is quite basic but clean and the staff are nice. I just had a shower and hit the sack after a full day on the move. I didn’t move a muscle after my head hit the pillow.

Up again after a good nights sleep for a hearty American breakfast. A microwaveable kind of egg and bacon muffin type thing……Gross, but I had two. My flight didn’t leave until 20.50 that evening and the receptionist allowed me to keep the room until 15.00 free of charge. I thought about going down to Times Square for a nosey but could not be bothered in the end. Nothing will be any different, and it would be nice to just recharge my batteries after yesterday’s marathon.

To say I was excited about my next leg of the trip is an understatement. First Class on SWISS was something I had dreamed of for ages. This segment stands as one of my best value award redemptions. Normal ticket cost one way JFK-ZRH-MAN in First about £4500!!!! How does 17500 diamond club miles and £200 sound? Yea that’s more like it.

I got to the airport quite early to make to most of the lounge. A couple were checking in at the side of me for the earlier flight on the new A330-300 with the new First class cabin. Nice way to fly. I found the lounge very nice indeed, but it did seem a bit small and got busy later on as more flights departed.

A few pics of the lounge while it was quiet.

Good drinks selection

This evenings departures.

Self service hot food.

There were some real eccentric folks in the lounge, including one woman who came into the place, took about 20 mins to decide where to sit and then proceeded to do some kind of yoga/stretching exercises in front of everyone!!! An act which she displayed again on the plane, in case anyone had missed it the first time round.

A call for all passengers on LX15 to meet outside the lounge was made and we were escorted through security and on to our gate.

Our ride back to Europe parked up at the gate.

The cabin had a nice feel to it with ample room and a good amount of privacy. All Eight seats were taken in this cabin but the crew were on the ball and very professional.

Legroom shot. The ottoman slides back to make up the fully flat bed position.

I was starting to fight tiredness now and probably had drank too much bubbly in the lounge. It seemed a shame to sleep on this flight but I knew I would have to grab some kip at some stage. As we pushed back I reflected on an amazing week and a bits worth of flying and soaked up the enjoyment of more flying.

Pushback as the tiny hairdryers groan into life.

After the normal, really, really, really,,,,,,,,,,really long run up from the 340 we were airborne and climbing at an unimpressive rate. Jeeees these things are sluggish. I was offered the option of having a full blown banquet, or changing into my PJs while my bed was turned down for a nights sleep. I chose to eat and drink for a while and then get some sleep later on. I checked out the AVOD system for a while and was quite surprised how poor it was, not only in operation, but the content as well. Ah well I-POD on then. All Seven other passengers opted to sleep making photographs a bit tricky but I tried my best.

A few of the food options I was served

The food was nice and the drink flowed well. Maybe I was just tired out by now, but it did seem to lack the wow factor I expected. I guess if you build something up so much its easy to feel a bit under whelmed when you finally realise it. I decided to take up the offer of some sleep, and the steward turned down my bed as I got changed in the toilet.

Picture of the seat controls.

Well the bed must be comfy because I had a good 2 hours before awaking to the smell of food. A quick change back into my clothes, a light breakfast and that was that. Touchdown 20 mins early into a sunny Zurich.

A short approach and landing video into Zurich

Only the small matter of a quick 625 miles back up to MAN and the journey is over. Uneventful flight back to the UK. Poor ground handling at Zurich, and possibly the best looking stewardess ever serving in the Business cabin were the only points of note.

So that’s that then. Well I was wrecked when I got home, but ready to do it all again sometime soon hopefully. SQ amazing as always. Turkish Airlines were a nice surprise. LH boring as always, and SWISS were really good.
I guess I didn’t get to fully appreciate the best aspects of flying First from a service point of view as I was just past it with the tiredness. The bed sure was nice though.

Thanks for reading

Lee