Day 3: Flight 4 Apr 15th 09.45 BA001 LCY-JFK If you're going to walk on water, wear your comfortable shoes

Flight 4: 09.45 LCY-JFK
Aircraft: Airbus 318
Class: Club World
Distance flown: 3459 miles
Tier points: 210

The title of this post is dedicated to the chap who decided to urianate all over the toilet floor during the flight.

BA001, once upon a time that would have meant arriving in JFK over an hour before you left LHR. I'm talking of course about Concorde. Sadly (one of) man's greatest ever engineering masterpieces is no longer with us.

BA001 is still a very special offering, its a business class only Airbus A318 with just 32 seats. It also stops in Shannon Ireland to pre clear US immigration so, pending clearance, you arrive in JFK as if you are a domestic passenger. It's billed as the fastest method of getting from London to New York, it also gets first class tier points (210).

I was staying very close to London City airport, and BA001 check in closes just 15 minutes before the departure time so I slept late and got the the airport with about 45 minutes to departure,London was bathed in sunshine.

City airport is a little gem, very small and you walk up the stairs and straight onto security. I guess its how flying used to be when it was an exotic thing to be doing. Straight through security and onto the dedicated JFK flight lounge at gate 24. Lounge was small but very nice, right on the runway with a selection of yoghurts and pastries as well as juices.

We were taken straight from the lounge on a bus a short distance to the aircraft, upon boarding it became clear that it was going to be rather exclusive flight with just 13 passengers (and 3 flight attendants).

I was ticketed in row 8, the back row of the aircraft! I met a chap from flyertalk, a GGL no less, and we sat together for the short trip to Shannon where the aircraft refuels and we get to pre clear US immigration so we can land in JFK as domestic passengers. A passing AA flight through the window as we headed to Shannon..

We left the plane with our luggage, had its scanned and security cleared and were processed through customs very efficiently. We waited a short while and then boarded the aircraft once again, taking off about 45 minutes after we had landed.

I've travelled First before with BA but never Club World, I'm not sure how representative this flight is but it certainly matched by experience with first, the seat was very comfortable and easy to get some sleep in and the food service was more than acceptable with some fruit, a salad and fillet steak. I never really expect gourmet dining on an aircraft and I'd have been disappointed in a restaurant with the meal but at 38,000ft it was an admirable offering. For the sake of not posting a million pictures of food I'm going to try to stick to 1 food picture per flight (and break my rule immediately in a moment)

I tired to get some sleep after the meal and was woken by turbulence with about 2.5 hours to go. This was a sign of things to come. The afternoon tea service ended with cups of tea and coffee everywhere to the point where the crew came around and collected them. They did manage to get another round of drinks out when it calmed a little but it did not last.

The descent into JFK was the most turbulent I've been through, made worse by the fact that we were in a cloud for 45 minutes and due to an aircraft straying off course ahead of us the captain was told to circle around and re-sync behind a few more aircraft, the pilot added that we almost had to divert to Boston.

Not having a horizon to focus on and being bumped around constantly for 45 minutes made everyone a bit queasy on board, someone retched on the approach and we all agreed on landing that we were pretty nauseous. 

It was an unpleasant end to an otherwise fantastic experience, although I had forgotten just how long it takes to cross the Atlantic. Given the choice between a flat seat for 7+ hours or Concorde for 3.5 hours I'd take Concorde every time. Arrived at just gone 2pm local time, which is 7pm GMT, ready to board the next flight, another special one - a new Airbus A321 transcontinental to LAX with a lie flat first class! 

I'm feeling pretty unwell after that landing and not looking forward to being in the air again so soon.