Flight reports SRQ-MIA-MAD-CAI
 

Getting ready for our flights to Cairo.

SRQ-MIA - AA ATR72 - a little prop job, 1 hour flight

MIA-MAD - AA B763 - Business Class, 8.5 hour flight

MAD-CAI - IB A319 - Business Class, 4.5 hour flight

I will try to post reports as we go along......

Be sure to let us know if American Airlines turns the Fasten Seatbelt sign off during the 8 1/2 hour flight.

The puddle jumper - it is what it is

We made it to Miami.

Sitting in the term E AC having a free glass of wine...

The seatbelt sign was off for about 20 minutes. :-D

We're in Madrid Iberia lounge.

Wonderful flight across the big pond. Had dinner, slept for about 4 hours, watched a movie, had breakfast.

Seatbelt sign off at about 20 minutes into the flight and did not come back until about 20 minutes before landing. I slept through about 4 hours of the flight so it's possible it was turned on off at some point.

Made a wonderful new friend, an FA based out of MIA. The 3 of us talked for about an hour in the front galley. She was suppose to take a break, but never did.

New business class seats, the video players worked as advertised. Great food and outstanding service.

Keep it comming - we're reading!

You should have said Hi to the pilot. His name is Jack. Get it, Hi, Jack?

We're in Cairo.

IB flight was ok. We sat in first row 1A and C. The seats are the same as econ seats but they do have more pitch and the middle seat is blocked. Very nice service and ok food. The cockpit door was open just about the whole the whole time. The pilots were walking in/out all the time, so at some point I asked if I could see the cockpit and guess what? I was invited to sit in the jump seat during landing. IB - THANK YOU! What a thrill.

Interestingly enough, IB quality control man was on board so perhaps we got better service or may be not, who knows?.

The FAs were great.

Cairo airport was very easy to negotiate. $15US for visa per person and $20US total from airport to Giza area for both of us.

We're exploring Cairo and the surrounding areas for the next few days.

Next - CAI-LHR/LGW-DBV

CAI-LHR - BA B747 - upstairs
LGW-DBV - BA A319 or 320, not sure....

CAI-LHR - BA B747 upstairs.

I have to say, BA does have one of the best J products in the business. The upstairs was only half filled, which made the cabin very quiet. The 2 FAs working the cabin had a very easy day. Unfortunately I came down with a nasty cold. It's not much fun flying with a cold. Thanks to the very attentive FAs I was able to survive the 5.5 hour flight and in fact my health improved as they gave me some medicine and cough syrup. Had a very nice lunch, watched a movie, and slept for about an hour. This was the first time in a BA J cabin for my gf. She was impressed with the next generation business class seats. Landed in Heathrow right on time. We got through immigration in just few seconds but for the first time EVER, my luggage was the last piece out on the carousel so it took about 45 minutes total. We bought the LHR-LGW coach tickets at 17BPs each. If you are connecting from BA to BA they will give you a 2BP discount per ticket. The bus ride to LGW took 50 minutes. We called the B&B were we had reservations for 1 night and they picked us up in less than 10 minutes.

LGW-DBV BA B737

Next morning the B&B took us to the airport. Check in took just minutes, FastTrack through security and few minutes later we were sitting in the BA First Class Lounge. Nothing special, but quiet. The short flight to Dubrovnik was uneventful. Breakfast was served. No entertainment but we have our own. Watched an episode of "Weeds", had few laughs, drank couple glasses of wine. The seats are basically economy seats but one side has only 2 across. The seat pitch seems to be little better than back in economy as well.


Next DBV-LGW(stop)

LGW-MAN-ORD-TPA

DBV-LGW - BA 737 business class - nice flight, nice service but the ba.com seat reservation feature is useless. None of the seats we reserved on ba.com stuck. 4 out of 4 segments - NONE!

The funny part of the seat assignment debacle was the fact that our seats were "ours" and they were empty after the doors closed but for some reason the BA TA could not assign "our" seats during the check in process. We learned our lesson and took whatever seats they gave us and then just waited for final call and promptly took "our" seats as there was nobody sitting in them. The only exception was the CAI-LHR 747 upstairs seats. Somebody did get our seats but we got the "same" seats on the opposite side.

LGW-MAN - BA 737 all economy - same seat debacle but I have to say I was impressed with BA domestic all economy 45 minute flight. They have improved dramatically in the last couple of years. A hot breakfast was served during the short flight time.

Our bags were checked all the way through. We were flying LGW-MAN(BA)-ORD-TPA(AA).

We only had about 55 minute connection in MAN. Since we were the only ones connecting in MAN from BA domestic to AA international, we were called up to the gate desk for the security interrogation. I tried to make some jokes with the guy but realized really quickly that he wasn't in the "funny" business. Anyway few minutes later AA replaced out BA issued BPs with AA BPs and we were told to board.

MAN-ORD - AA 767 - business class - Wonderful flight. For some reason I was not crazy about the 767 new business class seats until this flight. The seats proved to be more comfortable than I thought. The personal in-flight on demand entertainment system is great. I actually watched 3 new movies as my gf decided to sleep right through the flight on the fully flat (not horizontal) seats. She really enjoyed the wonderful duvet and full size pillow. I also played couple of games while listening to some old classic rock. The food was pretty good. It started out with a little bowl of mozzarella cheese balls with some kind of "very" hot spice. It was followed up with a salmon appetizer and fresh bread. Salad and finally the main dish. I picked the Tortellini(sp?) pasta with tomatoes and mushrooms. Simply delicious. My gf had the steak and while it was not a culinary heaven, she was satisfied.

For dessert they offered vanilla ice cream with multiple fixings (chocolate, fruits, nuts, etc.) or fruit bowl or both :-D. I took both. Aperitif drinks were also part of the service.

About 2 hours before landing a choice of pizza or beef sandwiches were offered.

To finalize the deal hot chocolate chip cookies were served with milk.


ORD-TPA - AA MD80 - first class - ok flight. The FAs did not offer pre-departure drinks (always a bummer) but once we were in the air the service improved. Since we had about a 6 hour layover in Chicago we went to the city to have a wonderful dinner and meet up with my sis. We were pretty much worn out by the time our 7:50pm flight took off so we skipped on the dinner service. We had some nuts and 1 drink each. All we remember was getting a wake up "shake" from the friendly FA as we were within 15 minutes of landing in TPA at ~11:20pm.

Our luggage made it even with the 6+ hours of layover time in ORD.

Not one of the flights was delayed.

Overall - very satisfied with all 3 airlines, Iberia, BA and AA. BA business class is probably the best in the industry. They do it right. AA business class is very nice. The food and service has improved in the last couple of years. Iberia business was ok as well in the air, I just have a problem with their ground support. Maybe it's just me...:-)

Glad you had a good trip. Was American Airlines good about NOT making announcements during the flight--just at the beginning and end of the flight? BA never said a word after the first hour of the flight until the last hour last summer. Makes for better sleeping.

Can't answer. I had my AA supplied BOSE Noise cancelling headphones on, either watching a movie or listening to music while playing games. My gf slept right through the flight once we were done with dinner.

Neither I nor my gf heard any announcements.

Once we did hit Canada, the flight got really rough and shaky for about 2 hours. The FAs never sat down but the seatbelt sign was on. It never stopped me or others from visiting the toilet when needed and nobody said anything. In fact I conversed with one of the ORD based FAs for about 15 minutes in the galley area about my ex gf, an AA FA, who she happened to know really well and flies with quite often on the ORD-LHR route.

Good to hear. My last flight with Delta, Atlanta to LAX, they got on the Mike every 25 minutes to say something. The entertainment system was down and I tried in vain to sleep.

I've noticed with AA most announcements are now made by the pilots while in flight. Good idea, IMO, or until he starts up with, "Duty Free Items"