Newcastle to Austin

After having my computer up and running at 8am yesterday to go through online check-in and being told, computer says no, ringing BA to be told there was a technical fault and no-one could or would be able to check in online and even resorting to Twitter, I ended the day a little concerned that the flight was over booked and that there was a possibility I might be bumped.

My very kind son-in-law, Chris, got up at the crack of dawn, picked me up at 05:25 and whisked me to the airport for an early check-in. I was delighted to be given my boarding pass for my Austin flight there and then, so I said goodbye to my bicycle and headed for the BA lounge. I was happy with my orange juice and cappuccino at that time but noticed a couple behind me where the male made repeated visits to the free bar, puring himself what appeared to be whisky and ginger ale. Deary me. He had a very silly grin on his face as he boarded the plane.

The nice lady at check-in had put me in an exit row seat, so I had bags of leg room and thought that was my bonus for the day. 

I arrived at Heathrow and tried to blag my way into the exec lounge but failed miserably.

I made my way to the 'B' gates via the rail system where it is much quieter. I identified my plane quite quickly by it's unusual wing ends.

Boarding started about 11 am and when I got to the place where boarding passes are checked, a fairly loud noise came from the machine as my card was scanned. The male said, "Mr Peden", I said, "That's me". The lady said, you have a different seat and printed me out a new boarding pass for row 7. I was pretty sure things were  looking up and when I boarded, I found that row 7 was indeed a business class seat. 

Once the plane was full, I looked back and saw thatsomeone had been allocated my seat in premium economy, so I still think that economy must have been overbooked and people were bumped up. Lucky me.

My meal choices, with proper cutlery and china dishes, consisted of prawn and wasabi timbale with a watermelon and lime salad. Very nice dressing, seared fillet of beef sith smoked potato fondant, brocolli, carrots in a tellicherry black pepper sauce, followed by Stilton and Cheddar cheese with biscuits and grapes. This was washed down with a rather nice St Emilion Grand Cru which was a little on the cool side but soon warmed up. Coffee and chocolates soon followed. Oh, and a nice glass of port to go with the cheese.

Afternoon tea is sandwiches andsalad, followed by fruit scones, cream and strawberry jam. Mmmmm.

I watched 'The Judge', highly recommended and later, 'The Equalizer', also rather enjoyable.

I can get my length in the bedseat and managed a good 90 mins shuteye, post lunch.

Arrived safely in Austin, as did my bike and case and was met by Leo and Sue and whisked to their lovely homeit is noe 8.35 pm Texas time and I am still quite wide awake. I must travel in business class more often.