Thought I'd give a report from the coronavirus travel front lines--arrived safely in London today after a fabulous first class flight on BA. This was my second (or third?) time in BA First and DH's first in first--he's sold, LOL. The best part was that the cabin was half empty and there wasn't anyone coughing or sneezing. Yay! (We still went nuts with the Clorox wipes and sanitizer.) It was like having a private plane--super secluded up there in the nose of the 747-400.
I originally booked LAX to LHR so DH could try first out, and I was thrilled when our alert came through on Expert Flyer, and we were able to switch to SFO and avoid a positioning flight.
BA recently updated its lounge at SFO, and it was fine. The food in the First Class restaurant was actually a little disappointing. It's a far cry from the Concord lounge at Heathrow, LOL, but that's hard to compete with. Jammies and amenity kits were the same as my last flight--solid--from the high-end English design house Temperley.
I'm very sold on BA's first product. The level of service is notched way up. I also liked being the first person off the plane
DH and I were literally through passport control in less than ten minutes from leaving the jetway. We were on the Heathrow Express 30 minutes after landing. Crazy.
I meant to take a ton of pics, but of course, I put my phone away and forgot. I can't get the pic with my champagne to align correctly, but it was perfect with my lobster/caviar canapé, LOL.
For first class, BA's 747 cabin is considered "crowded," but I really like being in the front of the plane. It's much quieter, which is the most important thing for me as my main justification for paying the taxes on these award tickets is the sleep. Arriving rested makes a huge difference for us.
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So far the English coronavirus cases are at 39. California has 20. I suspect they are both going to get bigger so we didn't worry about coming here per se as just traveling. Today was great so I'm hoping our luck holds on the way back on the 12th. My biggest fear is getting caught up in some quarantine mess. I think a lot of people have cancelled plans, and I didn't hear any bad coughs or sneezing anywhere. I suspect people are aware they will get tons of glares if they try to travel with a cold.