Glasgow, Cairo, Mileage Running

Vancouver International is a nice place to transIt, far more attractive than Montreal or the dump that is Toronto.

The long but pleasant walk to customs/immigration and/or transit. 

One cool thing here is the ability to transit without having to clear Canadian customs.  D for international or E for those cabotage pax making a US to US connection.  LOL.  Since Cathay is international, my YVR-JFK flight is international instead of transborder. 

I headed for the International Connections entrance where my boarding pass was checked by a pleasant and helpful agent.

And less than a minute later, I was in the international departures concourse.

At this point, I was still two hours away from the Cathay lounge opening.  So I decided to head for the BA Lounge...

... which was at the far end of the part of the concourse near Gate 64.

Alas, despite my double One World Emerald status, I was denied entry as BA has decided that only BA passengers can access the lounge during the summer when they operate "a bigger plane" aka the A380.  I don't think I missed anything as by the looks of it, it was just another crappy BA lounge.

Fortunately, five minutes away was the SkyTeam Lounge, which is also a Priority Pass lounge.  

Pretty sure I lucked out as this one is quite attractive, bright and spacious... and empty.

I spent a couple of hours here before heading to the nearby Cathay Pacific Lounge.

With a nearly two hour delay on our inbound from Hong Kong, our revised departure time was now 12:40am instead of the originally scheduled 10:55pm depature.  Finally, at just before midnight, I headed out for the trek to Gate 73.

Gate 73 is configured as a transit gate and is used by Cathay for thru passengers on their HKG-YVR-JFK flight.  YVR originating passengers are required to remain outside the gate until transit passengers have boarded.

As I boarded, my amazing 6 hour Cathay First experience began, with FA Roos escorting me from door 2L to my suite.   It may be dated, but the 6 seat 77W First Class cabin is still one of my favorites.  

The First Cabin was full tonight with 5 thru pax and me, the lone YVR-JFK pax.   A week ago the cabin was still F4 so I'm guessing that most of the pax, like me, were on mileage tickets.  I used 40,000 Asia Miles which I accumulated on my Cathay Synchrony Visa card.

Not Krug, but the William Deutz was very nice.

FA Kylie insisted that I take a pic of Roos with the Deutz.

My first of 3 glasses while still at the gate.

Perhaps this is the YVR-JFK kit as I don't recall the long-haul kit being this meh.   PJs were offered by I declined for the short flight tonight. 

OMG, only 4h13m tonight??  In the end, it would us being more like 4h45m.

Tonight's menu.

Once in the air, Kylie and Roos began what would wind up being 90 minutes of flawless dinner service.

Showtime, Cathay Pacific style.

My aptly described jumbo tiger prawn and crab meat salad, with saffron and tomato sauce.   

The personalized Cathay First note is always a nice touch.

The Green Pea Soup was delicious.

Next up, how can I pass on the Chateau Lynch Bages Gran Cru Classé.    

For my main, OMG.. The Grilled Canadian AAA beef tenderloin with broccolini, baby carrots, zuchini, mashed potatoes, demi glace and Bearnaise sauce.

The beef tenderoin was spectacular... perfectly medium rare as requested and as Roos promised.  Add in Bearnaise and Lynch Bages and this is heaven.

I was so far gone on the consumption scale, that I just kept going.  I didn't want to disappoint Roos.  LOL.   Aged cheddar and triple cream Canadian brie.  And another glass of the Lynch Bages.

And of course dessert, white chocolate banana cake with black berry sauce.  Yummy.

At this point, we're somewhere over Manitoba and only a couple hours to JFK.  Roos made my bed with mattress and duvet and I pretty much feel alseep right away.  Amazingly, I got 90 minutes of sleep and it was only the captain announcing our descent that woke me.

Despite heavy fog at JFK, it was a perfect smooth landing.

What an incredible flight, with simply amazing service.  Hands down, this is the best transcon North American flight one can fly.

At T-45, I headed downstairs to nearby Gate 16 where boarding had been underway for at least 5 minutes.  Today's flight is part of my $1,700 Cairo-Honolulu unlimited stop-over including transcon First fare.   With all the stopovers and fights on this ticket, I figured that I paid maybe $250 tops for this segment..

My seat today, 2nd cabin rear-facing bulkhead seat 7L.  If I have to fly Business and this plane, I prefer the rear-facing seats as their is more shoulder room.  But is it still Business.

Service on AA can be hit or miss depending on the crew, but today's New York based crew was excellent.

Today's menu.

The dopey AA amenity kit... although it probably had more of value that the Cathay First amenity kit.

Showtime, AA Busines Class style.

Sure looked pretty, but not so much on the taste side.   Can you say processed cheese?

Salad was a little better especially the hearts of palm and jicima.

On the other hand, the Pommery Mustard and Honey Baked Chicken quite tasty and substantial.

Jeez Louise, a little overkill with the giant carrots??

Mid cabin snack counter...

And the pre-landing snack, the Croque Monsieur with quinoa salad..

Quinoa salad was refreshing.

While that croque (or cheese sandwich as our FA called it) was really quite good.

With a flight time of just over 6 hours, we landed 30 minutes ahead of schedule.   All in all, it was a pleasant flight for Business Class.  Reasonably comfy, surprisingly tasty food and excellent service.

With a 7:10am flight this morning and not certain of transit times between T4 and T5, I left my room just before 5am.   And reversed my walk from last night...

To the bank of elevators down to the train.  Except that that button for that level didn't work.   As I found out later, since the first train doesn't depart until 5:10am or so, the train level is locked until just before that time.

And we walk...

Same old train as last night to Express Central where you connect to the nicer Heathrow Express to T5.

And up to the T5 departure level.

After another long walk to the opposite side the T5, First Class check-in.  As a One World Emerald (AA and BA), I can use First Class check in and lounges on any ticket, even my cheapo Basic Economy to Glasgow.

After a quick visit to First security, the corridor leads to the BA Galleries First Lounge.

Time for a little breakfast.

... out on the terrace.

Yeah, your typical lovely weather London morning.  LOL.