London - Chicago BA flight
If you fly from Heatrow Terminal 5, you absolutely want to arrive there early to shop. This is the nicest terminal in the world with the nicest shops: you can find Harrods, Montblanc, Pink, Ted Baker, Paul Smith, Links, Mulberry, Prada and many others. There are also some nice restaurants and cafe' such as Carluccio and Caffe' Nero, Pret a Manger and if you feel like having some good fresh fish I would go to Caviar House & Prunier and try the oysters.
If you didn't have time for a manicure, you can have an express manicure right at the airport together with a quick massage.
Whatever you do, if your flight exit is A, do not go there too early as there is absolutely nothing once you reach that area.
Before flying here i flew from Venice to London with BA yeaterday: the flight was almost empty and the all experience was so pleasant! Check-in was fast, i had 3 seats all for myself, there were no crying or screaming kids anywhere.
Venice airport has really improved: it's small but you can find Loro Piana, Henry Cotton's, Ferrari and many others even upstairs in the new terrace. As for cafe' and restaurants i would also go upstairs, where is more peaceful and quiet and there are plenty of seats. If you are interested in Murano glasses and Murrine Veneziane do buy them at one of the 2 Venetians shops at he airport: they will cost you much less than in Venice.
Back to my Chicago flight i have an advice for all of you: if you can, do the upgrade for about $250: you will thank me!
The more i fly this route, the more i notice how many rude people fly economy class lately. They either have loud kids, which they let scream and play as if they were at the Kindergarten or they come with heavy luggages and smash yours in the attempt to make theirs fit over the head lockers.
Three men in fact hold the line for so long trying to find space for their luggages and pissing everybody off that we took off about half hour later.
One of those men ended up to be just in front of my seat and immediately after take off he reclined his seat towards my seat. As my patience with rude people is now zero, i called the flight attendant who told the man with a quite severe tone to bring immediately his seat up.
If you dont know this in fact you are not supposed to recline your seat until the drink and meal service is finished which takes about 2hrs time.
Quite ironic the pilot said " seat and relax and enjoy BA hospitality": he was surely talking only to the business and first class customers and by accident we heard his voice over here too. In economy there is little if nothing to enjoy and it got worse during the last few years.
On another seat, not too far from where i am there is a man who is snoring hard and when he stops his little girls starts crying and i honestly don't know what's worse.
The best thing i could do for this flight was to buy sushi for my lunch: BA meals are always either chicken or lasagna and they both taste like heavy butter for some reason.
In any case if you fly on this route, even if you are in economy BA is always better than AA and United: used them once (AA because my BA fight was cancelled once and United just because nobody told me not to do so) and i will never do the same mistake again. With BA at least you can always count on the kindness and politeness of the flight attendants!
Anyway the conclusion for this flight is that next time even if I'm travelling for work I will upgrade at my own expenses: being comfortable and not having to deal with people with no manners has no price.
Also, have you noticed how in economy they all sleep even during the day? This flight was at 11.30am!! They all closed their windows and started sleeping in those horrible tiny chairs, while on business and first class windows have been wide open the all time of the flight and most of the people have been working on their laptop. I understand that the majority of the people in economy might have been on holiday in London or they are going on holiday in Chicago ( with -15C and in January though?) but still how can they sleep the all the time during day time?!!
Speaking of laptop, if you don't have it yet, i would recommend an I-Pad instead: it is a true savior for your long flights...i can write and listen to Marc Anthony music, while i dont have to see and listen to the idiot sleeping and snoring! Thank you Steve Jobs for the greatest invention of this Century!
It's small, light, battery lasts for 8hrs: it is your very best friend when you are traveling!
For all the people that arrived in Chicago on holiday there was a snow storm at our arrival: 8 inches of snow and it took 3 hours instead of 30 minutes to drive downtown...Welcome to Chicago!
