So, seven weeks after I had planned to fly home, I’m actually on my way.

After the rave review I gave Singapore Airlines for my outbound trip MAN (Manchester) to IAH (Houston) back in March, here I am once again on American Airlines.

I made the decision not to try and travel home during what I hope will have been the worst of the pandemic. My wife, in England fell into a high risk category and was isolated at home so had I returned I would likely have put her well-being at serious risk. Additionally, air transport, indeed any transport became scarce.

Most of the flight options from Dallas and likewise Houston would have involved at least one change in Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles or New York / Newark NJ and usually changing Carrier. It appeared that BA was the only Carrier flying across the Atlantic in and out of London. Suffice to say having seen the COVID-19 casualties in most of those Cities on American TV I’m more than content with my decision to delay until now, assuming that I make it home unscathed!

As soon as the lockdown in Texas started to ease I made plans to travel home. American Airlines is offering the only daily direct service DFW – LHR. I’m under the impression that even that service stopped running every day at one point. As of right now AA50/51 is the only daily service, now flying 787s, down from 3 AA flights and 1 BA flight flying mostly 777s. When I booked United was still not flying IAH – LHR.

I was very fortunate that my daughter, her husband and the grandkids were so tolerant though I have to say I feel most sorry for my now nine year old grandson who got bumped out of his bed & room for all that time, not sure he’ll want to see me back anytime soon. I will have to figure out a little thankyou for him.

I scheduled my return so that I get home about the time that my wife’s isolation is due to (possibly) end. I plan to self-isolate for two weeks after my journey and before returning home so I had it all worked out, right up until the UK, or rather the  Government decided to quarantine all international travelers upon arrival, fortunately for me I’ll be back in the UK before that comes into effect June 8th. Talk about bolting the Stable Door!

So, the Travel experience so far (one hour out of LHR).
I started my journey by driving in a rent car down to Austin Texas, the first time I’d been out of the local locked-down Ft. Worth since arriving first week of March, and things are changed. Since I arrived over 30 million American workers have filed for Unemployment Benefit and as expected the economy is taking a massive hit.

My Car Rental company (Hertz) filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday before the Memorial Day Holiday. The reason was clear at pickup and drop-off, lots full of vehicles, no renters (and only two staff at the rental counter). I chose to run the secondary highways, staying off the Interstate and even though there are no major travel restrictions the highways and byways were very lightly trafficked. I’d like at this point to give special mention to the Koffee Kup restaurant in Hico Texas where Hwy 6 & US 281 cross , a very traditional small town local eatery WHICH WAS OPEN but very quiet inside. Restroom break, coffee, iced water, their really very good cheeseburger and a half portion of their excellent fried onion rings (a full portion is to share) left me without room for any of their famous meringue pie. Without hunting, everywhere else was either closed or take out only.
Likewise AUS Airport, normally a mad-house, I had been there once, late on the last flight in of the day and there were more people/travelers about then than on Wednesday May 27.

The first thing of note were changes to the boarding procedure. Having spent years trying to persuade passengers that there is a benefit to boarding first or early they still had us board by ‘Group’ so that First & Business board first and Groups 5 thru 9? then have to walk down the ‘isle of shame’ past them in their big leather seats and complementary beverages, so much for social distancing. Strangely enough the reverse was not true when unloading, one row at a time please to maintain social distancing having spent an hour ‘rubbing shoulders’, not the usual mad dash for the Jetway.

My first flight on a 787, standard AA livery. ‘Asian’ sized seats, 9 across, 3, 3 & 3, two (narrow) isles. 27H was just at the beginning of the tail ‘taper’ and very probably the last center row to have overhead bin stowage though those bins did seem larger than on the 777. No window blinds to pull down, all electronic tinting these days. There were two passengers in the row behind me, 28 but from there back (we were told), Cabin Crew Only. Don’t go back there, ring if you need something. All the restrooms (4 of them) were forward of the rear (Cattle Class) cabin. I noticed that the Port side outer restroom showed a red (Occupied) light throughout the journey though I did notice several members of the Cabin Crew utilizing that particular facility.

I would further hazard that, unlike my recent trip on Singapore Airlines where I was under the impression that restrooms were being regularly cleaned and sanitized throughout the flight, towards the end of the trip home, despite a relatively low load factor, the restrooms were appearing less than sanitary.

Unsurprisingly there was no delay on Heathrow approach though I understand only Terminal 2 (Queen’s Terminal) and Terminal 5 (British Airways) are operational. With no people there I couldn’t quite work out why we ‘gated’  seemingly miles from the baggage claim/customs hall/immigration areas. Up, down round and through. Immigration was a huge echo-empty hall of zig-zag barriers and more staff than travelers, bags beat us to the carousel, nobody visible at Customs in the Green Zone and before you know it your out in the (very empty) Terminal. W H Smith’s the only facility open. So rather than sit and wait over Coffee, maybe a snack until train time it was an all day breakfast sandwich, bag of Hoola Hoops & a Cherry Coke taken while Socially Distancing from other travelers in similar plight. Welcome Home!

A final comment on the ground part of my journey back in the UK. I’ve written about my Journey Outbound from Frome to Manchester back in March now I’m going to comment on the rail/bus journey home. I had the misfortune to pull a calf muscle on the journey prior to the flight, it was not aided by nine and a half hours on an airplane or indeed the walk from ‘Gate’ to ‘Ground Transportation’ but the three trains and a bus home were miserable. Not, I hasten to add, the trains themselves but the infrastructure (stations) supporting the system appear, perhaps by design, inhospitable towards travelers with any disability or infirmity or indeed traveling with anything other than a brief-case, small rucksack or shoulder bag.. All this while running a system of near empty trains.

I have the distinct impression that it will all have to be paid for, with penalty & interest, much like the HS2 boondoggle.

In recent years, like most of us, I’ve flown on a few airlines, notably US & UK carriers, and there seems to be a race under way – too the bottom. When it comes to customer care, particularly when we get to the ‘Economy’ cabin or ‘Cattle Class’ as it should be known. The race was on even before 9-11, but that was when carriers shifted up a gear and the pace quickened.

The ‘Trolley Dolly’ of old became authoritarian ‘Cabin Crew’ and with a tanking world economy carriers discovered that price trumped service and both business & leisure travelers were price sensitive as expense accounts and budgets were squeezed.

About that time Boeing planners, having misread the industry’s future had started delivering smaller (more economical?) airplanes for more frequent schedules on hub & spoke networks. As the economy started to recover capacity became more of an issue. Demand outstripped capacity, old airplanes stayed flying longer and further while Boeing desperately tried to squeeze more seats, or rather more bums on seats into the new smaller airplanes while fitting new engines on old stretched air-frames to satisfy rapidly growing demand. The quick fix was to narrow seats and shorten seat pitch, especially in the rear of airplanes. These ‘technical fixes’ were accompanied by budget squeezes across the industry and food service was an obvious target, which brings me to my point

COVID-19 to give it’s full official title. Rather than schedule my US trip 8 or so weeks ahead to try and squeeze more bang for my buck I decided to try booking an economy fare at short notice, hopefully to get out and back before travel restrictions are imposed. Normally, when traveling alone direct flights to and from nearest major airports, though sometimes higher priced, are the most economical in total. Longer journeys to and from airports plus additional costs and accommodation frequently outweigh any fare savings.

This occasion however proved the exception. Ten days out I was able to book a reasonable fare, rather than my preferred route LHR-DFW I booked with Singapore Airlines on their MAN-IAH route. Including round-trip rail-fare, accommodation, one-way car rental each direction (but excluding fuel and the 270 mile drive each way) I’m saving about £500.00, hopefully worth the extra effort!

I have to admit that my daughter and her family had flown Singapore Airlines on the same route at least twice before and had recommended it to me but having flown American, BA and less recently United and a short-haul on Ryanair my expectations were not high. Most recently on their LHR-AUS route BA had managed, in my opinion, to set the bar to an all-time new low. The change from old 747s to 777s left the aircraft late and so full you felt there were probably standees hiding in the restrooms during take-off & landing. The first time in ages I’ve ridden in an isle seat with a fixed arm, very uncomfortable sitting and getting in and out of the seat.

The rail trip the day before my flight, from home to Manchester Airport was not an auspicious start. By my own fault I booked an afternoon/evening trip, managed to be in both Bath & Bristol during the afternoon rush, on a two car train, all seats full and jam packed throughout with standing passengers. At that point my good intentions of avoiding ‘close personal contact’ went out of the (closed) window. I was scheduled to change trains, from Great Western to CrossCountry Rail at Bristol Parkway Station, a place where various routes cross and where a new station was built to facilitate the high density of transiting passengers. Turns out they built a new station building adjacent to the railway but servicing the old platforms. I spent twenty very long minutes stood on the exposed platform in a bitterly cold wind trying to avoid the rain being driven under what passed for the platform cover, definitely a steam era artifact. and barely 20th century much less 21st.

The CrossCountry Rail train was moderately busy. This was not a commuter but the seat pitch was very short and the storage space for passenger bags was abysmal. I try to travel with one wheeled case and a wheeled carry-on, anything else must fit in my pockets but the CrossCountry train had me beat. There were tiny racks, good for a total of maybe three cases at each end of the coach with seating for around 70 passengers, the overhead rack didn’t even come close to accommodating my relatively small carry-on, in fact the seat pitch was so tight my carry-on wouldn’t even fit on the floor and had to be placed on the seat beside me. Somehow we managed to loose time all the way to Manchester, arriving there about 15 minutes late, just outside my ‘connection’ window to the Airport. I can honestly say I’ve never seen so many cancellation & late running trains on a departures board. Suffice to say I managed to miss my train, late from platform 9A, trying to decipher the departure board on 9B. I’m pretty sure the station employees had given up and gone home by that point so another 45 minutes standing on a railway platform! 

As I’m writing this we’re about an hour out from Houston AND WE’VE JUST BEEN SERVED A SECOND MEAL!
I’m going to try to be fair but by my experience this is exceptional. The first meal, called lunch was by airline standards, very good. For us older persons, reminiscent of the way things used to be. Back in the old days when flying was a fun adventure. For lunch I opted for beef with spinach and parsley mash. It was very good, for airline food the portion size was good, it was accompanied by a coleslaw salad, a cheesecake dessert, cheese & crackers and while not Silver Service at least we had silverware not plastic. Midway thru the flight we were offered a snack of chilled fruit and a sandwich, then finally Dinner was served, yet another hot meal.
Feeling a little more adventurous I opted for a green fish curry with rice and vegetables, pasta salad and dessert – tasty!

So, if we make it into Houston okay I shall be looking forward to my return flight with Singapore Airlines and I can say, Categorically, it’s. been a goodly number of years since I’ve even thought that.

One final ‘cultural’ comment & a portent of thing to come. The cabin crew were all dressed in their company uniform, very Asian, and all wearing face masks making it hard to identify individuals. The male cabin crew acted more like supervisors than attendants.

So it’s a week or so before Christmas and I’m traveling on AA50 DFW to LHR. Of course, as it’s a week before Christmas we’re talking a busy flight. An 1840 departure overnight to London arriving about 0930 next morning.

Now I make no excuses for my size, I’m 6′ 2” and the days when I could claim to be just over 200 pounds are well past; but these seats in Cattle Class are really horrible!

They are narrower than ever, and just to compound the misery factor the height of the seat-back has been reduced proportionately (after all people might not notice until they try to relax, recline and look for a little neck support, say on an over night flight for example) In point of fact, you’ll notice as soon as you try and recline your seat because the whole assembly tilts from another location further up the seat-back, about where the arm-rest is. This causes the seat squab to slide forward driving your knees into the seat in front. The way I see it, anybody over about 5′ 8” will struggle to get comfortable at just about any time other than on a short haul flight..

Another point of interest is the multi-tier pricing in the ‘Economy Cabin’. Seats near emergancy-doors now cost more than isle seats, which cost more than seats near restrooms or the miserable seats in the middle of the crowded rows.

I know that I’m sensitive about the food Airlines serve but there isn’t much of interest on a long-haul flight so the food the Carrier blesses its patrons with has disproportionate significance. Westbound the chicken at least had the look and taste of chicken, Eastbound, last night, there was the semblance and feel of a meat byproduct, which was a shame as the mashed potato was actually potato judging by the lumps it contained, beans and carrots were exactly that. No surprises there! And American still serves a little bag of pretzels with your ‘Complimentary Beverage’. Lastly Breakfast, and frankly the best meal of the flight. After seven hours of sitting near upright in the dark trying to sleep but only discovering a whole new set of pressure points the rapid approach of end of that part of your journey makes Breakfast a blessed relief. For all of that, the blueberry yogurt with some kind of granola mix to add to it, dried fruits and a blueberry ‘thing’ somewhere between a cookie and a muffin really was quite pleasant.