An underground 'railway' links the three buildings. Technically, as it appears to be rubber-tyred with a central rail for guidance, we should call it a 'Guided System'. There are some pictures here. Two 8-coach driverless trains shuttle up and down two parallel tracks between the main building and satellite C, stopping at an intermediate station at satellite B.
Long escalators took me up to departure level and a short walk took me to gate C55. Large windows gave a good view of the activities outside and the massive bulk of our 747-400 gleamed in the sunshine.
Within a few minutes, I was on the aircraft and located my seat in Club Class on the Upper Deck, which I reached by an internal staircase.
As we settled-in, the Pilot and Co-Pilot discussed our departure with Ground Staff. Access to the Cockpit is at the front of Business Class on this aircraft type.
My 'pod' was just next to the stairs and opposite a toilet so I found it quite convenient. I say 'pod' because the seating was arranged with twin-seat units on either side of a central aisle. Each pair of seats had the aisle seat facing forward and the window seat facing aft. A vaguely S-shaped wall embraces each pair of seats providing high seat backs and location for video screen, tray table and other paraphernalia. The wall is cut-away so that the two passengers are facing one another and can talk. Alternately, the cut-away can be blocked by an electrically-operated privacy screen if preferred. The aisle seat next to my window seat remained unoccupied during my flight, giving my window seat better access to the aisle, a boon on a long flight. My seat and the one opposite were the most rearwards in the cabin so there's no seatback for the next pod, just extra space. Because of my location above the head of the stairs, there was a bit more space on my side – not very useful but contributing to a pleasing sense of spaciousness. There was a drop-down table on the rear cabin bulkhead so I assume the seat I occupied is allocated to mother and baby, when necessary.
We pushed-back on time at 16:40 and slowly taxied towards the departure runway, Zero Nine Right (09R). Quite a few other aircraft had the same idea so we made a stop-go progress, finally reaching the runway threshold and taking off at about 17:10. We made a rapid climb away from the airport and headed across North London on our Great Circle route to China.
The two friendly ladies (Australian?) serving the Club Class came round with drinks and (unusually for me) I risked a glass of champagne, since it was Taittinger. A little later, they served Dinner, with a selection for starter, main course and desert.
After the meal, I decided to try the video on demand. Spoilt by the state-of-the-art installations customary on Emirates aircraft, I found the technical quality rather poor and the selection a bit limited. I settled for Bruce Willis in 'A Good Day to Die Hard' which, near the beginning, features a remarkable "smash 'em up" vehicle chase through Moscow.
Having reset my watch to Beijing time (currently 7 hours ahead of London, I think), it was the middle of the night where I was, so I decided to try to sleep for a while. The electric seat could be adjusted to 'lie-flat' but needed to be augmented by a strange, toadstool-like 'footstool' whose main function seems to be to obstruct access to and from the gangway, even when hinged out-of-the-way into its 'stowed' position.
I slept for a couple of hours or so and then decided to revive myself with a quick all-over wash and a change of clothes. I got out the computer to write this text and then they served quite a decent breakfast (but who thinks that hash browns are part of a 'Full English breakfast'?). As I write this, we're at 39,000 feet travelling at 585 miles a hour with an outside temperature a rather chilly minus 45 degrees Celsius. We're due to arrive Beijing in a little under an hour from now at 09:30 local time.
My Pictures
Pictures taken on various visits to Heathrow (including this one) are here.
Pictures of the 'Driverless Trains' are here.
Pictures taken on aircraft (including this one) are here.
