London Jan. 4: Houston-Intercontinental, Houston TX (IAH) to London-Gatwick International, London England (LGW)

CO4 4JAN08 Houston-Intercontinental, Houston TX (IAH) to London-Gatwick International, London England (LGW) 6:55p 9:55a+1 777 N??012

At Gate E4, I boarded the airplane and turned left at the entrance door to the BusinessFirst cabin with its 2-2-2 configuration and 30 seats. I had a window seat so I said hello to the passenger at the aisle and made myself comfortable.

As I settled in, I was offered an arrival drink; I chose water and a menu with an amenity kit. Later I was asked what I wanted for dinner and I chose the Halibut along with peppercorn dressing for my salad.

There were several late arriving passengers about thirty-five so a delay of about ten minutes was announced in order to accommodate those passengers.

The couple in front of me arrived late and was commenting to the Concierge about how long the lines in immigration were; they were coming from Cancun, Mexico (CUN). The Concierge assured them that all was well now and to relax and enjoy the flight.

I fell asleep as we waited for the airplane to depart. The delayed continued and we pushed back at 8:01p. We had a short taxi to the runway and took off at 8:12p.

The flight attendants first came by with hot towels; I missed it as I was still asleep, but once awake I motioned that I did not get one and one was brought to me. I looked through the movie guide (Private Screening), deciding on “Rush Hour 3.” It had already started, so I missed a few minutes of the beginning. We were then offered nuts with a beverage of choice after our table cloths were laid.

Each of the seats has its own video monitors with a handset for controlling the system. The video entertainment for this flight was on 17 channels would be:
1. 3:10 to Yuma/Premier Destinations
2. The Brave One/ Really Big Things
3. The Heartbreak Kid/What It Takes
4. The Drama Channel
5. Continental Presents HBO: The Sopranos, Da Ali G Show, Deadwood
6. The Good Night/The Office
7. A Fine Madness/Hollywood’s 10 Best
8. Continental Presents Independent Films: The Great Match/Health Solutions for Sleep
9. Continental Presents House
10. The Game Plan/Cookin’ in Brooklyn
11. Continental Family Channel 1:Secondhand Lions/The Jetsons, Foghorn Leghorn’s Fractured Funnies
12. Balls of Fury/Still Standing
13. Rush Hour 3/Behind the Scenes
14. Continental Presents CSI
15. Comedy Programming: The Class, The King of Queens, Everybody Hates Chris, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Simpsons, the New Adventures of Old Christine
16. The Entertainment Channel
17. Airshow
There are also 19 music channels and 10 games to choose from.

After the nuts were cleared, we were offered appetizers; a tandoori chicken skewer with ancho chili sauce, seafood bisque with lump of crabmeat and a mini beef wellington. I asked for and was able to try all three, they were all very good! We were also offered bread during the service; I had the white first and then the garlic.

The salad (fresh seasonal greens and frisée with sliced tomato, red onion, corn and a Kalamata olive with Parmesan peppercorn dressing) arrived next followed by dinner which was the Herb-crusted Halibut with extra virgin olive oil, parslied potatoes and braised fennel, served over tomato and olive ragout and fine green beans.

I fell asleep and missed the crackers and cheese plus fruits and after dinner drink portion of the meal, but made the ice cream sundae portion. I had strawberry topping with two cherries. After the meal was cleared, we received a bottle of water, then the cabin lights were dimmed so we could get to sleep.

I fell asleep as “Rush Hour 3” finished and awoke when we had 1:30 to go as there was an announcement on the PA that our arrival time would be 10:10a, 15 minutes behind our scheduled arrival time. We were then served breakfast; first juice of choice, then linens were added the chair table and then a platter was placed with water, salt and pepper, utensils including a cloth napkin, butter, an empty bread plate and a bowl of fruit (orange, grapefruit, cantaloupe and pineapple).

A choice of croissant, cinnamon roll or bread was offered with a choice of coffee or tea; once can also have an espresso at any time. I chose the croissant plus tea with lemon. Next I was offered a choice of an omelet with potatoes or cereal with a banana and milk. I opted to just have the banana from the cereal choice. My seat mate who was asleep, when offered, refused breakfast and went back to sleep.

Soon the breakfast was cleared so I had a chance t use the lavatory as that was much needed; too much liquid at dinner and now at breakfast. U.K. Immigration landing cards were distributed to those who needed them, noting that if you are in transit to another country at Gatwick none if needed, but if you are transiting via London-Heathrow (LHR) once is needed.
When we were about halfway between Ireland and England, the Captain came on the PA and said that we would start our descent in about 10 minutes, so that means with about 37 minutes to go and that we would be landing at 10:10a. The local weather is partly cloudy skies with a temperature of 7C which is 45F. Not too bad I thought.

An arrival video was then showed that highlighted the arrival process, documentation, how to get from terminal to terminal and how to get to the city of London plus a brief film about London.Our descent took us over the countryside for a tour as is usual coming into Gatwick. We made a sweeping left hand turn and then landed away from the terminal.