New York: The Long-Haul Flight Experience
April 18, 2018 | 3 minute readThe ‘Big Apple’, ‘The City that Never Sleeps’, ‘The Concrete Jungle’ – New York, needs no introduction. This iconic metropolis is known by many names around the world. Ever since I saw iconic movies such as Devil Wears Prada, Sex & The City, and Home Alone 2, I was blown away by the incredible city, and always dreamed of going one day.
That day came earlier this month when I got the chance to experience New York first-hand. Due to my extensive thoughts and travels within New York, I’ve decided to split my experience up into different parts. This is all about the flight experience to New York.
For my 21st Birthday, I got the chance to go to New York for 5 days. I, therefore, had plenty of time to explore and experience as much as I could. This would also be the first long haul flight since I was 2 years old, so I was excited to fully experience what this was like.
The flight to New York Experience
We flew British Airways from Gatwick airport and left at around 10 AM on Monday morning. The 8-hour flight to New York was relaxing and comfortable. Although we didn’t fly first class (or ‘World Traveller’ as it is called on BA), we still got a steady supply of food and drink – including Champagne!
The onboard entertainment system had plenty of new movies and tv shows to keep me occupied. I watched the film The Darkest Hour, and a few episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race which was available. I then switched to listening to a little bit of music as I watched our slow descent into JFK Airport.
American Border Control
We arrived at 10 PM and were immediately funnelled into the American border control. The queue was huge, and snaked around a small corridor. We were all stood on the right which was signed as ‘All other countries’. We saw lucky American Citizens stroll by as they walked straight through the border trouble-free.
We were in the queue for a good while, I can tell you after an 8-hour flight there is nothing you want less than to queue for border control. I had read about horror stories about the ferociousness of American border control. I was, therefore, a little anxious about what would greet us at the end of the queue.
After at least an hour, we were standing next-in-line at the American Border. There were two men on separate desks checking the long line of passports. This immediately filled me with rage; a huge flight from the UK with approximately (number) passengers, and only a couple of border control officers? It seemed a little unorganised for me.
Back in the UK we may complain about our border control officers being unnecessarily grumpy, But the experiences with our border control recently have been incredibly pleasant. Everyone I have interacted with has been helpful, and the automated IRIS scanners that we have always worked for me. So the American experience at border control left me feeling that they were a little behind the times in terms of border security. If I were anything other than British, I would have said something and complained about my first experience in America. But me being a Gen Z British Citizen, I bit my lip and smiled and said how everything was so lovely and organised with an overly subtle sarcastic tone.
Let the holiday begin!
But all was forgotten about the troubles of border control, and the flight experience as we were whisked away in the taxi into New York. After 8 hours we were set for our final destination at the Park Lane Hotel, overlooking the iconic Central Park.
