It was time for another attempt by British Airways to get us home. We had to be up early to get a taxi to take us from the hotel to Terminal 5. Baggage check was not open so we had to go to one stand to get our bag tags, then take our luggage to the opposite end of the departure area and stand in a long line to drop it off, which machines that were incredibly slow. The line for security was long but J. R. saw people going through FastTrack even though it was not supposed to be open yet, so he pulled Janie out of line and we breezed in. J. R.'s shoes flagged in security and the agent was unclear in instructions, telling J. R. to put his right leg on the machine while pointing to his own left leg.

But finally we were through. The BA club was just about to open so we went there for a bit before heading to our gate. BA struck again with another maintenance issue that required us to traverse all of the A gates to catch a bus to take us to a new plane. We were seated in "Club Europe" which was about the size of American Premium Economy except they blocked out the middle seats. Not quite the business class experience we expected. They didn't have any catering so all we got was water.

BA had told us our bags were checked through to Orlando and we did not have to reclaim them so we went to connecting flights and got our seats changed. We would later regret not asking the Aer Lingus agent if we needed to collect our bags as they never made the connection to our flight to the U.S. Preclearance was quick but we were rejected by the 51st and Green club because they have a three hour limit and no exception for connecting flights. BA had given us vouchers for not having catering on the plane so we went for breakfast at Whiskey Bread, where we had some great waffles and bacon along with a Guinness and a Heineken. Eventually we got into the club and had a few drinks and relaxed.

Our Aer Lingus flight was slightly delayed, but not by much and their version of transatlantic business was much better than what we experienced on British Airways. Service was great and we got a little sleep and watched some TV. We knew our luggage would not be there because our AirTags still showed it all in Dublin so we tried to file a case in Orlando. BA sent us to Aer Lingus and then Aer Lingus sent us back to BA. We were about to give up, but J. R. went over to a baggage services area that had logos for other airlines (not Aer Lingus) and asked where he could find their baggage services and the woman smiled and pointed to her Aer Lingus lanyard. It had been a long day. She filled out the paperwork and said she would file a claim as soon as all the bags cleared. We got in our Lyft and headed home, hoping the airline would locate our bags. Two of three were put on a plane the next day and we got them a day after that. The third was finally located three days after our flight and put on a plane on 30 June.

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