This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
We stayed the night before in the Park Inn on Bath Road, booking their evening meal inclusive rate through Holidayextras.com. The hotel and the buffet meal were excellent, despite the fact that the hotel was full of irate / frustrated South African Airways pax, who were victims of a strike by ground crew and had been there up to 4 days. I used OLCI at the hotel despite being in J.
On the morning of the flight, J check in was very quiet, compared to the bag drop and the rest of the check ins, so we used it. We got the magic purple boarding cards and headed for the CH via fast track, which wasnt overly fast!
We arrived at the Clubhouse and straight away booked treatments. Christopher chose a haircut and I chose the sensational shave that I have read so much about on here. Sue booked in for a back and pressure point massage. Once we had found seats I had a bowl of fruit, Sue had the signature English muffin with scrambled egg and Smoked Salmon while Christopher had a sausage cob. We wandered round the Clubhouse, I checked in with V-Flyer and had my shoes shined,
The CH wasnt too busy and the temperature was very pleasant. There seemed to be lots of staff on duty and the service was excellent.
I had a quick peak at the new Clubhouse that opens next month ..they still have a fair bit of work before it is ready for the passengers. I was told that the staff are going for some training in the new salon on August 9th and it opens properly on August 23rd. The current Clubhouse then closes and becomes phase two of the building project, the whole thing being completed about March 2006.
The time in the lounge, not surprisingly, passed very quickly and, at about 11.15am, we made our way to gate 32. It is quite a long trek and when we arrived, boarding had started and there was a bit of a zoo around the boarding area with a massive queue and no priority boarding. Our plane is Tinkerbelle which is a V-Port fitted 747.. good news.
We bypassed the queue in a rather ungainly manner by climbing over seats on the instruction of the check in agent, and made our way to the gate. The flight time is a very fast 10 hours and five minutes. We were offered drinks as soon as we sat down and there was already a bottle of water in each seat pocket. The suites appeared to be in A1 condition.
We didnt push back until 12.25pm and then made our way to 27 L. We got great views of the Windsor as we climbed and then went into the high cloud. It is quite a sunny morning but once in the cloud we lost the ground.
Once the seatbelt signs were off we were offered yet more drinks, I had a beer this time, but Sue stuck to OJ and Christopher had another diet coke. We also had crisps or Japanese Crackers.
The first film I watched was Coach Carter with Samuel L Jackson, during which the main meal was served, I had the chicken, as did Sue. Christopher had the sausage and mash, this has been widely panned on V-Flyer, Christopher enjoyed it though!
As the flight progressed, Sue went for a hand massage then I went for a hot hands treatment which was a very nice, and another first for me today! Finally, Christopher went for a back massage which he thoroughly enjoyed. It is quite amazing that after the meal, the vast majority of the passengers converted their suite to beds and got their heads down. The food and drink service was almost non-stop, Ben and Jerrys ice creams were brought to the seat and there was always the bar, where a huge fruit bowl and drinks were a bit of a magnet.
Coach Carter is an excellent film, which I really enjoyed. After the film I went to the bar for a beer and a chat with the FSM. The second film I chose was The Aviator with Leonardo DiCaprio which I also enjoyed, but not as much as Coach Carter.
Sue watched The Incredibles which she rated as very good, The Aviator which she thought, had a disappointing ending and Finding Neverland which is a bit of a tear jerker that she thoroughly enjoyed.
Christopher watched Constantine which was all right, The Incredibles very good , Lemony Snicket which he had seen at the cinema and really enjoyed again. He then watched Coach Carter which he was enjoying, but we landed before it finished.
The flight passed at a remarkably quick rate, a bit of Little Britain, Simpsons and then a few games of Tetris, a bit of typing on the laptop, and some of the General Knowledge quiz before tea was served, which was a choice of sandwiches, Dim Sum or fishnchips. We all had sandwiches which was followed by either a scone with jam and cream or a choice of cakes from the plate.
We got great views of the desert, and then the vast sprawling metropolis that is Los Angeles as we came in to land. Being in J we were among the first off the plane, we walked to Immigration and there was only one group in front of us. As soon as we got through Immigration, the baggage claim was immediately in front of us and our bags appeared almost straight away.
Outside in the warm sunshine, the shuttle to the LAX Renaissance was outside waiting and we got straight on it. It was an amazing sequence of events and we were on our way out of the airport within about 15 minutes of landing!!
Conclusions. The flight in J was great, the staff, the suites and the whole experience made it a flight I will long remember.
Am I now hooked on turning left? I dont know I pay for my own flights and J travel is a lot of money, even with Z fares we will see! I must pay tribute though to the fantastic Flying Club! If the point of it is to encourage product loyalty, then it has succeeded hands down. The fact that it allows us regular Y pax to try out the suites and the J whole experience is absolutely fantastic.
Sorry this has been so long, but it is an edited version of the journal I keep on all of our holidays that eventually get transferred to my website. [:I]
Nick