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#237776 by bplatt_uk
06 Sep 2005, 17:28
After an extremely hectic weekend, we took a more relaxed approach to the Labor day holiday and took in a movie in Manhattan, before people watching from a bar for a couple of hours and heading to the airport. We left our hotel in Brooklyn at 17:00, and had a very quick taxi ride from Brooklyn in which I described to Simon the differences between the Boeing 747-400 on which we'd arrived and the Airbus 340-600 on which we were returning.

We arrived at UC checkin at about 17:30, and for some reason on presenting the security agent pulled out a copy of our E-Ticket confirmation from a box which he tucked in our passports before sending us onto the checkin line. I'm not sure why this is, as the checkin agent apparently heeded it little attention.

We were issued with boarding passes for our pre-booked seats - 19H and K, but I had to prompt for a clubhouse invitation. No problem once I'd asked, but I did wonder if others - such as the large party of UC pax checking in before us that never showed up in the clubhouse - hadn't been issued with invitations and maybe didn't even realise there was a clubhouse. I felt awkward having to ask for it however - since as far as I can tell any passenger checking in at UC should be entitled to clubhouse access (unless pulled from another line), I would have thought that they would have been issued automatically. The agent did make a point of writing 'W' prominently on the pass, and annotating it with 'GOLD CARD MEMBER'.

We proceeded to the clubhouse after a brief stop-off to stock up on Tanqueray No 10 at the duty free shop. On reaching the clubhouse the annotations on the invitation were ignored as the name on my boarding pass was compared to a list of expected visitors. So, possibly I didn't even need the invitation.

The JFK clubhouse is clearly not a patch on the new LHR clubhouse, but its a fairly relaxing environment in which to take in a meal and wait for the flight. After checking our respective email accounts, we settled down to our food - I had the tofu with spinach while Simon ordered the Fajita Turkey burgers. Simon enjoyed his burger, though I was somewhat underwhelmed by the tofu salad. I figured I'd top up with the meal on the plane however, so wasn't particularly worried about this.

We were of course travelling in PE, however I did note various letters posted around the clubhouse introducing and justifying the Good Night Flight service. A glance at a copy of the inflight 'Freedom' Menu for UC pax indicated that it indeed mentioned the various options.

I also noted that the Freedom Menu mentioned the existence of the Revivals lounge as an alternative option for breakfast. I've travelled in UC into LHR several times now, and until this the only reason I even knew of the existence of the Revivals lounge is that I'd read about it on this site. Of course, events always conspire to prevent me from making use of it as a UC passenger or a Gold card holder - either I have a driver waiting who isn't prepared to wait or I'm travelling with a guest who can't be admitted with me - so I've not yet been able to benefit from this.

The flight was called at around 20:20, and we made our way straight to the gate via security. There is a priority line for First/Business pax, and the agent directed us to this, though as there was nobody in the regular line this wasn't strictly necessary - nice to see that PE pax are prioritised however.

Security was efficient, as one would hope for an airport that has most facilities landside, and we reached the gate and made our way to the priority line. It works better here than at Heathrow, though once our boarding pass had been taken, we had to squeeze our way behind the agent checking the economy pax in order to board.

On our way down the ramp, I checked the name of the plane that was taking us home - Maiden Toulouse - and started thinking that something wasn't right. As we boarded the plane, I realized what had been bugging me as Simon assumed the somewhat more generous seats than expected were PE seats (he rightfully expected that UC would be suites) - they were J2000 seats and we were on an Airbus 340-300. No V:Port for us on the way home, and I was relieved that I had decided against upgrading us to J for the return so that Simon could experience UCS.

In the past I have made a point of avoiding the 343 wherever possible. On one of my frequent trips to LAX, I had in the past turned down the possibility of W on the VS23/24 (a 343) in favour of Y on the VS7/8 (a 744). This was predominantly due to the poor entertainment systems on the 343 planes, but also the shabby seats that I had seen in W.

So, while the seats were indeed shabby, and Arcadia was as rubbish as always, I was actually pleasantly surprised to find that the seats were actually more comfortable than those on the refitted 744s and 346s. Since the flight time was only 6:30, and we intended to sleep for as much of this as possible, the improved comfort of the older seats more than offset the poor entertainment system.

The plane seemed a little more ricketty than usual during taxi, and there was some odd sounds which we assumed to be related to the airconditioning system heard overhead, but we put these down to the older plane which is obviously shortly due to be refitted.

Almost as soon as the seat belt sign had been turned off, it was turned back on again. I knew that anteo from this forum was travelling in W with us - and had made a guess as to which of the other pax he was - but had to sit down again before I got the chance to go over and say hi.

In the meantime, the cabin service started - no drinks service was offered, instead proceeding directly to the main meal. While both Simon and I had eaten in the clubhouse, we were still a little peckish so I order the cannelloni and Simon had the Beef option. Neither were great, so we didn't finish them. Again, following the meal a Brandy and Baileys service was offered - it looks like this is now again a regular part of the W service.

Once we'd completed the meal, the seat belt sign was turned off, so I quickly said hi to anteo, before trying to get some sleep. Despite quite a lot of turbulence throughout the flight, I managed to get more than my usual amount of sleep, and even turned down breakfast so I could sleep a little more.

Arrival at LHR was a little late due to being held by ATC. We touched down about 15 minutes late at 9:05, and were deposited at a remote stand and were bussed back to the terminal. This took a little extra time than usual, but wasn't as bad as expected. We got a chance to chat a bit more with anteo on the bus and as we went through immigration and customs, after which he went his separate way after customs to catch an onward flight while we made up for missing breakfast by grabbing a quick cup of tea before making our way back to Cambridge via the HEX.

Overall a pretty good flight, though I was surprised by the sudden equipment change to a 343. anteo mentioned having seen the flight scheduled to be operated by a 343 - I hadn't caught this in advance as I only would have thought to check if my seat assignments had been changed. A quick check of http://www.lhr-lgw.co.uk reveals that the VS45/46 has been mostly operated by a 346 recently, with one exception where a 744 operated the route, so I'm not convinced it was planned much in advance. My best guess is a 346 went tech or was reassigned for some other reason and since the expected loads were light, a 343 was considered an adequate substitution.

The other surprise was the lack of a drinks run before the meal service. Are W/Y pax particularly keen to get the meal service complete quickly on these shorter flights in order to get more sleep time? Or was this maybe a one-off (there *was* a drinks service when I last flew VS046 in May)? I can understand the former, though it smells a little of cutbacks which is somewhat in contradiction with the second drinks round on the outbound flight and the reintroduction of Baileys and Brandy service.

I've also re-evaluated my position on the Airbus 340-300 slightly. I would of course be very annoyed to have paid for a UC ticket and found myself unexpectedly on a 343, but in PE I'm surprised to say that I found it perfectly acceptable. OK, the lack of seat power might be an issue in some cases (I've personally never needed it when its been available, and lived without it when it wasn't), and there is of course the minor inconvenience of the lack of, uh, conveniences in PE, but seat comfort was way better than expected. I certainly wouldn't rule out 343s quite as much as I have in the past.
#311109 by fozzyo
06 Sep 2005, 17:48
Another great read - thanks for sharing.

We were of course travelling in PE, however I did note various letters posted around the clubhouse introducing and justifying the Good Night Flight service. A glance at a copy of the inflight 'Freedom' Menu for UC pax indicated that it indeed mentioned the various options.


Interesting to note the above, while i'm not a fan of the GNF it is at least nice they are letting pax know about it before boarding! Thats if they get the CH invites of course, bit of a poor show not giving them.

Thanks
Foz xxx
#311136 by colmc
06 Sep 2005, 20:01
I was actually pleasantly surprised to find that the seats were actually more comfortable than those on the refitted 744s and 346s.


At least I'm no longer alone ;)
#311142 by slinky09
06 Sep 2005, 20:06
Originally posted by colmc
I was actually pleasantly surprised to find that the seats were actually more comfortable than those on the refitted 744s and 346s.


At least I'm no longer alone ;)


Quite agree.

And thanks for another comprehensive TR and a very good read.
#311178 by buns
06 Sep 2005, 22:25
bplat_uk

Thanks for another good TR[y]

Slighty confused though[:I] Has Maiden Tolouse been converted to UCS with some remaining J2000's left to cover PE or has VS not put a suite aircraft on the New York route.

Thanks for any clarification you can give

buns
#311209 by bplatt_uk
07 Sep 2005, 00:19
Originally posted by buns4vs
Slighty confused though[:I] Has Maiden Tolouse been converted to UCS with some remaining J2000's left to cover PE or has VS not put a suite aircraft on the New York route.


It is still in J2000 configuration in UC (per the seat maps on this site), so yes it was a non-suite aircraft on the New York route. This surprised me, given VS publicity about New York being an all-UCS route.

Regards,
BArry
Virgin Atlantic

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