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#238062 by Vegascrazy
25 Sep 2005, 00:53
Ground Staff
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The Hallmark Cars chauffeur arrived on time at 6am to transport us to LHR. We wouldnt normally splash out on this sort of thing but given that we would be returning to LGW at the end of the holiday, and we live 15 miles from LGW, it made sense to leave the car behind. Ive been impressed with Hallmark in the past, they are the company who do limo transfers for Kuoni when you book a holiday with business class flights and Hallmark's quote was only 25 more than our local taxi firm. Arrived at T3 around 7:15 and proceeded straight to check in. The area as a whole was quiet, probably a dozen or so people in the Economy queue and a few more than that at DIY. Even though I had used OLCI the day before we still wanted to use the proper Upper Class check-in, what with it being our first UC experience & all that! We were greeted by a very jovial security agent who, after the routine questions, ushered us through to the check in desk. Again we were met with a smiley face. One she had retrieved our details she commented I see you have checked in on line and very quickly gave us our boarding passes and Clubhouse invitation.

Well what can we say, were we impressed or what! As soon as we arrived the lady who greeted us made a point of escorting us through the entrance and gave us a 2 min run through of the new lounges facilities. All in all the service we received was fantastic, from the waitress who regularly checked we had everything we needed to the young lady who administered my Rhinestone Cowboy which I had pre-booked for 9am. Steve hadnt pre-booked any of the treatments but immediately got himself booked in with the same therapist (is that what we call them, or is it masseuse?) and he returned feeling fully invigorated! Id read on other trip reports that the new Clubhouse often gets extremely busy around 10am but on this particular morning it did not feel busy or hectic. Our flight was called at 10:15 and the voice announcing it included the statement 'Priority boarding is available at the gate area for this flight'.

On arrival at Gate 32 the whole area was a bit of a scrum. We couldnt work out who was actually queuing, just seemed like a free for all. There was no sign of any priority boarding lane so we just joined the queue. It so happened there was an American woman just in front of us, also flying UC, and when I asked if she had spotted any sign of priority boarding she said that its always like this at Heathrow! Not sure if shes right but I do recollect from quite a number of TRs that 'gateroom chaos' is becoming the norm at LHR?

Finally got on board and headed for our suites 17G&K, remember this was our first ever UCS experience....were we excited or what! Quickly worked out what items we wanted to take out of our hand luggage then stowed our bags in the overhead lockers. Within a minute of sitting down we were offered champagne and 5 mins after that the FSM came round to introduce herself, at that point Steve & I were chatting over champagne (he was seated at my ottoman) so she spent a few minutes talking to both of us. She asked if it was our first time in the UCS and given that it was she explained in full how the suite worked. She also asked if we wanted to dine together later on to which we said yes please! Back at the gate room I hadnt managed to spot what aircraft we were on so I asked her if she knew. 'Were on VROC today' was the answer to which I replied 'ah, that means Mustang Sally then'. She was a bit taken aback by that and said something along the lines 'clearly you know more than me!' I continued to watch the FSM as she went round introducing herself to the others, all in all she came over as extremely friendly & professional. The IFBT then came up to us and explained that as this flight was busy she may not get round to us. She actually said that her records showed he had received treatments earlier that morning in the Clubhouse and therefore that gives us a lesser priority on board [:(] Sure enough, come the end of the flight she gave us a somewhat crumpled up business card which would give us priority on our next UC flight.

Push back was a little late, around 11:10 and, after a long queue for the runway, we eventually took off around midday. We spent the first hour or so at the bar chatting with a number of the crew, all of whom were in a great mood and chatty to say the least. We were then called by one of the attendants who said that our lunch was ready so we returned to my suite where it was made up for 'lunch for two' white table cloth & all! Now, I know that the all important food topic has been a hot topic on Vflyer in recent months so I was waiting with anticipation to how well we would fair on this flight. In a nutshell...fine. I'd opted for the vegetable lasagne and Steve the chicken breast wrapped in Parma ham. Yes, compared with other business classes we have flown in this food was simple, Id even go as far as saying 'basic' but it was well presented, hot and tasty. Having said that, given a choice between the business class food offerings on other airlines we have used versus Virgin I have to say that the likes of Qatar and Emirates win hands down. The most interesting thing for me though is that when I asked Steve what he thought of the food on our return flight last night (PE LASLGW) he said that, quality & quantity wise, the food was just as good as UC, the only thing setting UC apart being presentation, i.e. china crockery and table cloth. Interesting, given that he has never been on Vflyer and is blissfully unaware of the topics debated of late, especially the food one!

All in all, a great flight, we loved the bar not just for sitting & drinking at but for meeting fellow passengers and having a good chat with the crew. The FSM said that VS are currently trialling cocktail bar tenders on selected flights on LGW routesanyone heard about this?

VPort worked fine, as did the suites themselves, although when we were seated at the bar we did notice quite a few occasions whereby the cabin crew had to reset certain suites (from a panel just behind the bar) as the were not functioning correctly. Not sure though if this was the VPort or the suite itself!

Arrived at SFO only 5 mins behind schedule, through immigration in ten mins to find cases waiting on carousel then through to arrivals to be greeted by Virgin Hols rep who said we were the only people that day on a private transfer. She then made a call from her mobile and waited with us until a white stretched limo arrived to whisk us over to the Westin St Francis on Union Square.

Ill post the return trip report (from our flight last night) soon after this one. These TR's are so much easier to compile when theyre fresh in your mind! Our holiday was great fun, highlights included getting an upgrade to a Penthouse Suite at the Bellagio and a helicopter trip to the Grand Canyon. Ill upload some photos of the Penthouse suite tomorrow. Some of you will also have seen the postings on the 'Social' forum. A few days ago we had a VFlyer lunch in Vegas, attended by Dave (Jetwet1) Dean (Wolves27), Mat (Fozzyo), myself & Steve, Sharon (Shazam) & Lee. Thanks to that, and that fact that I dragged Steve along, he now appreciates that me being into this Vflyer thing is not as nerdy as he once thought! Before he would say 'dont forget your anorak when you go to the that lunch!' Now he appreciates that there is a pool of really useful knowledge out there that can help us make the most of UC flying in the future, might even get him to become a member himself!
#313362 by n/a
25 Sep 2005, 01:51
Great TR...reminds me a lot of the service I've experienced in 3K on good old VS 19 and 20. May you have many more chances to enjoy the suite life. [:D]
#313363 by JAT74L
25 Sep 2005, 01:52
Sounds like a great trip James! Thanks for the enjoyable TR too!

Regards

John
#314238 by ChuckC
01 Oct 2005, 15:28
James,
An absolutely terrific TR! Thank you for all the details.

Particularly interesting to learn that the food was decent though 'simple'. Steve's comments about your PE food on the return were actually not surprising to me as I saw something very similar on an American Airlines flight two weeks ago LAX-JFK; I think AA uses Gate Gourmet also on this route (was in 'J' and watched as the same type of omelet and potatoes entree our cabin was enjoying was being offered to 'F' pax, on a slightly larger piece of china).

I was in Vegas when you were, but unfortunately was stuck in a meeting all day. Sorry that I missed that lunch; must have been wonderful.

Regards,
Chuck-

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