This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
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Cabin Crew
I'd booked myself a Tristar pickup for this flight, and the driver was there shortly before 8am, having just brought a sleepy person in off the Boston flight home to South London. Usual, utterly reliable Tristar experience. The driver wondered why he didn't have an ICC (Drive through check-in) assigned to the job, until I explained it was a cash booking. We then talked about the 'rationing' of Drive through... he was surprised that they had cut it back, maybe allow it at non-peak check-in periods? Sounds like a good idea.
We made our way across South East London very rapidly, and it looked like we would be door to door in an hour, until we ran into a big queue on the Heathrow spur. The passenger drop off at T3 was absolutely car-parked, so I agreed with the Tristar driver that he should drop me off by the departures bridge in the car park. What a surprise - there were no cars using the drive through check-in! I could have used that after all, and would have made a whole lot of sense, as there was an enourmous line at the Upper check in in T3.
The Securicor document screener was a friendly person - I've definitely noticed an improvement in the attitude of the screener staff. Then, I waited something like 10 minutes in the line to check-in, there seemed be some large groups checking in, with extra large baggages, etc., before eventually some more staff arrived to open more desks and speed things up. The check-in itself was then completed quickly, but no API (i.e. my final destination in LA) was taken or entered onto the system - just my passport details.
Anyway, off to fast track, straight through there, there were two x-ray machines operating, so no problems. No 'diversion' through the Duty Free shop either - straight through to the lounge, and off to experience the new Clubhouse!
Overall, the check-in could have been better, such a long line shouldn't have been allowed to build up - it was just a bit needless, especially given that drive through was completely free.
Things seemed a bit hectic on arrival the CH, had to wait a couple of moments to be admitted and shown around.
First impressions were that it looked very cool, and high quality materials had been used in the construction. However, I then realised how small it actually is. I accept that the LHR CH is currently a work in progress, but it does seem there is a little wasted space here and there, and some things could have been thought through better. Anyway, I settled in to one of the leather 'sofa' seats, and ordered breakfast - bacon muffin and coffee. This arrived quickly and was rather good. I then noticed how noisy the CH was - I think is because of the more 'open plan' nature, and the fact that the 'background music' wasn't that 'background'. I tried to check email and do some other stuff using the T-Mobile hotspot, but this was awkward - juggling my laptop on my knees, and as the CH seemed to fill up with more and more people, the wireless just started becoming very unstable for me. In the end I had to fallback onto GPRS to complete what I needed to do before departure. Obviously, whoever designed the wifi infrastructure hadn't properly thought how the characteristics of the room would change once it was filled with people. Time passed. We picked up a one hour delay due to 'operational reasons' - almost like they were trying to blame it on ATC. I didn't think much of it at the time, as we were planned for a fairly quick sub-10hr flight. By this time, the CH was getting very busy, as more people were arriving for the 11am clutch of flights - in particular there seemed to be a lot of children too - some of which were noisy and running around the CH which spoiled things a little.
Haircut time had arrived, and I made my way over to the Spa. Had a pretty damn good haircut - the new hairdressing area is in the windows, and overlooks the apron - right onto Gate 23, where G-VFAB had arrived from SFO. The guy cutting my hair turned out to be into intresting Continential beers - like Belgian and Dutch 'special' beers - and we exchanged a few tips.
After the haircut, I sat down for a bit with a drink, and went to get my shoes shined. The poor shoe shine guy is really crammed into a tiny little hole, much smaller than where he used to be in the old CH. The new seat is very cramped, and at the wrong height, so he can't use it! You just leave him your shoes and wander around in your stockinged feet, or slippers. It's totally obvious that whoever designed that didn't bother consulting with the person that had to use it - and I kept finding this lack of thought in a number of the design features in the CH. I really hope it's temporary and he gets somewhere a bit better when Phase 2 opens.
So, Noon had rolled around by now, but with the one hour delay, we were going nowhere yet, so I took a seat at the bar and had a No.10 and tonic. Just as I was drinking that, a further announcement was made, advising that we were now delayed until 3pm! I couldn't believe it, I needed to be in LA earlier because I had a party to go to on the Saturday evening! Again 'operational reasons'. Ugh! I hate being told a load of bull, and I pretty much stormed over to the VS concierge's desk to get the real reason. The person at the desk was actually really nice, and when she realised I was a frequent flyer, she was honest with me and told me that there was a maintenance problem - a faulty cargo door seal - on our aircraft, G-VROC, which they needed to repair. I asked why they didn't say that it was due to 'aircraft maintenance', and they said that they often worry about nervous flyers getting panicked. I still think I prefer the 'honesty' approach which some of the US carriers seem to use - they just tell you the genuine reason for the delay, even if it involves a maintenance issue on the aircraft.
Oh well, another two hours here... fortunately a lot of the kids left with the MIA flight, so it had quietened off a little, so I collected my shoes - wow, they looked like new - and decided to sit in the rather cramped dining area and have some lunch. The new kitchen must be larger, as they offer a bigger food selection than before - even somewhat spoiled for choice. I opted for the pasta with tomato sauce, I was slighly surprised to find that it was a spicy tomato sauce, when it didn't say that in the menu. While it didn't bother me too much, I know one of my friends who would have probably chosen that dish that would be in a big mess right now, as they are allergic to chili, and anything else heavily spiced. They should definitely make clear on the menu what is in the food, especially if it's something you didn't expect. Still, it wasn't bad, and with the chocolate tart for afterward, which turned out to be a real stomach dropper, it was a decent meal.
By now, feelings of Tom Hanks in 'The Terminal' were starting to set in. I feared I would be here forever! I was really annoyed that there wasn't a decent quiet workspace in the CH, as I think I could have used the time a little more profitably. Right now, too much of the CH is like a bar or club, and is concentrated on fun and lazing around - hopefully that will get put right in Phase 2, so that when we really do have to work, we have somewhere to do it.
The VS23 (the second LAX flight) was called, and my feet definitely started to get itchy. Finally, at around 14.30, the VS7 was called, and I started the mile hike down to gate 34. There was a complete scrum for boarding, and there was no priority boarding signed. I stood in front of one of the screeners with a UC boarding pass visible, and he said that the line behind him was 'Priority Boarding' - I laughed, because there was no way that massive line was all 'Upper Class and Premium Economy' as he insisted, however it was made pretty clear that there was to be no jumping the line. VS really need to sort out this boarding circus. I know things were difficult with it being a delayed flight, but it's really no excuse, because especial with that group of gates, it's bad even with flights that are leaving on time.
Finally get onto the aircraft - it felt good to actually be in a position to start going somewhere! Very quickly approached by one of the male flight attendants with a glass of fizz, and the crew were going around and making sure everyone was being looked after. The seat area was well prepared, menu and amenity kit laid out.
This was the first time I've seen the 'version 2' OB kits. Not impressed really. The wallet is kinda nice and reuseable, but the contents were rubbish - very cheap looking. I'm glad I brought my own 'home made' kit onboard. I actually left the kit onboard after we landed at LAX.
Anyway, I had a feeling this was going to be a decent flight, if we could actually get into the air. We were still waiting for the repair to be completed and signed off, and all the other paperwork sorted out, so the crew kept coming through keeping everyone topped up with drinks. I sat at the bar for a while and had a joke with our FSM about things - especially the 'faceless nurse' video, she agreed with me and another frequent flyer about how dull it is, and how people probably really want to just watch movies - the decision taken among our little group at the bar was that we were going to go straight into V:Port, so that people can get stuck into the films and forget about how late we were going to be!
While having a good view of the all the comings and goings at the L2 door, LSG Skychefs turned up to replenish supplies of water and snacks, some having already been given out during the delay. I asked the FSM how longer we would be on the gate, worried that the crew would time out. She said that Flight Ops were sending a fourth flight officer with us, because otherwise, the existing three man crew would be cutting things very fine on hours by the time we got to LA. By splitting the crew into 2x2 person crews, we would be legal again. Apparently, they were at the staff car park and were being whisked over to the aircraft. Sure enough, a lady Captain arrived, gave her case to one of the staff to try and hide, scooted off upstairs to the flight deck, and the door was shut. Kudos to VS for getting us the extra Captain at such short notice!
Manual safety demo, and we taxied out to Runway 27R for departure. There was a small queue of planes, but it seemed to keep moving, and we were airborne some time around 4.40pm, with a WOBUN departure to take us Northward toward Scotland.
Once we were airborne, V:Port was switched on (yay - no faceless nurse!), and the laptop power was made available. Drinks and snacks were quickly offered, and I thought that despite the delay, we had the makings of a good flight here. I started up the laptop and was sorting out my messy email inbox, and watching 'Crash' at the same time. What a weird film that Paul Haggis (the creator of Due South) managed to craft, with tightly interwoven multiple plotlines, quite dark at times. I quickly realised that the battery in my Bose QC2s had gone flat, groan! Had to switch to the VS supplied headset, which was actually quite acceptable. The FSM came and walked around, introducing herself (or, in my case 'We know each other already, here, have a Carlos') around this point as well.
Lunch/Dinner was offered, I chose the gravadlax salad, and then the steak sandwich to follow. Both were nicely presented and tasty, I thought that it was one of the better VS meal experiences. I've noticed that I've enjoyed the J-cabin food more when the galley operator has been a guy - the food has always been hot, and the presentation has been good. It seems that they can manage the timing when preparing the food a little better. Sorry girls, but maybe a man's place really is in the kitchen! [;)] There was a mistake made with the wine, I was drinking the merlot, when the CSS topped me up with the French red, but that got quickly pointed out and swappped.
Played a bit of inflight trivia - did pretty well again too, and then went to socialise and prop up the bar for a bit, during which time, someone down the back of the bus proposed to his girlfriend over the PA on the plane! She said 'Yes' (aaaaah...), but wouldn't you with a whole 747 load of people looking at you? The FSM and a small delegation of flight attendants went down the back to hustle the happy couple up to the bar, where we plied them with the bubbly stuff and congratulated them.
Eventually, it was time for some rest, so converted my suite to bed mode, and put my feet up for a while. Had a little bit of a snooze, and then woke up and felt a little peckish again, so headed to the bar, and started chatting with some of the other pax and crew, and ordered another snack. I fancied a No 10 and tonic, but there was none loaded! Aaagh! In the end, I had a vodka and cranberry juice, which was quite nice. The 'Fallen Vodka' is a little bit different, it was slightly citrussy, not too bad. One of the pax was travelling down to San Diego, and was worried about connecting flights... I had a copy of the UA timetable on my laptop, so I came to her rescue, as there were later flights!
Ice cream was also offered around now, but because G-VROC doesn't have a chiller in the galley, a lot of the ice cream had thawed out. We had to pick through the carts to find some that was still solid. Almost all of the dry ice had evaporated during the delay. It's a shame we hadn't picked some more up while we were waiting for the relief Captain to arrive. We discussed the switch to the 346 on the LA route, and we all felt we'd miss the 744, even the crew seem to prefer the Boeings.
Got chatting with some of the crew at the bar, there was a couple among the cabin crew - I thought it was really nice that VS actually let proper couples (either married, engaged, living together) fly together. We soon realised that we would be flying together again on the VS20 when I head back on the 5th November!
Felt really tired again, so headed back to bed, started to read Carlos and begun to doze off. I slept through afternoon tea, and woke up with about 50 mins to run.
Had a nice big mug of coffee - it was more like a latte than anything - two shots of espresso and some steamed milk. 'None of that nasty Douwe Egberts powder' to quote one of the crew.
Started to get packed up, filled out the US entry paperwork, and sorted everything out for arrival. The crew were great, they kept the cabin open for as long as they could before packing everything up.
Arrived from the Northeast, passing over Las Vegas, and straight into the LA area, which was blanketed in a low overcast cloud layer, before a very smooth touchdown on LAX's runway 24R. A bit of a slow taxi in to the terminal, and we weren't that far behind the NZ1 by the time we arrived. The crew I would be flying with on the way home came over to my seat to wish me goodbye and they would see me on the 5th, which I thought was really nice as well.
Immigration was not too bad - just the remnants of the NZ1 and VS23 pax. Very friendly immigration officer processed my entry with no fuss. The VS groundstaff were picking off customers who had been rebooked or with tight connections and hustling them through the terminal, which was a good sign. The bags were already going around when we came out, but not on the carousel which said 'VS007' - the bags from the VS23 were on that belt!
Overall, it was a good flight, shame about the delays, and the packed state of the Clubhouse, but the crew were great, and the plane was clean and tidy. The beancounters have obviously had a good go at the amenity kits and some other things, such as the chocolates on the bar (down to small flat chocolate squares, like you get on the pillow in a hotel), which is sad. I didn't miss the red pillow but the flowers on the bar were conspicous in their absence!
So, my party in Hollywood? I made it to the party, albeit a little late, and stayed awake until the early hours... all thanks to that wonderful flat bed!
Cheers!
Mike
