This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
limo arrived 10-15 mins early, headed to checkout and was whisked off to the airport, arrived about 25 mins before checkin opened, went and got a newspaper, pleased to find today's international new york times, usually it's the the day before's, then read for a bit
one of the VS staff recognised me from arrival and came for a chat which was nice, also one who was minding the check-ins until opening came over to ask if all was ok
checked in, through security, dithered about whether i could afford to add to mrs sungod’s gold bangles, looked up my notes to be sure i had the size correct. had a few weighed and decided i could get one this time, shhhhh, surprise!
had a wander then headed to the business lounge to cool down and do some emails, the lounge is getting a bit tired now but the chairs are comfy and there's a view
headed to the gate when it opened, escaped the random security check and sat for a few minutes until boarding started
straight on, 2K this time, instant bubbly, FSM came to welcome me and have a chat, said he’d gone for a run the day before, brave chap in that heat!
another bubbly*, UC not quite half full, take off on time
more bubbly, for lunch i had the smoked salmon, beef with harissa, blueberry cake, the beef was usual airline overdone but tender enough, a good meal overall, meant to keep the menu card to post here but lost it when the seat was converted
my email work to do list was stacking up as i go on hols the day after landing, so i broke the habit of a lifetime and used the onboard wifi, it worked well, maybe i was the only one on it, but emails, websites, even a big document download were all fast enough
several more bubbly refills, i think i had eight or nine, eventually even i had to say "no more thank you", plus after about 3 hours my injured leg was telling me ‘enough’ so i shut down, converted to bed and managed to nap a bit until time to change back into a seat
about 20 mins late into LHR due to windy weather and congestion, bouncy landing
had a fast track card but the e-gates were empty so they were the quicker route, bit of a wait for bags then out into arrivals to find the limo desk, in my still slightly befuddled state i missed it the first time
off to the car park with driver, more emails on the ride back then home, time to unpack and transfer bits to holiday bags ready for the following day
a real contrast to the outbound, VS people really on form from start to finish!
* i think the gardet tastes ok as long as you do not precede it with lanson, i had a few grapes after the meal, these really clashed with it