This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
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I had been given the heads a couple of months ago that I would be in line for a ticket for the opening of our new Borders Railway by HM The Queen at the beginning of September and although we had only recently been in Florida in May / June, I was the knackered, I thought it would be a great time for another trip just after that.
When it was confirmed that 3 different sets of our friends where going to be around during a 3 week period, it seemed like a great idea to try and meet up with them all.
The hunt began and looking at all options, having recently done an Ex Dub flight, M's to G's, full G's direct and indirect I discovered that the realatively new LHR to ATL seemed to have plenty of availability and the ATL to MCO was a pretty short hop with lots of options of times.
The only issue being ATL was the busiest airport in the world and how easy was it going to be to transfer in a reasonable time. Then a fantastic return opened up, straight into GLA from MCO again as a G so that me at no shuttles and reduce luggage issues on the return - it was a no-brainier. LHR to ATL on Virgin, ATL to MCO on Delta ( in 1st so some cheap needed tier points ) and the return of MCO straight into GLA.
90,000 miles plus the usual £450 odd for the tax and $170 for the one way Delta flight - whohooo
2 weeks in Disneys Saratoga with my DVC points and a week in the Hilton GV on idrive was to finish off the trip - with a night in the Hilton at Heathrow (again on HH points ) it was to be a very, very cheap trip
So the heads up came, that yes, I would get a ticket for the royal train and HM The Queen would officially open the railway on Fiday 4th Sept, we had a function to do on the Saturday (which was actually "Golden Ticket" day) the fly down overnight to Heathrow and out to Atlanta / Orlando on the sunday.
All was well with life.
Then 2 weeks before , I got a call. " you've got flights booked for the Sunday right ? "
"Yes"
"You NEED to move them "
"Eh !!! "
" can't say anymore but you NEED to move them to the Thursday "
"Oh hell ....... "
And so all the meticulous planning went in the bin and I started again. First thing was to get the LHR to ATL changed and worry about the rest - low and behold there was loads of availability on the Thursday ( and much of the rest of the week )
Next up was the Delta flight - no chance of a change - so that was lost but in the scheme of things it was only $170 dollars. The Hilton was changed at no cost and Disney was also changed. The Hilton at GV hadn't been booked so that was easy
Phew !
So the itinerary now was up to Edinburgh on the Tuesday evening, stay overnight at the Hilton at the airport, park my car at the airport in the morning, take the tram into the city centr, do the train stuff, back to the airport, drive to Glasgow, fly down with BA to Heathrow T5 get to the Hilton at T4, stay overnight then onwards to T3 and fly out to ATL at 9.30am on the Thursday morning.
Sounds exhausting ........ it was !!!
The Royal Train stuff has been covered in another thread, but for sure, it was a once in a lifetime day, something never to be repeated, and with the delay Her Majesty had with fog, was able to check in on line whilst sitting in my carriage in Waverly Station - now that's something that will probably never ever be repeated
So, not the fight.
After a few hours sleep it was time to get up and get to the Clubhouse.
Had thought about booking a car the evening before but to be honest was too tired to do anything, so that was left until morning
Said at the front desk for the easiest way to get to T3 and she said b taxi and to book at the concierge.
Booked a taxi, was expecting a black cab but this lovely Mercedes turned up with a great driver who proceed to tell me that he could use the DTCI without any prebooking as I was flying Upper.
Within maybe 15 mins we were driving up the DTCI in style for the (what I thought was a small fee ) amount of £40
Life was good again
Check in was a breeze and were sat in the clubhouse with a breakfast and a wee glass of champagne before too long. I think the only downside, if you can call it that, of the Atlanta flights are they leave pretty early and you only get a couple of hours before boarding in the clubhouse.
It was an A330 and the "dream suite" that awaited and after the 170 something passengers all boarded, 1st impressions were of a cramped feel n the upper cabin.
Things seemed to get banged or knocked quite often and given that the tray wasn't quite level it made for an interesting experience trying to grab stuff sliding off without knocking anything else off in the process.
I did like the fact that the companion seat to lifted off to reveal a storage area because I'm guessing if anything small went in the seat pocket, it was lost for every.
I'm quite a tall guy but not overly wide and the length did seem smaller the the 747's I'm used too but the biggest issue was the width. Well not so much the width but the lack of an arm rest on the left hand side. The amount of times I went to rest on it or push up on it then ended up at all sorts off angles trying to catch stuff that I'd knocked or started to slide of the table was funny at first but got annoying at the end.
Who designed that without actually sitting in it
Anyways, someone recently said, in the bigger scheme of things, it's still an upper seat and if the choice was that or a seat in economy, I know what I'd take.
Orders were taken for food and then the stewardess came and said her manager had authorised her to put 10,000 miles into my account if I would change my main from the steak as it was overbooked.
Would have changed without the miles, but it was a very nice gesture ( will be interesting to see if they post ) and really won't be a problem f they don't appear.
The rest of the flight was smooth, but seemed to be pretty long. By now my energy supplies were depleted but I managed to watch 3 and a half films. Spy - very funny, but could have been the champagne. Tomorrowland - very good film. Disneys Inside Out - another very good film and half of Furious 7. Will try and finish that on the way home.
Afternoon tea as bought and the light bite menu was being proactively offered. And for once the holy grail was offered - a steaming hot cup of tea - not tepid, not warm, but hot -excellent !!
We were then on the approach into Atlanta a little late, but straight into an empty immigration hall and then the easiest transfer to the delta flight which I have already covered.
As horburyflyer said in that thread, the tie up with Delta and the ease of Atlanta now gives massive opportunities for other options and also gives you a chance for a few tier points off the delta bit
At the end of the day, even with a short delay with the ATL to MCO hop, we still arrived into Orlando around half six which would have just been a little later than taking the direct VS015 but opens up a vast amount of options for the traveller who's comfortable with a few little changes to their normal routine.
It's definitely an option that will be used again in the future.
Thanks for reading
David
PS, if you happen to be a fan of v-flyer Your Majesty and are having a read, many, many congratulations on your achievement on becoming the longest Reigning Monarch and many thanks for a day to remember
PPS. And apologises for any autocorrect mistakes. It's only 5 o'clock in the morning here
