This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Managed to get a snip of a deal ex Dublin, to Los Angeles on the 23 and back from Miami on the 6.
Stayed at the Doubletree Heathrow, lovely little hotel, and the staff were great, my car was booked for 0900.
It was very surreal using the drive through check in, I really did feel like some A-Lister with two member of staff there to greet me and take all of the cases. I knew this was going to be a good trip when I had rang the wing that morning to book the slot and the guy on the desk had said "Oh happy birthday for next week, we've heard all about it" although I think a few tweets to VS from my best friend might have tipped them off
Private security channel was great, I have never had such a friendly chatting security agent in my life, she was really amazing, obviously not a Virgin employee, but she was really proud about working on the VS private channel! I was a dofus and left a bottle of aftershave in the bottom of my laptop bag, it was no big deal and dealt with very professionally and after it was tested all was good!
A quick walk along to the CH, and what a sight to be greeted with those lovely marble stairs to heaven! The crappy American Admirals club underneath looked sorry for itself in comparison.
I was in the CH by about 0930, and I did think briefly "I am gonna be bored in an hour as my flight doesn't board till 15:00" yeah, how wrong I was!
I started with a Bucks Fizz and and Club House breakfast, nicely customized with an extra sausage and no mushroom without fuss. Was really delicious. I was sat right at the bottom end of the clubhouse at this stage in the green sofas at the bottom. Two or three more Bucks Fizz and I decided to go for a little shopping in the terminal, a few bits I needed for the upcoming 4 days on a train as part of this trip, and treated myself to a new aftershave and some choccies for the crew!
Back to the CH, and it was a little busier by this time about 11, but I managed to find seats this time near the Spa, Second Breakfast ordered, and started on the redheads, mixed with the occasional Redwing both of which were equally amazing! Went in the jacuzzi for a little bit, very surreal experience, but equally lovely!
Then had a facial, and into the Brasserie for dinner, Fish Cake starter, CH Burger and salted caramel ice cream. Loved the CH burger! Then up to the loft, a few more Redheads and down to the bar for a few glasses of Lanson, a chat with the staff, and met a lady who was on the same flight as me and a fellow northerner so we sat and were quite tipsy by the time we boarded.
Boarding was from gate 19, and for UC was through L1 door which was lovely, but I feel robbed, not getting to board and turn left!!
Greeted by name by the FSM, who again mentioned my birthday which made me feel amazing! She wasn't in the UC cabin that much, but seemed to float a lot between all three cabins and was present managing and directing the service and crew.I had G-VWIN, Lady Luck which is one of the ones that has had the "refresh" the leather facings all felt new, but as already reported, the IFE is still a bit shocking, the lady next to mine had to have an ipad, but I do think she had a better experience with it than the rest of us did. I didn't watch anything as there was nothing that really appealed, I did start to watch The Duff, but it was shockingly bad, not VS's fault though!! The IFE was used for the map for most of the journey.
I had four Pre Departure champers! Is that a V-Flyer record? The member of crew looking after our side of the cabin really did seem to give it her all and she looked after me constantly. The suite is lovely, and sitting back with your feet up as you take off was great! Who would every choose to fly any other way now?
Once up in the air the captain announced a flying time of 11hrs 11 mins, and there was 13 crew and I am sure 260 passengers on board. Wandering through the cabins, and talking to my fellow UC'ers I would say there was an even split between UK and US passengers!
I had a Tomato and Mozzarella salad to start, and the chicken for main. The chicken was very tender and moist, and the veg and lentils it went with were good! Chocolate cheesecake was scrumptious, and the fruity Chardonnay that the girls were plying me with was never ending it seemed! Then the cheese trolley and I did notice that the crew were using this to interact a lot more with the other passengers, so it took a while, but it wasn't a problem as it was all part of the personal touch.
What felt like my own personal member of crew was plying me with some Funkin Cocktail mix they had on the bar and a variety of different spirits, so I decided it was time to be social and go and experience the bar itself, again it blew me away, was chatting to an actor who used to be in Hollyoaks, who was in PE who was allowed to use the bar for a little bit, but did eventually get kicked back to PE but he was a load of fun. Round the bar we had two guys who were back from their honeymoon having been to Italy who gave me some fab tips for things to do in LA! We all sat chatting for at least 2-3 hours and working our way through a couple of bottles of Gardet which I personally didn't mind! I had a Graze burger, just the right size to fill the hole after dinner and sober up a little as we got closer to LA.
Afternoon Tea was fab, not a lot to it, but the theater of it all was fantastic, and another chance for the crew to shine, some of the cakes were a bit plain, but the Raspberry battenburg was amazing, could have easily had that twice or three times!!
Throughout the whole flight, I did notice that the crew were sweeping through the cabin doing drinks and making people comfortable, there was never a point where they actually said "this is a drinks run" but it was just all seamless and constant, no one wanted for anything, well, except a former US sitcom actress was in 1D who moved to 2D and 3D and was in full on diva mode! I didn't recognize her and neither did half of the crew, and it was only when another passenger at the bar had a moan about her did it all click for most of us who she was!
I loved the landing in LA, we flew out over the Hollywood hills flying east bound to line up for a westbound arrival which gave some fantastic views over LA.
The whole UC experience from limo through to stepping foot off the plane was worth it, it was really amazing, and for me reminded my why I love Virgin, they just have the fun, the spunk and the sass that other airlines just cannot match, I was so underwhelmed by my BA Club Europe experience the previous day!!
One grip: 260 passengers and for the none US passengers....two immigration officers!! I was about 20th of the aircraft, and there was a flight from Mexico ahead of us which was on its last 30-40 people to clear, so it took about 45 mins, but I felt sorry for anyone sitting at the back!!
Only problem now is; I'm never going to be able to travel in any other cabin now!!!
Off to Santa Monica today, will try to get some pics added soon!!
Luxury & Boutique | Miles & Points Usage | Long Haul
TravelLessOrdinary | [email protected]
TravelLessOrdinary | [email protected]
compared to Ryan air 
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