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#915038 by AlphaEcho
30 Dec 2015, 06:09
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So with Christmas day over and done with it was time to start the ex Dub flights that would eventually get us to San Francisco before heading off to Honolulu and then on to Hilo the following day for 2 weeks of sun.

Boxing day morning and it was time to get to T5 at Heathrow along a very quiet M25 and park the car in the T5 Pod car park, prior to a very quick transfer into the terminal. A nice breakfast at Wagamamas before a stroll to A1 for the BA834 to Dublin, which in the end was running a bit late but not late enough to be a bother.

On arrival in Dublin it was through an empty immigration and then off to check in for the BA839 back to Heathrow. We had about an hour and a half so went to the DAA lounge for a quick bite to eat. The BA839 left a pretty damp and miserable Dublin a bit early and was into Heathrow also a few minutes early and we parked on stand A23, so got to see the entire length of T5A in one day!

We climbed back into the T5 pod and off to pick up the car and it was back home again with the first leg of our trip in the bag without a problem. Also time to take down the Christmas decorations as we were off to San Francisco the following day - a short Christmas that was.

Sunday 27th and we arrived at a totally manic Heathrow T3, so different from the quiet T5 the previous day.

Check in and bag drop took the longest I have ever known for Virgin UC, nothing in front was going right with incorrect passports and rummaging through bags for people to find things. Eventually we got checked in by a cheerful check in agent and with boarding pass in hand it was off to join the long slow moving queue to get through security.

I don’t normally have a problem here, but today was going to be one of those days, as I walked through the arch I could see my bag hadn’t emerged yet. As I walked further down the line my partner's bag came through and was promptly pushed to one side for additional screening along with a few others in front. I had a little snigger to myself and then saw mine come through as well, which also got pushed to one side. :-(

I took advantage of the well placed sofa at the end of the security line and sat down for the wait, which was about 15 minutes as only one person was doing secondary screening to start with. Eventually my turn came and to give the guy some credit he was extremely efficient, polite and chatty and nothing was out of the ordinary and he showed me the x-ray screen image and pointed out why I had been pulled, too many electrical items packed together apparently.

So now it was off to the UC lounge, a rather flustered agent met me at the entrance as she was trying to deal with others who were trying to blag their way in - not sure what level of Delta membership you need but the guy who wanted to get in didn’t meet the criteria. I handed over my boarding pass and was given a quick hello, and sent on my way as the poor agent had to head off 3 people who just walked up and into the Clubhouse without getting checked in and needed hauling out again.

The Clubhouse was pretty packed as we settled down by the window overlooking the metal shed they put up last year. Service though was good and friendly as it always seems to be, a Clubhouse English Breakfast ordered and a cup of coffee and I was happy as can be. All of a sudden a load of flights to New York, Los Angeles, Miami and a couple of Delta flights were announced in quick succession and the lounge virtually emptied.

Once we had had our fill we decided to have a slow stroll down to gate 320 where we arrived approximately 10 minutes prior to boarding starting. Two jet bridges were in operation but there were no checks carried out to ensure that everyone went down the right lane and a slight free for all ensued to get on board.

Once onboard Dancing Queen (twice within a month and a half as she had brought me home from JFK in November) and a glass of champagne in hand it was time to relax. No individual welcome onboard which whilst not important it is nice, even as a lowly Silver it has always been nice in the past and UC was only half full today so they weren’t rushed at that point. Push back was about 10 minutes late due to delayed loading of cargo and then it was time to go.

A warm welcome on board by the Captain and we were told it was going to be 10 hours 52 minutes for the 242 of us onboard to SFO. We pushed back and taxied off to 27R for departure. After departure service was kind of weird, even though it wasn’t a full UC cabin it took ages to get the standard after departure drink. I think what may have caused the delay was the fact that people were getting up heading to the bar and getting drinks and crisps prior to them being brought round so in the end it took nearly an hour to get a drink as it seemed to through the crew out of sync.

After the drinks round menus were distributed and the following was on offer for the day:

Starters:

Chicken & smoked duck terrine
Waldorf salad
Tomato & Basil soup

Mains:

Chicken Biryani
Garlic and herb marinated beef
Fillet of Atlantic Cod
Spinach & ricotta tortellini

Pudding:

Toffee apple pecan sponge
Chocolate brownie

Cheese & Port:

Brie, Applewood wedge & Stilton

I had the Chicken Biryani which I thought was excellent, being full on that I didn’t bother with dessert. Well done Virgin another great curry from you with a bit of a kick behind it. :-D

Drink runs were done at regular intervals throughout the flight but no mention of if you wanted anything off the Extra Bites menu, if you wanted it you had to ask. I was contemplating getting a burger when I noticed they were starting to get ready for afternoon tea which in the end was served about 2 ½ hours prior to landing and they didn’t scrimp on portion sizes.

For the entire duration of the flight it was solid cloud cover no great views of Greenland a brief clear spot over one of the Canadian lakes and that was it, nothing till we broke through the clouds at San Francisco to be treated by great views of the Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz.

We landed on 28L and taxied to the gate to be beaten just by a BA 747, as we were walking to Immigration they were joining us too so it was all a bit packed and the automatic machine I was directed to for immigration decided it wasn’t going to work properly so had to be moved onto a different machine. Then there was a long queue for the meet and greet by the CBP officer. In November at JFK it was “what’s the purpose of your visit, how long, have a nice day” and off you go. This was the full works, ins and outs of everything including going through my passport twice trying to find my previous USA entry so that he could stamp it on the same page!

Baggage turned up pretty quick, well mine did, my partners took awhile to appear and there was that moment when you think has it or hasn’t it. When it did it was through agriculture really quick dealt with by a very cheerful agent and off to our hotel, for tomorrow we had another early start as we were heading to Honolulu on a United Airlines mileage redemption flight plus $5 taxes (please take note here Virgin no ridiculous taxes or charges for mileage redemption flights) followed by yet another $5 reward flight from United Airlines on Hawaiian Airlines from Honolulu to Hilo but on separate PNR’s what could possibly go wrong - 2 hours to collect bags, check in again and back through the TSA security screening - thankfully nothing did and this is now being written from a very nice rental property on the Big Island. :-D

Have a very happy New Year everyone and may all your flights for the next year be truly awesome.
#915039 by buns
30 Dec 2015, 06:49
AlphaEcho

Thank you for the detailed TR - proving that the ex-DUB route can work, provided you give yourself a decent break :-D

The increased number of passengers using UC check in and "private security" is beginning to threaten the advertising claim about journey times from check in and Clubhouse.

Also a big thanks for posting the menu - not sure if there is a main course I would like to have :-(

Have a great New Year in Hawaii.

buns
#915040 by hiljil
30 Dec 2015, 08:14
Thank you for an interesting TR. Glad the ex Dub worked so well and that you had a good flight. What really surprised me was your comment about a quiet M25 near Heathrow !!!!

Have a lovely stay in the sunshine. :cool:
#915041 by AlphaEcho
30 Dec 2015, 08:30
buns wrote:AlphaEcho

Thank you for the detailed TR - proving that the ex-DUB route can work, provided you give yourself a decent break :-D

The increased number of passengers using UC check in and "private security" is beginning to threaten the advertising claim about journey times from check in and Clubhouse.

Also a big thanks for posting the menu - not sure if there is a main course I would like to have :-(

Have a great New Year in Hawaii.

buns

I was a bit worried about doing the ex-Dub, primarily weather related for the time of year so I was quite relived that it was mild and rainy - but my heart does go out to all those up north.

I've noticed that everytime I have gone through the private security lane it has been getting busier and busier and you're right it does take the edge off things slightly.

My other half had the vegetarian option and rated it really good. I guess the only option if you know in advance that there's nothing that's going to really work for you is to order a special meal and see if you have better luck.

hiljil wrote:Thank you for an interesting TR. Glad the ex Dub worked so well and that you had a good flight. What really surprised me was your comment about a quiet M25 near Heathrow !!!!

Have a lovely stay in the sunshine. :cool:

The M25 car park was a nice change, went just a single junction 2 days prior and it was absolutely 5 lanes of crawling traffic with the variable speed limit signs showing 40mph - we should have been so lucky. So if you want a good run, 7am on the day after Christmas day seems the way to go :-D

We will definitely have a great time here thanks, it's not our first by any means and we love it here even if it does take awhile to get here and we do have the loudest coqui frog outside the window right now!
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