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#915947 by AlphaEcho
15 Jan 2016, 14:24
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This is the return trip report for our ex EU trip out to Hawaii (we went via Dublin the day before we left Heathrow for San Francisco then onto Honolulu before finally settling down on the island of Hawaii for 2 weeks of fantastic sun).

We were booked on the VS42 out of San Francisco which wasn’t scheduled to leave until 9pm so we decided to make use of the day in different ways. I jumped on a Delta shuttle and went to LAX and back to SFO for a quick tier point run, whilst my other half went into San Francisco for lunch with an old friend. Having secured a late check out from the Hilton SFO Bayfront we got the shuttle bus back to the airport at 5pm.

Check in was pretty quiet and we were soon being dealt with by a very friendly agent who didn’t bat an eyelid when I said our destination was London and our bags were checked as far as that. (No mention of our other flight from LHR to DUB the following day – damn knew there was somewhere I had to go yesterday.)

The Clubhouse was reasonably empty when we arrived and the staff were as warm and friendly as we have always found them to be there.

We settled in by the window for a drink having decided it was too early to eat just yet, between us we had a Tom Collins and a Virgin Redhead. I hadn’t had one before, not really being a cocktail kind of person but I did like the Virgin Redhead.

About 7pm we decided to move over to a proper table to eat. Our server wouldn’t even let us carry our own glasses of water over, she insisted on doing it saying we were guests and it wouldn’t be right. We settled down for dinner, not sure if we would eat again on the plane or not, it depended upon how we felt later on. I had the Thai Beef Curry whilst my partner had the Vegetarian burger with sweet potato fries. Both of these were really good – although I must admit the curry wasn’t quite as good as the one I had in the JFK clubhouse the previous month, but I still devoured the lot.

The Clubhouse had now filled up a bit more and at 7:45 we decided to leave to do some retail therapy in the duty free – in the end we both purchased nothing. Security was the busiest I have seen at SFO at that time of the day but the CBP agent checking passports and boarding passes was the most cheerful I have ever met at a US airport. Eventually we were through the scanners. (Bit of a rant here - I think it would be a really good idea if they introduced a special lane for people who were incapable of following the easiest of instructions with what needs to be removed and placed through the scanner and what you need to do yourself. Or one if you are so important you can take as long as you want, use 4 trays, take laptops and liquids out of your bag, take you coat off, shoes off and all the time do it one handed whilst the other hand keeps that all important mobile phone clamped to the side of your head whilst you continue the conversation that the rest of the line can listen into in your own time, I mean it’s not like there are others who may want to use the same line as you, just take all the time you need!)

After the non-event of the duty free shopping we slowly walked down to A11 where we were scheduled to depart from. Boarding was due to start in a couple of minutes so we hung about close to the Upper Class boarding lane, but not so close it was obvious that we wanted to get on board and settled in.

Once pre-boarding was done and Upper Class boarding started a guy rushed up to the front of the lane determined to get on board first. Shame he didn’t have his passport ready so passed over his phone to the not so impressed gate agent who was checking passports whilst he rummaged through his bag for his own one. Passport eventually found he moves on to the gate agent to scan his boarding pass on his phone, as he hands it over the screen times out and he has to get his boarding pass back up. I’m glad his rush to get on board first worked out for him as he looked quite flustered when he finally walked down the jetway.

We were welcomed on board by the friendly cabin crew and settled down in 5A and 6A respectively. Boarding was carried out quickly and drinks were offered and accepted. Doors were closed and with only 108 passengers on board (but a full looking Upper Class cabin) and 15 crew it was time to go and we pushed back 5 minutes ahead of schedule.

On the flight deck we had 2 Captains and one First Officer, so I think one of the Captains was being checked out as one Captain said he would be doing the flying tonight and the First Officer left the cockpit soon after departure.

Departure though wasn’t as quick as was expected. I had seen earlier on the TV news that they were expecting a storm to hit the Bay area later that day and I think it had begun to move in. Shortly after pushback and a bit of a taxi we stopped and didn’t move for a while. The Captain then informed us that the airport was in the process of changing runways so our departure would be delayed whilst they did that and also whilst the flight deck crew reprogrammed everything for the new departure runway.

After 45 minutes from our initial pushback we had reached the holding point of runway 10L. Sitting on the left hand side I could see the stream of traffic coming in on the 19’s and the Captain announced we would be a few more minutes as he could see the traffic coming in on his left hand side. ATC though thought differently and we were cleared for take-off prior to anything else landing. As we rolled down 10L I looked out of the window at the traffic coming in to land on the 19’s and they looked close, but ATC obviously saw a gap and do this all the time.

Just after we lifted off we had what sounded like a waterfall from the front galley and I could see the FA at door 1L looking across to his colleague on the other side of the cabin, as soon as the FA’s were released there was a quick rush for blankets that were put down on the floor to mop up the river that I think was also making its way down the other aisle.

The cabin crew were very friendly and were working hard with the drinks round and taking dinner orders as well as breakfast and duty free requests. (Does anybody know if the FA’s receive any commission for duty free sales? The reason I ask is that I had pre-ordered something from the website to make sure I got it and if the FA’s get commission I may not do that in future if it does them out of a few quid).

The dinner menu was as follows:

Starters:

Roasted garlic and cauliflower soup
Tuna nicoise
Artichoke and manchego salad

Mains:

Beef tips with portobello gnocchi
Chicken and mushroom teriyaki
Mushroom and rocket risotto
Gravlax salad

Pudding:

Sticky toffee ginger pudding
Chocolate mocha mousse

Cheese and Port:

Beemster goat, Ewe’s blue, Le Chimay a la Biere

There was a bit of a mushroom theme running through the mains and they also featured prominently with my breakfast.

I have never had a bad meal on Virgin – until now. I decided to skip the starters and planned on just having a main as we had eaten in the Clubhouse a few hours earlier. I had the Mushroom and rocket risotto. It was however more like cheesy congealed rice pudding. It was exceptionally stodgy and the rice was way over cooked, definitely not living up to its menu description – Creamy wild roasted mushroom risotto with baby rocket leaves. Finished with Italian cheese. More like the type of pudding your gran would make when you were a kid and she was having a really bad day and had forgotten to take it out the oven before it had dried out – even that would still have been nicer. Sadly, a big miss here Virgin your caterers let you down.

I decided then to have the Chocolate mocha mousse because as we all know chocolate makes everything right again, and it did.

After dinner my pre-ordered duty free was delivered and I decide to see if I could get any sleep. I’m terrible for sleeping on planes and it normally just doesn’t work for me. The crew were busy in the galley and I’m always more than happy to make my own bed up, I had hardly get the seat flat when a FA spotted me and quickly said “please allow me to do that for you”. I stepped aside and she quickly had everything in order and asked if I needed anything before settling down.

As usual for me sleep just wasn’t going to happen despite the fact I was feeling very tired and the ride was nice and smooth after a bit of turbulence we had had in the first hour or so out of SFO. So after a couple of hours trying I gave up, and decided that sitting back upright was the thing and made my bed back up, whilst the majority of the rest of the cabin gently snored on. Once I had made the bed up, (I did notice that it is definitely quieter moving the seat around than the 747’s used to be) a FA appeared and asked if I was alright or needed anything, with a glass of orange juice in hand the trusted Kindle was back out and the seat fully reclined I read for a few hours until breakfast was being served.

I had a cooked breakfast, without eggs – for me eggs on a plane just don’t work. So I think they made up for the empty space on the plate with extra mushrooms! As about a third of the plate was filled with them. Breakfast was tasty and washed down with a cup of coffee.

Once breakfast was cleared away and most of the cabin had gone to the washrooms to freshen up and get changed we started our descent. The Captain said he would be putting the seat belt sign on in about 30 minutes so just before that time was up I decided to pay a final quick visit to the toilet. It seems my timing was slightly out because no sooner was I in there the seat belt sign came on, followed shortly after by a knock on the toilet door. I called out that I would be out very shortly, but obviously not loud enough as the door was opened by a FA from outside, not sure who was most shocked, her or me because I couldn’t stop the door from being opened as in Upper they are also the disabled toilets and the doors just open outwards. Thankfully neither one of us have been scarred for life by the experience as all she saw was my back - could have been so much worse, but she looked very embarrassed as I looked over my shoulder and she quickly shut the door. I never saw here again, so maybe she did need to lie down!

After returning to my seat the front galley waterfall made another appearance but not quite as spectacular by the sound of it from the first occasion. This time it was table cloths to the rescue as a pile of them were quickly taken forward to mop up I assume. There then followed an episode with one of the seats opposite that seemed to have got stuck half way between seat and bed mode and needed a couple of FA's to work on it and take parts off before it behaved again.

No holding at Heathrow as we had slowed down early so we were told, to avoid any holding and a very smooth touchdown on 27L and a short taxi to the gate. Total time from gate to gate was 10 hours 47 minutes with a flying time of 9 hours 57 minutes.

Finally my first flight on a 787 and I liked it, it felt roomier inside due I think to the larger windows. Still not as nice as the nose of a 747 but better than the current configuration of the 330’s. Can’t say I noticed the difference Boeing claim that lower pressurisation and increased humidity make but it definitely seemed quieter inside, and the added waterfall feature made for a good flight.

Well done Virgin, hit the mark again, great flight with awesome hard working, friendly Flight Attendants, even the dodgy meal didn’t ruin this. Looking forward to the next one.
#915971 by buns
15 Jan 2016, 22:46
Thanks for a great TR.

Like Mrs Buns, I am sure you found it a considerably better because it was considerably cheaper :-D

That 787 joureny still elludes me, but I keep my fingers crossed

buns

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