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#918301 by TimCrawley
04 Mar 2016, 08:52
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
This was a follow on from my BA flight in from Brussels as part of an exEU trip.

Checkin was very busy (Wednesdays usually are apparently) but no more than a couple of minutes wait at Upper checkin - quick, friendly and efficient so off into the CH after an emergency 5 ciggies outside.

Fast track was actually quite fast this time so took the left turn before the escalators to come out directly at CH level.

Had a quick look at the Grain Store (you can actually see into part of their kitchens as you enter fast track) and it looks nice if you're not lounging it and you're happy to spend £12-15 on a fancy breakfast.

As I posted on the wave from the CH, managed a couple of Redheads and a tea but no breakfast arrived (obviously they simply didn't know who I was and forgot me and my order? They were really friendly and had been trying to clear up after the exodus for all the earlier flights so I didn't make a fuss and simply stuffed myself on the flight!).

Wifi was terribly slow in CH but they were on a different password to the one on the menu suggesting they had a problem on the day and had replaced the router/hamsters.

Boarding called so took a leisurely stroll down to gate 19 where there was no queue and most people were already on board (I'm fairly sure they said 446 PAX on board - plus a baby - so with UC full it seems a solid load in the rest of the plane.

Crew gave a friendly welcome and came round promptly with drinks, papers etc

They had a note up in the galley showing who was who in UC and whether they were GC, the fancy Ultimates - there was one - or just a Delta stowaway and they did come round welcoming people on board in UC by name (which doesn't usually happen to me on this flight when I've been on before!)

Push back only a few minutes late and as there was minimal delay after taxi we took off pretty much on time.

Food service was really well done and the CC were really friendly and on good form throughout, kept unobtrusively checking everyone was okay by passing frequently to give people a chance to flag them down - overall an excellent crew. The menu was still the 'old' December one so no point in me posting details - new menu probably only a few days away so hopefully someone will post that once it shows up (I'll try to remember to post the VS44 one as that should have changed by the time I return on the 14th).

We got the usual 'stock check may mean bar service is closed for an hour or two during the flight' that's aimed at over exuberant Viva LV PAX in case they overindulge (quite sensible really as US immigration get quite grumpy if passengers arrive too sozzled) but I don't think they had to implement it during this flight in any class. CC were regularly stopping by to keep UC topped up and were equally helpful when I popped into the galley for another drink top-up and a burger (the burger was very tasty indeed).

Flight deck kept us well posted on progress and only a couple of short spells of clear air turbulence on the way over. They gave a couple of reminders to hit the washrooms before landing as it was a full enough flight and this seemed to work better than the usual single announcement as everyone knew they had 20 minutes and then 10 minutes before seat belt light would be on.

Got the normal route in over Lake Mead / Hoover Dam and this time both sides of the aircraft got decent views of both as a few turns made.

With a flight time around 10 hours and a bit we were 20-25 minutes ahead of schedule but the long taxi to the terminal probably meant closer to 15 minutes early to the gate.

Immigration not too crowded (the usual Aero Mexico flight that usually beats the VS flight wasn't on stand) but they did the usual trick of clearing the entire previous flight before letting any VS PAX through to the officer queues and they also, as usual, refused to let any of the first 60 or so PAX go through to the E-Gates meaning the UC and PE PAX were queue jumped by the first group of the E passengers. On this occasion I wasn't too bothered as actually through immigration in just about 15 minutes and my luggage had probably only done a couple of circuits on the carousel as it was only about half full with bags with the rest still pouring out onto the belt - so probably the best LAS baggage handling of recent trips too.

No queue to hand over customs slip so straight outside for a ciggie which turned into 3 ciggies as the car rental shuttles were running slow due to airport road works meaning first two shuttles were full and drove straight past.

Car rental with Alamo, via Autoeurope, had a bit of a queue but enough agents that it was less than 20 minutes before I was in the car (without them wasting more than a few minutes fruitlessly trying to sell me an upgrade and a tank of fuel etc) so out into a lovely 26c late afternoon with the roof down for a very pleasant cruise along the strip to the hotel :-)

Return trip report should include a report on the recently merged Rio Seafood Buffet (it's moved to inside the main Carnival Buffet & you just pay $15 extra for the seafood option). I just tried out the buffet at the Wynn for dinner tonight and that was very good (I probably rate it higher than the Bellagio buffet as the desserts are far better and there are more 'action' fresh cooking options available but to be fair the Bellagio usually offers Kobe beef and two types of crab legs to one at Wynn so it's a close call!).

Thanks for reading, hope I wasn't too tedious!
#918307 by hiljil
04 Mar 2016, 10:10
Thank you for your TR. Always nice to read a positive review.
#918347 by buns
04 Mar 2016, 19:27
Thanks for the TR.

The Wednesday Vegas flights are renowned for the day the Stag/Hen parties travelling, so I can imagine why there was caution about the drinks.

Shame about the Clubhouse brekkie

Have a great time in Vegas

buns
#918401 by TimCrawley
05 Mar 2016, 18:48
Thanks everyone!

 #918315  by Silver Fox
 04 Mar 2016, 13:27


If you fancy doing something a little different for food in Vegas gives Capos Speakeasy a go.

http://www.caposrestaurant.com/

The hidden menu "the leftovers" is massive.


Cheers for the recommendation - will try to get there and test it out! The mission today is meeting 'local' friends at the Rio Carnival buffet for a diet lunch to test out the recent combination with the seafood buffet - will save that for the return trip report if my expanded waistline lets me still reach a keyboard ( a BIG breakfast up at the Mt Charleston Lodge hasn't helped so far) :-)
#918446 by pjh
06 Mar 2016, 18:13
TimCrawley wrote:
The mission today is meeting 'local' friends at the Rio Carnival buffet for a diet lunch


"Diet" and "Vegas". Why does the term oxymoron come to mind?

Thanks for the original TR.
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