This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
The Dreamliner was scheduled for this flight and having visited the Boeing factory around 5 years ago, I was very excited to travel on my first one! I’d expected an aircraft swap up until the final moment so it was great to finally step foot onto an aeroplane I’d read so much about. I’m not sure what I was expecting or why I held it in such high regard, but I was a bit deflated upon boarding. It was shiny and new, but it really didn’t have the wow factor I was somewhat expecting.
We’d opted for 8&9A with myself in 9. Really happy with the seat as I had control over two windows. We took our seats and the crew visited us quickly to take our champagne orders. I was under the impression you couldn’t get champagne on the 787?
Boarding was complete and I was hoping for an on time push back of 14:35. That hope didn’t last long when the Captain greeted us at 14:30 explaining how he had no First Officer. Something to do with a broken down train, but I’d imagine you’d have to be running very very late not to make your own flight. With the Captain passing time, I thought I’d try my luck at a cockpit visit. I used to love doing these as a kid but now I prefer to rush through immigration. He declined my services as FO but he did let me hang out on the flight deck for 15 minutes.
We finally push backed around 15:50, 15 minutes after our first officer made an appearance. During our wait on board, there was no offer of extra champagne, water or orange juice but instead we had a delightfully loud cabin crew discussing their future boyfriends by the bar. There was one main culprit and she even refused to pipe down after the FSM had asked them to keep the noise down. He wasn’t exactly forceful with his request but more of a passing remark as he scooted through the cabin.
Short taxi ride out to 9R and before we knew it we were up in the air. Given our delay we were pleased that we’d be arriving in JFK only 10 minutes later than scheduled. Or so we thought…. More on that, later.
The loud one I mentioned above… This turned out to be her first flight on the 787 and I’m not sure she had adjusted her vocal level accordingly. If anyone would like to know her life story or where she was storing the ladies bag in 3A, please feel free to ask. This aeroplane is a lot quieter than the others in Virgin’s fleet. I’ve flown on the Emirates A380 and as far as noise level is concerned it’s a coin toss between them.
One of the selling factors of the Dreamliner is of course, the blind less windows. I’m not entirely sure I got on with them. This was a day flight but it looked like late evening throughout the flight. This is a picture of how the cabin looked…
…and this is a picture of how bright it was outside.
I didn’t really want any sleep on this flight but with the cabin so dark, you end up in a drowsy state – the complete opposite effect of the 787.
Entertainment was good on board and the onboard wifi was surprisingly decent throughout the flight. Food and drinks service throughout the flight was all okay and I do appreciate the extra bar stool so you can now sit opposite each other. We perched here for afternoon tea.
Before we knew it we were making our final descent into JFK. We were on the ground 10 minutes after our scheduled time and at the gate 10 minutes after that. It’s now 18:10. We finally left the aircraft at 18:45 due to us being parked in the wrong position and the air bridge couldn’t make L2. I know delays can happen but I don’t have much sympathy for late running crew or parking an aeroplane in the wrong position. This did allow for 35 minutes of the crew discussing what they go for in a guy and one of them repeatedly shouting ‘if I had a connection, I’d be so nervous right now!’ If I had a connection, I would have told her to shut up on more than one occasion. The FSM was stood by L2 and he’s taken voluntary redundancy – he has about 2 weeks left and I think that explains the crew’s lacklustre performance. As the redundancies arrive, I’m fearful this might become the norm over the next few six months. This was, unfortunately, the worst crew we’ve ever experienced.
Immigration and customs has improved so much at JFK over the years and we were happy to be in the fresh air by 19:00. A quick Uber into town and we were at our hotel by 19:45. I love hotels.com. Their reward/loyalty scheme is great. I had made 10 qualifying stays last year so we had £250 in credit to spend on a night in NYC. We’ve been a few times and stayed all over the city but this time we settled on Marmara Park Avenue. It’s on 32nd/Park Ave, just around the corner from the ESB. It opened last September and has been getting great reviews… I really can’t wait to stay here again and would highly recommend! We had a deluxe room – not much of a view but I’m a believer of any outside space is NYC is great. The lobby smells superb and it's one of few hotels with a pool. Room was of a decent size and there are some pictures below.
We’ve stayed in a few hotels in NYC over the last year and this would be our personal order of preference:
Marmara Park Avenue
Pierre by Taj
Trump International Hotel & Tower (Central Park)
The Iroquois (Not sure why this was ever so high in TA)
I’m currently on our internal flight from LGA -> MCO, flying with JetBlue 1199. Great as always and running about 40 minutes ahead of schedule. We have extra legroom seats – mainly so we’re first off. If you’ve never flown with them, their standard seats give you more room than Virgin Y.
It was also our first time flying out of La Guardia. Nothing to do there but a quick 17-minute car journey from our hotel and a very east airport to navigate. Really do arrive last minute though as there’s nothing. We got half excited when the fire alarms rang as it gave us something to do.
I must take a moment to highlight Southwest. I’ve flown with them a few times and I was due to fly with them last October. We weren’t getting along with Chicago so we changed our itinerary and headed down to the Gulf coast a day earlier. We ended up flying with United. Anyway, when you cancel with Southwest they make it ridiculously easy to reuse the credit. So, our internal flight from MCO -> DCA next week is effectively, free. I’m also very excited to be flying into Reagan and hoping for a runway 19 arrival!
VS On-board menu
Starters
Chicken and smoked duck terrine
Waldorf salad
Tomato and basil soup
Mains
Chicken Biryani
Garlic and herb marinated beef
Grilled salmon fillet
Spinach and ricotta tortellini
Pudding
Toffee apple pecan sponge
Chocolate brownie
Extra Bites
Warm vegetable pakora and samosa
Cold charcuterie
Thanks for reading.
Mike