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#921609 by SlimpyJones
19 May 2016, 20:33
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Sorry this has taken such a long time to post. For whatever reason I keep forgetting!

As referenced in my outbound trip report, my friend and I were travelling in UC with her partner who was travelling in PE. We were originally booked onto the VS112, however a couple of weeks before our outbound flight, our return was cancelled and we were rebooked onto the VS46 departing an hour earlier. No big deal to be honest, I can only assume it was a consolidation of a light load.

During our outbound, my friend's partner briefly visited the UC cabin from PE. Following his subsequent amazement, I offered to upgrade him using my miles if there were any Gs available. In exchange for some kind of food offering, of course ;-)

As luck would have it, despite the consolidation there was a reward seat available and after a surprisingly small cash (his, not mine!!) amount and 20,000 of my miles, all three of us would return in UC.

Fast forward a week and it was time to go home. We arrived at JFK via a fairly extortionate taxi ride at just after 2pm. A little early as the Virgin desks hadn't opened yet! No matter, we waited in the special Sky Priority/Upperclass area while I went for a wander round the terminal.
The desks eventually opened at just before 2:30pm, and the three of us were checked in by a lovely girl at the desk, who we all had a chat with about the weird ways that people mispronounce our surnames. I asked about the load and she informed us that UC had a few spare seats, 100 or so spares in Y, but PE was actually oversold! Which makes me extra glad we found that G upgrade.
Off through Sky Priority security and we were in the departure area within about 10 minutes. After deciding to pass on duty free, we made our way to the JFK Clubhouse, my first visit in nearly 18 months. It was sparsely populated given it was 3pm, and had only just opened.
We found seats off to the right near the windows and sampled the menu. Dare I say it, but I do honestly think that the food and drinks menu at JFK is better than the LHR clubhouse. There just seemed to be far more variety for mains, tapas, light bites, the lot. Their tie up with Employee's Only really has thrown up some interesting things. I tried pretty much everything I could, including both variations of the flatbread and was delighted.
I managed a couple of games of pool and sampled some bottles of the very good local NY beers they had available.
My friend was disappointed that the JFK Clubhouse had no complimentary haircuts for the ladies - as a short haired girl she often has a problem being lumped in with the ladies hairdressers despite her probably having less hair than me.
Head massage booked for me which after a few Manhattan cocktails was especially nice...

As we were preparing for the boarding call, a short delay of 40 minutes was announced in the Clubhouse. The time passed quickly though and eventually boarding was called at gate A3.

We boarded to a friendly greeting and I made my way to 11K, with my friends in 12K and 14K. Chuckled a bit at the lack of row 13 for the superstitious folk out there. By strange coincidence, we spotted the same member of CC working our flight who had been on our outbound! Sadly she wasn't working K side, but it was nice to have a quick "Hello again!" with her, as she recognised us straight away.

Alas, no individual welcomes/introductions on this flight - by the looks of it a couple of CC plus the FSM were tending to a girl across from us on the A side for reasons unknown, so this took up a fair bit of their time. Understandable. The lady serving our side I would describe as friendly, helpful and functional. I often judge how good a crew member is by whether I can remember their name or face. With her, I cannot remember either. That being said, she was still perfectly nice and worked hard.

Our bird for this flight would be G-VFIT. By the looks of it, this was definitely one of the refreshed A346s. The seat looked much tidier, with even my friend remarking that it looked a lot better. As others here have mentioned, same old IFE, though. I tried to catch some of James Bond: Spectre but with dinner service and my desire to sleep I only made it to the 40 minute mark.

After a long taxi we were eventually airbourne at around 8pm, an hour behind schedule. A load of 226 on board, and in my wanderings I couldn't spot a spare UC seat. The flight time was announced as just over 6 hours, which would easily make up for the delayed departure. With that in mind I made it my plan to get some sleep as soon as I could after dinner. Menus and sleep suits were offered, and happily accepted. I kept ahold of the menu as this one was apparently issued for the VS46 route only, so given it's a different one to what's been posted before - here it is!

Starter
Mesclun salad with warm breads

Mains
Beef Fillet
Chicken breast
Vegetable Korma (v)

Pudding
Duo of mousses

Cheese and port
Black truffle cheddar
New England Camambert
Wisconsin Farmstead Bleu

Wanting to get some sleep soon, I opted to skip the starter and go straight to the main. After several mixed reviews here I thought I'd add my thoughts on the beef fillet. Good news - it was very tasty indeed. Maybe a little overdone for my liking but it was very tender nonetheless. I initially passed on dessert, but our CC lady spotted me eyeing up my friend's dessert, and brought me a plate. It was very, very tasty. No regrets!! Passed on the cheese, though as I typed the menu just now, I wish I hadn't as they sound lovely...

I decided at this point to get changed, and when I returned the FSM had made up my bed for me. The cabin was beginning to dim. It took a little while for me to get settled, but the next thing I remember was waking up for breakfast! It looks like I managed to get 2 - 2:30 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Sadly my friends didn't, though they didn't even convert their seats so I'm not surprised!
Breakfast was orange juice, a croissant and a bowl of corn flakes. Boring, yes, but after a week of NY food, my stomach needed some relief and so a lighter option was most welcomed.

And so we landed at just around 7:15, said our goodbyes to the crew and made our way through immigration in about 10 minutes. Not too bad for this particular morning - the e-Gates were still out of commission, though.
Bags collected, past the point of no return and into arrivals and it was over to the limo desk, where I had prebooked a transfer back in exchange for miles. It would just be my friend and I this time, she and her partner said their goodbyes, and it was off to the car. And thus, our New York adventure came to an end.

Next week I'm off to Boulder in Colorado, flying LHR-DTW-DEN-JFK-LHR using the daytime JFK-LHR flight. All sectors in Economy! I plan to do as detailed TR as I can for both VS sectors, as we don't get many from steerage!

Thanks for reading :)
#921614 by TimCrawley
19 May 2016, 22:21
Enjoyed the TR, thanks for posting - now my firm resolve at avoiding the VS beef after recent bad experiences myself and comments in other TRs is starting to wilt like a recent BA salad, as this is another recent report where the beef wasn't actually only suitable for re-heeling old boots .... will I risk the beef on Sunday's flight to MBJ... will post my VS65 report sometime next week, hopefully from the beach and not from the dentist's chair!

Look forward to reading the Economy TRs in a week or two, as you say we don't get enough posted and although I've been E on several non-EU carriers in recent years I think it's over 10 years since E on VS so that's going to be interesting to read about.
#921644 by marshy11
20 May 2016, 17:44
Thanks for posting. I wonder how you may compare it to your flights next week?
#921648 by buns
21 May 2016, 05:53
Thanks for the TR and well done on being able to grab that additional G for the return ;-)

Seems like a solid performance from VS on your return - Clubhouses remain the jewel in the Crown for VS and it you clearly had a good FSM - which makes all the difference.

May the upgrade gods being shinning upon you for your next jaunt :D

buns
#921654 by SlimpyJones
21 May 2016, 09:51
Thanks for the comments everyone. Totally agreed Buns - whilst it may not be the biggest and the flashiest lounge, the JFK CH must be one of, if not the best lounge in the States in terms of offerings.

I'm hoping that flying in Y next will offer a bit of perspective, it's been a very long time and am worried that I'm getting "too" used to PE/UC and the shine has rubbed off in a way. Plus at £393 round trip to DEN I was not arguing haha. At least I have ELR seats, and day flights for both sectors!
#921668 by tomthumb
21 May 2016, 15:33
Great TR and nice you managed the upgrade for your friend
#921835 by hiljil
25 May 2016, 08:38
Thank you for your interesting TR. I hope your next flights are comfortable and pleasing. I am particularly interested in reading about the food !
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