We took the shuttle bus from the Hilton to the airport and also on board were an American family with rather a lot of luggage and a boisterous child and crying baby and flying with VA. We looked at each other and shivered.
We arrived at check in around 1645ish for the 2035 departure and made our way to the J check in line (or cordoned area as there was no line) and were seen immediately by a very nice young english lady. She processed us quickly and efficiently and our bags were put on a belt behind the desk. No need to take them to TSA screening ourselves. She handed us our BPs and lounge invites all in a neat little wallet entitled Boarding Pass Boarding House.
We set off for security and our papers were checked at the foot of the escalator and the nice lady (yes the TSA do employ one) said she would radio to her colleague upstairs so we would be inserted into the head of the line as travelling business. This was done and we were much to the annoyance of those around. Typical US security screening took forever with staff who seemed not to give a damn. Anyway we were soon through with no dramas and made our way to the Alaska Air lounge. It took a bit of finding even with the instructions but it was there. Luckily we were in J as the terminal was not a place I would want to wait 5 minutes let alone 3 hours. Makes LHR T3 look like heaven.
The lounge itself is relatively small and does have a complimentary bar and snack service, it also has views out onto the northern runways and free wifi which was actually quite good (while it was quiet). There are no showers though - not that we wanted one as we had not had a particularly busy day (lunch at Manhattan Village shopping centre - followed by a look around and a drink or two).
The FSM or equivalent came into the lounge at around 1930 and walked around asking if anyone was Melbourne bound and she introduced herself and said boarding would commence in around 20 minutes and that as the flight was full in Y they wouldn't be sending anyone up to escort us to the gate. After she left the OH asked why I was to talking to the lady from VS when we were flying VA. I pointed out she was from VA and that the uniforms look similar.
We decided to stretch our legs and have a walk around hades sorry the terminal before boarding. For some reason boarding was delayed and we ended up loitering by the tensa barriers at the J line. There were babies all around us and we crossed our fingers, toes, arms...
Suddenly the lady who checked us in walked up and opened up the J line as invited us to board. Off we went and ended up being 1 and 2 on the plane. Welcomed by name and to VA International Business Class and instructed to turn left and right to the front. Before we had even had time to put out hand luggage in the overhead bin we were asked if we would like a drink and if we needed a hand.
Champagne was duly requested and we made ourselves comfortable in 1a and 1c - again. The cc member said there were only 13 J passengers so the cabin would seem quite empty and it did. I decided to request and change into the pjs before take off and upon returning to my seat I was offered a refill. - rude not to accept.
The door was closed and no children or babies in J. The only thing to keep any up would be my snoring (and I had started to get a cold). Me 1 - children 0. A manual safety demo was done as the TV monitors are stowed and the captain informed us of a flight time of a 'long 15h30m'. With take off expected to be at 2130 - we ended up having to taxi round to the southern runways for some reason.
After take off drinks and nibbles were offered and the dinner orders taken. The menu was as follows:
Soup - Fragrant Carrot and Ginger*
Starters - Harbour Point beechwood smoked atlantic salmon with creme fraiche salmon caviar and grissini*
or
Tandoori spiced lamb salad with Moroccan pumpkin, chickpeas and yoghurt dressing
Main courses - Basque style braised chicken with olives, paprika and green beans or
roasted rack of lamb with dill crushed potatoes, semi dried tomato, caper and eschallot salsa* or
barramundi fillet, pesto kipfler potatoes, french beans and roasted vine ripened tomatoes or
Zucchini and parmesan frittata with corn, fava bean and tomato salsa
Cheese Board*
Dessert - coconut panna cotta with vanilla poached mango and or Haagen Dazs ice creams
Salt and Pepper
This could be had with matched wines or whatever. My choices are marked with asterisks and were excellent - I didn't want any dessert.
After dinner I had my bed made up and went to sleep (on and off for some 8 hours) it did get a little bumpy a couple of times and thats what woke me up.
Didn't avail ourselves of the bar again.
Breakfast was served 2 hours before landing and was very nice. The cc looking after us and the FSM came round just prior to landing to ask if we had enjoyed the service and thanked us for travelling VA International Business. The cc member said she felt bad as she had nothing to do most of the flight as the cabin was empty and everyone slept.
We landed late after flying for 15h40m and luckily as we were late immigration and customs were quiet. Bags came off very quickly and we were spared the usual luggage scan at customs and shown directly towards the exit. In the end we were at home in our apartment within 55 minutes of touching down.
Overall another excellent flight from VA - the service, food and staff are all excellent and I would highly recommend them for crossing the pacific. Lets hope they expand their international network.
Outbound amenity kit bag
Inbound amenity kit bag
Amenity kit contents (plus a pen)
Toilet 'wallpaper' as mentioned in VA11 TR
If you look carefully you can see kangaroos, koalas, cookaburras, parrots, maidens, surfers, turtles etc clever I thought.
Rob
