Going to have to put this here as there's no 103 in the trip reports section yet. Also my first ever trip report, so let's see how much I can recall from my Friday flight!
So before I get started, the scores are:
Ground Staff: 5
Food & Drink: 5
Entertainment: 4
Seat: 5
Cabin Crew: 5
Whilst this was a trip to ATL, my final destination was ORD to visit the other half for the weekend. Sadly, my two days of travel (out on 1/5, returning 3/5) were the only two that did not have a direct service despite the seasonal flight starting the day before. Alas, couple of extra TPs for flying Delta was worth the extra few hours in my eyes.
The trip started the night before, with my usual stay at Arora Hotel, great place, conveniently located for LHR. Alarm set for 6am, it was straight up and out by 6:15, in time to catch the bus to the airport station.
It's worth pointing out that this was my first trip since my newly acquired Au status, so it was my first time using the Upperclass checkin desks and private security! With no bags to drop it was a simple case of grabbing the boarding pass. A quick check for Gs yielded no luck, owing to a full UC cabin for the flight. Glad to see that the route is giving a good return, at least, for today!
Scanning the boarding pass to go through the private channel certainly gives some good feels inside, a very exclusive feel - even during a fairly quiet period with not many in security anyhow.
After that, it was straight on to what would be my second visit to the Clubhouse. Boarding was set to 9:30, so I had a good two and a half hours to kill. Shouldn't be too difficult to fill that! Haircut was booked for half an hour's time, which gave me ample opportunity to order breakfast and settle in in front of the giant TV screens. A quick snip later (by a very chatty guy who told me stories of shaving Shia LeBouf's hair, and giving SRB his haircut for the AirAsia stunt) followed by a lovely steam shower, it was time for more feeding in the form of salmon, followed by more salmon.
Somehow it was already approaching 9:30, and the flight was called. A short trip followed to Gate 17. There was no priority boarding by the time I arrived and everyone was filtering in as they were sent through, so I was settled in quickly! We departed on time with a load of 265. UC was full, as was PE, and only a smattering of spare seats in Economy, so a good haul today!
The flight was fairly smooth and unremarkable - the point lost for IFE was for a touch screen that was really hard to Pause and scroll through movies with. The amount of times I repeatedly mashed the pause button only for nothing to happen was pretty infuriating.
The day really came to life though shortly before meal service. I was approached by the cabin crew lady who was tending to the PE cabin, who asked, as we had a near full flight, what I would like to eat as she would be serving me first. Note that I was sat in Row 25 at the back of the cabin, so was purely approached due to the Au status, and apparently being the only one in the cabin! I thought this was fantastic - lunch promptly arrived before anyone else got theirs! A very special feeling indeed.
As she came to clear the trays away we had a great chat about her favourite places to go (with Chicago being her favourite, which pleased me no end!), among other things.
The flight was topped off shortly after afternoon tea, when upon returning from the bathroom the cabin crew lady approached me to say that she had left a present on my chair - a full bottle of sparkling wine for the girlfriend and I to share! I wasn't much of a wine drinker, but this was so nice to have. I asked her if she could place it in a security bag so that I could take it through the connection, which she happily obliged.
By then, it was time to land, I thanked her on the way out, and probably ranked this as my best flight with VS. Immigration was a lot quieter compared to the same trip last month, and was through immigration and customs within 20 minutes, so had time to kill in the SkyLounge in Concourse B at ATL!
I'll absolutely be writing to HQ about the cabin crew, it was a wonderful experience and a delightful introduction to Au status. Sadly, the flight home didn't quite match up, although I was asleep for 6 of the 8 hours so this didn't bother me much.
And that's it!
So before I get started, the scores are:
Ground Staff: 5
Food & Drink: 5
Entertainment: 4
Seat: 5
Cabin Crew: 5
Whilst this was a trip to ATL, my final destination was ORD to visit the other half for the weekend. Sadly, my two days of travel (out on 1/5, returning 3/5) were the only two that did not have a direct service despite the seasonal flight starting the day before. Alas, couple of extra TPs for flying Delta was worth the extra few hours in my eyes.
The trip started the night before, with my usual stay at Arora Hotel, great place, conveniently located for LHR. Alarm set for 6am, it was straight up and out by 6:15, in time to catch the bus to the airport station.
It's worth pointing out that this was my first trip since my newly acquired Au status, so it was my first time using the Upperclass checkin desks and private security! With no bags to drop it was a simple case of grabbing the boarding pass. A quick check for Gs yielded no luck, owing to a full UC cabin for the flight. Glad to see that the route is giving a good return, at least, for today!
Scanning the boarding pass to go through the private channel certainly gives some good feels inside, a very exclusive feel - even during a fairly quiet period with not many in security anyhow.
After that, it was straight on to what would be my second visit to the Clubhouse. Boarding was set to 9:30, so I had a good two and a half hours to kill. Shouldn't be too difficult to fill that! Haircut was booked for half an hour's time, which gave me ample opportunity to order breakfast and settle in in front of the giant TV screens. A quick snip later (by a very chatty guy who told me stories of shaving Shia LeBouf's hair, and giving SRB his haircut for the AirAsia stunt) followed by a lovely steam shower, it was time for more feeding in the form of salmon, followed by more salmon.
Somehow it was already approaching 9:30, and the flight was called. A short trip followed to Gate 17. There was no priority boarding by the time I arrived and everyone was filtering in as they were sent through, so I was settled in quickly! We departed on time with a load of 265. UC was full, as was PE, and only a smattering of spare seats in Economy, so a good haul today!
The flight was fairly smooth and unremarkable - the point lost for IFE was for a touch screen that was really hard to Pause and scroll through movies with. The amount of times I repeatedly mashed the pause button only for nothing to happen was pretty infuriating.
The day really came to life though shortly before meal service. I was approached by the cabin crew lady who was tending to the PE cabin, who asked, as we had a near full flight, what I would like to eat as she would be serving me first. Note that I was sat in Row 25 at the back of the cabin, so was purely approached due to the Au status, and apparently being the only one in the cabin! I thought this was fantastic - lunch promptly arrived before anyone else got theirs! A very special feeling indeed.
As she came to clear the trays away we had a great chat about her favourite places to go (with Chicago being her favourite, which pleased me no end!), among other things.
The flight was topped off shortly after afternoon tea, when upon returning from the bathroom the cabin crew lady approached me to say that she had left a present on my chair - a full bottle of sparkling wine for the girlfriend and I to share! I wasn't much of a wine drinker, but this was so nice to have. I asked her if she could place it in a security bag so that I could take it through the connection, which she happily obliged.
By then, it was time to land, I thanked her on the way out, and probably ranked this as my best flight with VS. Immigration was a lot quieter compared to the same trip last month, and was through immigration and customs within 20 minutes, so had time to kill in the SkyLounge in Concourse B at ATL!
I'll absolutely be writing to HQ about the cabin crew, it was a wonderful experience and a delightful introduction to Au status. Sadly, the flight home didn't quite match up, although I was asleep for 6 of the 8 hours so this didn't bother me much.
And that's it!
It is TR's like this that remind why we love to fly Virgin 
Hope the weekend was as good as the flight if not a little better 
