This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Once we were through fast track and into the duty free there was a notice board and a very helpful chap to explain that if you were travelling with Virgin today, you could purchase anything from duty free and then have it them delivered to you at the gate. Hooray![y] Purchased some more Lipstick and an eyebrow pencil. The cashier then told me that as the items weren't a liquid or gel I could take them on board [:?]
We made it to the Clubhouse which I had not been in since last October. I really like the new additions Virgin have made to it. It feels much more spacious. We treated ourselves to breakfast. I had the waffles with syrup and MrG had a rather large English breakfast. The waiting staff were excellent, the best I have ever seen in the LHR Clubhouse. We were really looked after[:)] After breakfast we wandered up to the garden. Here, two very happy bunnies passed a good half an hour! Me, watching various aircraft come and go and MrG playing with the Jaguar XK. He even made me take some pics of him in it[8D] After indulging ourselves we went into the skylounge and spent the rest of the time relaxing and reading. I also had a little play with the huge blinds in the skylounge[}:)]
About 10.30am, the flight still hadn't been called but we decided to make our way to Gate 32 When we got there, a huge queue snaking around the departure area greeted us. Although the priority boarding sign was there, prority boarding certainly wasn't in evidence[V] so we joined the queue. I was subjected to a body search before I boarded. It shows that security were doing their job properly, no problems there.
Sorry, but I couldn't see the name of the aircraft we were to fly on.
I must admit I was excited at the prospect of being at the 'front' of the bus for a change. Imagine my surprise to see a gentleman sitting in my seat (9k) looking very settled, thank you very much. I mentioned this to the CC member near by. Her response was something along the lines of 'it's an empty flight today, choose another seat'
[:(!][:(!][V][V] adding 'you don't mind, do you?' Well, what can you say? 'Actually, we pre booked these seats because we wanted to sit in them'[?] We moved across to 10 and 11a. We looked at each other and in the words of the penguins from Madagasdar, said 'well this sucks' Meanwhile, the passenger whose seat I was now sitting in arrived. I apologised to him and explained the situation. He went and found another seat. While all this was going on, Mr 'seat steeler' sat there totally oblivious![xx(]
While all this was all going on I had managed to bag a glass of champagne and a sleep suit. We decided that we would back to the next section of UC and moved to 16 and 17a. There were only four other pax back there and it was much quieter. We departed around 11.30am and once we were airborne, I had a bellini, well two actually [:I] As we were enjoying our drinks Mr 'seat steeler' approached us and asked us why we had moved? [ii]The cheek of the man! We told him that we had wanted more privacy. I really wanted to tell him the truth but decided against it. I wasn't going to let him spoil the rest of our flight.
The rest of the flight improved greatly. As UC was not full, we were treated to a first class service by the cabin crew. The one lady who looked after us was particularly good. She kept us fed and watered throughout the whole flight which was about 10hrs 29mins long. We both had the Mozzarella salad to start with and the lamb shank for main course. This was washed down with a very nice sauvingon blanc, followed by vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. The food was fine,the lamb a little dry, but very enjoyable.
Made the most of V-port on this trip. Spent a few hours listening to Guns 'n' Roses, Johnny Cash and Girls Aloud. I also watched 'The Wind that Shakes the Barley' a harrowing film about Ireland in the 1920's. Thankfully I don't think any other pax saw me blubbing at the end.
As I expected I was called for a treatment by the IFBT. I had opted for the nourishing hand treatment. Had a nice chat with the IFBT. I told her how I thought the snooze pack was cheap and nasty. She agreed and said that most other crew felt the same. I mentioned that when I had requested some moisturiser on this flight, they didn't have any and I was given a dodgy choc mint lip balm instead. I told her about V-flyer which she said she had heard of from another pax and gave her a V-flyer card. She said she would look in sometime.
After the treament we spent some time at the bar, necking a few cranberry juices. Just before we landed, afternoon tea was served. Toasted sandwiches and a huge slab of ginger cake,nice![y]
Overall a good Virgin experience. I think the seat situation was badly handled. Surely passengers should be seated in their assigned seats for take off, then allowed to move around after take off? This appeared very unprofessional. The overall condition of the suites was poor too. Most of the ottomans were frayed and ripped on the top and the rest of the suite covered in pen marks. However, the UCS was a very comfortable way to pass a 10 hour flight. Top marks to the CC who really looked after us. And finally to Mr 'seat steeler', I hope someone does the same to you on your next flight![}:)]
