This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
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Outbound LHR-JNB 8th December 2006 (VS UC) VS601
Well this was the long awaited day and a half trip to South Africa for my best mans wedding with my better half (although she stayed for the week). It was her first trip in UC so I was keen to make a day of it.
Rather than use 20k miles we decided to take the train up to Paddington and HEX it in from there. This was a trip around noon so it was quiet and on-time. On arrivals at LHR we made our way to the Virgin check-in and Mrs C remarked on the extremely long queues. However we whisked past the Y check-in and headed to the red carpets where there were only 3 people in the 2 queues. The red carpets where not very straight and dirty but that didnt really bother us that much[;)]
What was bizarre at check-in was the chaos between the different desks. There was a lot of talking between the different desks and Im not sure why, and it did seem to take a while to get there once at the desk everything was fine wed used OLCI the night before anyway and seats were upstairs as requested.
At this point I asked for a copy of our e-tickets for my wife to use on her return as she was flying back with VS (whilst I booked onto the dark side). I was shown to the desk at the end the ticket desk I guess and waited there in a queue for a while. After about 5 minutes the original check-in lady shouted across the hall to me to come back over to her and she would give me a receipt. She was helping someone else at the time so this felt a bit uncomfortable. She printed a number of other peoples e-tickets before getting it right and giving me the right one but it worked out in the end [:?]
A quick (its all relative) trip through the fast-track security was taken then we escaped to the comfort of the clubhouse. This was my first time in the clubhouse and I must say it really is gorgeous and it really makes a great start to any trip.
I had a Chardonnay or two and some Chicken. My wife had the shepherds pie washed done with some nice red wine. Both meals were nice but I recall the SFO clubhouse food being better. Following this I had a much needed haircut followed by a shower and Mrs C a fresh as a daisy. Both were very good although I mislaid my shorts in the shower room whilst deciding what to wear [:I] We had a couple of games of pool, I read the paper and we generally felt very relaxed before leaving the clubhouse. I am a nervous flyer so this was a unique feeling.
On leaving the clubhouse back to the mayhem of the terminal I wanted to turn around and go back but we had a date with Hotlips. Priority boarding merged the two queues into the tunnel but we did save a very long wait in the Y queue. Mrs C of course felt this very unfair that we could just barge in as she put it [?]
On boarding we noticed the Cardboard scrooge packs on the ottoman which sound luxurious in comparison to the latest plastic bag on offer[:#]
The flight was pretty non-eventful. The food was OK, we didnt get any treatments (but did not expect any), and the wine was ok. It was however really nice having dinner with my wife on the plane for a change rather than next to her and I still think this is a really cool feature of the suite. The upper deck was lovely and quiet after some initial giggling and we were well looked after although I got the feeling that the flight was short of staff as we only had one FA looking after us and one looking after PE (perhaps this is normal).
The FSM did not introduce himself although on a night flight I may have been asleep but he did find time to make comedy safety announcements all through the flight which were funny to begin with but became tedious and to be honest I started to ignore announcements that were supposed to be for my safety. Not good [n]
I was also concerned about the security to the flight deck but will not go into any more detail on a forum for obvious reasons.
I did bump into him at the bar for a nightcap and had a little chat but decided to retire to the comfort of my bed.
On arrival at JNB the cabin crew did not bother to hold back any passengers that I could see so that led to the inevitable queue at immigration which took 90 mins to clear. This was quite disappointing. So I have no idea if our luggage came off first as we were almost last to pick it up I understand the issue with PE/UC on the upper deck but this just not good enough [:(!]
So in summary it was a good flight experience although there are still a number of areas to tighten up on in my opinion.
INBOUND JNB-LHR 10th December BA054 (Club)
Arrived at Joburg nice and early as I had no access to a PC during my stay and wanted to try upstairs in the BA 747 to compare directly with the outbound. Check-in was easy, there is no priority at JNB so headed with everyone else to security which was far less brutal than LHR.
I then went to the VS lounge to report my shorts missing in London and to cancel my return Y leg so that I was not marked as a no-show. I also obtained some secret information for HighFlyer but bottled out on blagging a Menu for her - sorry again [:I].
From the reception it looks very nice and when I then went to the BA lounge I was very disappointed.They at least had some beer and a caddy shared some biltong [}:)]
I decided to walk down to the boarding area early as I know JNB is a nightmare for UK flights due to extra security checks at the gate. It was an absolute disaster area and eventually boarding was delayed indefinitely. I went back to biltong and beer.
Next time I waited for the lounge to announce boarding about 30 minutes late. On arrival to the gate it was deserted and we boarded the bus to the airplane. I would really advise against travel to JNB at the moment whilst they upgrade the airport to cope with the football world cup go to Cape Town!
Once on the plane and upstairs in the full J cabin it was time to relax it was very quite. The Crew were efficient, polite, did not giggle (see past TRs) and helped us settle in. The cabin had the new Quilted Blanket and Amenity Kit for the New Club World. The blanket is really nice and the kit had everything you needed without the need for cardboard or plastic bags [^]
Sadly the fun at JNB had just started and the Captain announced that 40 passengers had been lost in between check-in and the plane and that they were being 'rounded up' [B)]
Quite how this happened I do not know. About 30 minutes later the Captain came back on and very sternly informed us that some of the PAX did not believe what he had said so he reiterated that it was true [:0]
After an hour on the ground it was resolved and the Captain advised that we were ready to depart by this stage I was rather tired. I did have dinner of fish, and a rather large chunk of hake was served. The food was very good but I echo the presentation comments from another TR.
During the flight the BA crew were excellent. Regularly coming past with drinks (I did have to visit the Galley on the outbound) in the night. I had a spare seat next to me so could put down the divider which was nice and look out of the window. I do still prefer the VS layout though.
In terms of sleep I actually found the BA cabin more comfortable VS was far too hot. The new quilt really wraps around you nicely in BA.
On arrival at LHR over 2 hours late, we then had to be bussed to the terminal (nothing like rubbing salt in the wounds) as the stand was occupied. At least we were first on the Bus as all other passengers were held back [;)]
My bags were off quick and before long on I was back on the train out West.
SUMMARY
I still enjoy the UC experience and the lounge is superb far better than any BA offering - but as a frequent flyer I like predictability when it comes to flying and I have to say that BA is predictably good once you get in the air.
Virgin has the potential to be excellent, especially with the suite and lounges, but time and again I find myself disappointed by some aspect of the flight and I do feel that of late standards seem to be slipping. The scrooge pack is utterly ridiculous for a J product and I almost felt like apologising to my wife for it.
Given the larger footprint I still will fly more BA but will be in LAS in Feb for the annual kick-off so VS will get another go then as the direct carrier there.
Hope you enjoy the TR [y]
