VS250 LHR-PVG 1 Jan 08 (Upper)

This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin

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This was my first trip in UC and a special treat for me and my mum travelling in Z class.

Checkin at LHR was a muted affair, all the UC/PE desks were busy and the admirably chatty welcome hosts kept us busy whilst waiting for one to become free. All hold bags received an UC tag and we proceded upstairs using the lift next door.

Going through the UC Wing was a delight - not another PAX in sight. The only slight dissapointment was the behaviour of the security staff who were clearly bored as they were running around and zapping each other with scanners (a la Star Trek) when we appeared around the corner. I was made to put my boots through the x-ray. Joined the rest of the throng for passports and then we got caught by the shoes people so for the second time in 5 minutes my boots got fryed - what a waste of time.

After a bit of shopping headed up to the Clubhouse - and wow what a delight having never been in it before - I'm estimating there were about 10 PAX in there when we arrived and probably double that by the time we left. I hadn't managed to get a hair appointment booked so I was happy to find that they had a spare slot, my mum didn't fare so luckily in the nails department unfortunately.

About 20 mins after 'flight closing' had appeared on the screen we were called to the gate. There was no need to queue jump as there was no queue to speak of, all PAX were already on board.

Quickly into our seats (5&6K) and got straight into the offered drink. The pilot announed a delay of 45 mins due to congestion in Copenhagen. This was strangely immediately followed by the safety video. I got the table out to do a bit of work and was promptly asked to put it back as 'we are about to depart'. I reiterated the announcement and it became obvious that none of the CC had listened to it! After they checked with the captain I was given 10 minutes grace before we got underway (a bit sooner than had orignially been announced - no complaints there!).

I have to say the CC were truly excellent[y]. I don't remember the FSM introducing himself but no matter, our CC were brilliant. I had the soup, lamb, and rhubarb crumble (and felt very bloated by the end!), changed into ninjaware and settled into bed. I'm not a natural airplane sleeper but I tried my best.

In flight was pretty unremarkable - VPort crashed once for each of us - my mother got her nails treatment from the IFBT and I managed to while away an hour or two chatting at the bar convieniently between the seatbelt periods. I remember the seatbelt signs coming on on about five separate occasions though only one was pretty rough as we crossed over the border from Mongolia - welcome to China [:0]. Anyway, that was a useful 'get out of slumber call' as I managed to get a good view of the Great Wall a little while later - unfortunately I didn't have my camera.

Breakfast was served precisely according to the requests written after takeoff with no fuss. Approach took quite a long time as we flew the whole way around and landed facing West about 20mins late. A quick ride to the gate, fast disembarkation and then immigration which was deserted. I faced quite possibly the friendliest border guards ever! After such a long flight how nice it is to be greeted by a genuine smile[y]. Our luggage arrived on the belt as we did and it was straight out and onto the Maglev for a 267mph dash towards town.

Now, I was left wondering if the return journey could in any way match this experience ...

[HighFlyer]

Sounds like you had a good first Upper flight [:)] Views of the Great Wall? Awesome. I'm doing this trip in March and very much looking forward to it. Did you stay in Shanghai or go elsewhere?

Thanks,
Sarah

Originally posted by McMaddog
This was my first trip in UC and a special treat for me and my mum travelling in Z class.

Sounds like it lived up to expectations. Will you ever turn right again ?

Originally posted by McMaddog

and onto the Maglev for a 267mph dash towards town.
Now, I was left wondering if the return journey could in any way match this experience ...

I don't think there's any 'dashing' out of Heathrow on any form of transport.

I look forward to reading your experience of the return leg.

Thanks for putting this together.

Paul

Originally posted by HighFlyer
Did you stay in Shanghai or go elsewhere?

We stayed at the Radisson Xing Guo hotel. Very much a business hotel. It's situated in some nice grounds and the roads around it aren't too bad. It has a nice pool and decent gym. I certainly have no complaints about that at all. For tourism it isn't in the best location, it has Da Zhong taxis which queue usually for pickups and no journey ever costs much but it's too far away to walk out after dinner and see the hotspots. Also, the nearest Metro station is a minimum 15min walk - Line 7 opens later this year and may have a closer station then.

Shanghai itself was great. We had fantastic weather - dry everyday with a mini winter heatwave. On the last day it reached 15C which was fab considering I went the same time last year and it never got above 2C. Also good was 3 new Metro lines and 2 extensions that opened on Dec 29th. The one downside of this trip was the pollution was quite bad, on the last day you could only see the bottom half of the skyscrapers. The taxi to the airport cost 155yuan ~GBP13 on the meter and took just over an hour.

We took a day trip out to Suzhou on the Japanese Shinkansen bullet train which is a bargain at GBP2 single for a 45min journey. Next time I hope to visit the lakes at Hangzhou.

Nice TR thanks.
Unusual to get much turbulence on that route. It's usually silky smooth, though I find VS are quicker to put the seatbelt signs on than others.

Yes the mountains to the North of Beijing are an awesome sight and you get some good views of the wall. I used to fly BA in and out of Beijing, and they always announced the best views of the wall, and of course you're lower as you will be landing.

I'm next out to Shanghai on 3rd Feb - Sadly only in Economy this time (unless the upgrade fairies are reading [}:)])
I love flying the route in the winter, usually clear skies all the way and loads of frozen wastelands to watch out of the window.

Originally posted by PVGSLF

Unusual to get much turbulence on that route. It's usually silky smooth, though I find VS are quicker to put the seatbelt signs on than others.

Certainly on the return the sign stayed off the entire flight so I'm guessing it was a trigger happy flight crew - though the China seatbelt sign was definately needed!

Glad to hear that the flight was up to your expectation, now you will have the UC Bug, and will find it hard to turn right ever again! [}:)]

Hope you have a great trip and look forward to reading the return TR.

DMB