VS251 PVG-LHR 8 Jan 08 (Upper)

This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

Well, after having a top notch flight over and a great week in Shanghai it was time for the return trip.

The 11am departure is convieniently timed to catch the rush hour in the city however the traffic gods were smiling on us and the taxi got us from the Radisson Xing Guo hotel in the peaceful diplomatic quarter to Pudong Intl in around an hour. At Pudong the drop off is an experience! A four lane wide highway is all you get so cars end up double and triple parked as you weave your way to the safety of the footpath through the melee.

Checkin was painless with some grubby old logo mats denoting Upper Class. Having received our boarding passes and lounge invites we were off to immigration and security. Once again the staff were so pleasant - there's no priority lane but no matter as the queues were tiny. My border guard got a big smile on her performance meter button as I left [y]

The duty free and tourist shops are spread along the length of the terminal and each is small with an excessive number of staff. After a quick shop we headed for the lounge at Gate 18. The lounge is run by China Eastern and is quite small with smatterings of leather seats. Snack food and drinks are available self service style from the kitchen. There weren't any English language newspapers until a final dig in the bundle managed to bring up a single copy of the Shanghai Daily.

About 30mins before departure we were called to Gate 24 - the furthest! At the entrance to the skybridge we were told to wait to the side. Evidently there was a problem with the IFE and UC seat allocations were being changed. They did manage to seat us together however we were changed from the quiet surroundings of 5&6K to 15&16K.

Departing roughly on time (Y and K were full and I'm guessing the Cargo was too) we thundered for what seemed forever down the runway before a smooth liftoff. The CC offered lunch immediately but with it being 11am and me needing to do a little work I said I'd pass for a few hours. After about 2 hours the lights were turned off throughout UC and I gave up working as the little light behind me just left shadows on the paper from my hand. I got up and found a CC and ordered my lunch. As he/she (I'm not going make it obvious in case VS staff read this) was Chinese I wasn't sure how to take the reply 'that does mean us having to cook it'. I thought either he/she was annoyed at the inconvenience or was just informing me it would take a little while. Willing to assume the latter I watched the end of Sunshine which I'd watched half of on the way over. With that taking about an hour I got up and went to the bar to investigate where my food was. The shock on the CC faces told me all I nneded to know! It turns out the the particular Crew Member who took my order went on break and didn't tell anyone. Anyway they russled it up pretty quickly and it was absolutely delicious (Pork and Rice).

Eating at the bar I chatted to the CC and Co-Pilot before retiring to get some rest. This being a daytime flight however, the bar was busy the whole flight. I'm not sure I could have been in a worse seat for resting, what with the noise and light from the bar and the closet doors being constantly opened and closed.

Nearing London, cakes were served which I didn't fancy so the crew managed to find me some vegetables and rice which again was fantastic. And then the final annoyance of the flight occured. Having been quite happy to noisily open and close all flight the closet now refused to open. No amount of abuse or poking with metal spikes from the CC would make it change its mind. Only my, my mum's and the CCs clothes were in there so after landing all UC PAX (and the rest of the plane) departed leaving the CC, us and the engineers who knew exacly how to open it - a special spike stored in the cockpit. How annoying that the crew aren't briefed on this [V].

Now at the trail end of the almost full A346 PAX we faced a long queue for immigration - at least the bags were waiting for us and we headed home ... to sleep [|)]

A few final comments post flight ... I don't think the Chinese CC in general were quite as attentive as the British. One tried hard, one only seemed interested in serving Chinese PAX and blanked us all flight, and one had such poor English that we gave up expecting the correct request to be fulfilled.

I also sent a web feedback form about this flight. It was a very strange experience as there was nothing drastically wrong with the flight just numerous annoyances that I don't believe top class PAX should have to endure. I still don't understand why the UC seats had to be reallocated at the gate. Surely on the 12 hour inbound someone could have told the Pudong staff? We also were in the VS lounge so why couldn't it have been done then? Instead it was done last minute in a rush when we had no chance to argue the locations (all the PAX nearer the front were in every other seat - ie only 1 free seat.).

[Decker]

Thanks for the TR David. Sorry to hear that it wasn't a perfect return

OK though, I'll bite....

My border guard got a big smile on her performance meter button as I left

Huh? This could come in useful for the bitches' Easter outing... do tell

Hehe yeah, I've seen these 'how well did I serve you buttons' in places like M&S at the till. But in Pudong they're on the guard's desk with four options! [y] [:)] [:(!] [n]

She even gave me a thumbs up when I pressed the ever so happy one!

Interesting your comments on the Chinese CC, I found the Japanese crew much more attentive and generally 'better' than any British crew I have ever had.

Originally posted by jimbob247
Interesting your comments on the Chinese CC, I found the Japanese crew much more attentive and generally 'better' than any British crew I have ever had.

As I said, in general. I guess the best way to sum it up is they were inconsistent in their delivery as one couldn't be faulted for effort. I found on both flights that the British CC service was consistently very good.

Originally posted by McMaddog

Originally posted by jimbob247
Interesting your comments on the Chinese CC, I found the Japanese crew much more attentive and generally 'better' than any British crew I have ever had.

As I said, in general. I guess the best way to sum it up is they were inconsistent in their delivery as one couldn't be faulted for effort. I found on both flights that the British CC service was consistently very good.

mmmmm you TR sums up neatly the less than acceptable UC flight I had on this route recently. Same thing on the food front - it seemed was all too difficult to russle up something veggie for me and I was left to feel it was my fault for ordering 'late' in the flight ie two hours after take off . Not VS best route in UCS it has to be said.

HG

I echo the comments about the CC on this route. I've never felt quite as 'loved' on this route as I do on others. Maybe there's some friction between the British and Chinese Crew, maybe the length of the layover. I don't know. But it all seems so much more harmonious on the BOM route, and the Indian Crew are great in comparison... And this coming from someone married to a Chinese Girl and I absolutely love most things about China!

As for Chinese immigration. They have really shaped up in the last couple of years. Most speak excellent english, and not only are they very courteous, but they have a sense of humour. Some of the best passport checks I've had to go through.
I get quite bemused by the 'how did I serve you thing', because I'm not going to give my feedback until they have finished serving me and handed back my passport, at which time i find the meter stops accepting input.
[?]

Originally posted by PVGSLF

I get quite bemused by the 'how did I serve you thing', because I'm not going to give my feedback until they have finished serving me and handed back my passport, at which time i find the meter stops accepting input.
[?]

That's strange because the instant I'd been given my passport back and started walking towards security it beeped and came alive - perfect timing. I guess it has to cutoff again pretty quickly though to stop the next passenger pressing it.

Thanks for the report.

Is there something about the food preparation processes that makes it especially difficult to serve pax food later in the flight than everyone else?
Perhaps a crew member could answer..?

I rarely eat straight after take-off, as I have usually eaten in the lounge. But my comment of 'no thanks, I'll have something later..' is always received by an expression of slight annoyance. And when I do ask for something, the reply is also ALWAYS 'it will take about 30 minutes for me to cook it..' with a hesitation inviting some kind of response. I usually smile broadly and say 'thank you so much..'

Originally posted by PVGSLF

As for Chinese immigration. They have really shaped up in the last couple of years. Most speak excellent english, and not only are they very courteous, but they have a sense of humour. Some of the best passport checks I've had to go through.
I get quite bemused by the 'how did I serve you thing', because I'm not going to give my feedback until they have finished serving me and handed back my passport, at which time i find the meter stops accepting input.
[?]

Agree wholeheartedly, and there is much less queuing - on that front I would say it is certainly better than LHR is for non-EU passport holders.
Managed to give a good on the machine on my way home last time although have noticed you have to be quick.

Thanks for the TR, shame about the crew, on my flight to HKG I always found the Chinese Crew to be very good.

Have you registered for iris scanning? It saves SO much time, especially when it is busy......Maybe worth doing it for your next trip.

DMB

[Decker]

Well as this is the bitches' next tour they'd better get their act into gear or I can see a detailed LROM report going to VS management...

[Darren Wheeler]

I dread to think what would have happened if you had pressed the [n] button. Dragged off for Re-education no doubt.

Having talked to 'colleagues' in China, they have really picked up their pace of learning English over the last few months. They have gone from a few words (mainly 'interpreter') to being able to hold a good conversation. When pressed, they admitted that management had told them to - 'for Olympics'

[HighFlyer]

Originally posted by Decker
Well as this is the bitches' next tour they'd better get their act into gear or I can see a detailed LROM report going to VS management...

[:D]

I was interested to read these comments, given that we have all experienced the wonderful Japanese crew enroute to NRT. I had assumed that the Chinese crew would be equally as good. Perhaps its a 'face' thing? Either way, i look forward to finding out [:D]

Thanks,
Sarah

Originally posted by DMetters-Bone
Have you registered for iris scanning? It saves SO much time, especially when it is busy......Maybe worth doing it for your next trip.

DMB

Hi DMB, no and TBH I'd forgotten all about it. If it's in the same immigration hall I didn't spot it either.

Cheers

Originally posted by HighFlyer
Perhaps its a 'face' thing?

Partly I think.

Many Chinese Children are still taught by wrote, so do not develop the initiative that we would expect in the west. Then there is the huge language gap. Often you find that you ask for something to be done, but they are unsure how to do it because it is not the 'norm' they have been trained for, or they just don't understand. Then because of face they don't feel comfortable asking for further instruction or admitting they don't understand.

Originally posted by McCoy
I rarely eat straight after take-off, as I have usually eaten in the lounge. But my comment of 'no thanks, I'll have something later..' is always received by an expression of slight annoyance. And when I do ask for something, the reply is also ALWAYS 'it will take about 30 minutes for me to cook it..' with a hesitation inviting some kind of response. I usually smile broadly and say 'thank you so much..'

The reason we say it'll take xxx minutes to cook your food is simply just to let you know how long it'll be. There are some people out there who think we have a 'magic oven' full of freshly cooked food which sadly isn't the case. If we didn't let some people know how long the food will take to cook, they would be pressing their call bell five minutes later asking where their food is.

But absolutely no problems in anyone asking for food during the flight - that is why it's called a Freedom service.

If anyone's interested, the normal cooking times for food are:
Soup: 15 minutes
Main Course: 20-25 minutes
Light Bites: 10-15 minutes
Bacon Rolls: 10-15 minutes
Scones: 5 minutes


[:X]

Crikey, 15 mins for soup, is it frozen?

Originally posted by jimbob247
Crikey, 15 mins for soup, is it frozen?

Apparently it only takes 2 minutes to make the soup warm. The extra 13 minutes are needed to make it gloopy...

[HighFlyer]

Tinkerbelle, thank-you for the clarification.

I guess many of us have had mixed responses when asking for food outside of the standard dining times which doesnt give the feeling of a freedom menu. I have experienced some stellar crew who have reminded me that i can eat whenever i want, just ask the crew (fab!) and I have also experienced some crew who do not seem so flexible and over emphasise that i should eat now otherwise there may be nothing left. This is particularly apparent on a red-eye. I know you fall into the former, but i wish there wasnt such a differentiation.

Thanks,
Sarah

I will get around to doing my own TR, but for now I will borrow this one to retract my previous comment about the CC on this route.

I flew LHR-PVG on Sunday 3rd Feb, and having first paid upgrade to PE, I got op-upped at the gate to Upper.... And the CC both Chinese and British were brilliant!

OK, granted it's a quiet time on this route, and with only 17 Upper Pax we were extremely well looked after, but even so, the relationship and body language between the crew was far better than I've experienced in the past. Let's hope it keeps up for next sunday - I'm in PE and MrsPVG is in upper - and she is a harsh judge of the Chinese Crew! (and let's hope the op-up fairies smile on me again)

[RichardMannion]

Thanks for the TR, it was a useful read for me. Has given me a few things to watch out for/test when we do our flights to PVG next month.

The closet on the A346 is an old issue that still seems to be lingering - those damn electric catches. I've stood and helped crew open them before with the metal pin as it's very tempremental. I tend to just throw my things in the overhead bins now isntead as I don't want them locked in the 'safe' [:)]

Thanks,
Richard

Originally posted by jimbob247
Crikey, 15 mins for soup, is it frozen?

The ovens on the plane aren't microwave. They are fan-assisted convection ovens, and I believe the ones VS have also have an optional steam feature: which is good for rice and veggies, (and as I've found out by experience when I've had a galley op who doesn't understand the meaning of 'dry heat') not so good for steak and bread products.

Anyway, that's why it takes 15 minutes to heat soup up.

As for the gloopyness, I'm not really sure where that comes from (other than industrial food thickener to make the soup seem more filling than it is?).

Mike

Originally posted by mike-smashing

The ovens on the plane aren't microwave. They are fan-assisted convection ovens

Where, pray, do the fans assemble to cheer on the food in those tiny galleys?

GJ

[mitchja]

Do those times include the oven warm up time though? The reason why I ask is because I watched the crew prepar the 'hot' PE food on my last flight. From a cold fully loaded galley oven to serving was only about 25mins. Not surprising that the food was only luke-warm when served.

Regards