This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
In the end, a late meeting meant we declined the car and headed straight to the airport. The whole place is under renovation, and the local press had been full of reports of chaos all week. Certainly it looked busy when we got there just after midday. There is a meet and greet for UC pax (no mention of Golds). This is a bloke with sign and a baggage cart who will put your bags through the mandatory hold x-ray. Do make sure you identify any carry on bags at this point; otherwise they end up with a security strap on them.
There is a small document checking station before the check in desks themselves. As wed OLCIed, they had already prepared our BPs for us. Very helpful, but while we were fussed over other pax were queuing behind us, while two members of staff had nothing to do at the main desks. Another escort to immigration though sadly she wasnt able to cut us through the cluster of people. No Fastrack line, unlike BOM
VS are using the Clipper lounge (along with BA) which is, frankly, a pretty poor effort. Only one loo and a sparse collection of food and drink. I dread to think how busy it gets at night.
No Fastrack at security, but thankfully a short queue (hint, look to the right for shorter lines) and the usual kerfuffle with stamping BPs and luggage tags. We were boarding from Gate 3, tucked away in the far left hand corner of the terminal. Two enormous queues for Y pax had built up, but after a minor DYWIA incident the local staff walked us to the head of the queue where there was one solitary Upper Class/PE/Gold Priority boarding sign and got us straight on.
We were airborne on schedule. The service was pretty slow, though as they were 2 crew members down (due to illness) and 290 people on board this was hardly surprising. There was a real split between the national crew (pleasant enough but nothing special) and the UK crew who worked their socks off. Another decent crew overall though!
Food was OK too. I forget the starter, but the curry main was perfectly decent. The tea service was pretty poor though, nasty sandwiches and the hot bites barely Tesco Value standard. As noted elsewhere, the Freedom menu has been deleted. A pity as it has value on a flight like this, and VS dont offer a snack kitchen.
vPORT worked flawlessly throughout, and I was actually able to fit a couple of films in between working and sleeping. While the UC Suite is a great bed, it is not so hot on a day flight. There is no comfortable lounging position, the ottoman prevents me from fully stretching my legs out and the lighting is just appalling. I much prefer BAs latest Club World seat for a non sleeping flight.
We managed to make it to T3 ahead of schedule, and I was landside within 15 mins and home within the hour (needless to say that was by HEX and cab rather than limo).
All in all, a decent VS flight. Indira Gandhi airport is a bit of a hellhole right now, but VS delivered a solid if unspectacular flight.
