This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
We arrived at the airport some 30 minutes later and made our way to the upper class desk, the upper-class check in was empty as we approached but just before we got to the desk a couple from the premium economy line were escorted to the desk in front of us, the queues for economy and premium were bulging at the seams and check in seemed to take ages, after about 15 minutes we were being checked in and found out the reason for the long check in. It transpired that all the computers were down and everyone was being checked in manually.
Our check in agent was very friendly and apologised for the long check in process. We were soon handed our hand written boarding cards and our invitations for the V.I.P lounge. I would use the term V.i.P very loosely we were greeted by 5 or 6 miserable faced lounge attendants all chatting behind the reception desk, the lounge was one large l shaped room with a few brown velour sofas and chairs lining the walls there was about 6 cubical type areas that were furnished with the classy brown velour three Piece suites and a coffee table. There was a bar at the top end of the lounge that was unattended but not self service and then there were the toilets. Cuba is a poor country as we know and we dont expect 5 star luxuries all the way but the toilets in the lounge were something else. There was no toilet paper available and the toilets suffered from a sever lack of cleaning, they were grubby and extremely smelly this was the case in both the lady and gents.
After deciding to hold back on using the facilities until we boarded the aircraft, I then went to seek out one of the lounge staff from the front desk to serve drinks for us. After a few minutes drinks were served and we were soon tucking in to the cold buffet on offer. The buffet consisted on 2 tea plates of sliced cheese, 2 tea plates of cold ham and a plate of bacon frazzles very appetizing.
After drinks we decided to have a look around the duty free area and had a ciggie as the lounge was no smoking, 20 minutes later we re- entered the lounge for a final drink or two, Again all the staff were congregated around reception and I asked if someone could serve us drink one of the staff walked to the bar with me and as I gave our drinks order she proceeded to ask me is I had any money I needed changing before going home, I declined the offer of changing money as we had already legally changed our money at the exchange desk inside the departures hall. (Quick note, tourists in Cuba are issued with the convertible peso which are in effect American dollars, they hold more value than the local Cuban currency, which roughly equates to 24local Cuban peso to 1convertable peso. It is also illegal to exchange the convertible peso other than in authorised exchange bureau or banks).
After my rejection of her offer to exchange money I was then asked if I could give her money to help with her daughter as she was a single parent! I was much taken aback by this and quickly excused myself from the bar Drinks in hand and made my way back to our lovely velour sofa to tell the wife and our friends what had just happened.
We understand that Cuba is a poor country and indeed when we left we took a suitcase full of stationary and toiletries for the locals, throughout our stay we handed out the goodies to all sorts of people that we met in the streets and some hotel staff, we also visited a school in Havana and gave a large amount of stationary, we did all this without ever being asked for anything from anyone.
In Havana there were a few beggars outside our hotel but we only got approached about 2 or 3 times and asked for money. I was expecting this in the city but the very last place I was expecting to be asked for money was in the airport lounge. I decided not to complain whilst in the airport however I feel I have to mention this to Virgin Atlantic probably by e mail tomorrow.
Anyway after we finished our drinks we went for a last ciggie and boarding was soon called, Priority boarding was in use for our flight to LGW however there seemed to be a problem when we were waiting in the queue, staff were toeing and frowning up and down the air bridge and there was evident concern on the faces of the gate staff, it transpired that following a very heavy thunderstorm which occurred whilst we were in the lounge that the air bridge had sprung a leak!.
We were manually processed for boarding due to the continued computer failure and we were allowed to board the aircraft in small groups of 6 at a time due to the leak on the air bridge. As we approached the aircraft door it was evident that the leak was a little understatement as a full tropical rainfall greeted us for the last few meters in the air bridge. We had to hug the wall in single file in order not to get soaked also the floor was a massive pool of water which spilled over on to the aircraft carpet.
We were greeted by the friendly smiled of the crew onboard and pointed to our seat again we had pre requested 6A and 6K respectively which despite the manual check in process had still been honoured.
Our aircraft today was G-VGAL Jersey girl well I did smile Jerseyboy was flying on Jersey girl on a flight back to Jersey via LGW, then I remembered all the bad report about the broken entertainment system, seats and tables in previous trip reports. O well what will be will be.
True to form I sat down and with champagne in hand decided to recline my seat a little but my seat was having none of it! Every time I reclined the seat reset itself to a sitting position, I gave up after the 6th or 7th attempt.
Boarding was taking ages due to the leak in the air bridge and computer breakdown, After about 1hr the FSM came and introduced himself to us after passing a few pleasantries I mentioned the problem with my seat and before I could say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious the FSM was pulling the seat apart and fixing the problem, it transpired that the seat belt had got tangled and the sensors were resetting the seat. A few minutes later I was relaxing in my reclined seat champing in hand and a feeling of satisfaction as I could see that the FSM for this flight was as the same school as the FSM on our outbound flight that is the Lead by example school and what a great example he was setting.
After about another ten minutes the captain came over the PA apologising for our now late departure he informed us that all passengers were now onboard but the load sheets had not arrived , he then went on to say that the airport authority had requested he leave the stand and use a remote parking space and wait for the paper work as the gate was needed by an air France 744 which had just arrived, The captain informed us that he refused the request to depart the stand as he feared that we would be left hanging about for hours on the ground . This was a good call in my eyes as this meant that greater priority was being paid to us to ensure the paper work arrived allowing us to depart.
After a total of about 2 hours or so on the aircraft the load sheets arrived and we were finally on our way.
The dinner menu had a great choice and I was informed by the male cabin steward that my special meal was the exact same that had been loaded on the outbound flight, I explained how awful that meal was and asked was it ok to chose from the normal menu. This was fine and I had a cold salad to start followed by lamb fillet and fresh fruit for dessert; the meal was excellent very tender lamb piping hot and perfectly cooked.
The FSM served wine in the cabin I opted again for the rose which was equally as palatable as the outbound flight.
Soon after dinner I decided to go in to bed mode and after an offer from the male crew member to convert my bed was declined as I was more than able to do it myself I strolled to the toilet to get changed in to my sleep suite. During the time from boarding to going to the toilet I had forgotten about the large pool of water in the air bridge but I was soon reminded as my upper class socked feet barrelled straight in to a huge squish cold carpet which filled the area from the L1 door to the toilet.
Worse thing was the toilet was engaged and as another shoed passenger stood now behind me I had little option than to stand on the damp cold carpet awaiting my turn for the loo.
When I got in I noted the wet footmarks I was leaving on the floor of the loo and hurriedly wiped the floor before I left fearing that the next person would think I had misfired and wet the floor.
I made my way back to my bed and changed socks then bedded down to little Briton and a glass of iced water. The cabin was full for our return flight but everyone was equally eager to bed down and sleep, I slept on and off for about 4 or so hours and decided to change and sit up for breakfast which was served about 1 _ hours before our arrival at LGW. I went back to the loo to change back in to my day cloths again though forgetting about the damp carpet by L1 door and toilet. Well the same routine with wiping the toilet floor followed and I squelched my way back to my seat for another change of socks.
I went to turn on my PTV not remembering turning it off at all only to find out that at sometime during my sleep my screen had died. Breakfast was still being prepared when the CSS came to offer drinks I informed her that my screen was not working; she tried to reset it to no avail and came back to me after breakfast with an offer of 5000 FF miles for the inconvenience.
The rest of the flight went quickly and I shared my wifes screen in 6k we opted on the in flight map as no volume was required.
We arrived about an hour or so late into LGW the landing was very smooth and the shortest landing I had ever experienced on any flight into LGW with the exception of turbo props.
We were soon on stand and on our way to baggage reclaim. Our bags were off after about 5 minutes of waiting and we made our way back to the north terminal where we checked in for our 11:30 am flight to Jersey with BA we then went outside for a quick ciggie and made our way through fast track and onward to the terrace lounge for our 2 _ hour waited for our flight back home.
I would like to finish by saying that the crew on our inbound flight were again excellent and lead by a superb FSM who was very visible and worked his share throughout the flight, when you get such crews as we did on both our flight it really helps to set VS apart from most other airlines. You can invest as much in a product as you like with fancy clubhouses, spas, AVOD, onboard bars and the such but if you dont invest in your staff and recognise the importance of one team and one leader then you will never achieve a high level of satisfaction from the customer. If the rumours are true about the FSM role being axed in the future then I would say this that it takes a brave man to make a change but it equally takes a stupid man to change something that is the very foundation of the service provided to the customer.
Just as a side note on both our outbound and return flight the bar was not once occupied by any passenger,
Thank you to all who take the time to read this TR and thank you to all the crew aboard VS64 on the 28th of May for giving our near perfect holiday a suitably perfect flight to end it.
