This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Arrived at a heaving MCO around 4.45, luckily the Upper check-in was empty and I was seen straight away. The agent was very polite and efficient and took time to explain that the flight was delayed by just over an hour and the reason why. Security was almost empty and was through in about 5 minutes.[y]
Having previously been in the Delta Crown Lounge I was not really expecting too much. Stood at the reception whilst the two ladies finished a conversation about Hillary Clinton, once finished they took my invitation and carried on chatting. Next stop the bar where I was given a glass of coke which was totally flat, after mentioning it to the bar lady she replied someone had said that about an hour ago but did not offer to do anything about it. Asked what snacks were available and was told what you see in front of you, which was a jar of nuts and a almost empty jar of crisps.[n]
Lounge was fairly busy but way too hot so the gentleman on the table behind me went to reception to complain. On his return he told his wife that they had said it was the airports problem and not theres so there was nothing they could do about it, however, the main terminal was working fine, how rude.[V]
Flight was finally called around 8.30 and we trotted of to gate 83. Priority boarding was in operation and we boarded fairly quickly. Met by a very friendly member of Cabin Crew who straight way offered me a drink, a Ninja suit and explained what was going to happen during the flight (meal time, lights out time, breakfast, etc).[:D]
Finally around 9.20 (about 90 minutes late) we were airborne.
Crew took first drinks order as well as dinner orders at the same time, not sure if they were trying out a new system but one crew member was taking the orders whilst the other was delivering them, seemed to work really well. Im not really one for eating before bedtime so I opted for the starter and dessert only which were both very nice.
Obviously they were having problems down the back with the IFE because about 90 minutes into the flight they announced it was going to be reset, not that I was bothered as I had loaded my Ipod Touch and I knew I would be quickly asleep.
Woke around 2 hours before landing with really bad cramp (only time I ever suffer with this is when Im on a plane) the rest of the cabin was like a morgue so I sat at the bar where I was offered breakfast. Had a chat with the Senior in UC who was a very nice lady now in her 8th year with VS. Gradually the dead seem to rise and I took the opportunity to use the bathroom and got changed ahead of everyone else. Only problem here was that the crew could not find the basket of goodies that contains the Pens, Mints, Lip Balm, etc, I had wondered why it had not been offered around after we boarded, also they had not loaded the hot towels which they did apologise for.
Around 9ish the captain came on and announced that we had made up a small bit of time and that he hoped to be landing in around half an hour.little did he know. This was followed by a very long announcement by the FSM to apologise to some of the passengers as they had seemed to have had a problem in turning off the lights at the rear of the cabin during the night as well as running out of beer. Like the outbound flight the FSM who from his very strong accent I think was Italian only briefly appeared in Upper, however, he seemed to run a tight ship as both passengers and crew seem very happy.
Then for our little piece of excitement, cabin crew had taken their seats for landing and we had broken through the clouds on a really dull morning in Sussex. I had my neck twisted through 90 degrees watching the ground getting closer when the engines roared back into life and we were heading skyward again. I could hear the landing gear being retracted beneath me so I knew we were going around. Captain came on shortly afterwards to blame a departing aircraft that had strayed onto the runway ahead and that we were having to do it all again. He also joked that we might have upset some environmentalist as we were forced to increase our carbon emissions.
What really struck me was the fact that nobody in the cabin seemed to react. It was though this happened every flight, people just kept on resting or reading their newspapers.
Landing the second time around was uneventful and we quickly arrived at our gate. Got off pretty quickly and entered a semi-busy immigration hall. I opted for the IRIS with only 5 people in the queue ahead. Seemed like a good idea at the time but the lady ahead of me was having all sorts of problems and had to be rescued by BAA member of staff. Onto the baggage reclaim and no signage to which belt our bags were on. After about 5 minutes a man who was in the Upper Class cabin walked passed me with his case, he shouted across to the awaiting crowd that our bags were on belt 7, there then followed a mad dash across the hall. Sure enough there was my case, but even on leaving the area the screen was still showing every other flight except VS016.[n]
Only one futher comment to add and that was about the lounge on arrival. During the flight I was trying to remember which American airline's facillities we could use after seeing it posted here a few months back. Having asked a couple of cabin crew and inturn them speaking to the FSM none of them were aware of any shared lounge. Infact one suggested that I was getting mixed up with LHR[:?]
It was suggested that I asked the ground staff on arrival as they would know better, however, the Senior did say she would look into it for further flights as it was always handy to know.
At this point I must admit I did not follow up on this due to the late arrival of the flight and the need to get home. I did however e-mail VS to clarify the situation but as of yet have had no reply.
-Steve
