This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
We checked in at Miami after a fairly easy ride over Alligator Alley - we never drive ourselves to or from the airport[:)] Check in was a dream, red carpet and an agent with a great sense of humour. When my husband was asked how many pieces of luggage the Avalon family had, he replied 2,326! The agent looked momentarily confused and then smiled as he loaded our 6 pieces onto the conveyor. At Miami a different agent takes your passport stickers it and then hands it to the agent checking you in. Mr A then says to me 'Do you have the passports?', 'No' I replied looking around a sense of mounting panic coming over me, 'Do you have the passports?' I asked the check-in agent. 'NO' he replies looking straight at Mr A, grins and then waves them at us. 'Joke' he says with a smile. I guess that we were fair game after the quip about the number of cases.
We then made our way to the hotel within the Airport concourse which is ok. They serve a good burger (not Clubhouse standards but certainly better than anything we are likely to get on board) and other things that are just right before a flight and currently the lounge offering at Miami is pretty poor. After eating we made our way to the gate having bought Mr A his aftershave which is not sold on-board and some ciggies for our driver in the UK. We then went to the lounge which is now airside, its the same lounge as BA but there is very little there. A few drinks, nuts etc. Not sure but I think there are showers as well. Flight was called on time and we set off to board. Miss A, still in the UGGS (I had given up by now) made her way on board leaving us trailing in her wake. We then had to wait for the duty free to come to the collection point. Once collected we went on board. Miss A said she was almost sad to see us as she had been treated so amazingly as the CC thought she was travelling solo and now her parents were there she was no longer a solo passenger! Again we asked for sleep suits and I quickly changed into mine. As I settled into my suite the FSM came along introduced herself, greeted me and Mr A by name and asked if we had everything we needed - Mr A already had his champagne and had my drink waiting on my table for me! She was quite insistent that if there was anything at all we needed during the flight we ask her or the CC looking after us. Then the CC taking care of us came up and I asked the name of the plane - she did not know and said she would ask on the flight deck. Meanwhile another CC, this time a young man came up to us, introduced himself and said he was looking after us as well. He asked if we wanted to woken for breakfast and both of us said yes. He then took our orders. Then xxxx who I had asked the name of the plane returned smiling. She explained that she had asked one of the flight crew the name of the plane and he had looked out of the door to see it and he had nearly fallen out
[:0] She and we found this funnny but despite the near calamity ascertained that the plane was African Queen. It seemed to me that it was a newer plane, it was quite clean and the loos were very pristine almost all the flight.
Upper Class seemed to be almost if not totally full. Nonetheless the crew were absolutely AMAZING. Moments after take off drinks were offered, plenty of crisps and olives and friendly chat from the crew. The FSM never seemed to be still, handing out drinks, talking to pax and generally being highly visible. This attitude definately reverberates down the line to the crew and they were first class, a credit to themselves, VS and their FSM.
Out came the basket of extras and it was on this flight I noticed the new dinky pen.
Sadly the food on board was usual standard but as we had eaten earlier it was not an issue.
Menu
Starters
Seasonal Leaf Salad
Soup of the Day
Main Course
Roast Chicken Breast in Tarragon Sauce
Tangerine Braised Short Ribs
Polenta and Ratatouille Stack
Cheese
Buttermilk Blue
Aged Cheddar
Brie
Dessert
Cheesecake of the Day
Vanilla and Swiss almond ice cream
Breakfast
Selection of cereals
Butter Croissant with selection of preserves
Marbled chocolate pound cake
oat bran raisin and apple breakfast square
Seasonal Fresh Fruit
Bacon Roll
Wine
Champagne
Champagne Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve nv
Berrys' Extra Dry Cremant de Limous, Jean-Louis Denois
White
Berrys' Chilean Sauvignon Blanc 2007, Casablanca, Chile
Santa Celine Pinor Gris 2007, Mendoza, Argentina
Boudinaud Chardonnay/Viognier 2007, Languedoc, France
Red
La Fleur du Perigord 2005, Chateau Thenac, Bergerac, France
Clockspring Zinfandel 2005, California, USA
La Petit Chapoton 2006, Vaucluse, France
There were two gins on offer Tanqueray No TEN and Bombay Sapphire. One single malt and another scotch and the usual other drinks.
The soup was allegedly watercress but it was not green and did not taste of watercress, however it was warm and certainly better than the main course.
Our flight attendant xxxx tried to recommend the beef and even after telling him our BA beef story when the knife bent trying to cut the beef he still pushed it. To be fair it was ok and not hard but not really worth eating. The cheese was excellent[:)] and does not give me bad dreams so I settled for that.
This time I did watch Gone Baby Gone from start to finish and would highly recommend it. Casey Affleck stars, directed by his brother Ben. Then settled down to get some sleep and started to see to the suite. Along comes the FSM and says 'You should not be doing that, let me do it for you' - I told her that on the way out almost all the pax had converted their own suties and one lady had to ask another pax for help! She was horrified and said that the crew are supposed to do it for pax whenever they see them doing it. She also sorted out Mr A who was grateful as he has never yet mastered it - spoilt brat.I asked for an extra pillow again and was given one. Again it seemed quite fat and squashy. Lights were turned out and all went peaceful.
I woke up midway through the flight and try as I could I could not settle back to sleep. I went to the loo and on my way back was offered tea, water etc which I declined. I tried to settle again but gave up and started to turn my suite back into a chair when from nowhere (actually the bar area) came my CC and did it for me. I started to read when along comes the FSM with a copy of OK which she thought might be mindless reading to pass the time. I accepted it and after flicking through it settled on the Little Britain special - needed no concentration at all and passed some time.
I was one of the first to be offered my breakfast simply as I was awake and accepted gratefully - I was a bit hungry by now. About an hour later with Mr A still snoring gently (!) one of the crew asked if they should wake him. I said yes as he had asked to be woken for breakfast. She tried several times and had no success so we decided to leave him a while. Then the male CC tried to wake him, a little more vigorousy but still he snored on. By now they were concerned - the passenger had asked to be woken for breakfast, time was running out to have it and he would not wake up. They asked me to try and eventually he stirred and I asked if he wanted his breakfast. He grunted No and went back to sleep. Our CC was trying not to laugh but I was laughing and he very kindly said that he would do his best to bring out a coffee and a croissant as late as possible once Sleeping Beauty woke up! (My description not his). This is the kind of service that makes the difference from an average flight to a great one. In fact the service was so great I asked for a comment card and filled out a Hero report naming the FSM and in particular the two crew members who had looked after us so well.
Eventually Mr A woke up complaining he was tired. He went for a wash and got changed and then returned whereupon he was given a quick cup
of tea just before they secured the cabin for landing. Miss A had slept almost all the way home and she slowly woke up in time to put her blooming UGGS back on before disembarking.
Once landed the seatbelt lights did not go off. Some pax started to get up and start collecting their bags from the overhead lockers but we were asked to remain seated as Customs Officials were waiting to board the plane and needed clear access to the aisles.
Next thing was about five armed policemen boarded the plane and turned right. They were gone some time and then left. I could not see if they had anyone with them. As we then left the plane we saw more police surrounding a gentleman and it was evident that it was he who had been removed. A little bit of excitement to end our flight.
It was a mega trek back to Immigration and on the long walk back I saw GVSUN through the window. From what I had read here I thought she flew out of Gatwick but I must be mistaken.
Breezed through IRIS without any of that up down up down joke this time, maybe I have mastered it! Have to say it does make me feel smug looking at everyone else queuing up to go through Passport Control and not having to go through it myself. If I am unlucky then one day IRIS
wont be working but til then............
The cases were waiting for us[y] as we entered the baggage hall. This is something that has has occurred a few times now with VS but every time I have flown BA we have always had a very long wait for the cases. We passed through the Green channel where there were about 10 Customs Officials clearly looking for something or someone and went to meet our driver.
We were through the door in exactly two hours from landing!
Sorry for the length of this TR but I seemed to get carried away writing it
Thanks for sharing
