This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
There were quite a few people queueing outside the clubhouse waiting to go in when we arrived. Soon inside and decided to go and check my e-mails. Within seconds of sitting down a waitress had taken my breakfast order. I had my usual eggs benedict and my girlfriend had the smoked salmon. Both of which were washed down with a couple of glasses of champagne. Something very wrong about drinking at 0700 in the morning, but it was her birthday! It was then off for our treatments. I had a facial which was very nice and relaxing and a shower to wake me up as was in danger of falling asleep. I am really not a morning person and do not like being dragged out of my bed early. Then retired to a nice window seat with more champagne whilst my girlfriend had her haircut finished. Had a nice view of G-VWOW just outside the window and took a couple of nice photos as she was pushed back and moved to another stand. Rejoined my girlfriend at the computers and once again within seconds of sitting down I was asked if I wanted anything. Found the service to be superb today. Whenever I moved I was seen by someone straightaway. Granted the clubhouse was very quiet but still fairly impressed.
Flight was called at 0845 from gate 32 so left to take a slow walk to the gate. The usual chaos was in full swing at the gate with people all over the place and not listening to the announcements. Was just debating whether or not to risk a lynching by pushing to the front as it was a right scrum when a staff member appeared and whisked us to the front after spotting the purple. Didn't stop the usual strops from the people in front of us though!
Aircraft was G-VMEG Mystic Maiden and we had seats 12/14A. To my horror there was a large number of small children in the Upper Class cabin this morning including a baby in the seat next to me. Oh, the joy! Was asked if I knew where everything was and had a glass of champagne. Was a full flight today with no spare seats anywhere. Captain said that the flight time would be 8 hours as flying into the wind pretty much all the way. Pushed back pretty much on time and were airborne really quickly after a short taxi. Nothing seemed to be in front of us at all today which is quite unusual for LHR. Seat belt signs off once we were at the top of the climb and crew came round with drinks and to take dinner orders. I won't go through the full menu as it has been discussed before. V-port was fired up and I watched 2 films (Forgetting Sarah Marshall and What Happens in Vegas) both light, reqiured no concentration and were ok to pass the time. Had dinner in bed as like to convert my suite and watch TV lying down. We both had the prawn cocktail which was very good and I had Chicken Tikka Massala which was really nice. I was very pleasantly surprised at the food on the flight today. Best I have had for a while. Washed dinner down with my 3rd Stella of the flight and a glass of the acceptable Chardonnay. Finished with cheese and biscuits which was cheddar instead of Red Leicster which was disappointing as do like Red Leicester. My girlfriend had the lamb which she said was ok if a little chewy and the chocolate bread and butter pudding which was nice but a bit sickly. The male crew member looking after our section was excellent, I don't think I had an empty glass throughout the entire flight. V-port also behaved itself all through the flight which made a welcome change. At the start of the food service the seat belt signs came on as we hit a bit of fairly mild turbulence. However the sign was still on around 90 minutes later despite the fact that the turbulence had long since stopped. This caused a few problems for the cabin crew as people were getting quite agitated about having to stay in their seats. A lot of people were moving around anyway and the FSM was doing her best to get everyone back in their seats. I understand that the seat belt signs are for peoples safety but I think it was a little over the top in this instance as the turbulence was very mild and was not for very long at all. The FSM dealt with people well and was courteous but firm with the people who were out of their seats. She was visible in the UCS cabin throughout the flight and assisted with the service although it was the CSS who brought the goodies basket round. Around 90 minutes before landing we were offered afternoon tea. The sandwiches were quite nice but I didn't bother with the cakes, opting for more beer instead. Was in danger of needing to be poured off the plane at JFK at this rate! Started our descent around 40 minutes out but this was scuppered as New York was in the middle of some quite heavy snow fall and the runway was shut whilst they cleared the snow off it. This meant we were circling for around 45 minutes. Finally landed around 80 minutes late and the whole of New York was a sea of white. There were snow clearing machines everywhere and visibility was really poor. Had to wait a further 5-10 minutes whilst they cleared all of the snow off our stand.
Once off the plane we arrived at an empty immigration hall and were seen by a surprisingly cheery agent and through to baggage claim very quickly. Had to wait around 20 minutes for our bags as they said they were struggling because of the weather conditions. Fair enough really as it was pretty bad out there. Our bags were amongst the first off and priority bags seemed to be working as the first few all had Upper Class tags on them. Took the airtrain to Jamaica for the LIRR into Penn to catch my Acela to Boston.
This was one of my best experiences of VS so far. Check-in was super fast, service and food/drink in the Clubhouse was excellent, V-port behaved itself all the way through the flight without a hitch and even the on board food was pretty good. Cabin crew were also good, especially the one looking after us. Proves what a good product UCS is when everything is done properly. Fingers crossed that the return flight is the same assuming I will actually be able to leave the USA in this weather. Several flights here cancelled and the weather not going to improve. Still makes it feel like Chistmas!
