This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
From the data feed that Pete has put on v-flyer, I knew the inbound flight was not expected in until late morning. Virgin kindly woke me up at 06:08 with an email and text message advising of the delay (my fault for not putting the BlackBerry in to silent mode I guess). Managed to get back to sleep and when I eventually got up, wandered through the sky-walk to T2 where Virgin check-in was empty. The screener before check-in only asked if I was going to Orlando or Barbados (nothing about class of travel) and sent me to an Economy desk (in fairness, someone was being checked in at the UC desk). Bag was dropped quickly (had done OLCI at T-24, Seq No 1) and purple boarding pass issued. The only thing worth noting is that at no point in the process was I asked the normal security questions about my luggage – they just put the security sticker on my passport.
Returned to the Radisson to pack the hand luggage then back to T2. Fast-track security was fast & it seems that if you use fast-track, then you have little chance of being selected for the body scanner they are using, as this is on the lines used by the main security queue. Got some duty free & could not be bothered to wait around downstairs to see Pretty Woman arrive, so am presently in the Escape Lounge. The lounge was very busy when I arrived but has now emptied out – normal comments about the lounge apply, i.e. OK, but no Clubhouse. Interestingly, there seemed to be a lot more food on offer in the Escape Lounge than normal, but I was in there at lunchtime, as opposed to an early morning visit for a 10:25 departure. Despite the fact that the boarding gate allegedly opens in 45mins, there is still no gate number displayed – I’d have put the number up personally so pax can get to the right area well ahead of time to try and make up some lost time. (Not everyone can work out that the gate likely to be used is the one with a big VS 747 parked up. End of bit written in the Escape Lounge.
Aah, but there was not a 747 parked up at the terminal – we had the pleasure of Gate 300 for a remote stand. At Gate 300A, I have to give the ground staff a poor rating – they were standing round chatting amongst themselves. They did manage one PA announcement to apologize for the delay in boarding & blamed it on the late incoming aircraft. Hmm, not sure that I buy that – if you don’t want to board pax, then don’t get the gate number displayed on the screens in the terminal. A couple of other things worthy of noting – the “random” secondary screening at the gate was not random if you were in PE or UC – they had a list of PE & UC pax and just waved them all through without any screening (the lady who was clearly the ground services supervisor was heard telling the screeners not to check UC or PE pax). Also the gate staff were not looking at the backs of passports for a security sticker with todays date on – in view of the delays they clearly wanted to get the job done & go home. One gate agent even said to me [in-between his non-stop yawning] “typical, we get this today when all the sport is on”. Hmmm not good – I apologize, not, for getting them up early for work & interrupting their planned sports viewing schedule. Eventually we were bussed out to the aircraft – I’ve never appreciated just how big a 747 is from the ground before. When onboard we swiftly turned left and into the UC cabin. The crew were quick to offer champagne, which was naturally accepted, followed by a refill. The Captain came on to advise that he did not know when we would be departing as they were waiting for ATC clearance and a flight plan – the problem being that a lot of flights want to occupy the limited ash-free airspace. Whilst at gate 300, a group of 4 people went up to the desk and had their 4 Economy boarding cards replaced by 2 UC & 2 PE ones. Now we’re onboard it’s clear why – relatives of a crew member. The young lady opposite me and one row back is clearly the identical twin sister of one of today’s crew. Identical twin sister seems to like her champagne too. After a good 90mins on the aircraft at the remote stand the Captain came back on the PA advising that he had a flight plan. Not long after that a Virgin Atlantic liveried car pulled up by the stand and someone ran up the steps with the paperwork. About 20mins later the PA went out for all ground staff to leave the aircraft and the stairs were removed. Yes, we ARE going (I was starting to get worried that the crew would run out of hours and we’d be going tomorrow instead). Credit to the crew, during the delays on the ground they did all they could to make the delay bearable – additional drink runs in UC, lunch orders taken for as fast a service after takeoff etc. Some things are being done by the book though, as identical twin has been given the UC suite that won’t convert into a bed or recline in any way. Both identical twin & her other half have just been told that their meal selection is not available too. Quite a light passenger load today too for a MCO flight, only 322 onboard.
An uneventful taxi & takeoff followed, we rotated just before 4pm. The route we’re taking is interesting though – the Captain advised that he expected us to get either a very Northerly flight plan to go North of Iceland and the volcano then over Greenland, or a really Southerly one, to head down to Spain then turn. We’ve actually headed down to just North of Cardiff & are now over the Celtic Sea heading for the Southern coast of Ireland. We’re already at 34,000ft, so I guess they are trying to fly above the ash cloud. Although we’ve not had a PA advising of the flight time, we’re currently just over half an hour into the flight and the map on the IFE is giving a time to destination of just under 8hrs, so a pretty normal routing & flight time by the looks of it.
Lunch – or maybe afternoon tea is a better description has now been served. Had the seasonal salad to start – which was good, much more bacon & cheese in it this time than when it was last on the UC menu last year. Cod for the main course was also good, followed by cheese & biscuits. Whilst I’m first to admit that the current UC menu is not amazing, there was nothing wrong with the food they just served. Sure, better food is available in J class on other airlines, but this was OK. The only minor irritant is identical twin – as her suite is faulty, she is on the ottoman on the seat next to me - her voice is on one of the few frequencies that I can hear well (I’m partially deaf) and is grating. We’re still one of the seemingly normal Atlantic tracks at 37,000ft now, so thus far, the ash has only delayed us.
The cabin is now in quiet mode while people digest their lunch & watch films. Identical twin and partner have played musical chairs with the other members of their party so they can experience the UC cabin. She will be irritating the PE cabin if they hear the same frequencies as me. And very conveniently, shortly after the seat-swap, identical twin who is working appears in the Upper cabin to serve drinks to her family.
Not a lot more to say about the flight. It got a little bumpy for a while just North of Bermuda at 39,000ft, but not so bumpy that the seatbelt sign needed to be turned on. In fact, the seatbelt sign has not been on at all since it was turned off after leaving Manchester. There is also a child on the flight who is related in some way to identical twins, as she has been making fairly frequent visits to the Upper Class cabin to see the family members that happen to be sitting in there at the time. To be fair, the child’s visits are less intrusive than the musical chairs when it’s seat-swap time (followed by working twin’s visit to serve them drinks).
Afternoon tea was served about 80mins out of Orlando. The sandwiches were nothing special, but filled a gap. The cakes and scones were definitely the best bit of the offering. Not long after the afternoon tea had been cleared away the “20mins left to use the toilets” announcement was made. Bang on cue 20mins later the seatbelt sign went on and the cabin was secured for landing. We landed bang on 19:25 as the Captain had said we would.
Immigration was a breeze – the hall was empty when we arrived in there and we were through in under 5mins. Bags took a bit longer than normal to appear, but within half an hour of the wheels touching the runway we were in the car hire queue, so nothing to complain about.
Am now at our apartment home for the next 12 days. 11pm, 22 degrees C and a cold beer on the table. I love Florida!
Overall today’s flight was good. Nothing really “wow” about it, but nothing really wrong with it either. It’s unfair to mark Virgin down due to the delays as the volcanic ash is causing havoc for all airlines. The only area I would suggest might need a bit of a kick up the backside is the MAN ground staff. (Lizz – you need to get back on the Swissport / Virgin team!)
James
Working on the assumption that the terrorist organisations have an "Economy only" travel policy?
. IMHO not really on for those on staff assisted travel 
. Those who lurk please note- this sort of stuff really irritates fare paying passengers (well me anyway). I have no problem with "perks" but when it intrudes on other's enjoyment it's unacceptable.Rant over. 
