This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
For those not following our insane plans, the flight was to get us to San Francisco to take part in the 99th running of the Bay to Breakers race in aid of the charity Dreamflights. If ou haven't yet donated, there is still plenty of time... http://www.justgiving.com/v-flyer
The week leading up to this flight has been of a will it/won't it as the Unpronounceable Volcano has been kicking off again and VS19 had been subject to some pretty horrendous delays. I did take the view that delayed is better than cancelled, but wasn't looking to arriving at about 8pm.
For me the trip started off with a night at the Holiday Inn M4/J4 where I met Pete for a drink or 4. The Rioja was very drinkable and large glasses soon had me merry. Being an hotel, it wasn't cheap we adjourned next door to the Plough to carry on. Much cheaper and the constant stream of food made me very hungry but I held off until later.
With a surprisingly clear head, we got a taxi to the airport next morning and the check-in area was pretty much deserted. I'd done my OLCI the day before and managed to get Seq3 and the whole process took about 5 minutes. Again, the private security channel was empty and the Clubhouse was calling. The marble stairs are currently closed for renovation so access is via typical terminal stairway that brings you in by the Cowshed reception. This is rather handy as you can book a treatment. As it was only 7:20 I had no problems booking a manicure and the other got haircuts booked for around the 9am slot. So for me, the no pre-booking rule worked very well indeed.
As with last year, we had the Skyloft set aside for everyone as it makes a great place to socialise and drop bags off without disturbing the rest of the Clubhouse. For those who have used it before will know the glass table that looks down on the pool table. Well, at some point prior to our arrival (not sure when, but it wasn't us Guv..) the glass has been broken and resembles a mosaic. Apparently the replacement has to be lowered in from above. I can see the Skyloft getting a refresh when that is done as the carpets are looking a bit shabby and bit of repainting wouldn't go amiss.
Breakfast was ordered and in my case, double Eggs Benedict as one just isn't enough. Not quite sure what the kitchen team were doing, but instead of Canadian bacon, they was a slice of cold ham. Still, it didn't hang around long enough to be a problem. All washed down with the excellent tea they always seem to produce.
As I mentioned before, VS19 had been delayed over the previous days, but today Lady Luck was smiling on us and Cosmic Girl had come in from MIA at 8 and we would be leaving roughly on time (as I write this, today's 19 is 2 hours late) from gate 16 - so no route march down to the satellite hubs.
At 9, I popped over to the Cowshed to get my battered nails sorted and for half an hour they were trimmed, filed and buffed. The therapist was a little taken aback that we were flying all the way to San Francisco just to do a race... Boarding was called and on arrival at the gate it was pretty empty. Two jetways were in use and on arriving at the door, I was asked if "I was one of the V-Flyer group?" Uhh-Ohh I though, they've been tipped off and we're getting the 'behave or else!' warning. But no, the FSM just wanted to know who, a) Pete was, and b), who the Birthday Boy was.
Looking at the suite, it did seem that the week of enforced no-fly had been put to use in giving the suite a thorough clean as there was little sign of the normal gubbyness, especially on the brown side panel, although there were a couple of the obligatory red pen marks. I get the feeling there is a team who add them on purpose.. Wheels were up about 20 minutes late, taking off to the east and over London.
I have to report that the A-Zone was "with child..." but there was only a few screaming fits, mostly on descent. As soon as the seatbelt light when off, there was the traditional V-Flyer beeline to the bar and we did seem to be the only users of it for the whole trip, and not because we hogged it. The gin flowed and they even had limes, making my CH stash redundant.
Food was ordered and my selection was:
The salad with bacon and pears - Very good although the bacon was a tad salty for me.
Lamb pie - Rather disappointing as the pastry could have been left uncovered to crisp it off and one piece of meat had 'tubes'
Pecan pie with custard - very yummy.
I didn't make too much use of the IFE as I had a couple of hours nap to charge my batteries up. I did watch a few episodes of Family Guy, The Simpsons and The Cleveland Show. There was also a very interesting documentary on how research is uncovering just how in-tune we are with dogs.
Pretty soon we were starting our descent into SFO and we went straight to our stand. Sadly we were just behind the Air France 747 so immigration was packed. Having been in this situation before, I knew what I was in for. Very slow queues as the officers have to ask each question 3 times at least, with quite a few being sent off to redo their I-94W. Just as We finally got to the front, the new INS system crashed and they had to return to the old, index finger scanners. It took nearly an hour to get through immigration in the end.
Overall, this has to rate as one of the best flights I've had with VS. Not only because of the company I'm travelling with, but the crew were fantastic. Chatty, on top form and being led by an excellent FSM who spent most of his time helping out down the back, but would still come up and have a chat. Very smooth flight too with no seatbelts needed.
It's flights like these that make me glad I use Virgin.
Thanks
Darren
Darren
. Nice to hear it went well. Did you give Birthday Boy the bumps?
