This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
After a restless night at the Travelodge (I still maintain there should be a double L in there!) I was up and rearing to go an hour earlier than necessary, which is ironic considering the day before I woke up half an hour after I was supposed to be at work. Eventually deciding it was an appropriate time to leave I made my way to T3 by ‘conventional’ bus and after one last cigarette wandered into the terminal. From the cheery ‘Good morning’ I got when entering to the smiling, polite check in agent this couldn’t have been handled any better. Within 5 minutes I was through security and, after a brief stop at duty free, climbing the stairs to the Clubhouse.
There was a problem with the computers and I was told that it might take a few minutes for me to be let in as they were doing everything the old fashioned way. If they hadn’t told me I wouldn’t have noticed. The CH wasn’t very full with very attentive service. Even the lack of eggs benedict didn’t detract from the experience and the liberal supply of champagne was a most welcome substitute.
My enjoyment was cut short by the need to board the flight. Most of the passengers had left the gate area by the time I arrived. I was greeted by name, shown to my suite and offered a glass of something wet. I’m not 100% sure I like the UC suites as much BA Club. But It’s not entirely fair to make a judgment on one trip. All I know is that the reading light was next to useless and the shelf for drinks couldn’t have been more in the wrong place for me - as witnessed by me almost knocking my Bloody Mary over myself not once, but twice!
A drinks round followed shortly after take-off, with the cc for the section introducing himself, which I found a nice touch. Lunch was on a par with BA’s offering when I flew to Barbados in April – more acceptable than good. I found the soup slightly salty, but the vegetable crisps were very good. The Beef Wellington was a little bland but, again, was OK. All this was washed down with a few glasses of, I think, the Marsanne/Viognie and, definitely, the Malbec.
After some cheese and a very generous measure of port I thought it would be a good idea to stretch my legs. I managed to make it as far as the bar where an elderly gentleman seemed to be holding everybody enthralled with his tales of days gone by. So I stayed and had a few more glasses of the Malbec (mustn’t mix drinks after all). Again I can’t fault the service here – somebody even went in search of another bottle of the Malbec despite my protestations that I’d be more than happy to put a dent in the already open bottle of Chilean Cab Sav.
At some point I must have returned to my suite since I woke up about 2 hours(ish) out from San Francisco. On my way to freshen up I was distracted by the bar and its display of cupcakes. Well it would have been rude not to try a few with a glass of something white and fizzy. All too soon it was time to return to my seat for landing.
Immigration queues were relatively short but took a while due to the inability of the group in front of me to fill in simple custom forms. But I wasn’t in any kind of hurry and was collecting my bags soon enough for a 5 hour wait for my UA flight to Vegas.
I was very impressed with the whole experience and can’t find anything that detracted from overall experience. I can’t fault any of the staff I came into contact with and the product was delivered just right.
David
