VS002 EWR-LHR 9 JUN 11 (Upper Class)

This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin

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the return home on Thursday night, it was always going to be a long wait in the clubhouse arriving 6pm for the 9:30 flight but it turned out to be 2 hours longer than that due to delays with the inbound VS001. We were told it had diverted to Boston to re-fuel but there was also bad weather inthe NY area so i can only assume it didn't have enough fuel to stack for any length of time.

As soon as arrived at the check in area i was collared by a virgin team member who was looking for volunteers to take the next flight, me being on my own with hand baggage was an obvious target. I was offered a voucher for a flight anywhere in the world plus 25000 miles if i could take friday morning's flight but with a transfer in Heathrow & no available flights at the time of evening the plane arrives there, i politely declined. You'll have to tell me if i should be kicking myself now; it was all a bit too sudden for me to make a considered decision.

The newly re-decorated Newark clubhouse is a pretty nice place to hang out though, a couple of Sam Adams' & onto the buffet which was much better than i previously remembered, 3 or 4 hot selections, dessert & cheese on offer, all of which was excellent. By the time we left to board (around 11pm) the buffet had closed & you could tell the staff were ready for going home. The duty free shop at the gate had also closed so all the purchases were left to the gate staff to hand out.

I was in seat D1 so on full display to all the PE & ECON PAX who were boarding after us through the forward door, its fun to sit & watch the varied reactions to the sight of the UC cabin. I was always planning on sleeping but with the delays i think the whole snooze zone bedded down as soon as we'd climbed out & levelled. I woke with about 2 hours to run so grabbed a bit of brekkie knowing my planned visit to revivals was out of the picture. thankfully i'd booked a connecting flight with plenty of time between so even some air traffic on the way down meant i had over an hour to get across to T5.

Slight customer service issue though; the delay meant i had to re-arrange my limo at manchester & at that time of night in the US, no-one was answering the phone at UC customer services. there was no message saying it was out of office hours, i was just left on hold for over 20 minutes before i gave up. The clubhouse reception couldnt get their heads around the idea of having the limo at manchester & not heathrow

Thanks for the TR, shame about the delays!

I think the offer of the free flight + miles was good but I'd have tried to negotiate some more miles.

Thanks for the TR. I have had limo changes organised by the US CH before but clearly the Manchester pick up threw them!

Thanks for the TR. I have had limo changes organised by the US CH before but clearly the Manchester pick up threw them!

yeah the response was 'we automatically push them all back'. Not if it's a Tristar car out of manchester rather than CVC you don't

Thanks for a great TR- shame about the delay and your Limo issues and another poor performance from Customer services

In terms of your offer, sounds reasonable but as Luke says I am sure you would have been able to secure more miles out of them but nice to be offered.

Jon

given the experiences of some in redemening their 'red select vouchers' I'd have pushed for far more miles to replace that plus the 25 k. Was a hotel offered as well?

But that is all moot as you as you needed to be on that flight.

yes there is a touch of schaundenfreid of all the Y and PE pax having to trail through the UC cabin with the knowledge onf what is to come for them thats not as nice !

given the experiences of some in redemening their 'red select vouchers' I'd have pushed for far more miles to replace that plus the 25 k. Was a hotel offered as well?

But can't you still redeem a red select voucher for miles rather than a flight? IIRC it used to be 50k.

Thank you for the TR.

meant to add, as we were taxiing in we passed Mustang Sally sat on gate, that pearl red paint job still looks stunning. Not seen any other planes being given the same makeover yet though

Thanks for the TR

I find it poor that you get the same Red Select voucher in UC than you do in Y (I don't want to seem a snob but just doesn't seem quite right to me)

Yes I am sure you can redeem them for miles, not too sure how many though. But that plus 25,000 miles doesn't seem too bad to me, better than involuntary denied boarding...