This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
We then headed off to check in to get our PE boarding passes for 76 H & K which we had secured at on line check in the day before, obtaining Seq 2 & 3…….arrrgghhh why can’t I get Seq 1!!!!
As an Au holder we used the Upper Class line as PE was fairly busy and we were checked in within minutes.
We headed off to the clubhouse where I was asked if my other half was my guest… I confirmed she was but got a playful punch from Nicky as she has only recently dropped down to Silver, a fact that I remind her of at every opportunity!!!
We booked our treatments, then had some breakfast and a few glasses of champagne. I had booked the safety shave, which I had never had before but can highly recommend, Nicky had her nails done which although is a paid for treatment she was very happy with.
As we sat down after our treatments we saw one of the clubhouse entrance staff looking for someone, she sat down with one couple, who we had seen at check in, in the seats in front of us in the bubble and they were obviously getting upgraded to Upper. After she finished she approached us explained that we had been upgraded to Upper Class.
Oh joy of joys, after years of loyally flying with Virgin and so many near misses this was our first ever upgrade and given that we were now Au and Ag, I thought our chances had gone, but no and we would in less than 1hr be flying Upper to Vegas…We thanked her profusely and then sent the obligatory texts to various friends just to rub it in!!!
We boarded Jersey Girl and turned left taking our new seats in 11a and 12a, we were immediately offered a glass of champagne and we settled in. The other upgraded couple were settling in to the 2 seats directly opposite us. These 4 seats are obviously the least popular seats in UC and as upgrades we were quite rightly allocated these.
I took a little time to look around the cabin having never flown Upper on a LGW flight and the cabin is really small, only 14 upper class seats and 11 and 12 are level with and slightly behind the small bar area.
Take off was fairly quick and uneventful and fairly shortly after Super Nova was fired up but there really is nothing super about it. I can’t wait for these aircraft to be upgraded as this system really now is disgraceful. To be fair at least the screen is of a decent size in Upper which is certainly not the case in PE.
Lunch was served and I opted for the prawn risotto, which was very nice, the contentious guinea foul was not on the menu so I opted for the herb covered chicken, which to be fair wasn’t great.
After lunch we converted the bed and had a short nap. I was woken up the noise from the bar, which was being created by a couple of people who were sat in the jump seats behind 12k, not a massive issue as I didn’t want to sleep too long anyway. I had a quick walk around the plane and to be fair it was packed in all classes.
The bar cleared after ½ hr or so and tea was soon served, I chose the sandwiches and the scone which were excellent…
Talking to the crew later on they were 1 member down so the crew in Upper were helping out with the afternoon service behind, however that didn’t really help us when we were sat at the bar for 15mins and although several crew saw us no one asked us if we were being served or if we wanted a drink. In the end I ended up helping myself and taking the drink back to my seat, somewhat disappointed as I had been looking forward to having a drink at the bar.
Prior to landing we had a great chat with a couple of the crew about Virgin, Vegas and Celine Dion, who one the crew was going to see the following night.
Exiting the plane was a bit of a mess with the small economy cabin and the whole of PE off before most of UC. On arrival in immigration we found most of the passengers from a German Airbus A330 still in there. It took us about 30mins to get through but by the time everyone else was off the VS43, they were queuing out of the doors. The luggage was already waiting for us and priority baggage appeared to be working well.
In summary I am incredibly grateful to have been upgraded but I have to admit I was somewhat disappointed with the LGW UC on board experience, although I think this was mainly down to the location of the seats. As I mentioned I was in 12A which backs on to the crew rest area and the bar, both of which caused some disturbance during the flight, the in flight service was OK but not outstanding but this may have been down to the lack of crew elsewhere. So it was a superb PE flight but I’m not sure I would pay Vegas UC prices to repeat the experience.
