VS010 JFK-LHR 18 FEB 12 (Upper Class)

This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

I decided to see what plane would be taking us from JFK and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was agan the G-VFIZ. What are the chances of being on the exact same plane on 3 routes in the space of 1 week?

Checked in online around 22:25 on the 17th and only managed Seq. 10 & 11. Thanks to Mr. Tinuks' mortal fear of missing flights, we were checked out of the hotel and on our way to the airport by 5pm on the day of. Got to the airport well before 6 and managed to catch the tail end of the VS046 pax as they were checking in. Check in wasn't the usual friendly chatter, just very business like and for the first time (not sure if that's just a JFK thing)I was shown a seat map and my seat location was pointed out to me.

Checked in without too long of a wait and off to the Clubhouse we went. This was my first time ever on a VS flight from JFK, but I found the service to be excellent and the staff to be much friedlier than the LHR CH. I also had my first celebrity spotting.

The drinks arrived in what seemed like a never ending stream. The food was both good and bad. I ordered the salmon and lentil and was enjoying it until I bit into a small stone. Once that happened, I lost my appetite and decided on fruit and cookies later.

Boarded at gate A5, still had to join the queue at the jet bridge so the priority boarding ceased to be useful from that point. Turned left at the door and straight to 10A. Collected my sleep suit, changed, drank my glass of orange juice (wise choice considering the cosmopolitans and martinis consumed in the CH) and did my best to stay awake till meal time. The food was ok, couldn't really eat that much but ddn't want to wake up for breakfast. I had a good night's sleep and didn't get up till it was time to begin descent. Went through immigration in a matter of minutes and barely 3 minutes after getting to baggage claim our 3 bags came out at the same time. So quickly off to revivals for a bit of freshening up, a quick manicure and breakfast.

To crown a wonderful trip, I opened up my FC account to see if my miles and TPs from the VS1652 had been added and saw that I've gone from AG to AU. I'm not very good at counting, but I thought it wouldn't happen until the entire itinerary was complete.

Don't knock AU, you'll appreciate it on your next PE trip.

Thanks for the TR, JFK check-in has never been super friendly for me and I am looking forward to the new security zone and clubhouse there!

A fine pair of TR's That must be a first, having the same plane on three different journey legs - very convenient for the LHR transfer

Congratulations on AU - as Slinks said, you will be grateful for that on your next flight in a lower cabin

Does AU get me access to shared lounges or is it just VS CHs?

Does AU get me access to shared lounges or is it just VS CHs?

Shared lounges too - there's a link listing them somewhere in the FC gold section on the VS Web site. Often it's worth physically checking in at the desks where shared lounges come into play, there have been a few tales of Au members going straight to the lounge where ignorance comes into play - so getting an actual invite from check in can help!

Does AU get me access to shared lounges or is it just VS CHs?

Shared lounges too - there's a link listing them somewhere in the FC gold section on the VS Web site. Often it's worth physically checking in at the desks where shared lounges come into play, there have been a few tales of Au members going straight to the lounge where ignorance comes into play - so getting an actual invite from check in can help!

Thanks Slinky :-). It may just be worth it after all