This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
. As the VS45 departs at 14:00 and is called around 13:30, you might struggle getting a treatment, although I never actually tried today.The Clubhouse was not too busy and service was good and prompt the short time I was there.
I had a couple of the tapas snacks for lunch as I didn’t feel like anything big along with the obligatory glass of champagne (which magically refilled at least twice).
The VS45 was called at 13:35 so I made my way to gate 22, which is about a 10 minute walk. There’s a priority lane going into the gate room and G-VWOW was on stand with 2 jetways. No queues in the priority line and I was just about to step on board when the crew member greeting everyone at the door told me that everyone was having to get off for a security reason, so back up the jetway and into a now packed gate room. There where no announcements to start with so no-one had any idea what was going on. After about 15 minutes the crew then also got off and all appeared in the gate room.
Finally an announcement was made informing everyone that the captain had made the decision to ask everyone to get off because the security checks on the aircraft had not been performed properly in-between it coming onto stand and pax starting to board.
The crew where handing out water in the gate room whilst we where there. We where told not to leave to gate room, so going back to he Clubhouse was not an option ☹. We finally started boarding again around 15:15.
I was originally booked in 16A in the nose section, but a family had been split up and the FSM (who I recognised from a previous flight) was asking other pax if anyone would mind swapping seats. I had no issues doing this so I moved to 20K, not noticing who was sat next to me there (more on the later).
Anyway the pre-flight cabin service was in full swing in Upper, which was full on today’s flight. The door was closed around 15:45 and we finally pushed back almost 2 hours late just before 16:00. As we did push back the FSM made an announcement that the IFE was now available, although my screen was not working correctly and was all fuzzy
. I didn’t see much point in asking a crew member until we where airborne so once the seat belt sign was turned off, one of the crew reset my IFE, which didn’t make any difference. The crew member came back was apologised and offered me a DVD player. As she was doing this the pax sat next to me said he was quite happy to swap with me as he wasn’t watching it, in fact his wife was in the nose section, so she ended swapped with me that we they could sit together. Not sure if I should mention who this person was, but as soon as we spoke I recognised him. It was VS’s ex-CEO .Finally after playing musical chairs, I settled into the flight. The service soon started and was fantastic during the entire flight. Drinks where served first followed by lunch. I had the English Ham Hock for starters with the pan-seared fillet of beef for main followed by a delicious strawberry and custard tart. The food was excellent and was very well presented. This was the first time I’d experienced the new(ish) Upper Class service as it’s been a year or so since I last flew in Upper.
The IFE was playing up in economy and Premium so a full system reboot was required. After an hour or so the system seemed to be working again. I have to say now V:Port has changed to VERA on demand, I’m not a fan of the user interface, V:Port was much slicker and easier to use.
Paid the usual visits to the bar during the flight which is always good. The FSM did even offer me a bottle of champagne to make up for the seat swapping/IFE issues, though I did politely decline
Afternoon tea was served about 90 mins before landing, which consisted on sandwiches, cakes, and a scone with tea or coffee. This was very well presented and finished the service off nicely.
(sorry don't know why the photo is in the wrong orientation)
The cabin was cleared and secured for out landing into JFK. We touched down at 18:10 so we had at least made up some time. It didn’t take long to get on stand and before long I was saying my goodbyes to the crew and power walking to immigration. Last time I went through JFK on the VS45, it took 2.5hrs. I was very very pleased to reach a completely deserted immigration hall
I was through in minutes. The longest wait was for the bags. Not much of a queue at customs either which reminds me as I should point this out. At no point on my journey from MAN to JFK was I given a blue customs form. I did pick one up whilst I was in the Clubhouse (they are next to the concierge desk). I never even saw the crew offering them onboard either?
The delay did us a favor as apparently immigration line wait times had been exceeding 3 hours earlier in the day.
All in all, a great VS flight, the service on-board more than made up for the delay at LHR. The crew where fantastic run by a great FSM
After a quick and easy trip on the Airtrain/E subway line to get me into Manhattan, I was settling into the W on Lexington by 20:30
Regards
James Mitchell
James Mitchell
That gave me an attack of the vapours!
