This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Started off at EDI, the 29th seen heavy snow in Scotland so left the house at 2, for a 2 hour drive through to Edinburgh that seen a lorry jack-knife in front of us, eventually got to EDI at 430 and headed for Check in and fast track security (that isn't very fast track and is just a long route to the same check point). Number 1 due to open at 430 actually opened at 445 and some french toast and pear and apple later it was to gate 6 for boarding on Maggie May. Quick and speedy boarding, de iced and away we went on time. Busy flight, bacon roll and coffee consumed it was finals for LHR and on the ground at just before 8. Connecting passengers bus was actually busy, I counted 20+ however the 3012 does connect to most morning US departures.
Clubhouse, a sausage roll and latte later and it was time to head to Gate 20. G-VNEW awaiting me.
First impressions of the 789, WOW! By far and away a huge improvement on the 330 and although it lacks some of the glam of the 330 cabin its very subtle and stylish. Quiet flight with under 100 onboard in total. Looked like there was a tech issue before we left with engineering at the cockpit non stop but away we went close to schedule. Passengers taking pictures of the cabin and the FSM very kindly took one of me at the new bar area. One thing I noticed, was the quietness of the dreamliner on takeoff especially.
Spot the dreamliners...
Once airborne we were advised of flight time of 7h 58m and the FSM introduced himself to all Upper Class passengers, recognised AU status which was nice and meal service begun.
I opted for Carrot, Coriander and Orange Soup/Beef and white chocolate and mango mousse. All very nice and the starter and main were piping hot (something that can be lacking on the 330 in my opinion...). Vera has no music onboard due to the ongoing legal dispute and this I feel contributes to my good rating. VS did not make up for the lack of music so the overall IFE I found was disappointing. There was no Sky News updates either, which fair enough passengers can opt for the inflight wifi for £14.99 but news updates were always a nice extra. The Sky Map as others have mentioned is very nice and overall the IFE is super slick, responsive and clear, a big improvement on Vera Touch 1 on the 330s/747s.
Approach to Dulles and landed on schedule, onto the trolley to immigration and a 30 minute wait, through that and onto a Flyer for some shut eye.
Overall a fantastic flight with a brilliant FSM and CSS. Both very engaging and helpful. Customers (including myself) were very impressed with the Dreamliner and if its anything to go by, the future for VS with this aircraft will be very bright. Lots of US travellers on it too, only a handful of Visitors from the flight at immigration.
Last edited by LREDI on 05 Feb 2015, 21:47, edited 2 times in total.
