This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
[img]http://www.virginflyer.com/photos/1832.jpg[/img]
Ahhh...my limo has arrived [:)]
Off went the five of us, with our bags stacked up in the boot of the limo with a strap holding the bootlid down. Those guys are prepared for everything!
It was reasonably early, perhaps 3 hours before departure, and there weren't many people around the checkin area. It didn't take long to scan the bags and reach the desk. Uncle and I upgraded with miles to UC, leaving sister, mum and dad in PE. They were happy there, so that suited everyone!
Uncle and I were entitled to go to the shared VIP lounge and take a guest each, but that wouldn't quite cover the five of us. One idea was to attempt getting all 5 in, but if that failed, we'd already have gone through security and so we'd be stuck in the departure area for ages with loads of chavs...erm...friendly fellow travellers...
So, instead, we left the international terminal by the front doors, turned left and walked along the side of the building. Following it round the corner, you soon reach the domestic terminal. Once inside, directly above you and facing you is the landside America West Club. Take the escalators to the left to get up there.
Priority passes were presented and processed, and we were inside the cosy lounge with only a few other people in there.
There were a few more snacks since the last time I was in here, some danish pastries primarily. No sparkling water though, which caused some disappointment amongst family members.
We probably didn't spend longer than an hour in there, and there isn't much to do in there anyway, so I'm not really sure if it was worth the bother. There's a free shuttle between the two terminals, but for speed we did the walk back the international terminal and went up the escalator to security.
I never remove my shoes, even though others around me were. Just strolled through confidently. I never set the arch thing off because I know which items of mine do that. My laptop was out and through separately, phone and coins in a little tray. All done in under a minute, no hassle!
You're straight away in the departures area, and the VS flight is always from Gate 3 in my experience. The VIP lounge is a door to the right of Gate 3, with logos of various airlines (inc VS and BD) on it.
There's a duty free shop, but I didn't bother with that this time.
When boarding commenced, there was an initial confusion as we realised the priority boarding channel was diagonally laid out to the right. Credit to VS for having a proper red-carpeted channel though. As UC boarding was announced, a queue had formed on this carpet but people weren't moving. Turns out they were eager PE pax. Following a woman who was brandishing a purple boarding card and stating 'Upper' nice and loud, we sidestepped these people and boarded directly.
Uncle dropped back to pick up duty free as we boarded, but soon caught up with me as a line had formed in the tunnel - I think they may have been boarding people needing special assistance still, in which case they announced UC boarding a bit too fast.
Again it was G-VAST Ladybird, and I was in 10K, so the exact seat my uncle was in on the way over.
Once onboard, I noticed TWO headsets were in the seat pocket (making up for the delay in handing them out on the outbound, no doubt) and a copy of Carlos.
Champagne in hand I settled in, but they were taking their time boarding the rest of the plane, so I went over to my uncle's seat (12K) and liberated an extra champagne or two from the bar while chatting to him. This new stuff (Laurent Perrier) really goes down nicely, i'm happy to report! Even uncle was getting stuck in!
We were finally seated and belted and pushing back, but there was a queue of 10 for the runway, so we didn't take off until about 1700, about an hour late.
In the air, service began and couldn't be faulted throughout the flight. This time amenity kits and sleepsuits were offered quickly, rather than having to be requested. My first (and second) drink post-takeoff was a Bellini - they seemed to be making them using the Champagne rather than Prosecco, contrary to what the freedom menu says, but they tasted great whatever was in them!
For dinner, I chose the leek and onion soup to start and finished that off promptly. I always seem to enjoy the soups on offer, whatever is in them. Hats off to the soup chef!
Then I had the Baked Cod, and I think it was Buns who said in his TR that it needs the accompanying tomato sauce to make it work, which I agree with. Still polished it off double quick, leaving only the withered and possibly overcooked broccoli.
Nothing in the wine list appealed particularly, so for consistency I continued with Champagne and had, oooh, at least a couple of glasses of that.
Dessert was (a lot of) ice cream with some chocolate fingers for some reason! Ice cream was just about soft enough, and was good.
Spent the remaining time before hitting the deck mainly watching comedy and nipping upstairs every so often to say hello to rest of family. All too soon I was fast asleep and probably grabbed a good 4 or 5 hours.
I had asked the crew to wake me for breakfast, but awoke naturally as the crew began converting beds back to seats and beginning the breakfast service. I was quickly asked what I would like and went for a hot chocolate and a croissant.
Disaster! No hot chocolate! The crew member said he had been looking for some for himself during the night and it had gone. Tea was selected instead and it went down well and needed replenishing quickly, but another crew member spotted that straight away and wasted no time dealing with it.
I paused for a few moments after breakfast to collect my thoughts, then thought about changing back into clothes. After waiting a fair while downstairs for the facilities, I gave up and went upstairs where I didn't have to wait at all.
As we neared LGW and I was watching the skymap, the entertainment was switched off, which I switched straight back on again with the 'Mode' button! This enabled me to watch our approach with interest. At the beginning of the flight it was announced we would reach Manchester and turn and follow the M6 from that point. But we actually reached the mainland lower down, nearer Coventry and made a diagonal approach towards London. We cut under LGW, passed it, then turned round to land coming in from the east.
No delays getting to a stand, and we were off quickly. Somehow my parents managed to abandon my sister, so whilst uncle and I saw them in the passport line, she was nowhere to be seen! She finally arrived and joined us. The wait for bags wasn't too bad at all, mere minutes and then through the green channel as a group of customs officers eyed up a a couple of travellers acting suspiciously who were delaying going through and looking nervous.
Some very last minute purchases were made at the arrivals shop, and then we were off to the long stay car park to make our way home. Good job VS!
