This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
BOM airport make you X-Ray your baggage prior to check-in and this is always a source of delays so it is often worth bunging the baggage handlers who unload the transfer bus a few rupees (< 50INR is enough!) to get your baggage off first. Arriving at the X-Ray point there was an (and forgive me for stereotyping here) Indian family carrying as usual everything up to and including the kitchen sink. I think there were 4 family members with 15 bags between them! Bags X-Rayed I was asked what the bottle in the guitar case was I replied a polish which was no problem however I felt sorry for the poor girl behind me who was asked to open her luggage!
After making my way to check-in, both kiosks were in use. After waiting a minute or so I was asked to move to the PE desk where I could check in straight away. This was a painless process and I was given the usual documentation for seat 2A. It seems that if you are an Au holder, someone will escort you to immigration (no queues here unlike LHR!) and then they will pick you up after that for the quick walk to deposit you in the Lounge. The lounge at BOM is nothing special, however the drinks are cold and it is a nicer atmosphere than the gate! I bumped into the gentleman who I was sat next to on the Jet flight and we carried on our discussion about the challenges of outsourcing.
Boarding was called and I passed through security, straight through priority boarding and onto the flight. 2A seemed in reasonable condition (it has a different table design to my previous UCS flights and this design seems considerable better) however there were a few pen marks on the right hand wall (still cant figure out how they get there) and the drinks table seemed a little loose. Drinks were served and I noticed two things firstly UC was reasonably full ~80%, and secondly the cabin crew were the best looking I have had on a VS flight to date! *ahem*.
The cabin was secured prior to pushing back but the captain informed us that there was a delay due to work on the runway. Incidentally I have yet to have a single flight leave on time from BOM. We eventually pushed back at 13:55 (25 mins late) and were wheels up after a very bumpy take off run on the second runway at 14:40 for a 9 hour flight.
Prior to the orders for dinner being taken, the FSM introduced himself the new menu on BOM flights looks like:
Dinner (aka Lunch but lets not split hairs)
Starters
- Red pumpkin soup served with a selection of warm breads.
- Prawn balchao
- Ragda patties
Main Courses
- Roast chicken breast with herbed potatoes, grilled peppers, courgettes & morel sauce.
- Pan-fried pink salmon with Creole potatoes, asparagus, red pumpkin batons and creamy leak sauce
- Lal maans and Punjabi gobi
- Kadhai paneer and daal Maharani
Cheese
(the usual suspects here)
Desert
- Almond and pear flan served with vanilla sauce
- Chocolate chip ice cream served with Pirouline wafers
Smaller Bites
- Chicken tikka masala wrap served with chutney
- Prawn sandwich in wholemeal bread
- Paneer pakoda
This was my first flight with the new metal cutlery as it seems they were a little slow adding it to the Indian flights but I have to say I do like the design. The new wine list didn't grab my attention however I opted for the Californian Chardonnay which was pleasant enough.
I turned the seat into a bed after dinner however as it was a day flight found getting much more than an hour or so of light dozing was impossible so I sat at the bar and spoke to a few other passengers about India. I also spoke to the cabin crew for a while and the very nice Australian woman gave me a sneek-preview of the menu for the outbound sector which I will be taking next weekend. She recommended the lamb shank however I will most likely eat in the Clubhouse.
We landed in LHR ~19:00 and I was presented with a fast track immigration voucher even though I am a British national. I used the voucher to see if it was any quicker and I could not see much in it. Bags were collected and I headed for the limo desk where my driver was waiting to take me back to SW11. The car was a 1 week old Volvo V70 which still had the new car smell.
All in all another good flight with Virgin Upper Class. It is a shame about the suite looking a little warn due to people attempting to get the rubbish pens from the amenity kits working by drawing on the wall. I am back home for a week and will write another report about the outbound sector I am taking on the 18th.
