V-Flyer

Time came to head back to the UK, and having done OLCI the previous day, I was dropping the rental car off around 2pm and heading over to the International Terminal to get the plane home.

From the Airtrain into the terminal, I got a good view of the 'G gates' of the International terminal, with it's collection of United 747s and 777s, and the 777 from the ANZ flight. As we came around the corner into the terminals, there was a good view of G-VROC waiting to take me home.

Check-in was completed fairly efficiently - while there was something of a queue for Y check-in, there wasn't a queue for J, and after the security/paperwork exercise was done, I was directed to the 'Plane Helpful' desk to check in, as both J desks were busy. I recognised a few of the check-in people from my last trip through SFO, so it looks like the outsourcer there (Hallmark Aviation Services) isn't suffering from high staff churn. This seemed like a good check-in experience, but something wasn't done right - something I didn't find out about until I got to London.

On the way to the Clubhouse, I stopped by the airport's Aviation Library and Museum, it's right next to the elevator up to the Clubhouse. The Library and Museum is modelled after the 1930's era passenger terminal at SFO, and contains rotating and special exhibitions, as well as a permanent library and collection. There is a large exhibit about Pan Am at the moment. Had I bothered to explore the upper floor, I would have found an exhibition about Airline Flight Packets - I wonder if an example of our much missed Vie J amenity kit has found it's way into there? [;)]

Anyway, the Museum is a great idea, something a bit different to find in an airport, and a great way of killing time. The Museum is also responsible for the artwork display cases elsewhere around SFO, and I think it's something which really sets SFO apart from other airports.

SFO has an amazing art collection, and even the airport itself is art. I don't know if any of the aviation buffs here have had time to look at the floor in the landside arrivals area in the International Terminal? Or are we all busy rushing to our Towncars? [;)]

So, having picked up a fix of culture, it was time to head up to the Clubhouse and relax before the flight.

Despite the new LHR Clubhouse, SFO is still a great location, and the food and service were top-notch as usual. A couple of Anchor Steam beers and the goat cheese salad went down a treat.

I battled with the annoying T-Mobile wireless, and then gave up. I must have several 'frozen' accounts on the T-Mobile wireless system in the US. Even as an occasional user, you're required to sign up for an account, which has then been frozen due to lack of use by the time you're next in the US. The system just seems to have been designed by donkeys. I think my company just needs to sort out a good wi-fi roaming provider and go with that.

The lounge soon started to fill up, it was going to be a full flight, and there were obviously some Flying Club Gold members as well as the full J cabin, as there were more than 48 people in Clubhouse.

Before long, it was time to pack-up and head for the gate, as the flight was called, and we were on gate A6, rather than the more usual A8, which was closed for pavement works.

The security line wasn't too bad, despite the shoe and laptop carnival, with three sets of X-ray machines operating, and it only took a few minutes.

There was an area in the A-gate security comb that was screened off for construction, and some signs saying that they were building the 'checkpoint of the future'. Visible beyond the hoardings were some new GE-built bag scanning and metal detector equipment which looked more like medical scanners than traditional X-ray machines. Maybe the new equipment, if proved successful, means an end to laptops out of bags and the shoe farce.

Even while I was heading down to the gate, they were making the 'final call' for the flight, indeed, by the time I got there, almost all the passengers had already boarded. I checked out using the US-Visit machine - there is no-one babysitting and making sure you've done this, so you'll just need to remember to do it yourself. Unfortunately, the downside of being a bit late was that they were just disconnecting the bridge to the L1 door, so that meant joining the tailback to L2.

So, I was welcomed onboard, and headed down to 8K. I was quickly offered a drink, and I got settled in for the flight. The seat seemed largely okay, no pen marks on the leather, for example, but the TV didn't seem to want to fit properly in the hole in the seatback, and the v:port remote carrier was damaged and wouldn't close properly.

We were welcomed on-board in quick succession by the male FSM (who I'd observed sat at the bar during boarding, doing paperwork), and then the Captain - who told us that the weather in London was better than in SFO, though more humid, we had a 9h25 flight time and we could expect a mostly smooth flight, with the odd bump here and there because of some frontal systems and jetstreams which had to be crossed.

The IFBT, who was lovely, came around to offer the various inflight treatments. I gave her the priority card that I recieved on the outbound leg as I didn't recieve a treatment, and she promised to try and get to me early in the flight.

There was a lot of thumping coming from under the floor, which I assume was the ground crew trying to hook up the pushback tug, then eventually the seatbelt sign came on, and a few seconds later we were pushing back from the gate a few minutes early at 1623 local, with a full load in all cabins.

We taxied out to runway 28L behind a sequence of commuter turboprops (mostly Embraer Brazilias), and I could see a JAL Cargo 747 taxiing out on the far side of the 28s. I wondered if we were going to get 2 747s rolling at the same time? [;)]

The Captain informed us we were about number 3 for departure, so we would be airborne in a few minutes. The little props all left, and then the JAL rolled on 28R, as we lined up on 28L. We then departed about a minute behind the JAL at 16.46 local... hoping for two 747s departing at the same time was too good to be true!

We flew a standard SFO8 departure, out through the 'Gap' before turning parallel to the Pacific Coastline, and then North Eastward over the Golden Gate Bridge, to head toward Sacramento and then Reno. The seatbelt sign was switched off quite early (even the crew were heard to remark on this), and the welcome video played out. V:port then followed a few minutes later. There was also a fair amount of turning left and right during the initial 15-20 minutes of the flight.

I pulled out the laptop and did a bit of work for the first hour or so, before it was time to serve dinner, and I noticed that the laptop power was just left switched on all the time, it hadn't been switched off while the aircraft was on the ground. I quite like this, as I can use my laptop straight away, and even on the ground if there's a ground delay.

Drink orders were taken, with a Ten and Tonic to help me toward sleep, and a sparkling water for the 'halo factor' [:D].

When I looked at the menu, something didn't seem quite right - there was no winelist and no lighter meals offered. Have the cost-cutters hit out and removed all light snacks and wine? Surely not? When our flight attendant came around to take the dinner orders, I remarked on this, and she thought it didn't look right, as she was certain they had more food than that.

She came back with another menu - it turned out my menu was missing the centre pages (the page with the light snacks, breakfast listing and wine list)!

Even then, the menu wasn't quite right, there was a choice of three starters, Chicken Ceasar Salad, Salmon Roesti, or Tomato Bisque (the latter wasn't listed on the menu card). But mustn't grumble, (eeeh) I remember when a choice of three appetisers was the norm in VS' J cabin!

Mains were the steak, duck, or mushroom wellington, as noted elsewhere on the Forum.

Lighter snacks were a mozzarella, prosciutto and salami sandwich, a veggie tofu stir fry, and something else that I've forgotten about.

Dessert was a fruit compote in a pastry shell with cream, or ice cream with chocolate sauce.

While I was waiting for dinner to be brought out, I worked on the laptop, until my brain clogged up, and then I sat at the bar for a few minutes to try and find some inspiration, had a couple of cranberry juices with sparkling water (very angelic, re-hydrating, and refreshing), and realised that the tables were being set for dinner.

While at the bar, I noticed that the bottle of chardonnay had it's cork floating in it! Sacrilage! Do these people know nothing about wine? That should have been thrown away and a fresh bottle opened. Unless, God forbid, there wasn't a corkscrew loaded on this flight! Some of the other wines had a twist cap. I made a mental note to avoid it.

I'd opted for the Chicken Ceasar, which turned out to be a pretty sad offering - yellowing, limp, iceberg lettuce leaves, two large hunks of stringy dried-out, tasteless chicken, and some dressing. No shaved parmesan.

However, the garlic and the onion breads which were served were damn good. This was where I noticed that the Robert Welch designed butter knife said 'FINEST STAINLESS STEAL' (sic). I pointed this out to one of the crew as she was bringing bread around - she and I had a good old laugh about that, as she hadn't noticed it either. However, I do wish VS attention to detail with being ironic and witty was equalled by their attention to the food!

I didn't fancy a hot main course, so I opted for the sandwich, which was billed as some sort of ciabatta/panini thing, but turned out to be served on a sourdough bread roll - we are coming from SFO, after all!

The sandwich was good, except it was a little soggy in areas. I mentioned this to the crew, and they had noticed that some of the pastry shell bits for the dessert had also gone soft. They were keeping a list of all the things that weren't spot-on with the catering for the flight report, so good on them!

One other thing I noticed was that the IFBT was coming around doing water top-ups during the meal service. I like it when they do that. It's like they are looking out for you and saying 'Drink lots of water. Keep hydrated.', it's a good use of their time too.

I went for the Sauvignon Blanc from the wine selection. It wasn't that bad, to be honest. It didn't make me cringe, and wasn't as cheek-sucky as some of the New Zealand offerings.

Ice cream was, well, ice cream, two generous scoops of vanilla ice cream, just at eating temperature, with a drizzle of chocolate sauce. Not much else to report on that.

I didn't see coffee, tea, or port being offered after dinner, it's one of those things you seem to need to ask for on VS. I think it would be much nicer if they came around with big steaming pots of coffee!

During dinner, I popped a couple of Tylenol Simply Sleep, then changed into tee-shirt and shorts (this is my new sleeping plan for planes), flipped the suite into a bed, and was starting to feel nice and drowsy, when the IFBT came to offer me the hand massage I'd requested. This was a really nice massage, and very relaxing. One of the best I've had when flying VS.

Back to my suite, the IFBT brought me a glass of water - apparently you should always drink a glass of water after the hand massage - and I took a third Simply Sleep (two just wasn't cutting it for a 210lb guy), and tried to drift off to sleep, just as a couple across the aisle were taking full advantage of 'Freedom', and eating after everyone else.

Eventually, sleep I did. Though a little fitful, it was the best sleep I've had on a plane in a long time. I think I must have got about 3 hours uninterrupted sleep, and a couple of dosey hours.

I woke up somewhere off the coast of Scotland, as we started to turn South toward London, to the smell of bacon sandwiches. This really is the highlight of a VS flight, I think!

Someone quickly approached and asked if I wanted my bed putting away, but it takes me a few moments to become fully conscious when I wake up, so all she got was a grunt! Oops!

I finally came around, and ordered a bacon sandwich, with Special K, and a coffee. I must have still been asleep, as I forgot to ask for a cappucino, and got that vile Douwe Egberts powdered muck! VS, please get more serious about coffee - have some drip-filter brewers installed on the planes!

While I was waiting for breakfast, I went and got changed back into 'real' clothes, and came back to find my bed put away, and the table set.

The bacon roll was good, one of the best I've had on VS in a while - usually the roll is dried out and chewy, but this one was fine. However it had been brought with ketchup rather than the brown sauce I'd requested.

We'd still got a way to go, over an hour at this point, and felt quite thirsty, so I wandered around to the bar, but found that if any breakfast had been laid out there, it had long since been put away, which seemed rather early - they usually leave tea, coffee, juice, water and a bread basket out until quite late in the flight - though maybe I'm thinking more of East Coast flights?

Eventually, V:port was switched off, and we started to descend into London, somewhere over the Midlands. The crew started to pack the cabin away, and the lights started to come up, signalling the end of another decent VS flight.

Best of all, there was no holding at Bovingdon, and we were given a very expeditious approach into 27R, turning base along Park Lane, with a nice view of Kensington (I could make out SRB's 'Roof Gardens') and Earls Court, giving us a fairly short final. (Regulars into LHR will know that it's not unusual to have a very long final, starting somewhere over Docklands!)

We had a smooth touchdown on runway 27R at 1015 local, so we were slightly early, but then had to taxi around in circles for a few minutes while we waited for an American Airlines 777 to leave the taxiway G 'alley' (things are still a bit of mess around there due to construction works - bits of taxiway are still closed), and let us onto our allocated stand 320, where we parked at 1024 - so we were still a little early, and thankfully on a stand with a bridge.

The flight itself was pretty good, it did what it said on the tin. The food could have worked if there was a bit more care taken to stop things becoming soggy, better quality meat and preparation (i.e. the tasteless stringy chicken), and there was a bit more attention to detail shown by the crew (like throwing away the corked wines). I didn't see the FSM much at all on this flight, he seemed to help a lot in the J galley, so I guess it was a choice of go around doing personal introductions, or help getting the meals out. That's a bit of an awkward position, but helping get the meals ready was the right thing to do, I'm sure. The crew member looking after the 'A-side' of the J cabin seemed very nice, and very chatty (she had one of those high, smiley, voices). At the end of the day, they were nice enough people, but they didn't seem to be firing on all cylinders, if you see what I mean, so they don't get an 'excellent'.

So, heading to immigration, I was hoping that my shiny new IRIS registration would help me beat the queues - however there was hardly any queue at all! But the IRIS system works quite well, it just takes a couple of seconds, and you don't even need to have your passport out of your bag.

Down to the baggage hall and carousel 6 (this is a huge 'double finger' carousel - probably designed for the A380) to wait for the bags... and, wait, and wait some more. Some bags start coming, mostly priority bags, and some that were marked 'VO' (for those who had been listed as voluntary offload, but travelled in the end). However, no sign of my bags, and we'd had about two cans worth of Y bags at this point. I also noticed some other passengers from the J cabin still waiting for bags.

As we were right next to the VS baggage desk, I decided to ask if they knew what was going on with the Priority bags, as it often seems to be sketchy these days. She took my claim check, and put the number into her terminal. Remember I said that something hadn't been done at check in? Well, the SFO check-in person had not set the Priority flag on my bag's barcode tag, so it had been sorted wrongly, and looked like it was loaded in an Economy can! At least it was on the plane!

I can't give enough praise to this baggage person, she even went 'backstage' to talk to the loaders dealing with the flight, to find out what the situation was. She came back, and said that there were four more baggage cans to come from the aircraft, and my bag is in one of those. She didn't try to make excuses, and didn't try to fob me off. She explained why it had happened, and was genuinely apologetic. I said that I understood, and that I think this has got more patchy since the US stations were outsourced. She commented that I should make that thought known to VS in a letter, which I'll take as a diplomatic way of saying 'I agree with you'.

I commented that there were several other pax from the J cabin also still waiting for their bags too, she said that she would email the station manager at SFO to draw this to their attention, and would also email Flying Club to ask that a mileage credit be applied to my account! [y]

What a great member of staff - took ownership of the situation, collected information, explained what had happened in an open and honest way, offered sincere apologies, and followed up by flagging the problem to the relevant channels. If only there were more people like that in the world!

Finally, when my bag did come out (somewhere about 11.15-ish) the Upper luggage tag was missing from the bag - it had been ripped off, probably in some conveyor belt, so even the chance for a loader at the SFO end to correct the error was lost. The old SFO staff used to put an Upper tag on all the handles of your bag (both top and side), so that the chances of them all being ripped off was reduced.

So, finally, I headed up to Revivals, longing for a hot shower. The competition for the elevators is no more, as the link bridge to the car park has been demolished, as part of the car park rebuilding work. That bank of lifts now just serves Revivals!

Revivals was as good as usual, shower room 17 was ready for me, the water was hot (shock, horror!), and I got a shirt ironed. I didn't get offered a treatment this time - maybe they were already busy, and the waitress service seemed a bit slow and inattentive. It looks like Revivals is now used to break-in any new waiting staff, as they can work in Revivals without needing an airside pass. The Virgin 'V' in the cappucino (finally, real coffee!) was a nice gimmick, and the bacon sandwich was very welcome.

I can't really mark any of this flight as excellent, but it was definitely above average, and a first for me, being early into Heathrow on VS!

Cheers!
Mike

Thanks for the return TR Mike.

It does seem baggage handling is slipping again. It did get better 12 months or so ago but as I wrote in my TR's it clearly not working again.

Write to VS, as the more people that comment on it hopefully the right buttons will be pressed.

Regards

Anyway, the Museum is a great idea, something a bit different to find in an airport, and a great way of killing time. The Museum is also responsible for the artwork display cases elsewhere around SFO, and I think it's something which really sets SFO apart from other airports.

Agreed! Last time I was there there was a large display on a french cruise liner (SS France?) was fascinating, and easily killed a good hour before check in opened.

We then departed about a minute behind the JAL at 16.46 local... hoping for two 747s departing at the same time was too good to be true!

Too Bad! I've had a dual A320 takeoff at SFO (I even had a window seat on the correct side), it's an amazing sight. Now 2 x 747's that sure would be a sight!

Thanks for the TR Mike!

Originally posted by mike-smashing
The security line wasn't too bad, despite the shoe and laptop carnival, with three sets of X-ray machines operating, and it only took a few minutes.

I quite like carnivals [:D] especially the one in the San Francisco Airport. You can get a free sticker after finishing the ride.



Normally the are only for kids but I wanted one too. Hey the five year old kid in front of me got a sticker......

BTW: The extremly kind folks at the TSA were nice and gave me two stickers. The other sticker is up for grabs, a PM away.

Thanks for the informative TR's. Lots of great detail[y]

The VS baggage assistant in LHR seems to be a real star. If only more people were honest and up front about things when something is apparantly not right they would get a lot less hassle and more respect, well from me anyway[:D].

Iain

Originally posted by iforres1
The VS baggage assistant in LHR seems to be a real star. If only more people were honest and up front about things when something is apparantly not right they would get a lot less hassle and more respect, well from me anyway[:D].

I think someone will be getting a Heroes nomination... [:)]

Mike

Originally posted by mike-smashing
I went for the Sauvignon Blanc from the wine selection. It wasn't that bad, to be honest. It didn't make me cringe, and wasn't as cheek-sucky as some of the New Zealand offerings.

By th by, I would definitely recommend the english wine they have on at the moment as part of the Best of British menu. It's Bacchus 2004 from Chapel Down and, to my palate at least, it's absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. I've just bought two cases for my own consumption at home.

Chris

Nice trip report-lots of detail!

Forgive me for being pedantic, but the chardonnay was not 'corked'. This is a popular misconception of the term. A wine is only 'corked' if it has reacted since bottling with the cork itself, become oxidised and foul tasting-instantly recognisable in most cases. Accidentally breaking the cork, or pushing it into the bottle does NOT cause this-you just have to be careful to avoid bits of cork floating in your glass, but the wine itself is fine.

So the crew didn't make a boo-boo, other than having a problem with using their corkscrew properly. I hope you haven't discarded perfectly good wine at home if this has happened!

Mike,
Great report and thank you again. Once again VS staff either made or broke the flight experience.

Hot water in Revivals -- wonderful news indeed.

Chuck-

OMG, this TR was GENIUS!!! I really don't know where to begin to gush...so well-written, such unique insights and info (the departure and approach routes, the info about the museum, etc.)

I had the pleasure to know the director of SFO socially some years ago (I moved and no longer circulate in the same circle, obviously) and he is truly passionate about that facility. I also met the fellow who managed the art/museum at SFO and he, too, knows his business. A very well-run airport!

Thank you so much for offering us what is surely my favorite TR ever written!

GJ

The bar has been well and truly raised. This and the outbound TR were excellent. [y]

Great TR - I love the marathon ones[:D]

VS.

Agreed! Last time I was there there was a large display on a french cruise liner (SS France?) was fascinating, and easily killed a good hour before check in opened.

OT but the SS Norway (the ex SS France) is currently en-route to India to be scrapped. I spent three years of my life working in the Casino on that ship (not consecutively) and met two of the loves of my life there.

I didnt know anyone had any interest in that ship anymore, it was nice to read about the ship's display, thanks.