V-Flyer

With apologies for the delay in posting a trip report: life went a bit mad as soon as we returned!

We picked up Miss Cloud from school and headed straight to Heathrow, expecting the traffic to be much worse than it was. As it turned out, the M25 was fine and we made good progress. Despite turning up slightly early, the chap from the meet and greet service was there already. He handed over a trolley for our luggage and swiftly made off with our car.

The security chap parroted his questions and almost missed the fact that we had answered yes when he asked if we had any sharp objects in our hand luggage. I explained that I have to carry hypodermic syringes for my son and we were through to check in. One other couple were ahead of us, so it wasnt long before we were at the hallowed desk. It seemed to take quite a long time to actually get checked in, which was wasting good drinking time in the Clubhouse, but we eventually were on our way.

The Clubhouse is, of course, fabulous. My hollow legged daughter was hungry as usual, so had large mid afternoon snack from the deli, followed by an enormous slab of cheesecake and ice-cream. I ordered fish from the menu which took a long time to arrive, forcing me to drink more champagne (oh the hardship!). The gorgeous Baby Cloud made friends by flirting with a celebrity who happened to be in the lounge.

I had a treatment booked so presented myself promptly to be soothed and pampered. Again, I was kept waiting which I figured was eating into my treatment time, but eventually I was ushered in to have a facial. There was bit of a gap between my expectations and reality her as the service was a bit perfunctory. The therapist was also into topiary and attacked my eyebrows with gusto. The result was extremely lop sided, and, being terribly well brought up, I didnt complain!

I moved the family to the playroom in the Clubhouse where the children had fun with Lego and the cartoons. My daughter had her shoes polished to gleaming, although I didnt bother. All too quickly, it was time to board our Airbus and be on our way to New York.

I had thought that the evening flight would be perfect for the children as it would be bedtime soon after take off and they would sleep across the atlantic. Miss Cloud was perfect. They brought her kids meal which she ate with enthusiasm whilst watching Chicken Little. She was offered cheese and biscuits and, upon discovering the lack of Dairylea, decided to go for crackers and butter as the film ended. She contemplated watching Narnia, but decided to have a little nap instead; changed into pyjamas and was asleep in minutes. Baby Cloud, on the other hand, was disputing the whole concept of bed time. He wasnt being loud, just fidgety on my lap. It was all too exciting for him. Of course, it didnt help that the cabin crew all stopped to smile at him every time they passed and he always responds to an audience. He eventually succumbed an hour before landing!

I didnt get a treatment from the IFBT (maybe because I had one on the ground) but did get a priority card for the return leg.

When we landed, we disembarked as quickly as a family with two semi-conscious children and a vast amount of hand luggage and medical equipment can manage. The queues werent too bad at immigration and our officer was quite pleasant. Our night in an airport hotel was anything but! As they say, thats another story

A scary moment with a beauty therapist, but all in all, a very enjoyable Upper Class experience.

Thanks for the report, do tell about ther JFK hotel.

Great Trip report Edna.

Out of interest what happens with babies in cots in UC - the other classes have the pull down shelves on the bulkheads - what did you do with Baby Cloud??

And yes - share with us your JFK hotel experience - I dont remember reading a report from anyone who stayed at the airport.

Originally posted by MarkJ
Great Trip report Edna.

Out of interest what happens with babies in cots in UC - the other classes have the pull down shelves on the bulkheads - what did you do with Baby Cloud??

Mark
Having travelled with an 9 month old twice in UC we just put him to sleep in the bed. More than enough room for two. I think the bassinet is in the rear UC cabin, which we did not want to sit in. The UCS really is perfect for tots[y]

Iain

EC,

thanks for the TR, glad everything was [y] except the hotel at JFK. Please let us know what happened[:D]

Edna,
An excellent report from you, as always. Now, you really musn't keep us in suspense over the hotel story!

Chuck-

The only bassinet position on UCS aircraft is on the Airbus somewhere about 8G (can't remember exactly). I think it is a shame that there isn't a bassinet position on the 747 because it seems short sighted not to have included it in the design on all classes.

We used the bassinet the last time we travelled and it was really good to have somewhere separate to put Baby Cloud and I could have the whole UCS to myself. This time, as he is eighteen months old, he was too old to use the bassinet, so he had to use a suite. On the way out, we were very lucky because there was a spare suite next to mine, so I used one for him and one for me. On the way back we shared and I have to say that, for a little one, he takes up a vast amount of space (all arms and legs). Still, it is definitely do-able.

Regards

Edna

As for the hotelÉ

I had telephoned several JFK hotels and explained that we would be arriving around 10.00pm and would need a crib for the little one and a fridge for his medicines. I chose the hotel whose call centre (center) advisor seemed the most helpful and positive. He totally understood what we needed and assured that, when required on medical grounds, they would always provide a fridge.

On the day itself, bear in mind that we had been up since shortly after 6.00 am (or the equivalent of 1.00 am New York time) and had been in the process of travelling for something like 15 hours. The big Clouds had not slept on the flight over; Baby Cloud had had an hour.

We collected our baggage (always looks like we are emigrating) and made our way on the Air Train to the station outside which the courtesy buses stop. We called the hotel to let them know we were here and they promised a bus in ten minutes. Ten minutes came and went; buses from every other hotel chain on continental America came and went; the will to live came and went, but there was no bus for us! When we had reached the stage of eyeing up a wooden bench as a likely sleeping option, the vehicle finally arrived and a grumpy driver let us scramble onboard, with bags, cases, buggy and children.

We checked in without event and made it, gratefully, to our room, only to discover no crib and no fridge. Five minutes of opening and closing every drawer and cupboard (as if, somehow, we might find the missing items in there) and we decided to phone the front desk. It was 10.45pm (or nearly 22 hours since we had got up) and it was definitely time for bed!! We explained that we had an infant who needed somewhere to sleep and that he had medical needs which required a fridge. We explained that this is what we had reserved and at this stage, we weren't too concerned; they would either bring the missing items or move us to another room. My daughter wanted to go to sleep, but I wouldn't let her mess up a bed in case we had to move. Front reception staff were not too helpful, but said they would go and look. After fifteen minutes, we called again to discover that the said reception staff, knowing that there was a problem, had, nevertheless gone off duty. The only person left was the night clerk and he Òdidn't know where anything wasÓ. To be fair to him, he offered to put the drugs in the kitchen fridge, but by this stage I had lost all faith in the hotel and thought I would never see them again. Besides which, my son needed medicines in the night, so I needed ready access. The result was a night spent backwards and forwards to the ice machine getting ice to keep the medicines cold. Our son had nowhere to sleep. I managed to get him to nap in his buggy for a while, but it didn't last long. Had it been earlier in the day, we would have left and gone to another hotel, but we were trapped really and had to (literally) sit it out. We had paid for a room to get a decent rest, but wouldn't have been much worse off had we just stayed in the airport.

When we checked out in the morning, we were asked if we had enjoyed our stay, to which the answer was Òno, not reallyÓ. I just couldn't believe that people working in front line customer service had gone off duty leaving us without essential items and without even calling us back to let us know. It was like they just sneaked out and left us to it. The manager was called and did apologise. By way of recompense, he knocked the cost of breakfast off the bill. I know that that was a nice gesture but even so, it will be a long time before I would welcome another stay in that hotel chain.

Excellent TR, Edna thank you. [y] [:)]

Excellent report Edna.

Similarily, the same thing happened to me at a New York Hotel two years ago.We ended up in a room looking like a cupboard with old sheets etc.Because of the long flight all i wanted to do was go to bed so me and hubby were curled up in this bed with a broken window and the temp being outside in double minus figures with snow coming into our room! when we got up next morning i went straight downstairs and had a scene with the staff on the desk who thought it was funny (this was a 4 star hotel!) all in all we ended up in a room next door that was so different to the other i couldnt beleive it! all mod cons inc fridge! it looked like our first night was from the 1800`s!.

I hope your rest of the stay was great and the journey home was uneventful!

Super TR Edna. Do tell who Baby Cloud's celeb friend is though...

The bassinet on the 346 is, as you suggest, next to 8G - we used it for mdvipond jr. on the way back from JFK last January. We've booked this same seat for our forthcoming trip to LAX in November, at which time jr. will be 13 months. I can't really remember the size of the bassinet, but you mention that at 18 months Baby Cloud was too old (big?) to use it. Think we'll have a similar problem?

As far as I am aware, there are two limiting factors with the bassinet. One is weight, which, from memory, is something like 9Kg (a member of cabin crew may be able to correct me on that). The other factor is age. I was under the impression that Virgin only allow bassinet use up to the age of 12 months, at least that seemed to be the case when Miss Cloud was an infant. Perhaps the rules have changed since then and, in any case, you may get away with it with a 13 month old.

Best regards

Edna

Thanks for that Edna. Hmm, 9kg, that's about 20lbs, think we'll have topped that by November (unless we start withholding food...[}:)]).

Originally posted by Edna Cloud
The other factor is age. I was under the impression that Virgin only allow bassinet use up to the age of 12 months

Damn! And there was me hatching a plan to get a cheap flat bed, now that the UC product has had the flowers, red cushions, amenity packs, etc removed.