This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
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Our first baby is due in March 07 so we thought we would have one last trip (for a few years) to Vegas and LA. From now on it will probably be Monarch or Easy Jet to Malaga.....
It all starts with the idea of using my 54000 and my wifes 19000 fc miles to try and upgrade to PE or UC on VS
A good friend of mine is a F/O on the 340's and usually books us 'Mates' fares.
I phoned VS and got through to an Indian call center. I asked the agent if I could use miles to upgrade on 'Mates' fares and checked the availability. We found some flights LHR-LAX-LHR on dates we wanted and the agent said no problem, get your mate to book them then phone F/C and upgrade.
Great I thought. The following day my pilot friend booked the flights. They came to approx 750 each PE return. I immediately phoned flying club to sort out the upgrades.......???????
Oh sorry but you cannot do that on mates fares the agent said as I began to feel sick.
But I was told that you could I replyed. Sorry but you were mis-informed she said. It will be 50% of the fare to refund or cancel the tickets.
Anyway after about an hour complaining to different departments throughout the virgin network, they agreed to refund me the full amount and cancel the reservation.
Went back to square one. I looked on the web and those PE fares has gone down to 608 that same day. So I felt some relief anyhow.
Then next few days involved me phoning F/C various times and getting different quotes everytime.
Finally on the Saturday evening I got through to a very friendly agent who was on her last ever shift for VS.
I told her exactly what I wanted and she actually listened and came back with a better solution.
She said that I should book the Discounted / Sale PE fare LGW-LAS K class and book an economy fare LAX-LHR S class and use miles to upgrade to U/C
I had to buy another 6000 miles to do this and the fare came to 740 each.
Perfect....
The weekend soon came round.
We decided to stay at the Sofotel Gatwick and use the Twilight Check in. We arrived at Gatwick around 7pm from Victoria.
There was no queue and were checked in by a very friendly agent immediately. I was supprised that NO security questions were asked at all. We were assigned our seats 80 H&K.
Off to the hotel via the monorail link. I have stayed at this hotel a few times and always ask for a runway view room. As always this was not a problem although it was dark and therefore there was not much to see.
We had a meal in the brassarie and went back to the room. On awaking and looking out the window in the morning, I could see the usual bank of VS 747's dotted around the airport. Usually they all seem to be parked around the Satalite, but not today.
We made our way to the south terminal once again. We passed the VS desks and saw haw long the queues were. Thank god for Twilight check in. It took about half an hour to get through security and after a quick look round the shops it was time to board.
Gate 17 was displayed, it was a bit of a walk but not too bad. However the queue was so long when we got there that I thought we would have to play the 'Pregnant wife Joker Card' This worked like a treat and were told to go straight through and board immediately.
'Ruby Tuesday' was going to be taking us to Vegas today.
It was my first time upstairs on a 747. We had the last row ajacent to the stairs. The seats were the older PE ones which were lovely and comfortable.
The cabin was full but it's a different world up there.
The captain came on and announced that they were just about ready for pushback. The flight would be around 10 1/2 hours and we would be landind on time in Vegas.
I can't belive how quick the flight went. The service was absolutly brilliant. We had 2 crew members to look after us and nothing was too much trouble at all. My wife was given several large bottles of water throughout the flight and the food was better than usual.
About an hour after take off the served the main meal. We both had the Roast Chicken which was good. Later they bought round a hot snack but I was sleeping so I missed that. The ice cream followed and then about an hour before landing we had sandwiches and tea.
Landing was slow as we came down the valley past the airport, out towards the wast and then turned, approached from the NW and landed on runway 1L.
It took a long time to taxi but we eventually got to the gate and I made sure we got down the stairs pretty quick, infact we were first off the plane. There was NO queue at immegration and we were in our hotel room within around 45 minutes.
After 5 days of loads of BlackJack, chilling by the pool, eating too many buffets and a couple of great shows it was time to move on to LA. We hired a car and made our way across the Mojave. I love that drive. It took around 3 1/2 hours. The traffic was pretty light as it was thanksgiving weekend.
We stayed at the Sheraton Gateway LAX which although in a different legue to Caesars Palace and even The Sofotel was fit for the purpose and very nice.
After a couple of day's of LA life it was time to return home.
U/C check in was a breeze at LAX. We were informed of an hour or so delay due to bad weather in London but as we had access to the Air New Zealand lounge I wasn't bothered. It also meant that as the flight was leaving later I would probably be more tired and would be able to make more use of my bed.
The lounge was about 3/4 full but we found some good seats at the back that had good views of the runways and apron.
The choice of food was somewhat limited - cold meats, salad, cheese, biscuits and some fruit but very nice all the same and the range of drinks were ample.
After a couple of plates and a short snooze I awoke to see our plane landing (some 90 minutes late)
I waited for it to come back up to the gate area but after 20 minutes or so saw nothing.......
The agent on the desk then made an announcement saying that the plane had landed and that we would be boarding at a remote stand in about 70 minutes.
I went over to the other end of the lounge and checked my emails, had something more to eat and in no time we were called for the flight.
About 20 of us were escorted down to gate 21A and told to board the already packed bus. The lights were dimmed as if for take off and we started our long long journey to our awaiting A340. It seemed like miles, the plane had been parked right at the other end of the airport and after 8 minutes we finally arrived at 'Soul Sister' G-VBLU.
The queue on the air bridge was very long indeed. We obviously were not called first for the flight despite being in U/C with I thought was a bit wrong.
After about 15 minutes we finally got to the door. It was great to be told to turn left for once.....
The upper class cabin was fairly full and as I settled into my seat 11K I was offered my choice of drink and welcomed onto the flight. Shortly after the IFBT and FSM introduced themselves to us and paying particular attention to my wife said if there was anything we wanted just to let them know.
I declined any treatments as the flight was so busy but asked that my wife could be looked after. I settled into my seat, the captain made his announcements and we were on our way.
It was a very long taxi back up to the end of 24L but we were soon thundering down the runway and heading out over the pacific.
The cabin was so quiet, I think Virgin have got it just right. Within about 15 minutes the in flight services began. After all that food back in the lounge I wasn't that hungry but I opted for some spring rolls and some ice cream. The sauce with the spring rolls was absolutly fab, it made up for the dissapointment of them being soggy and not crispy as I had expected. Never mind, the ice cream was fab too....
By the end of my 1st movie some 2 1/2 hours or so into the flight my eyes began to feel very heavy. I changed into my sleeper suite and moved over to the seat next to my wifes in the middle section which was one of three not occupied. This was to be my bed for the next 6 hours. Within about 10 minutes I was in the land of nod and only awoke to the lovely smell of bacon rolls being served throughout the cabin. I can't belive I slept for so long. I was so dissapointed that there was only around an hour or so left until landing. I opted for 2 bacon rolls and some fresh fruit which were all delicious. In no time we started our decent and were put into a holding pattern S/W of London for around 20 minutes. The familier London sights soon came into view as we continued our decent towards LHR. 27L was the arrivals runway this lunchtime and within just a few minutes we had arrived safely at the gate. Passport control was a breeze and our bags were through in no time.
Ive been on many VS flights in recent years in all classes and with many ticket types. The service has always been fairly good but on this trip we both found it truly amazing on both flights.
I hope this report was ok. Sorry for there not being any pictures but my wife had her camera stolen the day we arrived back (good old London).
Thanks for reading.
