V-Flyer

The day before the day long awaited by a small set of V-Flyers had arrived and on Wednesday 4th April DECKER, FOZZYO, LROM, LSOM, MITCHJA, MRS DECKER and WOLVES27 all pitched up chez Decker to be ready for an early morning departure. The evening blurred quickly between an excess of champagne, wine, vintage port and some stunningly good company - just as well as we're going to be living cheek to jowl for several days! As the night drew on Decker surprised everyone by NOT falling asleep in their presence but by taking himself to bed instead. The others continued with their jollities until the early hours.

The next morning everyone was up and excited and in no time two Addison Lee vehicles had arrived to 'whisk' (ahem) them all to the airport. Hint for next time guys - 08:00 pickup - A406 BAD idea - go A4 route. Driving past the strangely lamentably missing Concorde we joined the Cluster**** that is dropping off outside T3. BAA efforts not withstanding we were soon all reunited and on our way to UC Checkin. Much to Lady Ss surprise up ahead Decker suddenly hugged a man catching up we all had the pleasant surprise of being greeted by Maverick who was on his way to a meeting and wouldnt be able to meet with us in the Club House. A welcome start to the journey and thence onwards to security. Ahead of us an old dear span a sympathy defence as to why she shouldn't be in the economy queue and the security guy ushered her into the UC sanctum apologising that he couldn't guarantee an upgrade. Realising we were 'ensemble' he then saw us all at once and pointed us into the queue where we were rapidly seen by a black shirted check in person. Realising her badge didn't have 'Mosley' on it we looked more closely at her badge and saw the word 'Premier'.... seems that Premier team are being seconded to LHR to learn the ropes - good idea!

We were again dealt with en mass - although she must be newish as she didn't flinch at seeing LRoM's name! All bags processed we trouped to the Club House via ONE lane of Fast Pass. Non Fastpass was a nightmare, the longest we've seen it in a long time. Shoe carnival was avoided by simply ignoring the lemming like mob and skirting that particular crew. Mrs D and LSoM had been sent on ahead to avoid the Travelex queues and the rest of the party soon found them in the bistro at a large table, booth like, backing against the left wall.
Shortly after this touching reunion there was a kerfuffle as a couple of VS ground staff escorted Jordan and Peter Andr_ and a couple of others to the table behind ours. Now GUESSING here but it seems a fair bet that neither of these are GB TOP, possibly not even Au but over the next 30 minutes the Station Manager dropped by bringing water and various other staff members dropped by to recall past meetings with said celebs. Call it sour grapes if you will but if crew could pay the same attention to loyal customers it might actually have a better knock on effect.

One group member disappeared to check mail and use the toilet and upon leaving the cubicle found he'd been keeping the seat warm for Mr Andr_. He rejoined the others and was as surprised as they to see an off duty Russell Brand head towards the same toilets. There'd been some cosmic irony at play if Mr Andr_ was to warm the seat for Mr Brand!

Shortly thereafter several group members left for their treatments culminating in Decker, Fozzyo and Wolves27 gracing the jacuzzi with their presence. This was enjoyed by all (well, Mrs D was none too pleased with Decker's insistence on Speedos but as Wolves27 points out, it could have been far worse, it could have been a thong) and shortly thereafter the motley ensemble were reunited awaiting their gate call.

This came later than expected due to some problems on board. Interestingly every boarding announced included the information that 'Priority Boarding WAS in operation - just look for the sign'. When we got to Gate 19 there was no sign BUT we're all too much of old hands to let this faze us so we walked to the front and where let through the tensa by someone who acknowledged our existence at least! We toyed with ignoring the residual queue and walking to the front but decided against it. Eventually we were seen and all on board to our chosen seats all around 5-10K and a middle seat.

The cabin looked to be in good condition (G-VRED - so new economy) as we all settled in using our respective routines. The Captain announced a short flying time - less than 11 hours and after the obligatory delay caused by waiting for some paperwork to be finalised (this is right up there with 'Ugandan discussions' in the euphemism stakes we suspect) we took off and headed East.

The following is a pasted together set of flight recollections by the collective and will not be chronological!

Upon boarding the assembled hordes were horrified by the sight of a young couple with a baby estimated at less than a year old boarding and sitting directly opposite the Deckers and Dean. Given that none of the flyers have children (well they were going away for a short weekend in Tokyo so you can intuit that) this is an understandable stance despite the beliefs to the contrary by others with children. However gamely they opted for the benefit of the doubt stance. This was to prove to be woefully inappropriately optimistic.

Shortly before take off Mitchja was asked to move from his preallocated seat so that the couple could sit together. This was a bit bizarre as there were other sets of two seats available the flight had at least 10 available J seats. However he complied and moved back one. Immediately after takeoff the V-flyer vultures descended and grabbed extra pillows from the vacant seats leaving several still available a point that will become important later.
The gentlemans suite was converted into a bed and the baby was bedded down. Very selfless we thought as he perched himself on his ottoman and alternated between that and his wifes.

Food time came and ALL the V-Flyers ordered the Bento Box. After a short while it became apparent that there was a problem as an FA tried to persuade a couple of V-Flyers to accept a Bento Box assembled from Y components. Not best pleased with this we began querying why we couldnt just have our choice of meal and were informed that only 9 UC Bento Boxes had been loaded for a load of approx 35 UC pax (the majority of whom were Japanese) and that we therefore couldnt monopolise them.

Given that Bento Boxes had been the subject of much drooling for the past few months we insisted that as Golds we should take precedence. The FA looking nervous summonsed the CSS who basically told us that the flight was packed with Golds and wed just have to lump it. Angered by this we requested an audience with the FSM who explained that she hadnt actually studied the passenger manifest yet (probably explains the lack of greetings to Au members) but she knew there were a lot on board. She offered to check the manifest and came back with the statement that there were approximately 26 Au in UC. Slightly mollified by this we conceded and in a partial compromise they found another person who would sacrifice their choice thus leaving us one Bento Box short. Lady S took one for the team opting for the chicken tikka. After the meal we wandered back and checked the Galley notes and unsurprisingly found there were 7 Au on board in UC of which we were 6! The FSM was again approached and this time she explained that the 26 figure was FC members on board of any colour. But she explained there HAD been a lot of Au Op Ups to UC at the last minute.

Like a dog with a bone we pressed her on this and checking her notes she conceded that there had in fact been ONE Au op up bringing the cabin total to 8 Au. It transpires that some other pax had insisted that they could eat nothing but Bento Boxes and that the crew had decided to put their preferences over ours. Naturally we were less than impressed with this and asked the FSM whether the standing order about Aus getting first choice had been changed. No, she said, it hadnt and she was terribly sorry. Early on in the debacle shed offered Lady S 5,000 miles and suggested it be taken up with Customer Services.

In some respects we felt a little sorry for the FSM she explained that she had been on some NRT flights with a full load of J and only 4 Bento Boxes loaded. We can only assume this is a bean counting exercise again as Bento Boxes in all their glory are bound to cost more than chicken tikkas.

(Later in a dual aggravation Lady S was to be denied her first breakfast choice as all of the muffins had gone).

Shortly after the meal service Mrs D put in her breakfast order thereby becoming one of the first people on the flight to order breakfast and everyone bedded down well Decker fell asleep sitting up and awoke a few hours later and headed for the bar where he was engaged by a gentleman wanting to talk Vista vs Mac. After an hour or so of this a low wailing turned into a fully fledged bawling as the baby decided that the pax had had enough sleep. (Now this statement is NOT to be taken literally, the baby is not responsible for its being a baby the parents have that responsibility). More and more people wandered blearily to the bar complaining of being woken. This continued for some hours with Mitchja being woken despite his QCs.
Whilst he was at the bar the CSS went to his seat and started to remove one of his spare pillows. She was asked what she was doing by Mrs D and replied that the father of the baby didnt have a pillow and needed one as he was moving to another suite leaving the baby crying in his. This was like a red rag to a bull and in no uncertain terms she was told that this was completely unreasonable. The baby had not paid for a suite and the father had chosen to give it up to the baby. In any case there were other spares on the plane they just took a little more effort to find so why penalise an Au for the comfort of someone who was making an entire cabins life a misery? Apparently there were less spares than usual as a passenger had been ill on some.
After literally several hours of this an irate American pax woken for the third time came to the bar and demanded that a crew member do something about the baby. Dragging herself away from the male passenger shed spent the past hour flirting with she went to have words with the babys parents and they were all moved to the alcove behind the bar and curtained off. The baby continued screaming but at least the people at the bar were already awake!

In a final irony it transpired that the baby had woken the Captain who was asleep in Crew Quarters on his rest break and that he had had to complain to the FAs as well!

As the flight progressed the crew just abandoned the bar area to the pax and at one stage all 7 V-Flyers surrounded the bar on all sides looking after their own refreshment requirements. This was really poor management by the FSM who basically let the crew get away with murder.

At various stages throughout the flight the V-Flyer contingent took the time to wander around the cabin checking out the new PE and new Economy seats and were quite impressed with what they saw.

Joining the bunch at the bar Mrs D requested one of the light bites a toasted cheese sandwich. It was with some surprise therefore that she received her toast and jam some minutes later. This was rectified but the replacement was more chutney than cheese.

Finally the baby was quiet and breakfast was served. As noted Lady S didnt get what she wanted and despite the early pre order neither did Mrs D! The FSM was very attentive to our complaints and ensured that she took all of our contact details for her post flight report. She was surprised to hear that none of our 7 had been seen by the IFBT and ensured that Lady S was seen. As landing approached the IFBT came to each seat and explained in detail why people hadnt been seen because they had been treated in the Club House. She also explained that current guidelines were that if you were seen in the Club House you were NOT entitled to a priority card if you were missed on board, awake or not. This marks a further diminution in the already diminished IFBT service.

Landing was landing and we made our way to Immigration. Immigration as she should be. Quick check of docs and cheerfully waved through in minutes. Onwards to the luggage carousels and half of our groups luggage arrived immediately and the rest after 30 minutes #61516;. Out to be met by our driver and back to the Mandarin Oriental.

In summary a great flight on the company side but really poor on the staff and catering side.

THIS TRIP REPORT HAS BEEN READ AND APPROVED BY ALL THE V-FLYER CONTINGENT PRESENT. [:)]

Well looks like I logged in first to reply, what a great, full and informative TR for what seems like the first very eventful day in your jolly to Japan!

Despite the shocking lies put to you by the CSS/FSM (it is terrible when people tell fibs when they are simply too lazy to respond properly, if that was the case), the baby's screams, the shared bento boxes, I should think you were all a complete handful [}:)].

Is it really policy now that if you have a club house treatment you get no on board at all (unless the IFBT takes a liking to you of course)? So if the flight is quiet, most people do take advantage of the club house, the IFBT could basically sit around for hours ... this part of the service does need some boost (time for another VS committee).

Hope you're having a great trip, but the downers on your flight are undoubtedly going to be read by many - let's hope VS take notice!

Wow - what a TR, a joy to read, shame the flight wasn't so enjoyable.

Poor FSM, just when she thought she could fob off a few UCS pax with some made up figures, she failed to realise she was doing so to some of the most knowledgeable pax going, bet she was glad when the flight was over (I imagine the first thing she did was to check her schedule to ensure she wasn't planned for your return flight[}:)])

Thanks again and I look forward to the return TR
Neil

(Oh and Decker, I thought we had sorted the Speedo thing [V][;)])

Agree with comments so far, a great read.

Being lied to by the FSM is inexcusable. I hope someone from VS reads the TR and takes action.

Knowing how much you were all looking forward to your first trip to NRT, it is a shame the gloss was taken off the trip by things that shouldn't have happened.

I will be interested in any follow up you receive on your return. [;)]

Wishing we were there with you.

Nick

Well, sounds like a fun flight, but tainted by some below-average service. I hope the FSM in question reads this TR to see how, from the passenger perspective, they have let you down. They may be able to get away with small fibs to fob-off occassional travellers, but FC Golds - and particularly FC Golds whose membership of V-Flyer is quite as long term as you lot - can't have the wool pulled over their eyes. Honesty would have been a much better policy, and personally I hope the FSM is pulled up over this. I would have been furious - there's no excuses for lying.

I wonder, with the clubhouses offering such a wide range of treatments, whether the IFBT will soon become a thing of the past!!

Im amazed about the Bento Boxes - especially with the fact that there were so many Japanese on board and that there were (in the end) 7 AU card holders.

Agree with the above - why lie - better to be honest and tell it like it is - the more you lie the bigger hole you dig!!

I am sure you will all be taking this up with customer services!!

The TR reads like a chapter of a rather juicy novel. Perhaps we have a mini-series in the making? I agree with what the others have said about honesty; lying about flight details is so obvious to the seasoned traveler, it is a wonder that FAs haven't learned to at least say 'I don't know'.

Keeping fingers crossed that Bento boxes are in full supply for the homeward journey, and that onboard babies are mercifully silent. Hope you all are enjoying yourselves immensely.

Chuck-

Great read Andrew, shame about the way you guys were treated on board though, that really should not happen. Seems like the FSM requires some further training. I hope your return trip is more up to the standard we expect from VS.

It sounds like you didn't let the problems with the food and service on board the aircraft spoil your enjoyment too much.

However, it seems like the sucking up to Peter Andre and Jordan in the Clubhouse set the tone for the flight itself.

VS' priorities seem to appear somewhat misplaced, when you see things like this.

Mike

A good TR, but shame about the FSM. She certainly picked the wrong set of pax to mislead about the food / number of Au's in UC. Let's hope that someone at VS reads this, tracks her down, then books her in for a bit of customer care re-training. After all, if the FSM leads by example - the rest of the crew do the same and clear off leaving the bar to be a free-for-all [which also happened!]

On a sideline - does the supposed priority menu choise for Au's still apply if you are on a reward ticket (I don't know if you were or not)? I guess this is really a discussion to be had on another section of the forum.

Enjoy Tokyo / Japan!

James

Yes it is now policy that if you get a treatment in the clubhouse you get nothing more than a smile from the IFBT, we had to explain that due to it taking an hour or so to check in last Dec we had in fact not had our treatments.

On to the other stuff.

Ok so let's see, you have 7 FC golds flying in a group, wouldn't a little light bulb have gone off in the FSM's head to say that this may be a group worth taking a little extra attention to ?

The bento box is just plain amazing, that makes no sense in any way shape or form.

Well me thinks that some phone lines are going to be on fire when the group returns, honestly a POS flight, not counting the baby thing....not to BOSE..amybe the QC4's should be baby tested ?

Last note..just proves again that there is no point in being FC gold if you fly UC.

Decker

As always, a thoroughly entertaining read[y][y]

It is lamentable that the lapses in on board service were compounded by experienced travellers being misled[V][V]

Like Chuck, I hope the return journey is less eventful and that faith in UC service is restored.


buns

Ooh, wow! That was some TR!

It seems like the FSM took to the hills in the face of the 'onslaught' by the assembled company of Golds [V] Apart from the lying, I felt that some of her responses were laughable if they were not so serious, such as throwing 5,000 miles at LSoM and telling her to take it up with Customer Services over the Bento Boxes when in fact she, as the lead crew should have managed that. She should have also realised fairly early on that you were seasoned and knowledgeable travellers as well as being Au and were not to be trifled with. How different from our trip to Dubai last year when we complained about a lack of service and the FSM fell over backwards for us thereafter.

Phew! I need a G&T after that!

My first opportunity to pass comment on a TR.

Decker - a cracking TR - I always enjoy reading them. It was a shame that your flight experience was marred by the service. As you are aware, Buns and I have experienced not being able to have our first choice of meal in PE on the last two occasions we have flown. Your not being able to in UC is unacceptable. Considering the location you were flying to and the make up of the PAX, I would have thought would warrant a little more thought by VS into deciding on what should go on board.

The FSM let herself down and VS in the way she handled the situation. Checking the passenger list beforehand would have avoided some of the exchanges.

Now that I am Au, I am disappointed when FSM doesn't meet and greet. It doesn't take much effort to do this but goes a long way in maintaining good passenger relations no matter what flight you take.

Hope that you are all having a great time and look forward to reading the return TR

Mrs Buns

We're all off to Disneyland shortly on our last day here. It has been a fun filled set of days and more TRs will follow.

In all fairness as indicated 'early on' the FSM offered miles and the 'take it up with Customer Services' was NOT an abdication - she fully intended to complain herself in the post trip report - it was an assurance that the 5,000 miles was the only onboard gesture she could make and that we should feel free to continue pursuing this with CS. The 5,000 did not have to be the end of the matter as it were.

The FSM was not all bad - at least she tried and WANTED to help.

Originally posted by Decker
We're all off to Disneyland shortly on our last day here. It has been a fun filled set of days and more TRs will follow.

In all fairness as indicated 'early on' the FSM offered miles and the 'take it up with Customer Services' was NOT an abdication - she fully intended to complain herself in the post trip report - it was an assurance that the 5,000 miles was the only onboard gesture she could make and that we should feel free to continue pursuing this with CS. The 5,000 did not have to be the end of the matter as it were.

The FSM was not all bad - at least she tried and WANTED to help.

Fair enough. I accept what you are saying but it still does not alter the fact that the trip was unnecessarily fraught and I agree with Mrs Buns' points which are very valid. As was finally elicited there were only 8 Au members in UC and it really wouldn't have taken up too much time in an 11 hour flight to 'meet and greet' and to do all the other incidentals which should be afforded to loyal customers.

Hope the return trip will be glowing

I think this flight was probably one of the worst I have experienced for overall service levels, which was a great shame as it was also one of the ones I have looked forward to most.

Mat

Originally posted by fozzyo
I think this flight was probably one of the worst I have experienced for overall service levels, which was a great shame as it was also one of the ones I have looked forward to most.

Mat

Well that says it all, doesn't it?

It's a shame the flight wasn't as enjoyable as it should have been. You'd have thought the FSM would have noticed a group of 7 in UC and wanted to know who they were etc.

The same thing has happened to us with meals on our last flight. We were told our first choice had gone and when questioning this we were basically told 'tough'and that's in UCS

Also, i thought Au's and those on G class tickets got priority over some but stand to be corrected on that. Hope you enjoy the rest of the trip and look forward to reading the return.

Originally posted by Decker


Given that Bento Boxes had been the subject of much drooling for the past few months we insisted that as Golds we should take precedence. The FA looking nervous summonsed the CSS who basically told us that the flight was packed with Golds and we'd just have to lump it. Angered by this we requested an audience with the FSM who explained that she hadn't actually studied the passenger manifest yet (probably explains the lack of greetings to Au members) but she knew there were a lot on board. She offered to check the manifest and came back with the statement that there were approximately 26 Au in UC. Slightly mollified by this we conceded and in a partial compromise they found another person who would sacrifice their choice thus leaving us one Bento Box short. Lady S took one for the team opting for the chicken tikka. After the meal we wandered back and checked the Galley notes and unsurprisingly found there were 7 Au on board in UC of which we were 6! The FSM was again approached and this time she explained that the 26 figure was FC members on board of any colour. But she explained there HAD been a lot of Au Op Ups to UC at the last minute.


THIS TRIP REPORT HAS BEEN READ AND APPROVED BY ALL THE V-FLYER CONTINGENT PRESENT. [:)]

Nice T/R guys shame about the Bento Boxes, I have one question though, Did you check the galley notes or did a V/S cabin crew member check them for you?

cheers Jerseyboy

Galley notes don't indicate if you're flying on a reward so this doesn't affect it. The argument is you paid enough to get the miles that you should be treated no differently in the air! We checked the notes ourselves.

Well it looks like VA have really hit rock bottom with Customer service.
I know that many on the flight will contact VA about this flight, but do any of them after the way they were treated really expect any change in attitude/service? has the rot not set in so far that its too late?
The fact that not enough bento boxes were loaded says more about where the service has gone than anything else.

I think we would all agree that the flight hasn't ruined the Holiday at all. We've all had a great time, and I'm sure Fozzyo and myself will feel alone when the others leave tomorrow.

After all it was just the flight. In the most mechanical terms, simply a means to an end, but in this I still witnessed some serious flaws in service. I won't go into details as Decker has done that job admirably but what annoyed me the most was:

The lack of meet and greet by the FSM (although for the first time in a couple of flights I was mentioned by name when I gave my boarding card).

One crew member simply lying about how many Au's were in Upper, instead of a 'don't know - I will check'.

Silly shortage of Bento Boxes on a flight that would normally require more.

More and more often, the lack of crew (and spirits) at the Bar. Sure, they cannot be expected to man it permanently but to walk past several times whilst people are waiting comes across as rude. Wasn't best pleased about then being tutted at for having the iniative of pouring myself a port as the crew weren't.

I'm sure the FSM was genuine and wanted to help. I just think they needed to run a tighter operation than they were.

Cheers!

Dean

Originally posted by Decker
Galley notes don't indicate if you're flying on a reward so this doesn't affect it. The argument is you paid enough to get the miles that you should be treated no differently in the air! We checked the notes ourselves.

Totally agree with you Decker. Just being a bit curious, What info does the Galley notes Contain?

It's a 'Who ordered what' list to help the crew with service. Columns for starters/mains/dessert etc. Normally scrawled next to the pax is an annotation of their FC/Staff status. The mention of reward/treatment was a response to an earlier post not yours