VS019 LHR-SFO 19 Sep 07 (Upper)
Posted: 03 Oct 2007, 01:39This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
We had to stop by the ticket desk, in it's rather temporary-looking home, to pick up new itinerary print outs, because we'd upgraded from PE to Upper only the day before.
Off to check-in, where after a couple of minutes wait, we were dealt with by a very pleasant check-in agent who confirmed everything was in order before despatching us toward Fast Track. We'd would later see the same agent at the gate when we boarded! Busy people, eh!
Fast Track was indeed quick, no enormous queue, but we got pulled up by the shoe check, before picking our way through the T3 shopping mall to the airport proper and the Clubhouse.
It was the first time my colleague had been in the Clubhouse, and I think he was suitably impressed, especially with breakfast, where we were looked after by one of V-Flyer's favourite CH waitresses. Great to make a good impression!
After I'd got a hair trim done, it was about time for the mojito boarding protocol to be invoked, and this seemed to work pretty well, as we left after the second (or was it third? .oO) yummy Clubhouse mojito (they have to be among the best in the world) to head for gate 3 to join the plane, which turned out to be G-VROC - nice to have a change after about four or five flights in a row on FAB! G-VBIG was parked next door on gate 5, having worked in from SFO.
Mojito boarding worked, no waiting at the gate, a farewell from our friendly agent from check-in, and as we were among the last 10 pax there was hardly any queue on the jetway!
We pushed pretty much on time after being welcomed aboard and offered drinks, and headed out to runway 27L for takeoff, with another good sign behind us, a BA 747 heading from T1 to depart - likely to be their SFO flight. This means we were in front of them, so hopefully still ahead when we make it to SFO!
Wheels up just after 1115 local, with a WOBUN departure to take us up the country, on the usual track up the middle of the country to leave the UK behind over the Western Isles, on track to pass over the middle of Iceland and on into Greenland.
V:Port was cranked up very quickly after departure, no 'faceless nurse' on this plane, and cocktail orders were taken. I'd travelled with the IFBT previously this year, so it was great to see a familiar face onboard, as I didn't recognise any of the other crew members. While I didn't want a treatment, I still got a 'let me know if you change your mind'.
However, v:port wasn't that well behaved, as it took a while to start up the Trivia Challenge. It wasn't stable for the first 30 minutes or so of v:port running, and eventually became well behaved, allowing my colleague and myself to throughly thrash someone sat in PE upstairs.
This was my first flight with the new menu cycle, and when orders were taken, I really didn't fancy either of the starters (either the soup, or the fish pate), but I did go for the Square Pie, with 'none of the slop'.
With pies on the brain, I thought I'd watch Waitress, which I thought was a great quirky film. It was great to watch something that wasn't a Hollywood blockbuster (i.e. it wasn't just another vapid sfx fest, like we've come to expect). A real shame that we'll never see another film from Adrienne Shelly.
However, I wish I'd been able to have one of the pies from the movie, when the Square Pie turned up. I really didn't rate it, and thought the pie filling was stodgy and dry. Even the crew member said 'I feel embarassed giving you that'. I drowned my sorrows in the Chilean Carmenere/Cab, and hoped for a high point at dessert.
Sadly, the profiteroles were a double disappointment. Within the leathery choux pastry was a tiny smudge of cream, and mostly air. Such a let down. The chocolate sauce was like chocolate-flavoured ice cream syrup. A shame that it wasn't a warm chocolate sauce. (I'm dreaming of the ice cream sundae with hot fudge sauce that used to be served on UA.)
For a while, the bar was monopolised by some guys getting fantastically drunk. One of them was slurring at me 'You want a shot', when I was getting water. I was like 'Erm, no thanks, I have to drive later'.
Managed to take a couple of naps during the flight, watched the pilot episode of Dexter with ice cream, and later sat at the bar for a bit once the heavy drinking reprobates had passed out. Think I might be hooked, as I like dark drama like that.
By now, we were still plodding our way through Northern Canada, the routing took us way North of Hudson Bay, eventually heading to overfly Vancouver.
When I felt peckish part way through the trek across Canada, bar snacks seemed to have run out, so I ordered the chicken tikka snack, which consisted of a few pieces of cold chicken tikka with raita dip. I soon began to wish I hadn't bothered, as that was another disappointment, as the chicken was tough, stringy and tasteless. Bring back the hot steak sandwiches, VS!
My veggie colleague asked for some crisps, and the FSM ended up raiding the crew cart, coming back with some bags of Walkers and Hula Hoops, because the UC snacks had run out.
Heading into the US, we passed to the west of Seattle and near Portland, while afternoon tea was served. Sandwiches were less then impressive, tiny triangles of egg and cress (blech!), rubbery ham, and tasteless prawn cocktail. Scones saved the day, but lets face it, it's hard to screw up scones.
It was soon time to put the cabin away, but I got a last Cappucino from the IFBT before we arrived, descending through the clouds into a blustery day at SFO where, after what I can only describe as a 'lumpy' approach, a smooth early landing at 1310 local on runway 28R was greeted with applause from back in Steerage!
From what I could see, we'd beat BA, and taxied into stand A8. Most of the KLM pax had already filtered through, and there wasn't much of a queue at the immigration desks.
Unfortunately, I mustn't have chosen wisely at immigration, because the officer I got wandered off after taking my documents, and had packed the innocent-looking Dutch couple in front of me to Secondary. The look on his face when I saw my Turkish visa, and Bahraini stamps in my passport was a picture! I'd almost resigned myself to being sent to Secondary (thoughts of orange jumpsuits flashed before my eyes), when a plain clothes chap, just showing a badge, came over looked at my passport (with it's gamut of US entry stamps) and then made a gesture to the uniformed officer which must have amounted to 'get on with it and let the guy in', after which I was admitted without further delay, though without so much as a 'Welcome back'.
Bags started coming out within a few minutes of getting to the carousel, thumbs up for priority baggage as all our bags were out in the first 40-odd, and off in a rather packed Airtrain to the Rental Car Centre, where I was glad of my Avis Preferred membership because the queue was enormous.
Following the display on the Avis Preferred board, I headed to the alloted stand where I found that I'd been allocated a Nissan Altima Hybrid, which turned out to be a very nice and economical car, even if part of the boot space had been borrowed for batteries!
Best of all, I was in the rental car and on the road within an hour of landing!
It wasn't a bad flight, a real shame it was let down by the rough food. My colleague and I both thought we felt refreshed and not tired after the flight, so something must have been right about it. It was his first experience in VS Upper, and he was impressed with the Clubhouse, the seat and general comfort on board, but only thought the food offered was 'okay' (apart from breakfast in the Clubhouse, and the mighty fine mojito, naturally). He felt short changed during afternoon tea, for example.
Overall Verdict:
Check-in: 110%! No waiting and a lovely agent. Best LHR counter check-in experience in a long time.
Seat: Good. The armrest wouldn't stay locked down reliably, and inside it seemed to be cracked in some way. If you leant on it, it felt like it was broken. Also, there was some sort of metalwork sticking in my back part way up the seat, possibly part of the seat frame where the foam padding was wearing thin. Inflating the lumbar support was a reasonable work around.
Food & Drink: Below Average. If I discount the offerings in the Clubhouse (very nice pancakes, a bacon roll, and the infamous Clubhouse mojito), what was available to eat on the plane was vile and disappointing, lifted by the enjoyable Chilean red. If all I was counting was the food served on the plane, it would have been 'Very Poor'. It's sad to see the food ex-LHR returning to mediocrity after the slightly better offering over the summer.
Entertainment: Good. I liked what I saw in terms of film and TV, but marks down for the problems getting the Trivia Challenge started up.
Crew: Good. Not the bestest crew, but they were there when you needed them, always keeping an eye on the cabin to ask if you wanted anything. FSM didn't really spend much time with the pax, no introductions, minimal contact with the pax, but the J CSS was a nice chap who spent time talking to people and seemed to care, while a familiar face (this time the IFBT) is always welcome.