This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
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When the UC sale began in early October I decided to book myself and the OH onto a flight to NY. She has always wanted to go to NY during the winter so this year I used 90K of my miles to book her onto the flight in UC (G) and paid the sale price for me (Z), so ensuring that I would receive the FC miles and the important tier points which would ensure me continuing my Ag status for another year. Although this would not give me a CDC, this didnt bother me since we live some 110 miles away from LHR, which wouldnt qualify for one this end of the journey anyway.
As you can imagine once this was booked we had to go through the two subsequent strike action threats, which as you know by now would have affected our five day vacation. However, both strikes were called for dates after we would come back so we were all clear for going.
I had arranged for my son-in-law to chauffeur us down on the 27th and he picked us up at 8AM, giving us plenty of time to get to LHR via the M40 and M4 for the 2PM flight, as it was we were dropped off at just after 10AM at T3.
This was my first flight since the recent changes at T3. I had checked us both in online the previously day, however all the bag drop offs were busy so we headed for the UC check-in, which proved very quick and efficient. Went up the adjacent lift and then through the access controlled door; had to scan one of the boarding cards bar code for the door to open, where we were met by a guy checking our boarding cards (I assume if you werent UC then you would be turned back). Security was a breeze and we were in the CH within minutes. This meant we would have over three hours in the CH!!
This went too fast, we had breakfast followed by some wine and cocktails and later some items from the deli. On the way back from the loo I decided to ask at the concierge desk whether there would be any priority boarding for VS045, to which the reply came ALL our flights have a priority boarding, just go to the head of the queue and you will be let through. I asked this because I have been on other flights (IAD) which this hasnt happened and if this wasnt available I would have stayed in the CH for another half hour instead of queuing.
The flight was called and we left for Gate 24. It looks like Gate 24 is a pier to itself and we were actually at 24A. We went to the head of the queue and asked where is the priority boarding queue to which we told (by a very uninterested BAA security official) to go to the end of the one and only queue; behind the other 200+ people already in the queue. Whilst in the queue it was apparent that other UC passengers were being told the same thing and they too were also unhappy about this, if we were only aware of this we would have waited another half an hour in the CH.
So, we were in the queue at Gate 24A, but no VS plane was in sight!! and no pax waiting on the seats in the departure lounge. Instead, there were buses waiting to take us to the plane. Half hour later we got through the departure lounge and onto the awaiting bus and a further ten minutes before the bus to filled and we were off.
Well, after going around the perimeter of T3 we went down through a tunnel and held for a while at traffic lights (at this point I thought we were heading for T4 since I knew from working there before there was a route from T3 to T4 via a tunnel), however when we emerged some two minutes later we were at a stand outside T5 where Cosmic Girl was waiting for us to board.
Walked up the steps and turned left (as Terry Wogan would say the only direction he would turn when getting on to a plane) into UC where we were greeted by the CC and shown to our seats. I was sitting in 15A, which I think is situated in a great position. It is far enough forward not to be affected by the IFBT and far enough back that you have plenty of room to get in and out.
We took off some thirty minutes late but the drinks were flowing soon afterwards. Meal orders were then taken and I opted for the Lamb option, and this was superb choice and couldnt fault it. After approx two and a half hours into the flight the FSM comes onto the pa. She said that over half the seats on the plane could not view the entertainment system, although I was about 45 minutes Ocean's Thirteen at this time. She said that she was going to re-boot the whole system which would mean that nobody could use the system for some 30 to 40 minutes. When it did come back eventually, I was unable to access any channels and I had to wait another 20 minutes whilst she reset my specific connection.
The remainder of the flight was uneventful except for the seat belt sign coming on four times for turbulence. I must say that the CC where absolutely fabulous. An hour before landing the captain came on the pa explaining he was just about to start the decent to JFK and that we would be passing through about 1000 ft of cloud, starting at 2000 ft. This seemed to take ages to go through but eventually we landed about 45 minutes late.
Taxing from landing to the terminal building took ages; and then the captain once again came on the pa saying that we had to be towed into a restrictive corner gate; this took an additional ten minutes or so before the seat belt signs went off and we were able to start disembarking.
Ive been used to entering the US via IAD and was expecting a long delay in getting through immigration but this was far worse. We had landed just after another large plane and we ended up having to wait 90 minutes to get through immigration. One consolation, I suppose, was that we didnt have to wait for our bags as these were waiting for us on the conveyor.
After clearing immigration the pa announcements were saying not to take any offers of transport other than the official taxis on the rank, so we proceeded to the taxi rank. This meant another 45 minute queue, in the cold, before we could get into a NY yellow taxi to our hotel.
