VS045 LHR-JFK 12 Jan 08 (Upper)

This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

I wanted to have a short break and do a little bit of shopping in New York. I dont usually take time off work this early in the year but I have plans of joining another firm in 2008 so I thought why not.

Virgin UC check in was OK, but I am not sure of the point of the online check-in and boarding pass printing. I showed my boarding pass that I had printed out at home earlier to the desk agent and she asked to see my original e-ticket so I had to search through my bag for that. They said they had to confirm I had booked a return journey. On BA it is a different story; you can print, show your passport and drop off no other information required.

The Virgin UC lift was not working today so I was directed to the escalator which took me to the big glass door and on through to the fast track security. There was just one couple in front of me who were in the process of emptying the entire contents of their carry-ons out on the table, they had clearly packed extremely neatly and I remember thinking that it was a real shame to mess it up.

I wanted to register for IRIS so I cut across the front of the shoe carnival in the main security hall and went straight to the IRIS office. Registration is very straight forward and I looked forward to using the system on my return journey VS26.

On leaving the IRIS office I wasnt sure if I should go through the shoe security section as it is too easy just to turn right and walk straight past the officials at this point, I hesitated and decided I should take my shoes off anyway. There always seems to be a lot of confusion at this point, something they should sort out ASAP. Virgin fast track should incorporate its own shoe scanning.

I bought some water for my flight in Boots and headed for the Virgin Club House. (Can you get bottled water in the Club House?) I was on VS45 which departs at 14:00 and the lady who greeted me at the entrance to the Club House assured me that my flight would be called at about 13:10. Time was now 12:00 and ordered the sea bass and sat in the restaurant area. I really like the relaxing atmosphere of the Club House and thought the waiting staff were very efficient. The sea bass was nice and when I finished I moved and sat by the window and ordered the white needle tea with red amaranth flowers. The waitress disapproved of my order and told me it is just dirty water and has no flavour but I insisted. The tea is in fact very good, I recommend it.

It was now 13:20 and there was no announcement for boarding, so I headed to Gate 32. When I got there boarding was well underway. The priority boarding was not well marked so I had to fight my way past the rabble to get to the much shorter UC/PE queue.

I had selected seat 8K on the upper deck of the 747, the suite was very clean. CC Jodie introduced herself and announced that she would be looking after me and she did a great job!

The Captain announced that the flight time was estimated at 7hr 32min. This was longer than usual, actual flight time was 8 hours. The route was different to any of my previous flights to NY, we left over Ireland and headed straight for Quebec before turning down inland to New York.

The flight was smooth and there was little or no turbulence that I can remember. CC were enthusiastic and provided a good service. The IFBT came round but I declined any services, maybe next time when I am feeling brave.

Freedom Menu (applies to VS003/5/11/15/21/27/29/31/33/39/45/51/63/65/69/73/75/77/79)

Lunch
Starters
Salmon and crayfish roulade served with seasonal leaves and dill dressing
Broccoli and stilton soup served with a choice of warm breads

Main Courses
Chicken tagine served with pearl couscous and Mediterranean vegetables
Roast lamb with wholegrain mustard mashed potato, braised red cabbage, saut_ed spinach and mint gravy
Wild mushroom fricassee with coriander pilaf rice and buttered leeks and carrots

Cheese
Shropshire Blue
Mull of Kintire Cheddar
Chabi goats cheese

Dessert
Rhubarb crumble served with warm custard
Dark chocolate mousse with raspberry coulis

Afternoon tea
Selection of sandwiches:
Cheese and apple chutney, pastrami and dill pickle and chicken, sun dried tomato and coriander
Cranberry scone served with Tiptree fruit jam and Roddas clotted cream
Eccles cake and butterfly fairy cake

I chose the salmon and crayfish, followed by the roast lamb, followed by the rhubarb crumble. All were good and I finished the lot to Jodies approval.

The upper deck cabin temperature was a problem; it went through phases where it was uncomfortably hot. I havent travelled on the upper deck of any other airlines 747 so I cant really compare, but my last VS PE experience was also on the upper deck and I experienced the same problem then.

The Upper class toilet seat was wonky when lifted and it could certainly do with some air freshener in there. BA have an air freshener attached to the hand soap dispenser, Virgin should do the same. Water pressure in at the taps was low and you could only get a trickle of water. Airbus toilets are generally better than Boeing on VS in my experience.

Landing was very smooth and only a short taxi to the gate. Immigration was smooth and I was through the first part in 10 minutes. The only irritation was the guy directing the queue, waving and shouting orders all the time. Baggage reclaim was smooth, the bags were already on the belt. There was a small queue at the Customs desk, which took about another 10 minutes.

I enjoyed the flight and clubhouse very much and I will definitely be flying VS UC again soon! [:D]

Thank you to the crew and club house staff.[y]

[mitchja]

Thanks for the TR [y]

I thought check-in staff scanned the bar code that's now on home printed boarding passes to access your booking [:?] I dont know what it is but the VS OLCI system still isn't as slick as BA's or BMI's

They do have bottled water in the LHR CH as I always stock up before a flight.

Regards

When you go through the new UC security channel, they stamp the back of your boarding card. A random selection of people have their shoes checked there (1 out of the 4 of us when we went through) and then we just showed the shoe people the stamped boarding cards and we could by pass the shoe screening area.

Thanks for the excellent TR
I too had the same issue about the home-printed boarding pass recently, and have decided that it is not worth the bother. They insist on the e-ticket anyway. When I reached the gate, the lady wasn't too impressed by my boarding pass, and I can see why it makes more sense to get one at the airpost: the stub is easier to tear off [:D]
BW
Raj

When I flew UC in December I had a virgin agent walk me through security, and when I was selected for shoe scanning he quickly stepping in and told the staff I was 'Upper Class' and I was ushered around the side. Good job Virgin man!!

On our jaunt through security on 19 Dec we were directed to the shoe circus but I told the man directing everyone we had just come from the VS UC security and had our shoes scanned there (which we had) so he let us pass.

Re: check-in and print at home boarding cards, IME with BA (which admittedly, isn't much for long-haul flights), they had even more issues at check-in. The teenager working the CW counter ripped up our printed at home boarding passes and proceeded to give us 2 boarding cards with the same name and seat assignment on them. Thank goodness we noticed before leaving the desk, as that would have been a real treat if discovered going through security.

Thanks for the TR. You can get bottled water in the CH, it is by the pool table with the sweets, it isn't cold, but OK to put in your bag.

Hope you have a good shopping trip in NY,

DMB

Thank you for the responses and advice on shoe screening and water.

I will stick to the e-ticket and just pick up a boarding pass at the airport in future to save time in the Club House. [|:)]

Tempted to book my next UC flight already, just need to think of a good reasonÉ[i]

Originally posted by ZippyUK
The Upper class toilet seat was wonky when lifted and it could certainly do with some air freshener in there. BA have an air freshener attached to the hand soap dispenser, Virgin should do the same. Water pressure in at the taps was low and you could only get a trickle of water. Airbus toilets are generally better than Boeing on VS in my experience.

I can't believe that this issue with low water pressure in the upper deck lavs is still a problem on G-VFAB (checked against the LHR movements page), as I have had the FSM enter it on the cabin defect log more than once in the past 12 months.

VS must be aware that the lavs on board are a nighmare, but I'm mystified why nothing is being done about it. I remember someone saying that there was a 'working group' being convened within VS to look at the state of the lavs - but I can't understand what there is to discuss - they just need cleaning and servicing properly. I guess it's more satisfying to sit around talk about it than just apply some elbow grease though.

Great news that the rest of the flight went well though, and as discussed via PM, it seems like you had one of my favourite VS crew members looking after you - it doesn't get much better in my book.

Mike