This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
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Cabin Crew
The flight to JNB was uneventful and safe in the knowledge that we didnt have to collect out bags we headed to the International Departures terminal via a route which took us through the car park, smelly from the fumes of hot rubber, petrol and diesel and all the other odours you get in an enclosed parking lot. [:$] Check-in had not yet opened but was due to do so within 15 minutes. A small queue for economy had formed but there was no-one in the UC line and so we positioned ourselves accordingly. There was a security podium and I realised that we would have to show tickets but the ticketing desk was immediately behind us so I explained our dilemma, all the while trying to retrieve that d*mn text message. Once more I need not have bothered. The agent merely asked for Ss surname and with a quick tippety-tap spewed forth the required ticket. All that effort of directing Aer John to the necessary email, explaining exactly what I wanted and why all for nothing! Ill know better next time!
After a few minutes the check-in area began to spring in to action as they prepared to open up. I was surprised and to be honest, a little miffed when the security guy set up his stall for the economy line and then began to process people and allow them to go forward to the desk. At least five parties had gone through before anyone came to the UC line and even when we had gone through to the desk we still had to wait till the computer had fully booted up. However the check-in agent was a really nice, chatty person and helped redeem the whole check-in process considerably. Once past check-in we proceeded to security and the passport control and although there was no Fast Track for any of this the whole exercise was very smooth and in less than 10 minutes we were through to Duty Free. S was very anxious for this as she still had money to spend and she wanted to get cigarettes for her dad. Boy, can that girl shop! However she was soon spent up and we headed to the Clubhouse.
I had never been in the JNB Clubhouse before and I must say I really liked it. It was small but cosy and intimate. Once in we headed to the mezzanine area where the PCs were as S wanted to email her cousin about the time of her arrival in DUB and I wanted to check in for our Aer Lingus flights the following day mainly to select our seats. The staff had not seen us go up there, so no one came near us but once we were downstairs again and ensconced in the very nice seating arrangement we were quickly attended to with S having a G&T and me a glass of champagne. We looked at the menu but because we had been given a sandwich on the flight from Durban neither of us was particularly hungry so we shared a cheese plate between us.
The flight was called and we made our way down to the gate area where Dancing Queen was waiting for us. At first we thought the redoubtable J who had really made our outbound journey so special was at the door but alas it was not to be, but someone who looked like him. [:#] We were welcomed on board and made our way to our chosen seats of 3 and 4K once more. As part of his pre-flight speech a bit later on the captain said, Ladies and gentlemen, Virgin Atlantic has an excellent cabin crew to look after you. Unfortunately they are not on this flight. Unfortunately he was right! Within in minutes of going on board S murmured to me that this wasnt going to be half as good as our first flight and I knew she was right. We made our way to our seats and the cabin crew assigned to us followed us but then went past us and did so a couple of times before she came next or near us and certainly from what I could see this lack of helpfulness seemed to permeate through the cabin. One crew member caught my eye though. He was slightly older than the rest of the crew and was a dead ringer for Bazz! [:0] Or maybe Bazz is moonlighting. We did receive our drinks and sleep suits and changed straight away but really that was the only interaction before take-off. However when I caught sight of the FSM I could understand it. I have flown with her before and was not impressed then. [V]
The captain came on with the announcement I have already mentioned and then caused great hilarity for S and me by announcing that Auntie X was looking after the Upper Class cabin and Auntie honey lamb was looking after the Premium Economy and Economy cabin. Perhaps Bazz wasnt the only one moonlighting that night!
Immediately after take off hot towels were produced and it was here that the lack of professionalism in the crew raised its ugly head. I do not expect cabin crew to call out across the heads of passengers in the centre of the UC cabin and then to pass over hot towels from one to the other. [V] This was even more inexcusable in my mind because we were talking about at the head of the cabin where it would have been very easy to slip up to the throughway and take the needed towels there. After that the cabin crew came round to take dinner orders. Now it has been my experience that they take both drink and dinner orders at this stage but, no it was just dinner orders. I felt they just wanted to feed us as quickly as possible and get us off to sleep. However the only positive experience happened at that stage. The cabin crew asked if she could hear an Irish accent and asked where I was from. I told her I was in Cork but my niece was from Mayo. She then said she was from Dublin but her dad was from a town there which happened to be the town my niece is from. (As an aside, my niece told her mum who knew him from way back when before she was married and said he had lived next door to where she lived).
When the dinner orders had been taken the crew came round with drinks orders but only one round of drinks was served which reinforced my belief that they wanted us to bed down as soon as possible. Fro heavens sake, it wasnt a quick hop across the Atlantic where you might be forgiven for wanting to try and get as much sleep as possible! S joined me at my suite for drinks and dinner. Neither of us was very hungry and so we both elected to have a beef roll from the smaller bites. I also had the mushroom soup which fitted mdviponds description of warm and gloopy to a T. Ice cream with chocolate sauce was on the menu but when we ordered it we were told it was not on board because there had been no dry ice so tiramisu was on offer instead. We chose that but both found it very sweet. I cant remember what was on the main menu other than ostrich fillet! After the meal we headed to the bar for a night cap and as soon as we got there the cabin lights were put out.
We returned to find our beds made up. I tried to watch a bit of Ratatouille but it failed to grab me. A second G&T earlier may have helped. I had forgotten to charge my iPod but after my experience last year when my old one had been fried on a VS flight I was very reluctant to ask for tips to charge it and so I decided to turn in. Did I sleep? [|)] Not a wink! I gave up at about 3:30am shortly after we entered Libya and went down to the bar for some orange juice and chatted to the cabin crew. I tried Trivia Challenge but no-one else was playing so it wasnt much fun and then finished my book. Gradually the cabin began to stir as people woke up and I had some breakfast of fruit. S also awoke and later told me that she had had to go and ask for her breakfast. [V]
Soon we began our descent and we were told that we would be landing some 10 minutes late at 7:00am. No matter. Our onward flights were at 10:00am or thereabouts and we looked forward to a shower in Revivals. We touched down and began taxiing towards our gate or were we? At one stage I saw an ominous sign Gate 597 and I opined that we were heading to a remote stand. No information was coming through from the flight deck but I was right and we parked up beside another VS plane in the middle of nowhere. This had implications for our connecting times. We had to wait for a few minutes for a bus to be there but fortunately we were able to get on the first bus that left. Immigration was busy but not too bad for the EU lines. However we were unfortunate enough to get behind a guy with a US passport who tried to argue the toss that he had been sent there by the other line. The Immigration officer was having none of that and he was sent away with a flea in his ear but not after cutting into our connecting time.
One of my concerns had been that because our bags had been tagged in DUR they would not be in the priority bags. The check-in agent told us she was sending a message down to tell them to do that but I dont know how effective that was. By the time we got into the baggage hall the bags were well and truly coming through and it was impossible to tell except that very few of the bags on the carousel had either UC or PE stickers. None the less our bags came through without too much delay and we headed for Revivals. Unfortunately a couple of flights had arrived before ours and there was a queue for showers. An American guy was throwing a hissy fit because he couldnt have one straight away and I was watching the time. We therefore passed on the showers and had breakfast instead before heading to T1 and home.
This was the tenth flight I had taken since July 2007. All before had been good, nay even excellent because of the cabin crew and given the previous indifferent TRs that had been posted in the past I hoped the tide had turned. Alas this one was down there with the poor ones but let us hope this was now the exception. We have often said that a good FSM makes a flight and the FSM on this one would reinforce that view. However on my outbound flight there was no FSM but a strong crew who worked well together and were an excellent example of teamwork
