VS035 LGW-BGI 6 Mar 09 (Upper)
Posted: 24 Mar 2009, 13:11This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
After a reasonably mild Balkan winter March was upon us. A quick jaunt over to blighty to pack the B&S and we ready, except that I had left my car keys back in Belgrade and the spare set did not have the remote font. DOH!
On the puter to cancel BAA valet parking a rapid call to organise a taxi and we were back on track for the next morning. M25 was well behaved and we pulled up at the lower level of South terminal, only to face the sherpa treck up the numerous ramps pushing a fully loaded trolley to departures. Oh and you need a pound coin now[n]
VS check in area had changed slightly from our last visit with UC now situated beside EasyJet[:?] Travelling with 2 kids the security lady pointed us to the other side of the hall to economy. However with a polite nod I pulled out our e ticket and entry to the UC check in was allowed. As the desk was busy we were re directed to PE counter where the check in agent, bless her, was a little confused as our seats showed Upper. A supervising colleague politley advised her that was because we were flying in upper. Bags were checked, allocated seats given as requested and invite issued for the CH. But the travel cot we had with us would have to go to outsize baggage area even though it was smaller than our largest case. So off we trecked to fight our way past skis and big metal boxes praying it would arrive along with our other bags. Not even an upper tag was issued to give it a fighting chance.
Fast track was slow track, so we undid the tensor barrier and nipped to the normal queue much to the annoyance of staff, but hey ho.
Arrival into the CH did not raise the experience so far and we had to wait 5 minutes before being acknoledged due to anothe PAX tying up staff with his numerous requests. CH was very busy but we found a quiet table down the back near the TV which satisfied him who must be obeyed aka iforr jnr 1.
Brekkie was good and hit the spot with Mrs F declaring the salmon very nice. Now please take note. No alcohol was consumed in the lounge[:0] I know, I know but........
With 2 kids and a pushchair in tow we decided to head to the gate a little early. Boy was this a mistake, the queue snaked for a good 100mtrs along the walk way, but not to fear as we had the purple cards in hand, priority boarding surely would save us, eh, no. Nothing, no sign, Zilch! Why oh why can VS not get this simple proceedure right in the UK. The holding area was jammers, but we edged our way mouthing sorry to those we accidently bumped into[;)]
Eventually after a further 20 minute delay boarding commenced. Our push chair is not the smallest, not in an unruly handglder sort of way[:)] but more a Freelander sort of size, but the CC did manage to squeeze it into a cupboard on board.
Finally we could sit down and relax, in 7a,7k & 8a. For the first time and at a considerable cost, him who must be obeyed had his own UC suite, but for the look on his face and sheer excitement of having a grown up chair it was nearlly worth it[:p]
CC came round with fizz which was gratefully accepted and the FSM introduced himself throughout the cabin even wishing Mrs F back on board[:?] 384 pax on board today and a flight time of about 9hrs.
Take off was smooth and we were soon in the cruise. Now super nova is not the best but it did have a couple of films which I wanted to see, Quantum of Solace and Slumdog. After much flicking through channels neither could be found. A quick announcement explained that the wrong tape, disc or whatever they use on this system was not showing what was advertised and apologies offered. Madagascar 2 was quite funny though. Him who must be obeyed had his own DVD player and was oblivious to the disappointment and even delighted that the on board head phones worked with his player. At least some one was happy. Drinks order proceeded and guess what , no lime, so I refused to experiment on the TT&LWWOL and stuck with my regular tipple of Whisky and ginger.
Menu for this route was:-
Seasonal leaf salad with Danish blue, poached pear, bacon and tarragon or Veg Broth.
Traditional Coq au Vin with pilaf rice, Baked Cod or Pumpkin ravioli.
Cheese selection, Apple and Amaretto tart or Berry pavlova
For those interested I had Soup-nice, Coq- average and cheese-small portions.
I seemed to recall having Alencades Domaine de Ricardelle plonk which was also nice and plentiful supply[y]
Afternoon tea was Chicken Ceasar, egg mayonnaise or spicy pastrami & mustard sarnies with of course the scone, jam and cream.
Both jnrs slept for a few hours which was very welcome especially by Mrs F who had volunteered for Call of duty Iforr jnr2 while dad was responsible for him who must be obeyed. Throughout the flight both never ushered a peep which made me very proud dad indeed[:I]
Soon it was arrival time in BGI and after a very smooth landing we parked up beside BA, Air Canada and American, all of which had sneaked in before us. We collected the Freelander and bode our farewells to what was a first class crew. Thank you
Preparing for the huge queues of immigration a kindly lady was spotted holding a sign with Mr iforres1. Our host for the 2 weeks had organised VIP arrival so we were all stamped and through in an instant. Result[y] Baggage belt soon started to move and cases were off within 2 minutes, but was our travelcot already enjoying the apres ski without us. Of course not, 25 minutes later it was last off. Thank you BAA, twats.