VS019 LHR-SFO 25 Aug 09 (Upper)
Posted: 26 Aug 2009, 05:11This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
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A fairly early start, 6:15am pickup from home and awful traffic lead to a long journey time of 2 hours 45 minutes to LHR T3 an hour longer than normal [:(]
On arrival at T3 there was the normal mess of drop-offs and pick-ups, taxis waiting and being moved on, nothing changes... within a couple of minutes I was in the Virgin check in area, all UC check in desks were being used, I was next in line to check in but was asked by a friendly staff member to check in upstairs in the wing... this was a smooth process, the staff member had radioed ahead and I was buzzed in without a problem (or boarding pass) to the wing check in area and there were a number of free desks.
I was checked in by a very pleasant staff member, I was booked in PE (restricted K due to a change of travel agent/policy at work) but asked about the possibility of an upgrade using miles... she phoned up and checked and stated that I couldnt upgrade with miles (as I had suspected) but could pay the special offer upgrade price (one way) of 1,200... I thanked her but declined, I had chosen 34G online and asked if 34F was still available (for more room)... it was still available but she also took and look and offered to move me to an exit row seat, I accepted and was give 28C.. very good service [^]
I went through the Virgin security channel, no one else was there and it took around a minute to get through to the duty free area, I noted that the shoe scanning machines are not there at present, a large gap is evident where the machines used to be.
After a quick visit to HMV to pick up a DVD I made my way to the lounge as I am a gold card holder, on arrival for the first time in my experience there was a queue of around 10 people waiting to get in and a group of 4 passengers complaining at the front about not being allowed in... from what I could see they were not flying with Virgin and the chap at the desk stated Im sorry you are not permitted to use the CH today. Only one member of staff was on the desk and it took around 15 minutes to gain entry into the CH, the poor chap looked very hot and rather stressed after dealing with the complaining group.
I was rather hungry so went to the seated restaurant service area, ordered a coffee, orange juice and a sausage butty. The coffee and orange juice arrived very quickly (along with a couple of mini pan au chocalat, my butty order however was forgotten and after 20 minutes I politely asked if it would be arriving soon (as I had a massage booked in 10 minutes) and after looking on the computer the waitress apologised, stated that it was not on the computer... shortly afterwards the butty arrived... very nice.
I took advantage of the services offered by the cowshed and had a 15 minute back shoulder neck and scalp massage, the massage was excellent. Afterwards I made use of one of the shower rooms, very clean and the towels were very soft!
I made a few calls and soon enough boarding of VS19 was announced at gate 18, I left the CH and on arrival at gate 18 was able to easily use the Gold / PE / UC line (the economy line was huge!). My boarding pass was scanned and a red light appeared with a beep, I had been given an operational upgrade to UC and moved to 11K. I was very pleased, thanked the Virgin staff member and after being randomly searched by security boarded the plane. I have now received operational upgrades on three occasions, once to SFO and twice to BOS all from PE to UC.
The boarding process was quick, no one was queuing and I made my way upstairs (I normally fly on the lower deck if travelling UC). I was greeted by two friendly cabin crew, offered a drink and I settled in with a bucks fizz. The FSM announced over the intercom that the plane was rather full today (300 people I believe) and that a number of people are moving around to accommodate seating requests... this probably explains why I received an operational upgrade.
After take off (30 minutes late) I was offered a drink with nibbles, a quick JD and coke and a few crisps, meal orders were then taken. I wasnt that hungry so ordered the steak and ale pie, no starter or dessert... the steak and ale pie was okay but nothing amazing.
I managed to watch the new Star Trek film (very enjoyable), got four hours sleep and then caught up on email. Afternoon tea was served with about three hours to go, again the quality was okay.
The flight was pretty smooth, no turbulence to speak of and landing at SFO was uneventful.
