VS005 LHR-MIA 29 Oct 09 (Upper)
Posted: 18 Nov 2009, 13:21This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
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I would like to first just clarify something. I did write a TR for our February trip, but it was rudely removed by a mod, probably Dave, Richard or HL, for just being too bloody brilliant. It was a nailed on certainty to beat Mvipond in the much converted 'TR of the year' contest which apparently is like Eurovision, no not camp and a fix, just that the winning writers town hosts the next years ceremony. There was, as is to be expected, a worry that too many people would want to come to Hull, it being so popular and all, if I won, so devious actions were taken to ensure my work of art never saw the light of day**
**The events stated above may not be 100% accurate and may actually be a complete lie, but then again, just maybe, what I am saying is correct.... [:w]
So, with strict instructions from the mods (again, this may not be 100% accurate), this TR is not going to be very good at all, please accept my sincere apologies in advance and lower your expectations now.
After two trip to Florida in less than one year already I was actually starting to get a liking for the place, I was becoming a fan of thrill rides, the weather is great, the shopping superb, and I had even stopped kicking every child I saw (just too many of them), what's not to like. So back home in March 2009, I start planning our next trip. Dubai in September soon turned in to New York in December for some Xmas shopping, then how about a NYC/Disney combo in December, as it would be lovely to see Disney at Christmas. Everything almost booked, when Luke decided to throw a curve ball and suggest how about binning off NYC and just doing Florida again but in October. The timing would allow us to do Universals Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando (something we had wanted to do for a while) before spending some time down the gulf coast, as surely we couldn't do our third, 2 week holiday in Orlando within 18 months, could we?.
Well it turned out we could, in to planning mode I went, the villa we stay at was free for 2 weeks that worked perfectly, but I couldn't get any decent flights to MCO from MAN. A quick change of tactics and deciding to look at flights to Miami, and would you believe it, there was a G fare available on the exact dates the villa was free, it seemed like fate! I was straight on the phone to FC to bag the G upgraded from an L for me, and a Z return for Luke, jobs a good un.
So with everything booked we just had to endure the 8 months at work without a day off, but with Hull being such an amazing city, it almost felt like we were on holiday everyday anyway, and the time soon passed. As usual when we fly from Heathrow we stay the night before in a hotel, to save any potential problems with the 4 hour drive down and I had initially booked at the Renaissance, which included parking, but meant using the hopper bus, of which I am not a great fan, if I wanted a tour of Heathrow hotels I would do it on my own. However, a few weeks before, I noticed a great offer at QPark, which included them returning the car to the airport rather than us getting the bus to go back to the facility (it was 10 cheaper than the usual method), Travelodge had some stupidly low prices available at the newish central Heathrow hotel and for 1 night, and a good saving of cash, it was all rebooked.
Finally, the day arrived, and after an eternally long morning at work, 2:30pm arrived, and I hopped in the car, waving goodbye to Hull Docks for 2 weeks to go collect Luke from work. Luke safely in the car, we headed off down South, with my dads sat nav (with live traffic updates) keeping us fully informed of any problems ahead, of which there was plenty. The Sat Nav re-routed us a total of 7 times, and we were quite thankful it did, as there were major problems on the M4 around Heathrow, so it took us in a way I would never have known, getting us to the Travelodge on Bath Road at just before 7pm. For 30 (and 5 car parking), you really couldn't moan about the room, it was clean, basic, with a bed that turned out to be rather comfy. We really didn't fancy the 'cafe' at the hotel and so decided to head to the Jolly Waggoner pub a short walk way. Now if there is ever a pub name that could be in trouble with the trade description act, then it is this one, because there was nothing jolly about this place at all. It look rather a large establishment, but that is very deceiving, with what appeared to be a lack of tables, and a unnecessary 3 pool tables, taking up a good 3rd of the overall floor space. The staff were miserable and unhelpful, the food was average to crap, the only good thing was the beer was cheap.
We headed back to the Travelodge, in the safe knowledge that we had just eaten the worst meal of our holiday. About 10ish I decided to sort a few things out and just check we had everything in the right place for the morning, when I noticed I was missing one of my car keys. I take both with me, one to leave with the car, one with me in my personal luggage in case for some reason something happens to main one. I had a thought I might have left it in the arm rest compartment when we were getting the luggage out earlier but rather than just risk leaving it there I decided I would go have a quick check and boy was I glad I did. Getting to the car, I pressed the unlock button, for it to inform me it was already unlocked (oops), opened the door, checked the arm rest, no key, checked the side pockets, no key, checked all other obvious locations, no key, because, of course, I had left it in the ignition (double oops) [:w]. So car unlocked, with key in the ignition, wouldn't have been the best start to our holiday to wake up and found it missing. [:I]
After a decent nights sleep, although who at the Travelodge room planning department thought it was a good idea to put the smoke detector with flashing red light directly above the bed wants shooting, it was soon time to get up and head to QPark to drop the car off. 10mins later we arrived at the UC check in, we were seen straight away by a very efficient check in agent, boarding cards issued, quick check if we knew how to get to the CH and in to the lift we went. When we go to the security channel door, there were 3 VS staff members, who for some reason were struggling to get in. After a detailed inspection of their security badges and a thorough frisking (ok maybe I made this bit up) I scan my boarding card and all 5 of us made our way through. We were through security within a couple of minutes and joined the masses in T3. A quick look around Dixons, a stop at Boots for a couple of essentials, popped in to WH Smiths for a magazine and then we headed to the CH.
Warmly greeted at the CH, and as we were both a little peckish, we decided to go get something to eat straight away. The CH was quiet, so we got a table no problem and farmhouse breakfasts were ordered, coffee and juice delivered, it finally felt like the holiday had started. Breakfast was good, although I'm not quite sure why it isn't offered as a full English, the bread was ok, but I prefer normal toast and Luke wasn't too pleased about the lack of beans, but it was still a welcome start to the day. We made our way to the glassed section behind the bar, as the geek in me does like to look at the planes [:I], and although Champagne was appealing, it was a little too soon after breakfast, so apple juice was ordered. I headed over to the business centre to check in for our AA internal flight from MIA to MCO, which had only a 2 hour connection, and with the horror stories I had read about MIA immigration I thought it would be better to have our boarding passes already printed.
Time for our treatments, and we headed off the cowshed. Given the recent announcement about the removal of pre-booking appointments, it was interesting that in the 5 minutes we were sat waiting, 3 people came and asked for an appointment, 2 for haircuts and one for a massage, but all 3 were turned away as it was full, so maybe VS have been suffering poor feedback from this type of pax. Nice treatment again, and just as Luke was finishing his treatment, he was talking about which 'celebs' were due in today. The person doing his treatment informed him that only Amanda Holden was in today, but she didn't really like her as she was a bit full of herself and not that nice. Luke opens the curtain/beads thing to find Amanda Holden stood right outside looking at products, hope she didn't hear..!! [B)]
Finally our flight was called, and we were boarding from a gate that was miles away. After a nice stretch of the legs, we got the gate area to find it pretty much empty and mainly only UC pax left boarding. Straight on board, directed to 9/10A and before I had even started to put my bag in the locker we were being asked if we wanted a drink by a very smiley and friendly CC member, good signs I hoped. This was our first time in UC on the A346, and my first impression was that I didn't like the cabin layout too much; it just felt a bit long and narrow. The suite certainly felt narrower, but I liked the larger drinks shelf but I was probably just nit picking and I should at least wait until at least the end of the flight before making judgment. Drinks served and consumed, and we were ready to push back pretty much on time, good news for our connection and after short taxi and wait, we were on our way up about 1pm.
The crew was soon released to start their duties and quickly around with more drinks and some chilli bites, which had a nice kick to them, I hope VS keep these onboard. As soon as the seat belt signs were released, a group of 6, 3 couples, were all straight up and at to the bar, something that was going to be a theme for the flight. Meal orders were taken, and it is the same menu mentioned in a few of the recent TR's. V-Port fired up, but nothing took my fancy so I read for a while until they were ready to serve food, and I watched a couple of episodes of the Simpsons I hadn't actually seen. Soup to start with, which was nice, I can never get too excited about soup though. 3 trips round with the bread, which was well received as the garlic smelt extra yummy (and I just LOVE garlic bread), it tasted good too. I then had beef olives, which again were nice, not amazing, but not awful either. I think Luke had the salad and fish pie, which he said were also very nice. I only had one glass of wine with my meal, but it was awful, I literally had to gulp it down just to get rid and so I could have some water afterwards to wash away the taste. Desert was offered and accepted; I had some sort of chocolate cheesecake, which again was really yummy. I would probably say, that it was the best UC meal I have had in my limited UC flying experience with VS. I think Mark made mention of it in his TR, I am not sure if maybe the standard has improved or expectations have lowered, but it was good.
The crew worked really well together, but it hadn't slipped my attention that we hadn't seen the FSM in the cabin at all, no welcome from them and no basket of goodies offered. So being the nosy type I am, I decided I would go have a wonder, see how the back of the bus was looking and also hunt the FSM, I got as far as the bar where the male half of the 'couples' were still propping it up, having decided to eat later in the flight and after grabbing a quick drink I started to chat to the crew member working the bar, who seemed relieved to have a slightly more sober face to talk to. Luke eventually join me after while, he says he was going to the toilet, I think he was in a start of panic and worry as to where I had gone! [:w]Another one of the 'couples' left the bar after being ordered by his friends wife that he needed to sleep so they could 'go right through the night until 3am' once they had landed [ii]. While we were at the bar the crew started to refuse to serve the remaining 'couple' members with alcohol, and were quite forceful in their stance that they had to have their food now, without wine, and drink lots of water before they would serve them again.
A nice chat to the crew who keep us entertained with stories of celebs and their antics at the bar, including a nice one about a knickerless girl band member and a very well known US TV actor [:0]. Whilst chatting, the geek in me [:I] started to come out, and I mentioned that I hadn't seen the FSM as she hadn't been round with her usual basket of goodies. The FSM was actually a CSS 'working up' and the upper CSS was a SCC 'working up' (she was actually the crew we were talking to at the bar), so the FSM has actually being very active in the cabin, she just didn't stand out as she wasn't wearing black. She also told me about the basket, apparently, and maybe one of our crew members can confirm this, the basket is no longer offered around and the contents are now, on demand only [V]. This is a new idea being trailed by VS to see how much the contents are actually wanted by pax, and the crew have to make a note of each item that is requested and report it back to VS. She said none of the staff were that happy about this new system and that the general feeling was VS are penny pinching. She did also state that she loves working for VS, the crew has a really good team spirit about them still, and that they understand the tough times they are facing. Our stay at the bar was interrupted by the seat belt sign so off we went back to our suites and I listened to my iPod for over an hour whilst dozing off.
Seat belt signs off, and whilst our 'couples' seemed to be having 40 winks, the lady in 8a and I joined a couple of new guys at the bar. At the bar now was the crew member who was looking after our section for food and drinks and she was fantastic, really chatty but once again the 'couples' gang had started to fill up the bar area again, and whilst they weren't rude, both me and my suite neighbour decided we had been at the bar a while so would create some space for others.
Afternoon tea was soon served, with our fantastic crew member, arranging some special sandwiches for me, due to my fussy nature. The sandwiches really aren't anything to write home about, slightly stale bread seems to be the norm and 3 small triangles are hardly filling. Thankfully a caramel brownie was also offered and accepted, this however was really good. The rest of the flight mainly consisted of some iPod listening, chatting to my new friend in 8a and some watch checking to ensure we were still on schedule to help make our connection . The cabin was prepared for landing and our crew friend stopped to have a little chat and to let us know what 'arses' the 'couples' group had been after we had left the bar earlier, plus a few other little bits of gossip about them, I do love crew that love to gossip!
We landed about 20mins early and after a short taxi were soon on stand. I had already prepped Luke and with a quick get up from our suites, bags down from above, and some footwork David Beckham would have been proud of, we were soon stood at the door ready to be first off the a/c. A bit more chatting to the crew whilst everything was connected, we said our goodbyes and with speed that would get us at least 351st in the 2012 Olympics 10k walk, we part followed a slow airport worker sent to lead us to immigration, I soon gave up on him and followed the not always 100% clear MIA signage to immigration.
Making our connection, 2 hours flight to flight, but only 1hr 20 to get our bags checked in, had become a big worry for me in the days leading up to our flight, boy couldn't have been more wrong. Immigration was empty, apart from the odd person just finishing off at the booths. Typically we picked a line where the person being dealt with had to be taken for further questioning, but the delay was minimal and we were through within 15mins of arriving in the hall. It also allowed us to see the 'couples' who had finally staggered their way to the hall, looking rough, maybe something to do with the large amounts of alcohol consumed but maybe something to do with the Miami local who was on our flight who had told them that their 'amazing' hotel one of them was bragging about at the bar wasn't so amazing, it was pretty much in a crap area and actually wasn't that great at all. Shame. [}:)]
Bags had already starting to come on the belt when we arrived downstairs and again, 2mins later we had our bags and were on our way to try and work out where to go to connect to our AA flight. This was really easy, the connection centre was just through the customs check, and after following yellow dots one way to check in, blue dots back again to drop off our bags and then yellow dots once more to lead us to security, we were fully done less than 45mins after landing, who said Miami airport is a nightmare??!! [:w]. We actually got lucky too, there was meant to be a hold bag charge on our AA flights, but for some reason we never had to pay, $50 more to spend at the malls!
Overall this was an excellent flight, probably our best VS flight. I would say it was mainly down to the crew, who were friendly, professional and really made a lot of effort to ensure everything was as it should be. The food was good, IFE, whilst it didn't have anything that took my fancy, worked perfectly throughout and the flight was on time.
By the end of the flight, I had actually grown to like the A346 UC cabin, it is noticeably quieter than the 747's, and it is great for being able to see everything that is going on, both in the cabin and at the bar, superb for a nosey sod like me! I certainly wouldn't have any problems booking another flight on it (in fact, we already have).
Sorry for going on so long, I thought about cutting bits out but couldnt be bothered so if you have made it this far, well done you.
Neil
