V-Flyer

As many know this trip began with a wonderful VS19 flight on 12th May (see Darren’s comprehensive TR) followed by a five day stay in San Francisco with the main “event” being the Bay To Breakers 12k run on Sunday 16th. Also very high on the list of San Fran memories is the amazing day we had in a trio of Ford Mustangs on our “DIY” tour of the Sonoma & Napa wine valleys

After a great 5 days in what has to be my favourite US city some of our B2B throng moved on to Las Vegas whilst Steve & I flew to San Diego for a couple of days with Steve’s brother and enjoyed the terrific SD climate Quick tip: If flying on Virgin America and fancy getting a cheap upgrade to First Class, don't check-in online 24 hours before but instead check-in 6 hours before and select "change seats". If any of the eight first class seats are available they (for short haul flights) will be on offer for a $70 dollar upgrade fee. This nets out at $50 if you have a bag to check, so excellent value. This option is not available if you have previously checked in on-line, eg. on the 24 hour threshold.

We then drove to Palm Springs for a week where we met up again with some of the original B2B clan at the superb Desert Riviera hotel for sun and relaxation, not to mention great hospitality courtesy of VF’s ChuckC! For anyone visiting Palm Springs I can highly recommend the Desert Riviera Hotel – just Google it and read the Tripadvisor reviews! I’ll be adding my own review this weekend!

So, winding the clock forward to Wednesday 26th May, we said our goodbyes to the remaining V-Flyer contingent who headed west for a day at Universal Studios and made a tentative arrangement to rendezvous with them later that evening at Encounter (the spaceship-like building in the centre of the LAX terminal area) before our VS24 flight home and their Virgin America flight to Washington DC.

We had a leisurely morning by the pool before checking out of the hotel around noon and drove over to Thai Smile on North Palm Canyon Drive for a delicious lunch knowing that our next “meal” wouldn’t be until at least midnight. That morning VS had sent texts, emailed and phoned informing us of a 1.5 hour delay to our scheduled 21:10 departure that evening. Being the geek I am, and taking full advantage of the excellent “Which Aircraft” feature in the Toolbox section of this site, I already knew that VS had switched the normal A340-600 aircraft type serving the outbound VS23 that day to an A340-300, G-VELD, which itself was late getting out of Dubai earlier that morning. On checking Heathrow departures it turned out VS23 had departed 2 hours late.

The drive along the I10 was uneventful and smooth - we arrived at Alamo around 16:30 where we dropped off the SUV and hopped on the courtesy bus over to T2. There was no queue at UC check-in and no pre-screening so went straight up to the desk. The chap who checked us in was fast and efficient and had a sense of humour, agreeing that our plan to go over to Encounter, given our flight was some 6 hours away was a good one! He also confirmed the delay & issued us with passes to the Air New Zealand lounge. Whilst an “invitation” is very nice IMHO it’s unnecessary as, waste of paper aside, it takes time to meticulously hand write passengers’ names & flight numbers on it - surely an UC boarding pass is all that’s needed to prove entitlement, just like at LHR? They had run out of UC luggage tags so PE tags were attached instead. What we didn’t see at the time was that handwritten “J” tags were also attached – we only saw them on collecting our luggage after the flight at LHR!

Unfortunately our get together with the others at Encounter never happened – it was closed, so I hastily messaged them saying don’t rush over! The sign on the door stated that it closes at 16:00 Mon – Wed.

Given there’s little to do landside at LAX we opted to go through security and onward to the ANZ lounge. I panicked when my hand luggage emerged from the x-ray machine since my boarding pass, which I’d carefully tucked in my passport and wedged under my laptop, was nowhere to be seen! I couldn’t understand it…how could it vanish in those few seconds between me parting with my belongings at the x-ray entrance and emerging from the archway detector on other side? I made a fuss and asked the operator but she couldn’t care less. I thought perhaps it had somehow got “blown adrift” somewhere inside the x-ray? They wanted rid of me from the area but I kept looking (jeans half way down as my belt was still in the tray!!) ….I was also still shoeless! I kept searching and eventually, on my knees under the x-ray, I found my boarding pass. It crossed my mind that a very rude lady who had been behind me in the line and demanded to queue jump may, in an act of spite, have removed my boarding pass and discarded it under the unit on which the x-ray sits? This could have happened in the seconds between me leaving my two trays of items as they entered the x-ray and the trays emerging the other side, especially (and understandably I hasten to add) as the operator needed to keep reversing the belt. This of course results in a situation whereby items that were “nearly inside the x-ray” at the point you leave them being reversed out and exposed without you being there. Incidentally the lady in question then clicked her fingers at the archway detector operator in an effort to be allowed through before someone else (there were two x-ray lines feeding a single archway) which he, quite rightfully, objected to and made her wait!

Once I’d got my belt & shoes back on it was through to tranquillity of the ANZ lounge which would be our home for the next six hours or so. Our time in the lounge time passed quickly…we had a great area by the window with a superb view of the runway. The ANZ lounge is spacious, serves light bites and offers a good selection of NZ wines. The showers are great too so we took full advantage! Around 7pm two hot dishes were brought out to the food serving area, a lasagne and a vegetable bake. Also the most delicious lamb chops were brought round by a waitress and offered with mint sauce. Ice cream rounds were also done. The wireless connection was also fast & reliable.

An elderly American couple were conspicuous throughout our period in the lounge by their “loudness”. They were grumbling non-stop, she was constantly ticking him off….they were so down right loud such that everyone in the vicinity could hear all they had to whine about! Goodness knows why they had flown from San Antonio, TX to connect with the a flight from LAX, surely there are more optimal routes…but they winged about everything under the sun, including of course the delay to VS24. They also latched on to anyone who sat close to them and, from what I saw/heard, bored these poor people to death with their incessant grumbling. The patience of our crew later that night would undoubtedly be put to the test!

Throughout our time in the lounge time VS maintained an ETD of 22:45 for the VS24. This in my opinion would never be achievable given the inbound was not due in until 21:15! Sure enough, bang on 22:45 an announcement was made confirming that the crew had only just boarded the aircraft and boarding would commence around 23:00.

We were called down to the gate around 23:00 and headed straight to the well signed priority boarding area and from there straight on to the plane. It appeared that no call had yet been made to the rest of the passengers who were all still seated in the gate area Thus the UC boarding experience was organised and hassle free, it was almost as though those of us who had come down from the lounge were smuggled on in advance! No additional security searches were evident so it was straight on after the usual boarding pass check.

At last….on to the all important flight experience! The first thing that has to be said is this ranks as being our best ever “west to east” trans-Atlantic flight, despite not departing until just before midnight. As many I’m sure will agree, whilst daylight east-west flights are often superb, the UK bound night returns are often not. This particular flight was memorable entirely due to Michelle, a highly professional and clearly respected FSM, along with bubbly crew members Tom (back at VS after a secondment with Virgin Australia) & Daniel (permission to quote names granted). From the moment we were welcomed so enthusiastically we knew this would be a simply great flight

The first thing to note was the way the crew handled the earlier mentioned “loud & whining couple” who, from the moment they boarded would be the passengers from hell! The lady was complaining that she flies Virgin all the time yet found the operation of the UC suite too complicated. The FSM and other crew members spent a considerable amount of time throughout the flight, including up to 30 seconds before touchdown at LHR with this woman. She sed the call bell frequently and had her husband remove and replace her oversized hand luggage from the overhead bin on multiple occasions. Every time the bag came down he balanced it on the ottoman and blocked the narrow aisle – remember this is an A340 and not the spacious A Zone of a 747! This resulted in myself, other passengers and crew who needed to reach the vicinity of 1K thru 4K needing to go up the other aisle and round behind the flight deck.

Initially, on learning that the aircraft had been switched from a 600 to a 300 I was disappointed but, all in all, (and I know some will disagree!) I actually prefer the A340-300. As someone who rarely uses V-Port on the 600’s the lack of on demand entertainment really doesn’t bother me. The UC cabin on the 300 is much less “corridor like” and overall a more intimate experience. Of course it’s not a patch on UC in the 747 but, give me a choice between the 300 and the 600 I’d now opt for the former! We were on G-VELD (African Queen). The suites were in excellent with clear evidence of some of them having been recently replaced. The tell tale sign (other than unblemished white suite walls) is that a more durable (non leather?) material is used across the top of each suite partition which feels distinctly harder and smoother when touched than the softer, more scuffable leather like material.

As has been made known here on V-Flyer, one A340-300 in the fleet, G-VSUN has been upgraded with VPort. Interestingly though, and you can’t blame them, the crew don’t like flying this aircraft because it has no crew rest area! If I understood what was explained correctly G-VSUN is not used on routes where crew rest is a statutory requirement. Someone please put me right if I’m wrong but that’s the gist of what I understood, although I had enjoyed copious quantities of wine by then!

This flight was full to the brim owing to the aircraft change with jump seats in use by staff who were unable to secure a seat in any class. It was staffed by more than usual for a A340-300 owing to the fact that this crew had flown out on a 600 hence were staffed up for a return on the same. The FSM explained that sometimes in these circumstances the surplus crew contingent travel as passengers but, as there wasn’t a single spare seat, all crew members worked the flight.

Interestingly also, when the captain made his announcements at the outset he mentioned there were three of them on the flight deck.

Despite our aircraft having being subjected to tight turn arounds since leaving Dubai late many hours earlier, the cleanliness of suites and WC’s was fine. It was pleasing also to see the crew maintaining a highly assertive stance in preventing PE passengers from coming forward to use the UC loos. One woman in particular repeatedly tried but to no avail!

I’d wrongly assumed that, given the very late departure of this flight, there would be a rush to serve dinner and switch off the lights…how wrong I was. We enjoyed a relaxed dinner service and thoroughly enjoyed the new USA-UK menu. I started off with the crabmeat & leek chowder followed by the seared fillet of beef. The beef was tender and, although not to my rare liking (in any event how can this possibly be achieved in an aircraft galley?) it was delicious. I skipped dessert as was perfectly satisfied at that point! The crew said no need to tick choices and hand in the breakfast menu, all they needed to know was whether or not we wanted to be woken for breakfast. I was happy to be woken, and when that happened hours later enjoyed a full cooked breakfast of grilled Irish back bacon, pork sausage, scrambled egg, hash brown, sautéed button mushrooms & tomato. We were asked by the FSM if we fancied breakfast at the bar and took her up on the offer. Nice to have a leg stretch after around five hours great sleep! I should add at this point that the cabin temperature did not become excessively hot throughout the flight.

In the course of my chats with the FSM she confirmed the following service enhancements are due from 1st June. Among these are: Enhanced “ratio & quality” of bar snacks (not entirely sure what this means?); the return of the much missed cake stand (small cakes on LHR flights & large single cake ex LGW); Pretzels reinstated in Economy & PE; “all tray” service in PE (again not quite sure what this means).

Just a point to note – we were offered hot towels after boarding and again just before landing.

As we approached LHR the FSM announced arrangements for those passengers who were originally on a though BMI connection to Dublin – they were now rebooked on Aer Lingus owing to our late arrival. A while earlier I’d overhead that the BD passengers would need to be allowed to disembark first but I guess the plan changed owing to the connection being too tight.

As mentioned earlier, just as we were on final approach the whining lady who had been a handful to say the least throughput the flight kicked up yet another fuss, to such an extent that the FSM was using every “people skill” in the book to appease her. We were no more than seconds from touch down when she dashed back to her own seat and buckled up!

The landing was smooth and we parked up pretty quickly. Immigration also fast and bags out among the first. Out to Virgin Limo desk where our Tristar driver was eagerly awaiting us and home in around an hour and a half, just in time for the Ocado delivery!

All in all, a perfect flight. As had been said on countless occasions here on VF, it’s the crew that makes or breaks a flight.

Thanks
James

Excellent TR James

Looks like this time the problems were with one particular pax and not any VS issues !

Sounds like a nice flight, it was great to meet you in SF!

I'll report back on the "all tray" service in PE if I fail to manage to get an upgrade next weekend

Crispin

Great TR and a good flight. Very glad you didn't miss your Ocado delivery!

Lovely TR, James. Many thanks.

Like you, I too prefer the 300 to the 600. I hate the dormitory look and feel of the UC cabin and find the 300 more intimate and cosy but have to agree that there's nothing to beat the 747

Thank you James.
What a difference in two TRs. Compare your report to ukcobras (same route on the same day but his trip was on the VS008) and you'd think the trips had been taken on completely different airlines.
Sounds like you've all had a fantastic time .
After the mediocre reports of late again I'm really looking forward to my forthcoming trip (especially if the reported reinstatments materialise ).
DL

Vegascrazy, thank you for an excellent TR, a really good read. Pity about your "whining lady", there always has to be one such passenger nevermind how good things are. It would be very interesting if she turned out to be a V-Flyer correspondent!!

Thanks for the TR. Glad that you had a good flight and a good crew

Superb superb superb!
What a flight cant wait for my flight next week now, and bravo to the cc for stopping PE pax from thinking its their god given right to use the uc toilets on the 343.
I for one dont seem to share the feelings of some of my fellow v-fliers because i DONT like the 343 at all.

cheers

alex

James

Thanks for such an entertaining TR - not only from the perspective of describing an "on pa" flight, but for also reviving some very happy memories of one of the best holidays Mrs Buns & I have ever had

I only hope that Mrs Buns and I don't turn out like the couple you described on your flight Even if some of the B2B contingent thought I was getting old and decrepit, hopefully I am not that bad yet

As Dragonlady has already said, your TR strikes at the main problem for VS - consistency. Things can still be hit and miss and this is not good

Thanks once again

buns

Excellent TR, thanks. Your experience with the boarding card reminds me why I always keep my passport and boarding card in my shirt pocket and never put them though the X-Ray machines.

Nice tip on the VX upgrade too....

Paul

Glad to hear you had a good flight James!

I haven't flown on G-VSUN in a long time but I've heard that it doesn't have a crew rest area. The aircraft will generally only fly the shorter sectors (ie East Coast) where rest is not required.

Quite often, crew will fly out on a 600 and back on a 300 or vice versa. The extra crew used to position out/position home but this hasn't happened in a long time so it wasn't just your flight. The extra crew just help out in each cabin. Not sure how many jumpseat passengers there were on your flight given the fact that the extra crew need somewhere to sit though!

Three pilots on the LA route is standard so that wasn't because of the aircraft change.

crispin wrote:
I'll report back on the "all tray" service in PE if I fail to manage to get an upgrade next weekend

The all-tray service won't be on your flight next weekend as it's not starting until later in the year. The afternoon tea/breakfast service will go back to being served on trays just like the old days.

Great TR, thanks for the upgrade trick on VX, I will have a go at that later in the year.

I usually opt for the VS24, but this time, I did n't need the later connection.

From your description, it does indeed highlight to me that the crew makes all the difference.
I no longer travel so often with Virgin, due to the different locations I need to be in, so I am dissapointed when I get a sub par crew.

Good to hear the people skills were in full effect, although our cabin was full, I was not aware of any troublesome passengers on my flight, and your explaination of staff using jump seats as the flight being full probably explains why some staff / friends of staff were bedding down in the front galley on my flight.

There must have been some delays at LHR, as my incoming flight was late, and I know that VS19 the next day was 3 hours late leaving as well.

Thanks for the TR James - sounds like you all had a good time in SFO. The Mannion's will return for next years 100th anniversary event.

Excellent TR James with some good extras like the VX tip .Thank you.

Yet again, proof that it's the crew - and a good FSM - who make or break a flight. Compared with ukcobra's average experience (and our dreadful one coming back from BGI earlier this month) it goes to show that consistency of service is still VS's Achilles Heel.

Really enjoyed reading your TR. Excellent.

Anna

Now this is more like it VS. Only on every flight please!

Iain

Thank you for the great TR. It shows that VS can produce excellent service when the FSM is visible and in control.