V-Flyer

This is quite a long report - partly due to the fact that 24hrs in the air is quite a long time.

This trip report is from my recent flight to Auckland. Two legs; Virgin to Shanghai on VS250 LHR-PVG followed with just a 1hr 25m stopover then Air New Zealand NZ88 PVG-AKL. I was informed when I booked the tickets with ANZ that this is a "legal connection" so I hoped it would work out OK.

We arrived in plenty of time at LHR and checked in with my colleague at the UC desks. All was smooth and the CI staff were obliging. I let them know that myself and my colleague were ticketed all the way through to Auckland and I asked if our bags could be checked all the way. I was a little concerned that with such a short gap between flights, we may not have time to get off, go through immigration, collect our bags and go to bag drop for the second leg on a different airline - all in 1hr 25m. The girl at the desk was not sure, so she checked a document and said that they don't have baggage transfer facilities at Shanghai, so we would have to collect our bags and drop them at ANZ bag drop even though she had issued us with our boarding passes for both legs. She called a supervisor over and she too reassured us it would be OK. Her advice was simple: "Run!"

We were soon in the clubhouse, booked a massage each - and as it was Glenn's birthday I soon had a glass of champagne in his hand and we sat down for some late lunch from the deli. It was all very civilised and at that time of day it was fairly quiet in the CH. Given my concern about the connection, I had a quick word with the concierge and she said, no problem, I'll call ahead to Shanghai and let them know. It was a nice touch and I felt much more reassured at this point than I did at the check-in desk.

We were soon called and headed down to the gate where boarding was mostly complete. No waiting and straight through onto Lady Luck - a good omen. I had checked the seats a few days earlier and noticed that the PE cabin had about 12 spare seats, so cheekily I selected 19D and 19G, the 2 aisle seats with an empty one in-between. (I figured that if someone turned up we could offer them an aisle seat in exchange for a centre one). There was plenty of space and it stayed empty, so that worked very well and so for the journey I had somewhere to store all my junk (laptop, iPod, newspaper, book, headphones etc - I don't do travelling light We were offered a glass of sparkling wine (they are always careful not to misrepresent it as champagne in PE) which was very tasty.

We left the gate exactly on schedule at 18:30pm - well done Virgin - and taxied for a while, eventually taking off at 18:56. That pleased me as the connection would be fine. We settled down, I read a bit and did a little work before the drinks came. I had a bloody Mary and then chose the Szechwan beef with rice and sugar snap peas, blackcurrant mousse and some red leicester which was all very good. I tried to watch a film - The A Team, but couldn't get into it and eventually dozed off so I never saw the ending. The cabin crew were all very helpful and attentive.

I managed about 4 hours sleep which was good for me and I woke up for breakfast. Scrambled eggs, bacon, mushrooms and creamed spinach which was actually very tasty.

We landed at PVG at 12:40pm on Saturday and were on stand by 12:55pm and were very soon off the plane and into the 33 degree heat of the jetway. Fortunately the air conditioning was good in the terminal and we were directed to the transit desk. The Chinese girl there looked at our boarding passes and saw our bags were only checked to Shanghai and she asked why had they not been checked all the way! She was extremely helpful and got on her mobile phone for several minutes while she sorted it out. I could not understand a word of her Mandarin, but she finally said there was no need to collect our bags, just go through immigration and on to our next gate. I was in the lap of the Chinese gods now. Immigration was a simple affair with the amusing addition of a box with flashing lights and 4 buttons to rate how good your immigration officer had served you. After that it was back through security and into departures. We walked past several Chinese duty free shops and we were amazed by the number of uniformed shop staff waiting patiently in each one. We got to the ANZ departure gate and I went up to the desk to where there were 5(!) staff waiting. I was about to ask about the baggage and before I could say anything the girl there had spotted the boarding pass in my shirt pocket and said "Mr Harris, 25K" I handed it over and she took off my luggage receipts and stuck on two fresh ones with AKL on them - a very good sign. She said the bags would be on the plane.

We took a stroll down terminal 2 to get a drink, but since I did not have any Yuan for the machines, I went to get a drink from the water cooler. There were 3 buttons, one for very hot and two for what I assumed was cold. Well this is not the UK or America (obviously) and the "cold" water was at 35 degrees - approx body temperature. I drank some for the experience not for refreshment.

Back to the gate and onto Air New Zealand NZ88. This was their newest 777 and compared to the A346 we had just got off, it felt huge and very spacious inside. The comparison with VS on both the aircraft and crew was interesting. The PE cabin has just 4 rows of seats in a 3-3-3 config giving 36 in total, and although they are the same width as their economy seats, they have loads of legroom - at 41" it feels much more spacious than the VS PE seats at 38" we had just got out of. Even Glenn at 6' 4" could stretch out. We were soon settled in with a glass of champagne and a kiwi amenity kit in a brown recyclable paper bag. It even includes a lip salve unlike VS UCS. Plus they handed out those white towelling slippers you get in hotels. Not my style, but a nice touch.

We took off exactly on time again at 14:15 and settled in for the next 12 hours in the air.

The cabin crew were typically older than on VS and the mix m/f was more like 50/50. They served real champagne to us in PE on boarding and I had a refreshingly chilled Steinlager Pure on the drinks round. On balance, the cabin crew were a little more attentive then the VS cc and seemed to go the extra mile - it was no trouble for example if I wanted another glass of different wine. The PE and business cabins share a galley and some of the food and goodies are shared between the two. The food was excellent - I'd say a step up from VS PE - I had a macadamia nut crusted salmon main course, desert and then they bring along a selection of cheese separately with port if you want.

The IFE system is good too and I watched several episodes of Cougar Town which I'd never seen before and kept me amused for a few hours. They also have a much better version of the VS imap in 3d so you can see where in the Pacific you are and they have the names of some islands most of us have never heard of. The map rotates round various views including a pilots view of the route ahead. I had a stroll around the PE/Business area and they lay out chocolates, biscuits, crisps, fresh fruit and playing cards for you help yourself during the flight. While I was there a lovely flight attendant came over and asked me if she could get me anything. I had some apple juice (wot no champers? - I hear you shout) and chatted to her for 15-20 minutes. She was Chinese, spoke perfect English and loved her job. Like all the cabin crew she was a credit to ANZ.

I went back to my seat and settled in for another 4 or 5 hours sleep on this flight and soon it was time to eat again. For anyone who has done Australia or New Zealand in one journey, you will be familiar with the routine of drink, eat, sleep, eat - (repeat x2) that you get forced into. It's not a bad thing, but in the normal world there is a bit of exercise thrown into the gaps. Back to breakfast. ANZ start with a lovely fruit smoothie - if you like it a lot you can have some more, but breakfast is a big meal, so I'd suggest holding back. Then they come round with a tray with fresh fruit and yoghurt, then tea & coffee, then cereal, then pastries, then cooked breakfast - scrambled egg, sauté potatoes, tomato, and a chicken sausage. You can have the lot (Glenn did), but even with my 'eat everything' constitution, I declined the pastries!

We finally landed at Auckland at 05:27 on Sunday morning some 20 minutes ahead of schedule and were soon off the plane. Auckland immigration was fairly quick - and as noted elsewhere they are very hot on not bringing any food, fruit or veg in - there are signs everywhere. So for anyone who has read this far - the question is: "Are his bags still in Shanghai or did they make it?" Well, we got down to the carousel and waited. The first two bags off were mine and Glenn's, complete with Star Alliance bright orange priority tags. Result!

Given that we had to work on Monday morning, we decided sleep was a bad idea, so we checked into the hotel - The Langham Auckland - had a shower, called home then headed out for a look around and a day in the city.

Three days later I did the return journey on ANZ via LAX, but that's another story.

Great TR and interesting to have the comparison on the two flights.

I know exactly what you mean when you have to travel with that feeling that there are just too many variables in the schedule for it all to go smoothly.
Very glad it did!

Great TR, PVG is a very impressive terminal on first aquaintance, did you see the yellow hazy sky outside?.. Again ANZ seem to win every time in like for like comparisons with VS...Hopefully they are sitting up and noting..

NH

Thank you for the great TR.

Great read, Martin, thanks.

I must say that on my last couple of PE flights the crew quite happily refer to the fizzy plonk as 'Champagne' - it is politely declined. Still at least you got the real stuff on the Air New Zealand leg

Thank you for a really informative TR . I have to say NZ are a class act and as Mr DL and I are planning to head back to SYD next year serious consideration is being given to doing it with NZ via AKL (either routing).Out of interest has anybody managed to redeem FC miles to AKL (and then on to SYD) with NZ?
I have to agree with you that the journey in one schlep is a bit of a killer. Having done it both ways (stopover and direct) the stopover softens the blow hugely .
DL

northernhenry wrote:Great TR, PVG is a very impressive terminal on first aquaintance, did you see the yellow hazy sky outside?.. Again ANZ seem to win every time in like for like comparisons with VS...Hopefully they are sitting up and noting..

NH

@NH

Yes T2 at PVG is impressive and incredibly long. I just had a look on Google maps and I guess it must be 5,000ft end to end, that's not far off a mile in old money. On the day we were there the sky was quite clear as I recall - not much haze. We looked out to sea to the east and there were loads of container ships - not surprising as it's the worlds busiest port.

@DL

I would definitely give Air NZ a try on your trip down under. If you do a VS via PVG/HKG/NRT or LAX/SFO then ANZ to AKL/WLG/CHC it certainly breaks the trip up a bit. The change of cabin, food, crew, IFE etc makes it more interesting. The only minor downside was that my FC Au did not get me into their Koru Club lounges. Not a problem if you go NZ Business Premier.
And yes when I go with Mrs M much more likely to take a break in the far east for a day or two. On a business trip booked at short notice that was not possible.

@Treelo
I know what you mean about the champers/fizzy plonk. I think the VS cc have been told not to use the word champagne, but must forget on occasion. Also, I don't know if any else notices, but in PE it is often not chilled much/at all. I know that sounds picky, but they must have fridges and for about 40 pax (some of whom drink juice ) that can only be 5 bottles. Please VS get it on ice an hour before boarding!

Cheers

Martin

Martin wrote:I know that sounds picky, but they must have fridges and for about 40 pax (some of whom drink juice ) that can only be 5 bottles. Please VS get it on ice an hour before boarding!

It's not as simple as that.

Well crew will generally board about 20 minutes before passenger boarding - very often less. At this point the crew will open the bars to get the sparkling wine and put it in ice buckets to chill - there are only two tiny fridges on the A346 that barely fit a few small milk cartons.