V-Flyer

To celebrate our Wedding Anniversary, our October trip to U.S.A. was to go from London to New York for a few days then on to Las Vegas for a week before returning to London. With the help of V-flyer advice we booked an “open jaw” ticket London – New York & Las Vegas to London. Booked during the VS Sale we got a very reasonable price travelling in PE.
Having done OLCI previous evening, arrived at Heathrow at 1030 and headed to drop bags and collect boarding passes. No queues at the PE desk, very quick & efficient and we were heading to security within 5 minutes. Security only took about 10 minutes, so within half an hour of arriving at Heathrow we were in the departures lounge at T3. After some shopping we headed up to the Serviceair Lounge. It’s not in the same league as the Club House, but we like it. Although it was busier than previous visits, we were able to relax and have some food & drinks. At about 1300 the monitor showed the Gate as Open, we stayed for about another 20 minutes.
Arrived at the Gate to find it very busy and no sign of boarding. Eventually boarding started 1345, so we were expecting a small late start. Once boarding started it was not long before we were taking our seats on the plane (Mustang Sally). Not long after taking our seats (32H+32K) we were offered a glass of bubbly which went down very well. We were advised that there would be a slight delay as they were still refuelling the aircraft, but once we were away to expect a flight time of 6 hours 45 minutes.
We left the Gate at 1415 and take off was at 1431. We took off in an Easterly direction and as soon as we were airborne the plane turned sharply right over London and we passed to the South of Heathrow about 5 minutes after takeoff. The route then took us towards Bristol, Southern Ireland, Newfoundland and Boston to New York.
Not long and hot towels were handed out, shortly followed by the menus and headphones for use with V-Port. The drinks service followed and then the meal. The meal consisted of Cajun chicken salad, followed by a choice of chicken biriyani, beef with mash, carrots & gravy or vegetarian option of pasta with spinach sauce & tomatoes. All served with warm bread roll, blackcurrant moose and cheese and biscuits. We both chose the beef for main course which was really superb.
After the meal there was a choice of tea or coffee, followed by a glass of Baileys or Brandy.
The rest of the journey was spent making full use of the excellent V-Port. Some really good films & television programs to watch and the time went really quickly. During the flight the brilliant Cabin crew brought round ice cream, more tea & coffee – served with a choice of cookie, fruit, and water/orange juice as required. Nothing ever seems too much trouble and in my opinion a good cabin crew means a good relaxing flight.
The cabin was secured ready for landing after we had flown over Boston. As we approached New York we circled around, presumably JFK airport was busy. We touched down at 1624 – 10 minutes later than anticipated. It took a further 15 minutes before we arrived at the Gate.
We were off the aircraft fairly quickly and headed toward Immigration Desks. Unlike previous visits there were not very many people in front of us, so we were hopeful of not standing in line for an hour. However there were not very many staff on duty so we still ended up waiting for about 45 minutes. Once we got to the desk we were dealt with by a friendly officer and after the usual fingerprinting & photographs being taken (no more Visa waiver “green card”) went to collect the bags. The bags appeared shortly and after handing the blue declaration to customs we were heading to for the bus to Manhattan. We had booked a return ticket on the bus to Grand Central through New York Air Service website; it is a few dollars cheaper than paying on the bus. We caught the 1745 bus from JFK and it got us to Grand Central at 1825.
Overall, Virgin have a great product in PE, a superb flight thanks to a great crew.

Thanks for the TR - sounds like a great start to your anniversary trip.

Sounds like another good trip, with VS doing exactly what it says on the tin!

Thanks for the TR! Would love to hear more about the T3 Servisair lounge, which is Priority Pass's offering...

Sealink wrote:Thanks for the TR! Would love to hear more about the T3 Servisair lounge, which is Priority Pass's offering...

I’m not a big fan of T3, other than a few good shops there is not much there and it always seems very busy & noisy. The Servisair lounge at T3 is a quiet place to relax; it’s quite small compared to some other lounges. We always book in advance via the BAA Heathrow website. It’s got comfortable seating with tables and you have views of the southern runway. There is a large TV usually showing sky news or sky sports news and a departures screen for detail of gates and flight status. The food and drink is help yourself. Drinks available were soft drinks, tea, coffee, wines, beers and spirits. Food is cold snacks like crisps, nuts, cake, cheese & biscuits and fruit.

Thank you for the TR, hope you had a great anniversary.