V-Flyer

After a lovely seven nights in SF, it was, sadly, time to head home.

We stayed in this apartment -
http://www.vrbo.com/277885 which was great value and in a very handy location (one minute walk from Montgomery Bart, Starbucks and Jamba on ground floor etc.)
We've used vacation rentals a few times in SF now and I much prefer them to hotels. This one offered great value for money, was in immaculate condition (as was the building), and the communications with the owners were excellent.

Plug over..

You may have seen on my TR for the trip over to SFO that I was less than impressed with VS. Thankfully the return was somewhat better albeit with some key annoyances as I will explain.

I checked in online the day before - sadly due to laptop issues I only ended up with SEQ#15 so my quest for the elusive #1 will continue next time.

We took a quick trip up to Embarcadero (I do love the store 'Sur La Table' - great if you're into your kitchen/cooking bits) and then hurried back to the flat to clear things out.
Having checked the VS website, it advised SFO checkin opened at 1255 - we aimed to get there for opening time so OH could secure an exit row seat (she was on a measly companion reward whilst I was on an L>G up).
Rushed around, grabbed the BART and turned up bang on 1255.
Strange, can't see any VS kiosks anywhere... checked the information screen...oh joy, it didn't open until 1345.
So - first annoyance - incorrect information given on VS' own website and an hour of our time wasted. Not amused.

Checkin finally opened and we were the first pax at the UC kiosk.
The checkin agent was about as cheerful and polite as the LHR one (i.e. not).
We got myself checked in first - my suitcase (for the first time ever) was slightly over the 32kg. Now, rather than just saying "I'm sorry sir your case is overweight, you can either pay extra or remove some items" (or whatever) she just stood there. Eventually I went "is it over?" and she just nodded.
Thankfully I managed to relocate some items to my hand baggage and it was all set (much to the amusement of the couple behind who got 'treated' to the sight of me rifling through socks, dog treats, books etc and then having to sit on the case to close it!)

Second annoyance - I explained we wanted to pay the $ to get OH an exit row seat.
The agent said "I can only sell you an aisle exit row seat". Now, OH really wanted a window exit seat and asked why she couldn't have one.
Agent explained that they sell them in pairs, i.e. buy one get the door/window seat free (I thought this was just for 747s, can anyone confirm?)
We pointed out that if they sold the aisle seat to OH, then they wouldn't be able to sell the other seat to a couple (if that makes sense), so would end up giving the window seat away, thus meaning we were paying £75/equivalent when we didn't have to (sorry this isn't making sense written down but hope you see what I mean).
After a few minutes we reached an impasse - the agent didn't seem to understand what she was talking about, clearly wasn't confident about what the policy even was, so we ponied up the £75 (on VS Amex, naturally!).
I mention this as annoyance as when we boarded, OH asked the person next to her in the window exit how he'd got the seat, and apparently he'd just asked for it at checkin and was given it. So effectively we wasted £75. Again, not happy.

Went over to the CH. Now I know it's no LHR CH but it's a really nice, calm, relaxing space, it does have a great 'feel' to it.
We got some drinks and were asked if we wanted to order food. I explained we were both vegan and that it didn't look like we could have anything on the menu.
The server said that a bolognese from the previous menu was actually vegan and she could get them to make it (having checked with the chef first) - happy days

A little while later said bologneses arrive...topped with Parmesan cheese. This was very annoying given a)I'd told her we we vegan and b)the chef was aware of this.
But not a big deal and we got two more, used the wifi, had some more drinks etc.
Did some last minute candy shopping in SFO then boarded.

Much better CC this time, coat taken straight away and drink offered, sleep suit given out (took large this time which somewhat oversized for me was more comfortable).
I've marked the CC as 'good' - I suspect were it a day flight this would have been 'excellent' but as I was asleep for most of the flight I didn't get much of a chance to find out.

Dinner was OK - again, I never expect much from vegan airline meals, VS or not, but it was better than usual.
Changed into sleepsuit then settled down to watch a film.
Annoyance #3 - IFE was (to me) almost useless as the four channels I was interested in all had interference rendering them unwatchable.
Again, this isn't acceptable, isn't 'upper class' and shows how infuriating VS' mix of aircraft, IFEs and service is.
Anyway, I ended up (with not much else to do) going to sleep. Aside from waking up briefly for water, I woke up with about 1.5 hours to go which is the best sleep I've had on a plane.

CC came over quickly and offered breakfast, which was actually quite a nice cooked vegan breakfast and a pleasant surprise. Knocked back a coffee, freshened up for the landing and we were back in cold old England.

So - a much better flight than the outbound, however I was asleep for 90% of it!
Really unhappy about the wasted hour at SFO, the charging for the exit row seat when they (at least seemingly) could've allocated the window seat free..

I'm still not sure how I feel about continuing to use VS. Certainly for the next trip I almost definitely will as I still have a chunk of miles to use up.
After that, due to income, I will be back to flying Y (and not often) - I don't feel now much sense of loyalty to VS given the generally poor service from this trip.
That said, they are so inconsistent it wouldn't be surprising if the next flight was mind-blowingly good.

The main negative impression I was left with was from the two ground staff - on both occasions we were the first pax to be checking in, so they wouldn't have been in bad moods/jaded from rude pax before, for example.
Both times I walked away thinking, "if I was a revenue UC pax, how would I feel?", the answer being "annoyed and very likely to take my business elsewhere".
With both staff they came across as rude, blunt, disinterested and no intention of providing a 'premium' service. Frankly I had better service buying a couple of cheap tshirts in Old Navy.

Thanks for reading

Thanks for the great TR, I guess I'd never considered the difficulties vegans face in the clubhouse- my dilemma is usually I'm spoiled by choice.

Sorry to hear about the bad experience with check-in staff, the last time I checked in the staff have been wonderful- I guess its just the luck of the draw

The mix of IFE really annoys me too- The Odyssey and Nova systems really are very behind the times compared with other airlines I've flown with, particularly when you consider VS is an all long-haul airline. The Nova system always strikes me as a bit 'charter airline' (as does the charging for extra legroom)- hope that doesnt sound too snobby.

Kingfisher's IFE on the 1.5 hr flight from DEL to KTM was better than VS's on the 9+ hour flight from LHR to DEL!

Doesn't really fit with the 'your airline's either got it or it hasn't' marketing campaign!! Mind you, i do stick with them so they must be doing something right!!

Thank you for the TR.

swedey2k wrote:Thanks for the great TR, I guess I'd never considered the difficulties vegans face in the clubhouse- my dilemma is usually I'm spoiled by choice.

The choice is even worse in the JFK Clubhouse where the veggie main meal option is frittata!

Frankly I'd write a stinky note to VS about the exit seat fiasco and ask for my money back!

Some good points, and some bad - not the most consistent of trips for you but hope the middle part in SF was great!

Thanks for replies.
Letter already on its way to VS!

cheers