V-Flyer

Firstly, let me apologise for the delay in posting this TR. I arrived back in England and within days had managed to contract swine flu, on top of which I then managed to catch pneumonia and then every single cold/flu bug that was around for the last several months. I am now almost fighting fit again and able to sit at my computer without my eyes wanting to explode out of my head :/


Anyway, to the report, which will be quite long as was my first UC trip......

It never got off to the best start, as I was travelling from Liverpool to London on Sunday 15th. For whatever reason, there had been a train delayed or cancelled and so when I arrived with 15 minutes to spare, the train was already full and the reserved seating had been scrapped. There were already people standing in the aisles so I got myself into the foyer near the First class to pay for an upgrade so I had a seat. Only to be told once the train started moving that they had no way to take any payments by card so it was cash only, and I had just used cash to pay for my cab to the station so didn't have enough on me to pay - so I ended up standing with my cases in the foyer for the entire journey. >:(
Then the next morning was up bright and early to get maximum time at the airport. However, our lift had woken up, wondered why his alarm had gone off so early and fell back asleep. When he was 30 minutes late Derek (my best friend and travelling companion - it's his villa we were heading to) called him and woke him. Luckily he lived 3 doors away so we only left an hour late.

Arrived at Gatwick around 7.50am and joined the throng heading towards check-in. met by hoardes of people queueing at the Virgin desks and a quick scan revealed the completely empty Upper Class check-in right behind us as we'd walked past it.
Friendly check-in assistant chatted to me and Derek as she did her bits and pieces, then handed us out invites to the Clubhouse, along with directions to the same. Check in for both of us - under 10 minutes. Straight through fast-track security, even having a joke with the security men there as they looked completely bored when we walked in there.

Ignored the duty free for a change and went straight into the Clubhouse. The friendly receptionist took our invites and greeted us by name, showed us the layout and invited us to try as much as we could!


Carry-on bag stowed in the locker-type area, we sat down in the 'eatery' section of the Clubhouse. We were immediately offered juice and a hot drink (both of which I accepted) and then invited to order breakfast. Derek got the full English while I opted for the Waffle with Canadian Bacon - which was thoroughly enjoyed with a glass of Bucks Fizz.



After we had eaten, we decided to explore a bit, with the 'comfy' seats hiding behind the barrier from the 'eating' section. I immediately zoomed in on the treatment and got myself booked in for a shoulder massage at 9.30, with Derek being booked for 10.30 (he wasn't going to get one until I asked. Our flight was at 11.15 so it gave us 30 minutes to get to the gate, a 10 minute walk away for us)



We found the laptops so I logged onto Facebook to update my status and also into here to find there was another Vflyer there (LV Jay) and while I was doing this was partaking in my first Mimosa of the day. Never managed to say hello to Jay, even though I'm quite easy to spot.



We then left the computers to the kids that were in there and grabbed a couple of comfy seats, and were immediately waited on, first with another Mimosa, then as I was going for my massage, we were provided with 2 glasses of Virgin Red Head (we only ordered one but got 2 each. We weren't complaining!)



We then discussed the plan, as we had seen the in-flight menu, which had not impressed either of us to be honest but of which none of the mains I would actually eat, and so were considering grabbing a McDonalds before we got on the flight to do us until we arrived in Orlando. Due to the 10.30 Massage however, we instead ordered a Bellini each and I ordered the Crispy Duck wrap to eat while Derek went and got de-stressed. The several cocktails had that affect on me without the massage so was doubly de-stressed!



Flight called, massages recieved, stress gone. We thanked the staff for a lovely (and surprisingly alcohol-filled) morning and headed straight through to the plane - which was the Virginia Plain - and were greeted by name at the door. A turn left and right down to the front of the plane (seats 6 and 7A) and settled into the seat. The Crew came around with a glass of champagne and introduced themselves, addressing us by name - we immediately informed them that we preffered to be called Ian and Derek rather than Mr - we were on holiday and that was WAY too formal for that! One of thecrew was also a Scouser - she was talking to Derek and he asked if she was as her accent wasn't as strong, informing her that I was too, to which she replied she thought she had heard a Scouse accent as we boarded but wasn't sure as they are very rare at Gatwick! - I do have the names of the Cabin Crew but not sure if it's ok to post them.



The Cabin Crew came round to take orders for food but as they got to me we began the take-off so she said she would be back. I took full advantage of the recline-ability of the UC seat and got myself comfy for the take-off (managed to snap a couple of pics out of the window on the runway of the flight ahead of us!)

Smooth take-off was sharply followed by the CC taking drinks orders then coming back for my food order. I ordered the Bloody Mary soup starter (absolutely fantastic - Derek said it was the best soup he'd ever had) and the Clotted Cream Cheesecake with Strawberry Compote (wasn't bad). I was pressed to order a main so I explained I didn't actually eat any of the mains. I was asked to give her 5 minutes, aand she returned with the selection for PE mains - which weren't that different and none of which I ate either. I was then informed that I would be brought some sandwiches then, as I need to eat something. I'm pretty sure they could see by the size of me I wasn't about to waste away but they made sure I wasn't going hungry.



We chatted for a bit, also chatting to some of the other pax in UC while I was standing up stretching my legs - I seemed to attract people to come over and chat which was fine with me, and was told by one lovely lady that it was a change for there to be such a funny and friendly passenger in UC - I can't say if it is or not but I was just being myself.



Then it was dinner time - having a proper table and a tablecloth was a nice touch. The soup went down a treat - I made sure I swirled the vodka in just right! Then I was presented with a hugeplate of sandwiches - they were on the menu for afternoon tea but there was enough to feed five there! Which turned out handy as Derek and the woman sitting opposite in 6K both ordered the Lamb which they both said wasn't very nice at all and couldn't eat so I ended up sharing the sandwiches with both of them.



Time for the IFE - I settled down to watch Date Night - I had been looking forward to seeing it. Other people in UC had already had their beds turned out and had settled down, lots of window blinds pulled down and I noticed people were actually sleeping. I got 5 minutes into the film and it broke down! They couldn't fix it, and Derek had nodded off watching Iron Man 2 so I went to sit at the bar.



I spent about the next 4 hours at the bar, joined briefly by Derek while his bed was being turned out (he needed to sleep a few of the cocktails off) and briefly by Maria, the woman sitting opposite me. But I sat at the bar reading my book, occasionally chatting to the CC 'barman' who kept appearing to refill my drink, or the lovely Scouser who was chatting about home. After a couple of hours (in which they ran out of vodka - I had been drinking Vodka & Orange so switched to Whiskey & Lemonade until they ran out of lemonade, so went onto whiskey & orange) the Flight Manager came and sat next to me at the bar and was chatting away to me, and asked would Derek and myself fill out the questionaires they hand out. I apologised to her, saying I hoped I hadn't kept the 'barman' from other stuff while he kept checking if I needed a drink - both he and my citymate said it was very rare people sat at the bar, and then only usually for one drink - I did it so they didn't need to walk down the plane to get to me when I could read my book anywhere.

Then she made my whole flight by saying that I had been absolutely no trouble at all, I had been a pleasure to deal with, and while it was unusual for people to sit at the bar so long (I read this as I'm the first potential alcoholic there) I had been lovely and friendly with the crew and the other pax, and things like that were noticed!

I was then joined by Derek, and the FM said hello to him and explained about the questionaires. He sat at the bar with me and we filled them in, we had afternoon tea at the bar while we chatted and then I decided I should give them a break so went and sat reading/watching the Skymap.



In what seemed to be my shortest flight to Orlando ever we were landing at MCO - had an almost perfect flight, no turbulence, no delays in landing. No sooner were we down were we at the gate. We were off pretty quick (think we were about the 4-5 people off) and through immigration pretty quickly too, with a very friendly immigration officer for a change! (not that they aren't friendly, just that this one was quite chatty while she ensured I wasn't a threat!)



And to prove that the flight was destined to go well, our cases were out in the first batch, straight through customs as usual and the monorail was just arriving as we got there so managed to head to the main airport building with our cases in a relatively empty monorail.



We then had a 3-hour wait for the rest of the party to arrive from Amsterdam so we wandered and had a look around the airport (for the first time ever, even though I have been going through there for over 10 years!)

I did take a quite few pictures, but can't work out getting them here, have them all on Facebook though.

And I made sure that I emailed Customer Services with praise for the Crew when I woke up the next day. Credit where credit is due.

All in all, almost the perfect flight. The Upper Class experience has to be experienced to be believed.


However, the return wasn't so great, but that's another story.

Thanks for the great TR!
Sounds like it was a wonderful flight!
The cabin crew can really make a flight special

Thanks for posting a great TR.

Glad you had a great first UC experience

Sorry it's so long, but didn't want to leave any of it out.
It's true about the staff, was made extra-special by their attitudes (they knew it was our first UC flight)
It's just a pity the food let it down slightly, where's the harm in having sausage and mash or something equally as simple but good as a choice. (I didn't mention, but I was even limited with the sandwiches - I could only eat the egg mayonnaise ones, however Derek ate the Chicken Tikka and Maria ate the Prawn Mayo so they didn't go to waste)

Great TR, I love them when they are really detailed like this!

Sorry to hear you weren't well and hope you are feeling much better now.

Sounds like the crew were really great, I can't wait for my 1st UC flight in March and also doing the UC MCO route in Sept!

Luke

Great and very enjoyable read; thanks so much for sharing. When I fly this route alone I often spend much of it at the bar - as a social animal I like to chat while I drink so you (and your female neighbour) are not alone in doing that; I always hope to meet fellow pax like you and her on my flights - makes them that much more enjoyable.

Looking forward to reading your return sector TR now.

Thanks for sharing a great trip report. Takes me back to my first upper class trip last year. I throughly enjoy the UC experience and am very much looking 4ward to this years UC trip to New York.

Totally agree the crew can made the trip that so much better.

Ian

Thank you for a delightful TR

After the start of your journey on the train, it was good to see that your UC experience more than made up from it.

To have such a fab crew is indeed something to treasure - not only does it make the flight more pleasurable, but also will make sure that you choose VS again

Thanks once again

buns

Buns,

other than my first ever trip to Orlando back in January 1997, I've only ever flown VS.

It's the step up from PE to UC though, I'll have to save all my pennies to fly it all the time!

Ian

I've said it before and I'll say it again - there's no thing as a too long TR in my view.....

.....unless it's the guy on FT or a-net (can't remember which) that bangs on about the toilets!!

Thank you for the great TR, good to hear you enjoyed your first UC experience.

honey lamb wrote:I've said it before and I'll say it again - there's no thing as a too long TR in my view.....

.....unless it's the guy on FT or a-net (can't remember which) that bangs on about the toilets!!

IIRC, he was too detailed!

Excellent trip report, and sounds like the perfect first UC experience!

When travelling on my own in UC, I've never gone to the bar- not quite sure why. But me and my friend sat at the bar for a while on our flight to Hong Kong chatting to the crew- the FSM kept pouring me gin- it was an excellent experience, though I can't remember the last few gins

and I'd imagine the crew probably prefer to have people at the bar to talk to rather than a cabin full of sleepers!

Ianf71 wrote: Never managed to say hello to Jay, even though I'm quite easy to spot.


it was unusual for people to sit at the bar so long

Just curious to know why your easy to spot do you wear an abba style jump suit?

I always sit at the bar for a while but the stools really are too narrow so i find them very uncomfortable maybe thats why people dont sit so long?

Anyway really good TR and hope that your full recovery is almost here.

cheers

alex