V-Flyer

The planning for the May trip to New York started back in January. Plan was to see a couple of baseball games at Yankee Stadium and visit friends while in New York. Once dates were sorted out, it was choice of which flights to take, and VS045 seemed the best, in its favour it was shown as a Boeing 747 and the arrival time in New York was fine for meeting up with friends; against the long queues could be expected at immigration. A trawl of the various websites and Expedia was the cheapest as they don’t charge for using a credit card and I was able to use some Nectar points towards the cost (10,000 points gave a £50 discount). Once booked, I logged on to “My booking” on VS website to confirm seats – we had been allocated 34 H/K which were the furthest forward window seats available.
Completed OLCI 24 hours before flight and noted that seats had changed to 20 F/G and no option to change online. I checked the seat maps and it looked like the aircraft had been changed from a Boeing 747 to Airbus A340. No window seats, but at least we had 2 seats together.
Arrived at T3 Check in desk about 1030, greeted by very friendly and helpful staff. Asked about the availability of any window seats or the front row. Was told that due to the swap of aircraft that all seats in PE were taken. It took less than 5 minutes and we were heading to security. Security was very busy and took the best part of 20 minutes to get through and in to departure lounge. Did a bit of Duty free shopping as we wanted to get some gifts for friends in New York. We were booked in the Serviceair Lounge so headed up there to find it really quiet (compared to previous visits). Enjoyed a few drinks and snacks and made good use of the free Wi-Fi. Left the lounge at 1300 and headed to the Gate. We got to the Gate about 1310. Boarding of the aircraft (Queen of the Skies) started not long after. As we boarded, the greeting of “welcome on board Mr + Mrs N, this way to your seats”. In my opinion, its little things like being welcomed by name that makes VS better than certain other airlines. No sooner had we sat down then we were being offered a glass of bubbles. This set the tone for the rest of the journey, probably the best service that I’ve ever experienced on VS. The captain announced a slight delay due to air traffic control but expected flight time of just over 7 hours. Departed from the Gate at 1405 and took off from the northern runway at 1433. Once the fasten seatbelt signs were turned off the drinks service began. This was followed by the lunch which consisted of a salmon salad, choice of salmon fishcakes, beef hot pot or vegetable jalfrezi with cheese & biscuits and a chocolate pudding. All washed down with some very good Australian wine. After we had finished the food there was a choice of tea or coffee, followed by a choice of Baileys or Brandy. The rest of the flight was spent relaxing watching V-Port and getting some rest. During the flight, we had ice cream, fruit and the offer of drinks on a regular basis. About an hour before landing there was a service of tea & coffee and cookies.
Landing was at 1635 with arrival at the Gate at 1642. Once off the aircraft, it was the usual sprint to Immigration, as expected there were long queues and it took well over an hour before we were able to collect our luggage and exit the airport.
We had booked the bus to Grand Central on the New York Airport Service website. It has changed from our previous visit and to get from JFK to Grand Central it’s now an airport shuttle minibus. The instructions on the tickets said to report to Ground Transportation Desk and they will sort out your transport. By this they mean, they give you a phone number to call to arrange your pick up. Some 20 minutes later our driver arrived and rounded everyone up for Grand Central, Penn and 125th Street. Eventually left and due to a combination of heavy traffic, road closures and going to 125th Street for the first drop off it took an hour and a half to get to Grand Central. In total, about 2 hours from exiting airport to getting to Grand Central – next time it will be the Airtrain & Subway via Jamaica Sutphin Blvd and the “E train”.
In summary, despite the change of aircraft a superb flight and full marks to the Cabin Crew for making us feel welcome and for making it such a relaxing and enjoyable flight.

Thanks for the TR, pleased to hear the servisair lounge was good for you, it was heaving on my last visit.

Thanks for the TR.

Jon

I used to always use the NYAS to get into town, it was a great service for the price, but I found out after arriving that they had lost the contract and been replaced by NYC Airporter. However it seems the nice buses they feature on their web site won't be delivered till June, but they don't seem to tell you that and it's those little mini buses that turn up. I waited and there were so many people queueing only a few could get on. In the end I went for the Air train.