This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
We had traveled out on reward seats in PE and as we had booked only a week or so before the flight we had been unsuccessful to prebook seats on either leg.
So T-28 i had a look in our booking to see that PE seats were available and so grabbed 2 together. I also noticed that the plane had changed from a LGW 747 to a LHR 747, so nice leather seats and v-port, hurrah
Anyway next morning the day of the flight i get that light bulb moment
DING !!!! if it’s a LHR plane then there are more UC seats available.I did a dummy booking and there they were UC reward seats for the return leg
On the phone to FC and through to the premier team, who confirmed the seats were available, 12,500 miles each and £30 each to upgrade. OK i said, the agent told me that the miles would be taken and the £60 would be taken from the original method of payment. She confirmed the payment had gone through and our confirmed booking showed UC, still couldn’t reserve any seats though.
Few hours later we arrived at MCO and up to the UC check in, passports in hand and smiles on face. The agent looked into our booking and said it didn't show us in UC. I explained that i had spoken with FC a few hours ago and they processed the change and took the miles and money (FC account confirmed the miles had been taken).
The agent said again that we weren’t shown in UC and in fact there weren’t any spare seats as they were all taken ! Then i became aware why there weren’t any spare UC seats, adjacent to us were a group of 12-15 who were all carrying bags with CREW on them and they all had lovely purple boarding cards, speaking with them they were from GLA and were dead heading back to LGW after arriving the previous day, so they had all the spare UC seats. (Don’t have any issue with this so long as paying PAX are given priority over the seats).
The agent returned and told us that the supervisor would be over to speak with us shortly. 15 minutes later the supervisor arrived and i again told her we had changed the booking etc, luckily she knew how to use the system properly and said yes we had been changed but that a fee of $100 needed to be taken to cover the extra charges. I explained i had already paid and that FC had confirmed this to me over the phone. But she was adamant that no record of the payment appeared in the booking so unless i paid her $100 there and then we wouldn’t be re-ticketed. nice bit of blackmail there !
I asked her to ring FC to check that we had paid and gave her the agents name and ext number, but she was adamant she was too busy we either paid or didn't get re-ticketed.
Begrudgingly i paid and made sure i had a receipt with her name, which initially she refused.
So back to the first agent to be checked in. I asked about seats and asked for the A zone if available but in any case not to be near the bar. We were given 23/24A, which i seemed to remember where near the bar. I asked where exactly the seats were and the agent called over a colleague as she didn’t know. He told me with a straight face that these seats were mid cabin and nowhere near the bar. I asked about the A zone and was told that these seats weren’t very good as they were by the bar. I queried this and was told “this is a different plane and has 2 bars in upper class, one of which is at the front so you would be next to it in the front”
WOW i thought 2 bars never been on a VS plane with 2 bars. (sarcasm !).
Eventually off we trotted purple boarding cards in hand, quick visit to the Delta lounge for a few free beers and boarding was called.
Priority boarding was in place and it was nice to see the gate staff rigorously enforced this.
Onto the plane turn left and there it is my seat right by the bar! Before anything else i grabbed the FSM and asked if any seats away from the bar were available, she said she would check but she believed UC was full, so she would come back to me. I quickly popped into the A zone to see this new 2nd bar on board but miraculously it wasn’t there.
Sat in 24a which was fully reclined so pressed the button to raise it and nothing ! It didn’t move, tried again and still didn't move.
Grabbed one of the CC as he passed and mentioned the seat was faulty and didn’t work, his reply was it could be sorted out after we had taken off.
Oh no you won’t me thinks, there’s plenty of time to try to sort it now, and there was no way was i sitting in a faulty chair for 9 hrs.He had no idea what to do so called over a colleague who was much moire helpful and knowledgable. Onto her knees and under the seat she went to reset it. Unfortunately though this didn’t have any effect, it still didn’t work.
FSM came back and luckily the seat opposite mine was available and working so i swapped.
Take off was a few minutes early and i still find it weird taking off sideways.
Drinks and snacks followed with menu orders and breakfast orders taken.
Now it was Mrs Chumbas’ birthday during the flight as we headed into the 9th May, so i popped to the galley and asked the FSM if she could put a little happy birthday sign i smuggled on board into Mrs Chumbas’ dinner. Awe she said, so sweet i wish my husband was so thoughtful she muttered. Another crew member also said what a lovely thought. Big brownie points with the crew me thinks !
Anyway the FSM said she could go one better as they had some small individual cakes on board and would that suffice? Also would we like the pilot to say happy birthday over the tannoy !
I opted for the cake but thought i’d get killed as Mrs Chumba would die of embarrassment if everyone ended up signing happy birthday to her.
10 mins later and the FSM and the other crew member bought the cake over and said happy birthday, a lovely touch.
The rest of the flight was taken up with a small child a few seats away screaming for most of the flight, so no sleep, but managed to watch lots of films ! The FSM kept trying to calm the child down, even telling her a story which is more than her parents did. Dad just kept his headphones on and mum managed to sleep.
Breakfast was served which was actually quite nice, and as we landed we were told of a fast track for VS PAX through UKBA.
We were first off and got to UKBA but couldn’t see any signage for this fast track but as we had landed early there weren’t any queues and so we were straight through. Bags were already on the carousel when we got to it, and so we were outside and in the car within another 15 minutes and off home.
Overall the flight was OK, not a brilliant start at MCO with rude staff who didn’t know how to work the systems correctly, and were not prepared to even ring FC. A faulty UC seat with a CC member who didn't know what to do, but tempered with the fact one of the CC did know what to do obviously being more experienced.
An excellent UC crew with an excellent FSM, and priority boarding and baggage that worked.
On a last note as you fall asleep reading this, my credit card statement shows that FC didn’t take the £60 as they said they had, and the $100 was taken. bad show premier team for saying you had done something and hadn’t.
