V-Flyer

Long time lurker but first ever trip report - and first ever UC flight!

Flown out of LGW to MCO and LAS many times but only ever in PE or Y (quite like seat 25B on the 744s as it's an exit row, perfect for me at 6'6", and you're literally first off and first in the queue for US immigration!). But this was a big birthday so decided to splash out in the sale just before Christmas.

Anyway, fearing a hectic Saturday morning scrum at check-in, we got to LGW at about 0800 and found it remarkably peaceful, even on the Y side. 3 of us all checked in within 5 mins, then straight up to fast track security and sailed through with no wait at all. All good!

No messing around - straight to the Clubhouse and a warm welcome. Not too busy inside so we easily found a table for breakfast and waited to be served. And waited. And waited. Which sadly proved to be the theme of the morning. When we eventually flagged down a waitress she was lovely and very apologetic, said they had 3 people off sick. By 0900 it was very busy and during the 2 hours or so we were there we heard several other people complain about the service. Don't get me wrong - the staff did their very best and were always extremely friendly and professional - but on a busy Saturday morning you'd think VS would have contingency plans for staff sickness. Or is this now the norm?

Boarding was on time and efficient, and despite reading so many complaints by frequent flyers about the tired state of the LGW 744 UC suites ours seemed fine. The only thing that didn't work properly appeared to be my armrest which pushed in ok but refused to pop out again. Luckily I hadn't put my wallet or passport inside it!

The cabin crew were friendly and attentive, as I expected them to be. Being only a lowly red FC member I wasn't expecting - and didn't get - a personal welcome from the FSM, though I was pleasantly surprised to get one on the return from LAX.

Having read much on here, some positive and some negative, about the new food service, I was determined to keep an open mind about what to expect. And I was pleasantly surprised - it was certainly nicer and better presented than in BA CW. From these forums I was under the impression I could choose EITHER the full "dine" menu OR the graze menu but that wasn't the case. I had both as did several other pax.

I'm ashamed to say I went for the full works: soup, beef, both desserts and cheese. Hey, I was on holiday! And, for airline food, it was lovely.

But here's a warning if you fly out of LGW/MAN and you like your food. Of the 3 items on the graze menu (mini burger, salad, sushi), they only loaded 4 of each. In a full UC cabin that's not even one per passenger. Apparently that's normal - even the crew seemed embarrassed when we asked about it. So if you plan to graze, get in early or be prepared to be disappointed!

Afternoon tea from the trolley was pleasant enough although the sandwiches were a little dry and being the only person in the world who doesn't like chocolate, the cakes weren't really to my taste. But I asked nicely and got an extra scone with jam and clotted cream so was happy!

I came well prepared for the inadequacies of the IFE system (the upgrade can't come soon enough) so stuck to my iPad. And all too soon we arrived in LAS - where it was cold and wet. Can't blame VS for that, but honestly! Took at least half an hour to clear immigration as there was a Mexican flight in just ahead of us.

I appreciate that many frequent UC flyers believe the level of service has declined over the years thanks to cost cutting but as an UC newbie, I very much enjoyed the experience and would definitely rate it well above BA CW (although, if you get a CW window seat, it is much more private).

Thanks for the great trip report -- really nice to hear of a positive first experience.

I live in fear of losing things in that armrest compartment thing!

Thanks for an excellent inaugural TR

Useful to know about the limited UCFood loading out of Gatwick as this will certainly come under scrutiny in the coming months

Hope that your stay in Vegas was fruitful and this will allow you to travel UC more in the future

buns

Great TR, Thanks for posting It sounds like you had a super flight and took advantage of all the UC perks Interesting point regarding the graze menu items - thats the fine balance between keeping all pax happy and throwing food, therefore profit, away. As Buns said I am sure that will be tested by the V-Flyer elite over the next few months

Cold and wet in Vegas How very dare it

As the others have said thanks for posting, sounds like a good experience save for the wait at the CH.

Paul

Thank you for your TR.

Thanks for the TR, and the heads up on the Graze menu, I am flying from Man in a couple of weeks so I will order early now

Thanks for the TR, once again it seems the bean counters have intervened on the graze menu loading.