V-Flyer

My first time on VS41, having been always on VS19 for obvious reasons. I have a love hate relationship with the A343, I love the mini upper class cabin comprising of rows 14-16, but am a bit fed up of Odyssey, but more on that later.

Check-in was smooth as, which I completed at the desk as opposed to OCLI. I was advised straight away of the delay (1hr at the time) to VS41, I was already aware however thanks to my blackberry travel app. As is often the case, I was the only person going through the private security channel at the time which makes me think more than twice about cheating on Virgin for my flight back to blighty in August. For once, I took my sweet time in the duty free shop stocking up cadbury's and had a fascinating chat for nearly 30 mins with a personal shopper who was the resident chocolate expert.

I made my way to the clubhouse which was busy but not to the detriment of good seating options, my pref being to be behind the glass where one of those swingy seats is (nope, I don't sit in that). Service in the CH was excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed my CH burger and a few redheds. There was plenty of updates on the status of VS41, eventually African Queen was diagnosed to be too sick to make it to SFO and we would instead be flying on Molly, all in all the pushback delay came to about 2 1/2 hours or so.

Boarding was painless, I was literally the first of the 231 pax to board, it was nice to be given the "Welcome Back" by the FSM as I entered the aircraft...then all I needed to do was sit back and relax with a pre-flight champers as I watched my fellow pax walk merrily to the back....I did have a slight chuckle as one economy pax loudly diclared{sic} to his mate that BA's club was much better. Ok buddy, whatever you like.

Molly was soon on her taxi for a 27L departure, immediately following a VS 346 and BA 744 and I was happy that our position allowed me to watch both birds depart.

I suppose the one upside to Odyssey is that you're able to watch the skymap for take-off, prior to which the captain had advised a 10hr 40min flight time. As we made our way around some developing t-storms it wasn't at all long before the seatbelt signs were off and service commenced. The cabin crew all seemed jolly and almost excited for the trip and this was on show throughout the service for the duration of the flight.

I enjoyed the food immensely, starting with the amuse bouche, then prawn cocktail to be followed by the beef and sticky toffee pudding (not at the same time obviously).

After the meal was done, the cabin crew came around and handed a samsung galaxy tablet to everyone in UC and PE. This was great and a vast vast improvement on anything odyssey had to offer. It had the usual options of movies, TV and audio that are currently available on JAM and V:Port. Yes, perhaps it's bit awkward to hold onto in bed but it really wasn't a problem.

There were the usual stunning views on offer as we passed to the south of Greenland and truthfully it didn't seem long before afternoon tea was on offer, prior to which the cabin crew were attentive at re-filling my sparking water and coming through the cabin with the ice cream.

Afternoon tea was great, I tried all the cakes and all of the sandwiches and wasn't disappointed in any of it and having grown up in Cornwall I have a smile on my face when I see the clotted cream.

About 45 mins before wheels down the tablets were collected, in case you're wondering about the likelihood of them being stolen then don't, each tablet is numbered and everyone who has one (some declined) has their seat number written down against the corresponding number by the crew...I should add they provide a power cord and the tablet is nicely VS branded with a fancy built in VS branded purple leather cover that doubles as stand.

5 minutes after collecting the tablets we started our way down from flight level 400 on the usual approach passing Point Reyes for a 28R final, disembarkation was a breeze and a 5 min queue at immigration was a pleasant segway for my taxi ride home.

Great TR, is that a VS41 first?

yes excelent TR

Shame about the delay though but at least you had the CH

I do love SFO.

slinky09 wrote:Great TR, is that a VS41 first?

Thanks! Yes, by the looks of it it is the first VS41 TR.

I assume you were on an A343 rather than an A346?

tontybear wrote:yes excelent TR

Shame about the delay though but at least you had the CH

I do love SFO.

Thanks! Yeah, the delay was easy to handle and in a way I was happy to have the extra time in the CH, the delay was well communicated in the CH.

slinky09 wrote:I assume you were on an A343 rather than an A346?

Affirm. Molly to be precise.

slinky09 wrote:I assume you were on an A343 rather than an A346?

Do try to keep up slinky, the OP made several references to it being a 343 including the name and the reference to Odyssey (although admittedly he only mentioned 343 just once)

So cool to have the later flight again. Thanks for the TR, and welcome back. Off to London myself tomorrow, most assuredly NOT for the celebrations though