V-Flyer

After two weeks checking out LA and Las Vegas, it was time for the drive back from sin city to LAX. Having checked the ever handy vflyer app, we knew our aircraft would be Lady Luck, rather apt given the good win I had in Vegas (played $2 in a slot machine and came out with $600 ).

Check in was swift and easy, up through security and straight to the ANZ lounge. My carefully chosen outfit for the return flight home was ruined, when I decided to quickly drink the remainder of my coke before going through security. Unfortunately the bottle fizzed when I opened it and I went through the rest of my UC experience with a big cola stain on the front of my nice white top Of course its not Clubhouse standard, but where else would be? As far as lounges go, I liked it, nice selection of food and drink, nice views to watch aircraft incoming and taking off and generally a nice place to relax before a flight. A flight to Auckland was due round about the same time as VS024 so the lounge did get particularly busy however it was fairly well managed by the staff who tried their best to accommodate everyone. We headed to the gate when the flight was called and found the boarding area heavily congested. Staff were doing their best to organise everyone but you had the usual rabble of people who can't wait for their row to be called and continually crowd the entrance. However we managed to make our way through and board fairly quickly.

Had the obligatory champagne and settled down for take off. The pattern of service followed our outbound trip, drinks orders taken, crisps delivered, drinks, then meal orders taken. My apologies for not taking a proper note of the new return menu, but from memory, it's roughly as follows:

Starters
Cream of leek soup
Salmon rillette (sp?)

Mains
Beef dish (can't remember exact detail)
Chicken with some sort of sauce, potato & broccoli
Rolled lasagne (v)

Desert
Bread & butter pudding
Vanilla & lemon cheesecake

Having ate in the lounge I declined a starter, hubby had the salmon dish and it looked very nice, he said it was good. For main he had the chicken, which he polished off apart from the broccoli, which frankly, looked nuked. I went for the "rolled lasagne". In reality this was spinach and ricotta cannelloni, good portion size and reasonably enjoyable. We both declined desert, as I felt by this time, it was really late to be eating a full meal. I was getting tired and the FSM put down the bed for me. The remainder of the flight was spent getting some sleep - 4 hours for me, I never sleep on a flight, so this is a great achievement! Having the bed made such a great difference. After waking with still a few hours to go, I made my way to the bar to get some juice and stretch the legs. Hubby and I spent a while there chatting to crew and it was a good chance to enjoy the bar whilst everyone else was asleep. Back for some more rest and soon breakfast was served. We both had the bacon roll which I enjoyed very much. The remainder of the flight was very comfortable, with a delay and hold of 30 mins over LHR due to the poor weather. However, once landed, we were off quickly, round the seemingly endless walk to immigration, through the e-passport booths avoiding the big queues and bags followed very quickly.

Like my outbound flight I can't find any fault with staff and service on this flight, we really enjoyed chatting to the crew who, again were first class in their job. We must have had a really excitable look throughout our trip as we were kept being asked if we were honeymooners - nope we're old marrieds lol. However, the FSM still gave us a bottle of champagne to take home

Really loved our overall UC experience, 10/10.

thanks for the report,and the champers was a good gesture

Great stuff! Sounds like an awesome crew led by a good FSM....thanks for posting

Thank you very much - we are on the same flight tonight

My carefully chosen outfit for the return flight home was ruined, when I decided to quickly drink the remainder of my coke before going through security.

Don't wash the top...

It will remind you of your UC experience.

Thank you for the great TR.