V-Flyer

Trip Report VS 20 6th Sept 2012

A reasonably disastrous start to this TR as I was trying to snaffle upstairs Y seats whilst enjoying a meal at The Cheesecake Factory in Union Square using Macy's free wifi! In the end it all went wrong and I ended up with seq38 onwards and seats downstairs !!

After an epic week at Lake Tahoe and a pretty amazing week at Dillon Beach (watch out for the fog) we returned to SFO for the inbound flight. A last minute shop at The Tanfran Mall with cocktails to boot left us with a 5 min trip to SFO. Once again using Alamo/Virgin Holidays car hire (platinum) is extremely efficient when returning the car as we were back in the terminal in 10 mins after dropping it off

After recently being elevated ( ) to Silver we went to premium check in and were seen by an efficient, friendly and very happy agent that advised us that the flight was on time and leaving from gate A11.

When we had completed duty free we wandered down to the gate to see huge queues so we had a couple of preflight snifters at the cafe upstairs overlooking Mustang Sally in all her glory awaiting our company.



Of course the French had to get away quicker than us...



When the time came we boarded (priority boarding was in place and efficient) and we sent to our seats in row 51. Not bad seats as they are by the galley so it feels a bit roomy. Seat was in a reasonable condition except for a bit of grime on the table and the table is a bit uneven. Vport seemed to work fine; well good enough for me as the imap worked!

Pilot announced a flight time of 9 hours and 24 minutes and that we had 359 Pax & 18 crew on board. CC in Y seemed efficient but not as friendly as they could have been. I guess we were spoilt on our outbound with an exceptional crew and FSM.

New amenity kits delivered with no crystal eye masks but the return of the ear plugs was very welcome

Menu as below:



Mrs P ordered a low fat meal in order to get served early and go to sleep. She reports that the salad was a little passed its best but the main was actually very tasty and better than other Y meals that we have had! (it had gone by the time I was ready to take a photo!)

I had the penne pasta in a creamy spinach sauce which was average but not great! The salad with stacks of Caesar dressing was awesome and fresh :-)



Requested a 2nd glass of white wine from our CC who did not forget and obliged after she completed her meal service duties

Time for a nap (hopefully a long one!)

Well it was a reasonable sleep as I woke up only twice and conveniently when the juice runs we're happening

Breakfast served of juice, tea/coffee and a moist muffin about 2 hours before landing. Nothing like a moist muffing first thing in the morning

Decent early landing with no ATC delays, swift taxi and reasonable disembarkation from our seats. Heathrow was a breeze to exit as there were no queues at passport control, bags straight to the carousel and no issue with customs.

Tweeted LHR to praise them has they have had some stick in the last few months

Purple parking now drop cars at the short term car park which meant a little delay but other than that, great service.

So in summary, a good flight with CC that did enough to fulfil their roles, on time departure and early arrival and a good experience at LHR!

Roll on Tunisia with TOM in November.

Thank you for the great TR and pics.

Thank you for taking the time to post your TR. Sounds like a good flight and well done for being able to sleep quite well. Enjoy Tunisia hopeful the trouble there wwill have settled down by November.

thanks for the pair of TRs -- this return flight sounds OK (I am impressed you can sleep so long in Y).

Congratulations on AG! The extra miles come in handy...

Thanks for the informative TR

It is always good to have TRs from the Economy Cabin as this balances much of what is said on V Flyer - even more so when there is a positive impression of the experience

Thanks once again

buns

Great TR on what sounds like a very good flight

good TR glad you had a great flight

Petmadness wrote:a reasonable sleep

followed by

Petmadness wrote:a moist muffing

and all in Economy. I salute you!

Great TR, and as others have said always good to read a +ve TR from Economy.

Nice TR and a good flight it seems.

Yep I always have trouble sleeping in Eco, so good on ya.

Cheers for posting

Thanks for the TR.

The free wifi at Macys is not that stable at the best of times, and gets spotty once you're all the way to the top ... pity you got stuck with it, glad it all worked out well enough anyway. Fog is a part of our lives out here, not much to be done about it, hope you at least spent some time in Point Reyes Station and ate at Osteria Stellina