V-Flyer

Return flight from a two week vacation in central CA - sun! Drove from Tiburon to SFO at lunchtime, handed back the hire car - unbelievably efficient, 2 minutes at most! (In fact, one of those minutes was the Alamo rep telling me I had $3,000 to pay, and let it run for 10sec or so,before handing me the zero balance stub - hah hah hah - I think he winds up the Brits this way a lot).

Anyway, straight to U/C check in, rather early - (both my OH and I had to get a bit of work done before flight, and the lounge seemed like the best way to achieve that). SFO lounge is ground side, which strikes me as unusual, but it was quiet (considering VS20 had not left yet). There's no buffet-style choice, but we took a table in the dining area and were brought rather good food (a decent burger and a tilapia fillet) and my last glass of Anchor Steam for a while.

Then a chance to catch up on some UK/World news - two weeks of the Monterey Herald had left me a bit disconnected - at least the Mail/Telegraph view - I'm not a rabid lefty but it would be great to see the Guardian there, Virgin!

Called for flight, and quickly onto Sleeping Beauty (G-VNAP), and settled in with a glass of bubbly - announcement that the flight was going to be an hour shorter than scheduled - excellent, but realised that it meant a choppy trip.

We left SFO a little late (incoming flight delayed, presumably by same winds now acting for us) in a beautiful sunset (last view of the sun for a while, I suspect) and settled down, changed into sleep suit, and on to dinner, via the rather good Shiraz they are serving at the moment.

Dinner (salmon, chicken, cheese) was good (not great, and certainly not up to the standards of the inaugural YVR-LHR flight I reported on previously). and bang on cue, turbulence (nothing too bad) but it meant that the crew were very quick to clear away - expecting more? Crew were very attentive, and friendly.

Watched 'Newsroom' (another compelling series from Sorkin) and 'Salmon Fishing in the Yemen', before crashing. Sleep OK, and unbothered by very minor choppiness, until 2h before landing (1pm, not 2pm - excellent!) when I woke up, changed, had breakfast, did a bit of work and settled in for descent. First 15min of time gain lost circling over LHR -oh well -same 'ole, same 'ole..but eventually on the ground, and second 15min lost -'sorry folks, no ground crew to bring us a bridge'! (Captain sounded a bit peeved!). All standing there - but gave me time (naughty, I know) to call Purple Parking (booked through VA) and let them know that we were down and would be picking up car soon.

And then, wonder of wonders, off plane, directly through immigration (no queue!), luggage waiting in baggage hall and within 30min of deplaning, were on the road back to the NorthWest! This is better than Singapore! Kudos to Purple Parking as well - I would use them again after this.

So, overall, a good flight. Rested, very quick through LHR (meaning we missed the M40/M6 delays by being ahead of the rush hour). Great crew, who imparted that a) they read V-flyer trip reports and b) that G-VNAP would not be refitted, as it 'has too many miles on the clock' (G-VNAP been going since 2005). Niggles? Well, food was a bit uninspiring', and the IFE programes had not changed since the outward flight in the previous month, so choices became limited. Pluses - ability to sleep, friendly and helpful crew, and The Independent!

Just a regular, classy VA trip, that tok very little out of us.

Typing this at 3am, jetlag kicked in again!

Thanks for the TR

Looks like the ducks lined up along the way by VS to make for a trouble free journey (for a moment I was going to say smooth ) and provided that this is provided (irrespective of cabin) in a consistent way, them VS has the future secured

Jet lag sucks - hope you can catch up with your sleep soon

buns

Great TR,is G-VNAP considered too old at 7 for a refit?

Thanks for the TR - I wonder why VS has such a problem organizing ground crews at LHR, time after time I arrive to wait, while someone remembers that there's a big jet plane waiting to disembark!

Agree with Slinky - Why LHR has so many issues with their ground crews, I don't know. I mean, it's not like they didn't know the plane was coming!

Great T/R though.

Astacus wrote:Return flight from a two week vacation in central CA - sun! Drove from Tiburon to SFO at lunchtime, handed back the hire car - unbelievably efficient, 2 minutes at most! (In fact, one of those minutes was the Alamo rep telling me I had $3,000 to pay, and let it run for 10sec or so,before handing me the zero balance stub - hah hah hah - I think he winds up the Brits this way a lot).

Yup, they did that to me last month when I dropped off the car at SFO

Great TR and what sounds like a very pleasant flight! Keep fighting that jetlag and thanks for posting

Excellent TR, thanks.

Astacus wrote:Then a chance to catch up on some UK/World news - two weeks of the Monterey Herald had left me a bit disconnected - at least the Mail/Telegraph view - I'm not a rabid lefty but it would be great to see the Guardian there, Virgin!

But surely the Telegraph / Mail combo is ideal? The chap can sit behind the former and harumph loudly whenever a child or a chap not wearing a blazer hoves into view, and the chap's partner can catch up on what's currently causing house prices to soar / plummet (delete as appropriate).

Astacus wrote: that G-VNAP would not be refitted, as it 'has too many miles on the clock' (G-VNAP been going since 2005).

I didn't think they were plans to refit any of the LHR fleet?

Thanks again

Paul

Thanks for the TR

Yeh jetlag is a nasty one... small price to pay for the 2 week holiday though I would imagine. Hope it was a good'un.

Sounds like a good flight and yep as slinky says, unfortunately LHR in the mornings does move at a snail's pace. I suppose that is why immigration is clear - they could only handle one plane at a time

Cheers for posting

Next time Alamo rep does that, look shocked, clutch chest and fall to ground! That will pay them back big style!

And, this flight came in at 1pm, hardly morning rush hour! Some jobs worth on their break, or just general LHR incompetence? Makes me dread a third runway!

pjh wrote:

Astacus wrote:Then a chance to catch up on some UK/World news - two weeks of the Monterey Herald had left me a bit disconnected - at least the Mail/Telegraph view - I'm not a rabid lefty but it would be great to see the Guardian there, Virgin!

But surely the Telegraph / Mail combo is ideal? The chap can sit behind the former and harumph loudly whenever a child or a chap not wearing a blazer hoves into view, and the chap's partner can catch up on what's currently causing house prices to soar / plummet (delete as appropriate).

Ugh. The goosestepping paper and the daily heil are not most people's choices. Problem is they give out bulks for circulation boosts and the Grauniad doesn't. Hence I tend to buy a decent paper before flying.