This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
As there is no Clubhouse at Cape Town Airport we did not rush to check in. We had done on line check in and were quickly through bag drop. We were given a pass for the lounge. The pass stated we can use the SAA lounge. I was rather happy as I have been in there and it is a nice lounge. When I asked check in staff for directions they took the pass off me, scored out SAA and wrote Bidvest Premier Lounge. I was gutted…… Even though the web site still states passengers can use the SAA lounge?
The Bidvest Lounge is one where you can pay to enter. As such it had basic snacks including one hot item ( I had no idea what it was and was not tempted). The drinks were all free and it was basically an open bar with a fridge where you help yourself to wine, spirits, mixers and soft drinks. Coffee was from a machine. Space is very limited so with the Virgin Flight and paying guests it soon filled up with not enough seats for everyone. I was on a G fare and felt disappointed, had I paid for a full fare I would be angry with the offering. I believe the lounge is an integral part of the product as it helps set the tone for the flight.
[url][url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/itstheharps/8229269609/]
[/url]Bidvest Bar by Itstheharps, on Flickr[/url]
Flight was called on time with priority boarding. It was African Queen A340-300 (same as my outbound trip report) so I knew what I was getting. We were in the same seats 3 & 4K. I still had the filthy and dusty light above my head and the suite was a little grubby. Champagne offered and accepted. Only 186 on board with 15 crew. Upper was full (including some staff allocated seats). As per outbound, dinner request taken including pre dinner drinks.
Galaxy tablets given out. Unfortunately it was exactly the same movies, music and TV loaded as my flight out, therefore I had nothing to watch as I had seen the movies I wanted. Therefore I decided to watch MIB 3 on the built in IFE. Unfortunately the headset socket had a problem and I had mono sound in just one ear, so binned that. Then Mrs Harps told me the power socket on her seat did not work and the Galaxy Tab only had 30% power. We spoke to our flight attendant who stated there was nothing they could do, however they could move one of the staff sitting in upper and try their power socket. We declined as we wanted to sit together. In the end I plugged the power lead into my socket and slung it over the partition so Mrs Harps could watch her movie.
In the big scheme of things it’s no big drama, but it does tarnish my feelings about the Upper product given the lounge issue as well. My experience is sadly not isolated as feedback within topics on v-flyer proves.
I can confirm no amuse bouche anymore. From the menu I had Prawns to Start, African Curry for main and finished with the cheesecake. The food was once again delicious. The cheese trolley made an appearance and I dully partook in cheese and port.
[url][url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/itstheharps/8213084963/]
[/url]menu vs604 by Itstheharps, on Flickr[/url]
After all that food I stretched my legs then made up my bed. As I had nothing to watch I got my head down to sleep.
![][|)](./images/smilies/icon_smile_sleepy.gif "Sleepy"){kind=icon}
I had a very broken sleep and finally got up and turned bed into seat with about 3 hrs of the flight left. The bar was set out with fruit, fruit juice and some snacks. I requested coffee and sat down awaiting the breakfast run. For brekkie I just had a bacon roll as I was intending to use revivals.
We landed on time, disembarked, luggage collected and through to revivals. I had a shower, then ordered breakfast. Although a simple lounge having table service makes all the difference in the feel and quality of the product.
And then out into the freezing cold and the long drive home to Cornwall……….
). I generally never leave a lounge before boarding but this is the one lounge I've made an exception with.
