This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
We travelled down the Monday afternoon and stayed at the Premier Inn Gatwick East which i have to say was excellent value for money and the restaurant next door was reasonably price and the food good.
Tuesday morning we arrived at Gatwick check in at around 9.45am, the place was deserted check in was quick and easy, through security in a breeze and in to the club house. I have to say the cabin crew should go to the same school as girls at the clubhouse (more on that later). Welcome back Mr I and Mr W how nice to see you both again, now someone had done their homework as we have only visited the Gatwick Clubhouse once before. Do you need a reminder of our services? With a no thanks we went in dropped our bags off and sat down for breakfast. It was very quiet with all the other flights having been called or departed and there also being no VS15 this Tuesday.
Breakfast ordered the full English with coffee and a bloody Mary! Food was excellent as was the service. The nice surprise was when Daffodil another V-flyer came and introduced herself it was great to meet another member who was also on our flight. We had a great chat and it made for an even better visit to the Clubhouse.
The flight was called at about 11.45am and we made our way down to the gate and VROS .Boarding was well underway and there was virtually no one else at the gate but when we entered the walk way it was back to the top so took about 10 minutes to board.
Once on board we found our seat 9 A & K offered and glass of champagne by a very un interested member of cabin crew. chatted to the couple next to us on honeymoon, and their first flight in UC. As soon as my glass was empty it was whisked away no offer of a refill everyone given a drink the bar was cleared so no hope of getting anymore!! 15/20 mins later asked to take our seats for take off.
Take off complete drinks orders taken, menus given out. Drinks served, no greetings from the cabin crew, no would like any help using your suite, my partner had to show the young lady next to him how to operate it.
Tables set for Lunch, starter served I has the smoked Salmon which was very good followed by the Braised diced beef with 3 halves of new potato and a few sliced carrots, well I am sorry to say it was the worst UC meal I have ever had would have felt more at home in a plastic tray in Economy! My partner ordered the Chicken with Gnocchi but was served chicken breast with mash and courgettes pointed out to the cabin crew oh!! Well that’s what has been loaded they didn’t even know what it should have been several other passengers where not happy also. I didn’t have pud went straight to cheese and port.
Once lunch was out of the way settled down to watch the films. Having flown on the A330 it was great to have the Vera touch.
Seat belt signs came on a few times it was very dumpy at times. Cabin crew passed through a few time went up to the galley to get drinks as the bar was covered in paper work for the most part.
Afternoon teas was served about 2 hours prior to landing and was the usual fare.
Having been to Mexico knew you needed customs and immigration for which a supposed to be filled in prior to leaving the plane, there was not enough forms to go round even UC so we were lucky we asked. Those not so lucky had to fill them in at the gate. Surely Virgin should make sure they load enough forms for the flight.
Seat belt signs on and we landed about 35 minutes early which was nice. Forms completed straight through immigration in less than 5 minutes.
Baggage reclaim was a joke everything came off in one go apart from the crew that was first off !! Funny how they can get that right !!
All in all another flight with Virgin that is full of inconstancies. A cabin crew more interested in their 4 day break in Cancun! UC is not a cheap option but virgin seen to think they can get away with providing one. We have 1 more paid flight with virgin and 25K in miles to use not sure they will be getting anymore of our hard earned money.
though great to hear that the CH staff were as fab as ever 
Why do they find it so difficult to provide a consistent service that matches the experience they promise on the web site and in the advertisements? 
Although they invested millions on they new UCS the consensus on here is one of little if no improvement and along with the inconsistency of service, this would surely make them take positive action 
