V-Flyer

A delayed report on this flight.

Check-in was good; the UC wing security was very, very slow, which I assume is a result of the change in policy. After that it was time to head to the Clubhouse.

Normally the ground experience is very strong at LHR. Not today. The CH was heaving and service was not great. I do not think it is appropriate for staff to have shouted conversations across the entire restaurant area -- maybe I'm old-fashioned! I was asked to perch at a large table whilst a small one was made available, although several were free. I was then immediately told I couldn't sit where I had just been told to wait. And then eventually I was reseated at a small table which (to be honest) I could have just sat at in the first place, because it had remained empty throughout. My food order was forgotten and had to be chased, 20 minutes later. The burger was pretty average as burgers go (the quality of the patty left quite a lot to be desired), and the red wine (can't remember what it was, I'm afraid) was corked. I should have pointed this out to the staff, but attracting them was not easy and in the end I gave up. Eventually a very polite and helpful waitress attended to me and I felt less grumpy -- but isn't it a pity that things have got like this? I guested in a v-flyer and at the time I (honestly) felt embarrassed that they would experience this and think we are all crazy to bang on about the Clubhouse.

Still, the Library area was deserted and quiet -- a blessing. Eventually the flight was called and I headed to the gate and straight onto Tinkerbelle. Sadly she was looking no better than when I flew her in the spring, althought the seat was reasonably clean (a hot towel was put to the test).

The flight was OK but not spectacular. The crew-member looking after me was very nice and helpful -- not for the first time, I felt that a good crew-member was outshining the rest of the product by some considerable distance. The only mistake was that I was not offered a welcome drink -- everyone else was.

Food was OK, but the chicken and gnocchi dish was swimming in fat. I posted a photo on a different thread.


No second service was offered, but I asked for a 'graze' dish and was provided with this sushi, which was OK -- note the nice mugs, which seem to be new, and which are good. This was green tea (information provided for joeyc). I have elsewhere expressed my surprise that there is not more food provided and proactively offered -- I can't see why afternoon tea isn't done on this flight, really.

As is becoming customary when I fly, VPort crashed and had to be reset for the entire plane. My screen did then work, but I gathered later that others had been without for the whole flight...

I also noticed that no one seemed bothered about the seatbelt signs -- are these exempt in J now?

We landed early and joined a fairly long queue at immigration. After quite a long wait lots of people were herded off to shorter queues on the other side of the hall, but this was not done on a first-come first-serve basis, so UC passengers were actually at a considerable disadvantage. Oh well! 45 minutes wasn't too bad, and my case was waiting, so that's about as good as you can expect these days!

And so off I went to Manhattan, into the path of Hurricane Sandy...

Did I miss something on a change of policy in the UC Wing - are you talking about the car option or something else?

That was a humdrum day then, how were you affected by Sandy?

I was referring to the change (in October I think) in carry-on inspections which seem to happen to nearly every other person now and have slowed things down quite significantly. The security queue was backed up to the boarding-pass check in the wing, and pretty slow-moving.

It was a bit of so-so experience but the crew were good. My hotel was evacuated because of Sandy (down in Wall St) but apart from being relocated and having all meetings cancelled etc I was lucky - those without power or worse had a really grim time and obviously the destruction elsewhere was very bad.

Thanks for the TR......I quite agree having flown the VS001 myself recently I was surprised to find the second service was not proactively offered, though provided for those that asked!!

I don't understand either why afternoon tea is not offered on the VS1 or VS9 when it is offered on the VS23 for example!!

Jon

Nice TR

Green tea noted Got to love those mugs, they are quite cool actually, especially if you take a wander around the plane... sad I know, but got told last flight to hide the mug as they are not offered to most of the pax.. made me feel special

The Graze portion offerings are small - order 2.. or maybe 3, problem gone

Cheers for posting

Thanks for the TR, such a pity the CH wasn't up to scratch. I still miss the Freedom Menu

horburyflyer wrote:Thanks for the TR......I quite agree having flown the VS001 myself recently I was surprised to find the second service was not proactively offered, though provided for those that asked!!

I don't understand either why afternoon tea is not offered on the VS1 or VS9 when it is offered on the VS23 for example!!

I was surprised too - an unwelcome cutback. I suppose they'd say it relates to arrival time, but I don't buy that. Not offering a second service in J, when you are doing so in Y and W, is astonishing to me.