VS031 LGW-UVF 29 JAN 13 (Upper Class)

This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin

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Since I read so many trip reports before my holiday I thought I would have a go myself. As you may have seen from previous posts (thanks for all your help) I won this trip at a charity event, for which I am truly grateful. Although not a paying customer, I still have a few comments that may not be complimentary about VS, but I have to say I think things have changed for the worse over the years since I've flown Upper.

I'm not a frequent flier, but I have travelled BA Club a few times and UC on two previous occasions back in the mists of time - '97 and '04. It looks like I'm averaging one decent holiday per decade - not far off it! lol

SO... Valet parking at LGW was a total doddle - walked straight from short term car park to (empty) check in where a very young, tired and very disinterested member of staff talked to me as little as she could get away with. I'd had a problem with OCI so wasn't sure if the seat I'd selected still stood. 'They're all single seats anyway' she said when I asked. Hmm. But all good, I still had my selection though she made me feel like it was strange to even care about where I sat.

I had a maintenance facial in the CH - it did make me laugh that the 'pan pipe' relaxation music was drowned out by one of the other two therapists on the other side of the partition moaning loudly about the unsatisfactory mileage on her car and should she get a BMW? But it was a nice facial.

Looked after really nicely by very friendly waitress. Eggs benedict and a coffee and a few calls to the bank to warn them I was off to spend my kids' inheritance on rum punches and it was time to board.

All without incident, though a bit of a queue at the gate.

I settled down in 8A, just as- HORROR - a young family with a crying baby and a toddler sat opposite and beside me. I could see everyone around roll their eyes, but although the baby crawled all over the place for much of the flight, the crew and pax were really good about it and both kids were very well behaved on the whole.

The two stewards looking after us were lovely - totally friendly and professional. No complaints there.

SO: what's changed over the years? Obviously, this was the first time I'd flown with flatbed/suite in UC - even in '04 we flew from LGW on the old style purple seats, which I have to say were a lot more comfortable in my opinion for just sitting/watching movies. At 5'11' I found I just fitted comfortably with the seat converted but found it quite hard too. How do those over 6' get comfy? Anyway I managed an hour of... er... horizontal relaxation and a watch of Magic Mike - definitely one for the ladies.


Met a really interesting couple and chatted to the lady for quite a while which made the journey whizz by.

The presentation of the food was dire, in my opinion. I had the carrot soup, fine, with a nice swirl of creme fraiche. Then the Asian beef with rice and bok choi which had NO presentation thought at all - literally half a plate of rice, half a plate of beef stew with one leaf of slimy bok choi and some carrot batons. Even that old trick of squishing the rice into a cup or mould and turning out onto the plate would have helped make it look even a tiny bit 'posh'. As it was, I thought 'school dinner'. Tasted great, though - credit where it's due. I really enjoyed it.

I had the shortbread dessert and coffee which was nicely presented and went down a treat as did the afternoon tea later on.

Landed on schedule. UC passengers were let off first, my bag was already waiting and so off in the 32 degree heat for a week of R&R...



To sum up: I was a bit disappointed at the quality of the peripherals. I know they're not really important things, but for me, little touches that give a feeling of quality add to the whole experience. For example, the salt and pepper shakers - now black and plastic when in days of yore they were silver I think, and felt heavier and better quality. The amenity kit was really low-grade. Come on - a cheap biro with a lid that doesn't even fit on the end when you're writing?! That's rubbish. The cake stand was like something from Ikea, I thought. Get one really fantastic one, Virgin, and have the stewards serve from that instead.

The toilets - from memory they used to be far more plush, surely? Eith towels and products? I know this was shared with PE but it was, pardon the pun, bog standard. Nothing very upper class about it at all. But clean.

I'll report on my trip home which is going to be a round-the-houses adventure c/o LIAT first. Let's hope I get some sleep on the way back and my dinner is more pleasing to the eye

Ahhh another TR detailing the declining standards in the premium offerings

Sorry to hear that it was not the best of trip Shona.

Check-in, no excuse for rudeness The LGW CH sounded awesome aside from the staff talking about which BMW to get.. really?? Not tempted to weigh in and say, "You know what, forget the BMW and go for a Merc?" sounded like they had some disposable income

Really interesting comparison with the old style seats.. I recall the lie flat ones that had everyone sleeping on the floor but never flew at the front of a VS plane prior to that.. Sorry to hear that you are unimpressed. With the food service, granted on occasion they look like school dinners, what did you think of portion control? Small offerings on a large plate? Steak served in a bowl? That is the kind of thing that usually gets to me

Cheers for posting, fingers crossed for the flight back

Oooh dearie me!

Oooh dearie me!

Hahaha! (Love a bit of The High Life)

I have to say I've reread my report and I sound like a moany old cow! Sorry everyone, I think I was concentrating so hard on comparisons to the old days I forgot to say it was a pleasant journey, really!! Didn't come away thinking 'never again', just more of a 'that's changed', if you know what I mean

It read as being brutally honest.. fair play to ya. Comparing it to the product offerings from 2004 you will def see that the bean counters have been busy

Unfortunately a common factor across the world of airlines these days... ahh for the days when aviation was a gentleman's pursuit

ah yes, the beef... must admit I'm curious to get some opinions on that, as I had it myself a week ago. Certainly quite edible, but struggling to get the 'asian' relevance - basically it's beef stew and rice. Admittedly with bok choi, but that's hardly a marker for eastern provenance!

thanks for the TR

Thanks for the TR, having flown with VS since it started I agree that the cuts are obvious. Your comments highlight a common problem, nothing wrong with the flight but the expectation was higher.

the new suite/seat issue raises its head again! is there any hope someone high up might take some notice ?

I have a PE MCO_LGW in 2 weeks and was tempted to try and upgrade. Im not sure its worth it seeing all the negativity

the new suite/seat issue raises its head again! is there any hope someone high up might take some notice ?

I have a PE MCO_LGW in 2 weeks and was tempted to try and upgrade. Im not sure its worth it seeing all the negativity

According to the route history VS31 was serviced by V-ROS, a refurbished LGW 747. These don't have new UC suites do they? I thought UC just got a deep clean and fixes? Or am I missing the point you're making?

oops my misunderstanding, good spot