This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
So onto the morning of the flight. I was dropped off at LGW and I made for Zone A. Entered the UC line which was empty, but a couple travelling in PE were being checked-in at the Upper Class desk – which took a while. Can only assume they were not regular travellers as the list of questions they had for the check-in agent was endless. There was no “guard” agent at the front of the queues, so the PE check-in agents called people from the PE queue as opposed to Upper. I got seen within about 5mins and the bag was dropped & proper boarding pass issued – I did get SEQ 1. I also noticed that I had SSSS on my boarding pass too – joy of joys.
The Gatwick Premium security lane was a breeze – no wait at all. Got pulled for a secondary screening of the liquid items in my bag here, but was through in a couple of minutes. Onto the LGW Clubhouse.
Got a very friendly welcome at the Clubhouse and was shown around (as I was a LGW Clubhouse Virgin). It’s very nice – a lot smaller than the LHR one, but nice nonetheless. Initial observation [which was proved right] is that the layout of the tables near the windows is stupid – you have two tables, each for two, next to each other. If someone takes the one nearest the window & the adjacent table further away from the window is then taken, it is nigh on impossible to get served easily at the table by the window, without drinks / food having to be passed over other people. Had a few breakfast rolls and an obligatory Redhead or two, OK, three. Made a brief exit from the Clubhouse to acquire some duty free (namely T10) for consumption in Florida.
Wandered down to the gate at about 10:20 as I knew I was in for a frisking. Sure enough, my boarding pass scanned and the light went red and my passport and BP were retained as I needed a secondary screening. Was done after a short wait. While I was being screened, they called boarding for a large section of the plane, so had a bit of a wait in the jet-bridge to actually get onboard. Only thought, if the SSSS is supposed to be a deterrent, don’t print it on the boarding cards, just link it to the barcode on the BP.
Anyway, got onboard and turned left and arrived in a half full UC cabin. Bags stowed in the overhead and champagne was offered and accepted. After a short while we heard from the flight deck and we are in for a quick ride today, 7h59m to Orlando, with a Southerly course out over Cornwall, then just South of Ireland and then no land until we hit Florida, doubtless somewhere near the Kennedy Space Center.
Pushed back 2mins early and we rotated at 11:24. The seatbelt sign was off at 10,000ft and the service started. Hot towels + menus handed out, followed by drinks orders being taken. Ordered a G&T with lime, which was promptly delivered with lemon, then replaced a few mins later by another with lime in, along with an apology for the error. (No prompting needed for the replacement – I would have drunk the one with lemon in).
One thing I have noticed – the IFE screens don’t fit into the seat walls very well after the refits & installation of VERA touch. Most peoples screens seemed to come away from the seat wall on the takeoff roll.
Lunch orders were taken – had the flaked peat cured salmon which was very good. Followed this with the beef, which was also very good – it was tender (unlike the boot-leather Virgin served on my last trip to NYC) – it was a bit better cooked than I would have liked, but I do like my steaks rare. Then had the mascarpone & clotted cream torte (excellent) followed by cheese. Think this is the first time I have had all 3 courses on VS, then cheese and I am full.
One thing to note, todays crew in Upper are excellent. They have used passengers names just about every time they addressed you & the service has not been at all rushed. Lunch was not served until about 1pm, a good hour and a half after takeoff. This, along with the short flight time is making the flight… fly by.
Ice cream run was done halfway through the flight & was very nice. I had planned on having the burger from the Graze menu, but after the ice cream I am still full. Will wait until afternoon tea for more food. The crew have just been round offering yet more drinks – so I thought it rude no to accept a Heineken.
At one point in the flight a passenger appeared in the UC cabin with his child – obviously a parent taking little daughter for a walk and he liked what he saw. The crew were on the ball as he had only just got past the bar before one of the crew was in the cabin asking him to return back to his own cabin.
General comment re: VERA Touch – it’s brilliant. At long last the LGW/MAN fleet have got decent IFE. Like the way you can have a film on the main screen & the skymap on the handset. Only negative is that the in-seat power port seems to have gone, in favour of a USB port & the audio/video in connections for VERA. Oh well, good job I have a Macbook with a long battery life.
I did have the burger off the Graze menu… and then some afternoon tea. Both were excellent. In fact all the food on this flight was pretty good and plentiful in supply – there is no way you could go hungry.
We landed some 40mins early in Orlando and had a short taxi to the gate. As we approached the gate, G-VKSS was on stand and the hold doors were just being opened – great, 300 odd people in front of us in the immigration queue. We deplaned pretty quick, the crew held back the main Y cabin – got to the immigration hall and found ourselves behind the pax off the VS75 from Manchester. It took about 50mins to clear immigration – got seen by a very friendly officer who asked the normal questions, smiled, and admitted me to the USA. The bags had piled up 3 deep on the carousels by now, but got our bags and then cleared Customs (there was a queue here too, as they were stopping everyone and looking at the customs form and passports – they never used to do this).
Got the train to the main terminal, collected the hire car and made the short drive to South I-Drive, which is our home for the next couple of weeks. Have been shopping for err, essential supplies (e.g. beer & tonic to go in the T10… did get some food too!) and am now sitting outside, 7:15pm and about 85 degrees F.
This was probably the best Virgin Atlantic flight I have had – there was nothing to fault really. The LGW Clubhouse is excellent & the food and drink in there were very good (just sort out the table layout). Onboard, the crew were brilliant – you wanted for nothing, passengers names were used and nothing was too much trouble. It’s worth noting that we only saw the FSM twice, very briefly – he did not speak to anyone in Upper, so the Upper Class CSS was running the service & leading by example. Late on in the flight I made a point of finding the CSS in the Galley and telling him that the flight had been excellent & faultless. (A letter will go to Crawley Towers on my return to the UK to make sure the crew working in Upper today get the recognition they deserve). My feedback obviously got passed on to the other crew, as one of them came and shook my hand and thanked me for my comments before we landed.
Well done Virgin!
( if not at least some warmer weather. )
