This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
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The trip was for work, with the client nice enough to pay for I class fares - which to the uninitiated are discounted business class which do qualify for the chauffeur driven car. Not that the corporate travel agent knew this, so I organised both my short journey and the pick up of a colleague from Brighton whose address at 67 miles away from LHR was just in the free zone.
Given the lateness of the LOS flight we both aimed to get to the lounge via our separate cars rather early: around 5pm. The drive-through checkin was a breeze with only hand-luggage, as was the Wing security with no one in front of me. However, I can't be the only person to think wistfully of the days when your bags made it out of the car, your boarding pass was handed to you through the window and then your driver went into the short stay car park and deposited you at the bridge to the fast track.
Anyway, met the colleague in the lounge, him as a first-timer agog at the luxury and me hoping that the Goosespatcho was still on the menu. Happily the (first) dinner featured the dish with a main of the burger, my staple diet in the lounge. Then to work. The wifi still hasn't been extended to the library so it was a case of trying to work in various areas of the Clubhouse where there is power.
And so time passed, frenetically planning the next day's workshops and sampling a variety of cocktails. Come 2130 it was time for a second dinner of chicken pasanda and then a wander to gate 21 for our A346 and seats 14A and 15A. Booking at short notice meant that my preferred 2K was not available, but 14/15 are not too near the bar. In any case it was straight to sleep for both of us in an attempt to get enough Zs to sustain us until 20:30 the next day.
Arriving in Lagos is interesting to say the least. The plane docks a hefty step from immigration, but helpfully the other European flights land in the evening so the queues were short. However, the immigration process was pretty labyrinthine: first a check of the landing card (hint: you need a telephone number of where you are staying as well as the required address) then an initial passport check and then backtracking to a further passport check. Chivvying was supplied by uniformed, gun-toting types, and the general experience was not exactly welcoming.
Only hand-baggage meant no delays at the carousel (there are horror stories of waits beyond an hour) and after a quick yellow fever check we escaped the building at about 06:15 to try and find our driver. We did have a few hints on how to do this: names written on cardboard are not the way to go as these get copied by nefarious types, so instead the best thing to do is to phone and see who picks up and waves. Before too long we were hurtling through insane traffic to Victoria Island.
On the plus front the Virgin flights are timed well to avoid what is no doubt an immigration crush in the evening, and the night flight at least allows a little sleep. However, the 05:25 arrival means that if you have a full day's work ahead of you you're going to feel somewhat jaded by the end of the day. Still a pleasant enough flight, the shortness of which makes it pretty imperative to eat in the Clubhouse beforehand and then go straight to sleep.
