VS044 LAS-LGW 14 NOV 13 (Upper Class)

This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

After checking out at the Wynn at 1.30pm, I caught a cab to the airport. He was a lovely guy from the Phillipines whose family were all safe thankfully following the typhoon.

Upon arrival at the airport, I was quickly given a boarding pass and my bag taken off me. At this time, I was advised the flight would about about 50 minutes late.

I went through the first class line, only to be greeted by one of the largest queues I had ever seen. All lines were merging into one and even flight crews were held up. This is the worst I've ever seen it in Vegas. I wasn't worried at all knowing the flight was late anyway, so there was plenty of time.

After a quick look around duty free, I went to The Club and settled down with a glass of sparkling wine and a couple of sandwiches and cookies and caught up on some internet time.

We were called out of the lounge to board and had to fight through a mass of people all trying to board too. They halted the queue I was in after a pram and sent everyone to another queue which was very large and those in Upper behind me, were pushed further back. It was very poorly organised.

After stowing my cabin case above 10K, I was offered a sleep suit. I was aware these had changed as they no longer come in a bag entitled "sleep suit" on it, and just come in a disposable clear plastic bag and were also smaller fitting, so I opted for the medium instead of the small which I usually have. I felt it was a little big but not as large as the old medium used to be on me so they have shrunk, so beware. The CC confirmed they had shrunk too and they don't do an XL so be careful any big guys out there.

After a pre-take off drink and a chat to the CC, we took off into the night with a fabulous view over the strip.

Post-take off drinks, meals and breakfast were ordered before we left the ground.

The CC told me they had 3 nights in Vegas due to the winter cancellations and they always enjoy going at this time of year for the extra time away. The week was also wonderful due to the weather being in the mid-20s.

After watching Red 2, I had the bed made up and went to sleep for a couple of hours. However, there was a rather loud baby on the front row of PE and the noise carried through to the upper cabin. The CC also seemed to be banging doors etc behind the bar and in the galley which got quite noisy. I put my headphones on and played an album on Vera which solved the problem for a short time. However, the albums on Vera stop once they have been played, unlike those on ICE with Emirates which keep rolling back to the beginning. This woke me up a couple of times as I wanted continuous music, so kept going back to the beginning to replay the album or find another one.

I decided to get up and have the bed turned back to a seat a couple of hours prior to landing to watch a film called Identity Thief. I didn't get to see the end but can imagine how it finishes though.

Breakfast was distributed quickly by the crew and again, everyone was friendly and there were no problems with service at all.

Overall, another good VS flight without any major problems, even the delay got caught up a little during the night.

The bags took a while to come off the carousel, but that's Gatwick for you.

Back to the orange short stay car park to pick up my car and drive back to the Midlands. Unfortunately caught up in traffic due to an accident on the M40 for 40 minutes which is not what you want after a long flight.

Oh well, back home and now back to work and will have to start planning the next trip.

Another enjoyable TR ... thank you for posting

Glad to see both legs of the journey were good!

Thanks for TR - On the same flight next Monday - in the same seat in UC - what a coincindence (maybe not given small UC cabin)

I'll be not sleeping much, so be warned CC on my route, the bar will need staffing, as I like a lot of whisky/beer before sleep

What drinks/food are available at the club - and is everything inclusive - including single malts/Gentleman Jack? I was disappointed by the combined BA/VS lounge at MIA last time (was on a moved BA flight, but felt at home with the VS passengers for a while!).

Thanks for the report Lynne, pleased to see that you had a good (and hopefully profitable?) stay at the Wynn.
Interesting what you said about the sleep suit, I had a "large" one on the VS12 last Monday and decided I had been over indulging in the Boston Clam Chowder! Perhaps it's all part of a subtle plan to get their passengers to diet so the "new" UC Suite becomes a better fit?

[buns]

Thanks for the return TR

Sorry to hear about the shambles at the Gate, but i have quickly realised that life is too short to get upset and spoil the rest of your flight over such things. Although not going to Vegas, i will shortly be experiencing UC out of Gatwick and I only hope that the crews on my flights are as good as you have reported.

Thanks once again

buns

Apologies, but I didn't notice if they had any Gentleman Jack in the Club but they did appear to have a fair range of other spirits available so I hope you find something suitable. There are 2 soups on offer and about 3 choices of sandwiches, I opted for a ham and a turkey one. They are small so you'll probably need a couple to keep going.

Haz - good to hear you were in Boston, which is a nice city and easy to get around and yes, I think VS are trying to get us all to diet to fit into their smaller UC seats.

Buns - have a good trip. I like the 14 UC cabin as it always feels quite special compared to the A346 cigar tube dormitory. My seat of choice thought would always be 8 or 9 if available, rather than 10.

Thanks Lynne - it's just all to common in non-native clubhouses for higher grade spirits to be paid-for or just plain not available. Not much VS can do about it except build a clubhouse, which given the amount of Vegas flights in summer may be justified.

I'll report back on available booze on my return next week for other flyers who like whiskey (joeyc?)