V-Flyer

Christmas and new year went by quickly and it was soon time for the B-annual trip to CES in Vegas, via San Fran.

For some reason throughout the year none of my flights booked with my VA Black AMEX had had funds taken at the time i'd booked. A quick call to check this one and again no funds had been taken, luckily when I called I managed to upgrade my return to UC with miles, but sadly not outbound.

At the airport I enquired about upgrades to UC on the way out, and struck gold, for a mere £160 plus 12500 airmiles I got my upgrade.

The staff on the check-in desk were extremely helpful, and with a UC ticket in my hand I went straight through to the private security line which was completely empty, then up to the Clubhouse.

The clubhouse was definitely the quietest I've ever seen it, I went for the sausage butty, and OJ, nice sausaes I have to say.

I have to say this was my first trip without the wife, and didn't find the clubhouse as enjoyable as I usually do.

The flight was called all on-time, and quick wander to the gate. Boarding was very quick, the usual Bucks fizz offered, but declined this time, and i sat down with a paper book to help me pass the next 10.5 hours.

Food throughout the flight was pretty decent, i had the Spicy Prawns, and the chocolate cheesecake thing, later in the flight i went down the light bites route, a couple of those mini burgers set me up good for the rest of the flight.

The flight was very smooth, and passed reasonably quickly, for some reason i always struggle to sleep even in UC, but this time it was worthwhile, passing over Greenland the scenery was truly stunning, i grabbed a few photos to remember it by.

Landing at SFO was probably the smoothest i've ever had, a tiny bump as the front wheels touched the ground, two minutes later we were at the gate ready to de-plane.

Is there ever enough staff in immigration? every time i've been through SFO the initial entry takes ages. When we arrived queue was 5 deep, but only half the cubicles were open, it took over an hour and half to get through. The one thing that stuck in my mind for a few days after was "welcome to the USA, right hand fingers, right hand thumb, left hand fingers, left hand thumb.... welcome to the USA", my only real interaction with the immigration officer.

On the whole it was a great flight, the food was tasty, there wasnt a great deal of interaction with the flight attendants but what there was was good. Return trip report to follow soon.

Thanks for posting ,a decent flight by the sound of it .
Blacky

Thanks for the TR.

rtlynes wrote:I have to say this was my first trip without the wife, and didn't find the clubhouse as enjoyable as I usually do.

I would find the same. As all of my premium class travelling is done on our money as part of holidays and adventures, a big part of the fun is the sharing.

Paper book!!! Do those still exist?