VS401 DXB-LHR 21 SEP 14 (Upper Class)

[buns]

This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

After a very busy couple of days visiting a few V Flyers who are resident in Dubai, it was time to return home.

A short 15 drive from the Hilton Dubai Creek saw us being dropped off outside the door leading to the VS Check in and within minutes were were being checked in and our Au Status recognised in the process

For those of you who are familiar DXB, the never ending trek to the departure area wears you out and I for one am grateful there was air conditioning

Mrs Buns and I decided to go direct to the Lounge and have a sit down before going to do some duty free shopping. The Lounge is no Clubhouse and with huge windows going to the ceiling and beyond it is far from what you would call an intimate place. That said there was a good selection of breakfast items and a self serve bar that would cater for every taste - not that Mrs Buns and I partook in the food having just eaten in the hotel. The main plus point is that you are away from the hoards of passengers camping out in the main departure area. After a quick reals, we ventured back down to the duty free and after comparing prices with those on board, Mrs Buns got some Gordons Gin

By this time, the Gate had opened so we went through and took some seats to do some people watching - eventually the crew arrived and i have to say we immediately formed an opinion. Whilst our instincts were broadly correct, we could have not have been more wrong.

Boarding as called and we were one of the first to board - there are two doors used for boarding. Greeted by name as we entered the aircraft and made our way to our preferred seats of 8 & 9 A. As soon as we got there, drinks were offered as indeed were refills and I had to end up refusing The two Crew members looking after our side of the aircraft were fantastic "N" and "S" could not have looked after us better and the way they engaged with us (and indeed many other passengers) just reminded me why we continue to fly VS.

Yet again a very full flight but push back and take off were pretty much to schedule. Our pilot i thought was pretty decent in telling us that the flight would be a long one as he wished to avoid Bagdad and the Ukraine

Once airborne service quickly commenced with hot towels and drink orders being taken. Addressed by name throughout, both Mrs Buns and I knew we were in for a good flight experience.

Todays menu:

Starters
Smoked Salmon
Piedmont pea soup

Mains
Pan fried beef steak
Pan fried seabass
Totellini pasta

Pudding
Apple raisin tart
Charlotte Royale cake

I opted for the soup followed by the steak, whereas Mrs B went for the salmon and steak - our stares and mains were both very good indeed. I finished with a splendid apple raisin tart. I do not normally mention the breadbut this time there was cheesy rolls - talk about reviving childhood memories

During the meal I watched the documentary about "Divine" who i recall seeing at Top of the Pops in the mid 80's. After dinner i watch "The Love Punch" which turned out to be a ripping yarn worthy of passing the time.

Now one of the drawbacks of being in 8 & 9A is that you are right next to the bar - sometimes you can be disrupted by serious bar stayers. On this occasion however, the bar was turned into an impromptu creche as there were a couple of families on board and it would appear the area allowed the little ones to crawl around.

The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful - other than the plane running out of ice for drinks Now you may recall I mentioned about forming an opinion about the flight crew. I have to admit how wrong we were - the two looking after us were entirely professional and engaging throughout and although there were quite a few staffers travelling, they showed no favouritism. The FSM took a hand off approach and confirmed my initial view I will let readers form their own opinion.

A slight hold before we came in over Windsor and Eton and landed about five minutes late. Exit was through L2, so we were first off the aircraft and down to the Immigration Hall where the queue for EU Nationals was enormous, so we went for the automatic gates and thankfully we were through very quickly and up to the baggage carousel in no time to witness the bags coming off.

The Terminal 3 Arrivals Hall was absolute chaos!! Huge banners for Universities and Colleges were everywhere and the main exit channel was blocked by families who seemed to be waiting for the flights coming in from the far east. Fortunately , our Tristar driver was waiting for us and despite us having to carry our bags up the stairs (as the queues for the lifts just were plain crazy) we were home 90 minutes after landing.

All in all, another good flight made all the more worthy by the two crew members who made the experience so enjoyable - a note sent to Crawley towers.

Thanks for reading

buns

Pleased to read that you had such a good flight, thank you for the TR


oldboy

The cheese rolls caused quite a stir on my last flight. I have to say the soup was pretty decent too. Can't say the same about the 'charlotte cake', after eating it I still have no idea what it is.

Glad to hear of another good experience!

Great TR buns, thanks. Goes to show, the crew makes a good flight.

Always good to read that the crew were the stars. Not sure I approve of the bar being taken over by ankle biters?

Thanks for the TR. I hope you had a nice stay in Dubai. I' m curious how much longer the flight took avoiding Bagdad and Iran. We are travelling home on this route in November in PE.

[buns]

Thanks for the TR. I hope you had a nice stay in Dubai. I' m curious how much longer the flight took avoiding Bagdad and Iran. We are travelling home on this route in November in PE.

Thanks

In reality, the "diversion" did not cause too much of a time delay as we were scheduled to land on time until the last moment when we were put on hold and landed 5 minters late

buns

As always Buns a super TR Glad you had a good flight with super CC, interesting inference about the FSM. Had one or two that don't seem interested but the flight is saved by the impeccable CC
Hope Dubai was great for you also

[buns]

As always Buns a super TR Glad you had a good flight with super CC, interesting inference about the FSM. Had one or two that don't seem interested but the flight is saved by the impeccable CC
Hope Dubai was great for you also

Thanks for the kind comments.

The two CC certainly saved this flight

buns

Thanks for the return TR buns. Glad it turned out to be a good flight.
I like the sound of sea bass as a main.

Great TR as usual, and a solid flight it seems - was it full throughout or just in UC?

Thanks Buns, sounds like a good flight. I was looking at 8A & 9A yesterday on my flight to NYC whilst at the bar as I know you prefer these seats. I can see the privacy perks of 9A for sure!

That said the bar was very busy and Mr 8A didn't seem to like it

Thanks again for the TR and great the two CC working your side were on top of the game!

Jon

[buns]

Great TR as usual, and a solid flight it seems - was it full throughout or just in UC?

Many thanks

Once again, v Full in all cabins - so I can only imagine that Virgin Holidays are propping up this route

buns

Top TR as usual buns ,lucky you some cc that were spot on otherwise it could have been a below average flight ,glad to hear the steak was good although I'm not sure about the new designated crèche area !

Thanks for the TR buns, its a pleasure to read that a few VS CC made the flight memorable and noteworthy for you. Shame about the FSM, but on the LHR returning flights it is unfortunately commonplace for them to disappear to do 'paperwork'.

A creche at the bar?? Does this mean you were not wearing out the bar stool seeing off the gentleman jack supply?

Cheers for posting this Andy

Thanks for a great TR, buns! Nice to see you've sent a note to HQ regarding the two CC who made the flight so great for you. I don't know what VS's staff policies are, but glowing reviews can really go a long way for someone's career