This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
This was an epic trip to New Zealand for a very good friend's wedding where I was lucky enough to be best man - think I managed to embarrass the groom suitably while keeping the speech family friendly
Still have plenty of bruises from running the gauntlet during the paintball chapter of the stag do! 
A cold and frosty start in the car park at the Premier Inn Heathrow where we stayed the night before - Mrs Shoreline has a habit of just 'popping into work' or 'nipping to the shops' on the day we are travelling
Thought I would negate that by putting us next to the airport the night before! 
Very short drive to the short stay car park to drop the keys off with Purple Parking - the parking 'captain' was in good spirits due to it being his birthday the following day and informed me of his intention to become suitably inebriated. As long as the car was safely parked I did not mind...
Wondered across to Zone A for check in, was fairly busy and we hovered by the Upper Class desks on the right, one was busy and the other did not appear to be open and were asked by a free roaming member of the ground staff if we were travelling in Upper (think maybe she thought we were lost - or too scruffy!
) said yes and we were directed toward the previously closed desk where we were checked in and given boarding passes. Jumped in the lift and headed up to the private security channel - very quick and hassle free. Headed straight to the Clubhouse, as it was our first time the host gave us a brief run down of where everything was. Settled in to a Redhead and Eggs Benedict. Nice. Clubhouse was fairly quiet, service from all the staff was great. Booked a massage for me and a hair styling for Mrs S, then went for a stroll around the main departure lounge. Went back to the clubhouse pretty quick - it really does make you appreciate the calmness in there! Bacon roll and then the massage - really sets you up nicely for a long haul flight!
Took the short walk to the gate for boarding and were welcomed aboard to our seats 12A & K (thanks for the tips!) Glass of bubbly and feeling nice and relaxed.
Mustang Sally, bless her, is not in the best condition - the whole cabin is looking a little on the tired side. Seat was comfortable and everything seemed to function ok (sure I spotted a bit of painted duct tape holding something together around the arm for the IFE screen!).
Cabin crew were ok - not what I expected, but got everything done with a smile (even if it seemed a little forced!). I guess it was New Years Eve and maybe they were missing out on time with friends and family, so cut them some slack there.
Food was great - I had gnocchi to start, followed by the beef fillet and a toffee apple pudding - all very palatable. Cannot remember what Mrs had, but she seemed to be enjoying it!
I refrained from pocketing the salt and pepper... next time maybe 
Despite having loaded my phone with a few tv shows, I opted to watch a couple of films on Vera - Lucy and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Both good films - although I did feel a bit daft watching CGI apes talking to each other at 36000ft. Screens are pretty poor resolution old school TN lcd panels with bad viewing angles, not likely to be changed or refitted before the 747s leave the fleet - if you are a pixel density enthusiast then bring your own device! Perfectly fine for watching a couple of flicks to pass the time though.
Did not convert the seat, so cannot rate that, a few others did though despite it being a day flight.
The nose of the 747 is really nice and quiet, will definitely opt for seats here again next time we fly UC on a 747.
Amazing views over the Rocky mountains as we got closer to SFO. A speedy exit of the aircraft and through US immigration nice and quickly then on to baggage claim. Despite being priority tagged our bags came out quite some time (20 to 25mins) after the the first bags were on the belt. Not really something that bothered me that much but can see others would get frustrated, especially if you had business/work to attend to or a short amount of time before catching another flight.
Collected bags, walked about a hundred yards with them and rechecked them for our connecting NZ7 in Business Premier on a 773.
Not sure if it was just the time we were there, but SFO is a really quiet airport - does it ever get busy?
Good flight and a good first experience in UC. Clubhouse was the real winner for me here, makes such a difference.
Thank you for reading and thank you for all the sage VS knowledge you all add to this forum!
