By way of background, this trip had been planned for a considerable time and was to allow my cousin and his wife to visit the USA for the first time in his life and to possibly allow him to fulfil a lifelong ambition of seeing a rocket launch from the Cape.
Much planning had been necessary along the way and as departure day approached it looked like he would achieve his goal as launches were planned the day before we arrived.
On the morning of departure I had received messages from VS at 3am saying that departure was delayed by 90 minutes. Little time to rearrange transport but at least it would afford a little more time in the Clubhouse!!
Addison Lee arrived at 5am and we were at Terminal 3 within the hour! As my relatives were travelling from the other side of London, we had arranged to meet at the Main Terminal and we duly congregated and we were swiftly seen by a Check In Agent and all was good for us to travel together through the Fastrack Line at Heathrow. This was an absolute breeze as we were all through within minutes and this leads out into the main terminal lounge PAST Duty Free
One of the delights was then introducing the relatives to the Clubhouse – taking them up in the lift and letting them see for the very first time the impressive vista as you enter. The look as surveyed the room was worth its weight in gold. The reception and service in the Clubhouse was exceptional throughout and whilst it was only Mrs B and myself who partook of our usual cocktails (Bramble and Virgin Redhead respectively) a small amount of champagne was consumed as well as multiple variations on the English Breakfast.
The additional time afforded by the delayed departure allowed a relaxing time and the opportunity to catch up with the Duty Managers who remembered us from previous visits.
The time in the Clubhouse, albeit relaxing, passed all too quickly and the time came to go to Gate 16 on the remote pier. By the time we arrived, Group 1 was already boarding so we bid a brief farewell and boarded through L1. As we arrived at our seats a card, signed by the Crew working Upper, had been left on our seats welcoming us back. After settling in, I went back to the relatives who by now were seated in PE to hand over my amenity kit to the wife (to score a merit mark you understand) and noticed the FSM at L2 adorned with Mickie Ears welcoming passengers aboard – a nice tough I thought and just singled out what a great FSM she would prove to be
.After the GOD of exceptional service in the Clubhouse and the obviously committed FSM, then the BAD. No longer is Champagne served as a boarding drink in Upper!! Now it is the same Hambleden served in PE (bet they have a job lot to get rid of) along with the cocktails mixed with the said English Sparkling. To me, this is an indication of the cost cutting in the Food & Beverage current offerings in UC. More of that later.
After boarding was completed, the FSM returned to our seats and welcomed us personally and both Mrs Buns and I complemented her for the note and said to her directly that we can tell withing 5 minutes of boarding we can tell withing minutes if the flight is to be a good or bad one - purely due to the FSM – and this case we knew it was to be good!
After takeoff drinks orders were taken with Mrs Buns opting for her usual G&T (Bombay)and Woodford Reserve for me. Relatives were more than happy with their seats in PE, although the seats in front of them were without functionating IFE screens and there was liberal use of gaffer tape on those seats as well as around the PE Galley arear (which did not seem to be actively used) the is is the UGLY part – but as long as family were content, I was happy.
Tables in Upper were then laid – we both went for the Roasted Red Pepper Soup followed pre-ordded Wild Boar Sausages and mash. Whilst this was fine , the portion sizes are much reduced from a few years back and one cannot help but wonder whether the overt use flavours is simply there to mask the poor basic ingredients being used. The Tiramisu dessert was absolutely lovely though.
I opted to listen to my own music and make use of the on board Wi-Fi rather than watch the film offerings – being of a more mature age I would wish VS would air some classic stuff.
During the flight, I had a long chat with the FSM about the state of the food offerings and the poor state of the cabin. She was inclined to agree to an extent on the food and I did gain the impression Crews are truly embarrassed about the F&B offerings right now. On the state of the cabin she apologised for not allowing relives to visit the bar for 15 minutes as there were quite a few PE passengers without IFE on this flight.
Talking of food, the notion of two flavoured scones constituting an Afternoon Tea is beyond me. I opted for the Barbeque Pulled Chicken Burger (any other restaurant would have put pulled pork on the menu) which ultimately repeated on me later in the evening.
As a nice touch before landing, two young children were donned with VS Coats and escorted through the aircraft to hand out the love hearts!!
Overall, it was the FSM and Crew who saved the day for VS on this one. I did write to Crawley Towers and received a boiler plate response. Needless to say I have responded with the “offer” to visit Crawley – lets see
Thanks for reading.
Buns
PS
As for seeing a launch - you will have to wait for the return
One day Crawley will wake up