This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
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'The VS10 is delayed till 1:30am but if you can get here before 18:50 you can get on the VS45' - what could I do - A quick interogation of the Virgin website confirmed the prognosis and the outbound VS9 had not yet left LHR so the delay was only going to get worse - and I really needed to get back on Friday am. My collegue promptly talked directly to the ticket desk and transfered my flight over to the 45 and I headed out for the airport.
I actually arrived at T4 at around 18:00 in good time to check in for the 45. By now the ETD for the VS10 had slipped to 3am so I was extremely pleased with my good fortune and was able to offer my collegue some reward in the form of an invite to the CH.
We only had around an hour to grab one of the specials - I had a club Turkey sandwich - but it was a welcome chance to relax after my leisurely trip to the airport had become such a rush. The poor CH staff were already gearing up for a late night and we played spot the VS10'ers based on their fed up expression. My collegue was determined to try for a miles upgrade and having already checked at check-in was determined to pursue it as soon as the flight check-in closed. Personally I thought he had a snowball in hells chance but well I guess he had to try.
Made our way through the scrum that is the security at JFK - the lines were unintelligable and it took us around 20 minutes to get through. You could see other VS flyers looking concerned over whether they would make the flight - I had more sense than to worry. The lines made me realise why I normally take the 10, as it has normally quietened down by then. I wondered whether they would keep security open for the delayed 10 or whether they would have to leave the CH early and wait airside.
The gate was clear when we arrived - by now it was around 19:30 but there was still a slow trickle. I boarded while my collegue resumed his stake out for an upgrade. They were still refueling and we were to be at the gate until around 20:15 before we finally closed the doors and began the ever so long taxi that is the norm for this time of evening at JFK - we finally left the ground about an hour later. My collegue was unsuccessful with the upgrade although he kept trying until after the doors were closed and beyond. He did recieve a small reward which I will mention later.
v:port was fired up pretty quick so I settled down to watch the second half of the Top Gear US Special - great stuff. I had not originally intended to have anything to eat but it was now about 3 hours since we had eaten in the CH and I was a little peckish. I watched a film over dinner - 'Perfect Strangers', a intresting thriller worth a watch.
The seat was truly awful - nowhere to put my feet and hemmed in on both sides - very claustraphobic. To make matters worse there seemed to be no consistency with the side that I recieved service - a hot towel would come in from one side, a menu from the other, drinks service back over to the other side. Later on this caused real annoyance as I began to be passed over from both sides and found it very difficult to attract the CC attention.
Mercifully I managed to sleep for around 3 hours and by the time I was fully awake I had missed the morning snack and we were preparing for arrival.
Landing was uneventful, if a little late at around 8:40, on what was a lovely clear morning at Heathrow. Parked on one of the distant gates so long walk to immigration but the airport seemed quiet. Bags were collected and we both stopped at Revivals. My collegue, despite being only Ag, had been rewarded for the tenacity with which he had pursued an upgrade by being granted revivals access by the ground staff at JFK and later confirmed by the CC. He had an ongoing connection so it was quite a welcome reward.
Had a brief bite to eat and checked on the progress of VS10 which indeed had just left JFK at around 3am and was expected in at around 2 in the afternoon. So quite a result to avoid the delay but unfortunatly not the best of flights comfort wise. I'm on a short turnaround and am heading back stateside on Monday morning so the delay avoidance was pleasing.
