This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Arrived at the airport around 7.30am and it was relatively busy in the Virgin check-in area. Having been screened, joined the upper class queue - eventually we were called over to the premium desks as they were very slow at the UC desks. Overheard that they were doing a sale on Upper class upgrades - 1100 roughly on a BOGOF offer! Must have been over-booked in PE, and there seemed to be plenty of seats in the UC cabin at check-in.
Collected our lounge passes, and then headed off on the short trek to the departure gates. Seemed very warm, and not well air-conditioned there. After a brief stop at the duty free (prices not that good nowadays with the poor pound!).
The Gulf Air lounge has been recently upgraded - much nicer than before with newer furniture and more open plan. There was also a better selection of food available this time. Had a wander down to Terminal 3 which is really huge! Still the problem of people sleeping all over the place!
Although we were told there was a 30 minute delay at check-in, the lounge staff didn't know this, and it came up as boarding on time. Headed off as it was gate 107 - the other end of T1. On the way passed a now disused Emirate Business lounge near gate 109/111 - maybe space for a clubhouse (?). The gate lounge was already full, and therefore we were stuck waiting to get through. Should have realised that it was going to be a longer delay as the crew were still hanging around waiting to get on board! After about 45 mins, eventually got through. More screening again, which is a bit of a hassle in a small gate area. I really like the separate jetty that comes off the main airbridge for Upper only.
Once on board, the crew were really good. Came around with champagne straight away (couldn't say no as we had had a 'dry day' in Abu Dhabi on the Saturday, followed by another 'dry day' on the
Sunday in Dubai - all to do with the New Year there.
After take-off, the crew were amazing. Really worked hard all flight ensuring that everyone had drinks and snacks, and anything else that they wanted. The FSM was really good - she was working in the UC cabin for most of the flight attending to passengers and helping with meal services and clearing up. I had asked for a sleep suit before take-off, and she came up after take-off to apologise profusely that she hadn't had time to get me one on the the ground.
Lunch today was:
Starters
Seasonal leaf salad with hamour fish, grilled veggies, shaved fennel, onion sprouts and balsamic vinaigrette
Minestrone verde
Mains:
Rosemary crusted chicken breast, mushroom sauce, caraway roasted potatoes and mixed veg
Roast fillet of beef, thyme jus, crushed potatoes, sauteed beans and shallots, char-grilled red pepper
Ricotta and spinach lasagne
Cheese - edam, camenbert, gorgonzola
Dessert
Jam roly-poly and custard
Cinnamon ice-cream and chocoloate sauce.
I was sitting at the bar after take-off and it became apparent that they had taken too many orders for beef. One of the crew asked what I was having and I think was going to suggest I change, until another one took her off to the side to check who was '009' flying club! They ran out of crisps, so were emptying PE pretzels into the bowl instead - funny to watch.
In the end I had the salad (nice), the beef (should have changed as the chicken was supposed to be amazing), cheese (good) and the roly-poly (luke warm and the custard was far too little!). Having said that, the service was very good and efficient without feeling rushed.
After lunch time to watch a couple of films. Popped to the bar to find no-one around - apparently it was busy down the back, so all the crew including the FSM had gone down to help out and the only crew member left was in the middle of doing something else (not a problem, and good that they were helping out rather than having a natter as sometimes happens). There was no ice-cream service, so asked for one only to be told that they only had ice-cream on this flight in PE and Econ - slightly odd (all the lunch stuff had been melted and thrown away!).
Afternoon tea was sandwiches (not that good), plain scone with jam and cream and victoria sponge.....served with a glass of champagne.
Landed only a little late to a rather cold and grey London - what a difference.
All in all a very good flight, particularly as the crew were really good and the FSM mucked in and helped out a lot (which probably motivated the crew a lot), therefore leading by example rather than on some flights where you never see them from take-off to landing.
