This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
The Clubhouse was fairly empty and as soon as I sat down a waiter appeared and asked if I would like a drink. I Ordered a coke and informed him I would grab something from the Deli a little later(this is where the UC experience is wasted on me, am I the only V-Flyer that doesn't drink[:w]). Whilst waiting for the drink to arrive I visited the Cowshed to see if I could move my massage to an earlier time. 'No problem sir, you can have anytime you like' said the nice lady. She then went on to explain they had lots of staff working today, she wasn't joking either there were at least 8 of them standing around the desk having a chat about the next days appointments.
Flight was called around 3.15 and I made my way to the gate which other than the Virgin employees and a security guard was deserted. However, this was not to be the case for long because as soon as I approached the airbridge it became apparent there was a long queue to board. Finally got to my seat after about 10 minutes but because everyone was boarding via L1 it was a bit difficult to get organised as the PE and Economy Passengers were walking through the cabin to get to the rear of the aircraft[V] (I later found out that the airbridge for L2 was broken.)
3.50pm and everyone was onboard and the captain announced that we were ready to push back, however, just as they were about to close the door the police arrived and disappeared down the back. 5 Minutes later they returned with a middle aged man in handcuffs[B)] he was escorted off of the aircraft and down the steps by the airbridge into a waiting Police van. The captain then announced a correction to the passenger numbers he had previously given us 'make that 199 plus 15 crew' he said[:p].
We sat at the gate for another 20 minutes whilst the mans bags were removed from the hold. Some airport security people also boarded the plane and searched the area were the man had been sitting (we were informed by the Captain that this is normal policy if someone is removed off of a flight). Finally we took off from 9R about 30 minutes late.
Drinks orders were taken as soon as the seatbelt sign was turned off, I had already sneaked a couple of cans of coke onboard which were chilling in ice behind the bar[:D] (I really don't like that Virgin Cola they serve). Lunch orders were taken immediately afterwards and being the fussy git I am I ordered a meal from Economy which was B-B-Q chicken and actually was quite nice.
The rest of the flight was uneventful, I watched a couple of things on Vport but mainly used my Ipod Touch. Had a debate with the crew to why the afternoon tea service is on the JFK flights but not EWR ones. One of the senior crew said that the catering company monitor waste and they found it was just not being eaten on the Newark flights which struck me as being a little strange as the two airports are only a few miles apart with similar flight durations.[?]
They suggested that I contact VS to ask why? as they would like a definate answer as well.
Landed pretty much on time and cleared Immigration in around 25 minutes[y]
Positive
FSM and crew were excellent I was addressed by name which I thought was excellent as I'm only Silver, (I did look at the passenger list by the galley, UC had 22 passengers only 1 was Gold, 2 Silver, 6 Red, 4 had Continental written by there names and everyone else was blank).
Negative
Don't like the UC menu (I suppose it's just a personal choice)
Boarding was a shambles, I know there was a problem with L2 but they had called everyone from the Clubhouse to board and we got stuck behind the rest of the aircraft.
-Steve
