This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
We arrived at Terminal 3 and made our way to UC checkin. Preliminary security check was efficient and the gentleman remarked on the number of VS stickers on my passport. I believe that I've mentioned in previous TRs becoming irked with UK immigration trying to rip them off and they are now firmly held in place with a clear layer of superglue. We then joined the UC wait. PE remained empty. After a couple of minutes PE called us over and we proceeded to checkin. Eyeing the hand luggage suspiciously he asked to weigh 2 of the bulkier cases. Caught out
. I'd already done this and knew that one was 7 kg but the other 9kg.
Thankfully he exercised discretion and didn't ask for a repack! He did
however label them as checked. He confirmed our seats and then directed us to the 'Plane Helpful' special assistance for Mrs D's wheelchair collection. When the staff member responsible for Mrs D's had finally finished discussing shift patterns with a fellow member of ground staff she assigned a very friendly 'Wheelchair Assistant' who fetched me a trolley and decanted Mrs D into the chair. We were whisked to Fast Track which was about three lines deep but deposited at the front of the queue and prioritised.
Once security was passed we continued on to the Club House where the concierge was warned to expect a Wheel Chair pickup at 15:15. The new Club House is stunning and at this time of the day was almost deserted.
We sat in the fine dining area and while Mrs D placed our orders (Full
English for her, smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for me) I went off in search of change of a 20 for various upcoming tippings. 14:30 saw us off for treatments (via the Fumoir for Mrs D) with Mrs D going for the Fresh as a Daisy and myself going for the On the Hoof. This was my first ever pedicure and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The shoulder massage whilst welcome seemed spurious.
In the area near the Spa there is a coffee table style book on display. It was opened at a large closeup of Lucille Ball. Gary Glitter seems to have stolen his trademark wide eyed look and coiffure from her. Scary.
I checked that Mrs D wasn't out and went in search of currency. I'd never noticed before but there's a Travelex right outsde the Club House. Very convenient. Returning to the Club House I checked on Mrs D and as she still wasn't out went to the toilet. I returned and waited a while but eventually I asked after Mrs D and was told she'd left already. I rushed to collect the 4 carry on bags and took a trolley down to the gate where bedlam was in process. The queue was outside the door but I could hear the 'UC boarding in process' announcement so I pushed to the front of the queue and presented myself. Loud mutterings drew attention to my 'pushing in' but suddenly I found myself at the head of a second queue. A slightly officious member of ground staff walked towards me exclaiming 'Why are there two queues? There aren't two queues here'. I proferred my UC boarding pass and she said 'Oh OK - but you'll have to check some of those bags'. I explained that two were my wife's and her eyes lit up in recognition! 'Ah yes - Mrs D. She's on board already. Go through. The rest of you get back into line! There's only one line here'.
The queue to board extended just back into the lounge so I joined it and shuffled along with the rest of the pax eventually reaching the door and the welcoming crew. I struggled to the A zone where several crew rushed forward to help with my baggage stowing it in whatever space was available. Noticing my flustered manner one of the FAs rushed off and got me some cold towels - a very welcome touch. Usual preflight ritual ensued and only 20 minutes late we rotated.
The FSM was very evident in the cabin as were all the crew. Service was attentive. The new menu has been commented on so I'll just say that I had the salad and lamb shank. Mrs D had the Tomato Soup and the Vegetable tart. Both were excellent. My lamb shank was very poor. It seemed undercooked and was a grey pink colour. The membrane between the meat layers was still intact and the whole thing was quite tough. The crew kindly offered to cook me a new one but I went for a cheese and ham toastie instead - very nice.
I gave up a precious priority card for a manicure - the plane was full so I didn't want to risk not getting a treatment. In total she got 5 priority cards and ensured that we were all treated first. The IFBT was excellent - very thorough and friendly. She was trialling a new manicure technique where the cuticles were cut dry. Bad move - two out of ten nails bled. She explained that this was something they'd been told to do but that she'd put the results in her flight report and revert to the more traditional soaking of cuticles before trimming. Still an excellent manicure. She told me that she'd been asked to work SRB's pre-Wimbledon party but she was probably going to be on holiday.
Once again I was asked to fill in questionnaire and once again I rated everything excellent for the most part. Couple of niggles (always giggle at the punctuality question) but what can you say? The UC experience is still fantastic. Interestingly the questionnaire asks about Carlos even though it has been discontinued.
Chatting to the one of the senior crew members they had mixed feelings about the upcoming UC Amenity Envelope as they thought UK pax would feel uncomfortable asking what extras were available. As ever it'll be a case of wait and see how it all pans out. Another senior member and I had a long discussion about this and they strongly felt that the amenity kits were wasted as frequent flyers brought their own products. They also felt that no one flies VS for the amenity kits. Both points are indeed accurate and I enjoyed the robustness of their defence. I think the thing may be that we feel 'ownership' of VS and want to be prewarned about changes and have them explained to us, rather than having them inflicted on us.
The FSM took time out to sit and chat about her role and to ask about my perceptions of ground staff vs crew. It was interesting seeing how she viewed her role - she was a real ambassador for the brand.
I gave up working and settled down to watch a film but became distracted mid way through and had an interesting chat with a couple of Goldman Sachs people. Returning to my seat 30 minutes from landing I realised I didn't have enough time to finish the film - perhaps on the way back? Landing was successful [;)] and we took our place on stand. Mrs D and I waited for the plane to empty before getting Mrs D into a wheel chair then it was down to immigration and the front of a special queue. Formalities complete we were met by our NJ friends and whisked off to our hotel. Mrs D and I were in agreement that this was one of the best flights we've had in quite some time. The food left a lot to be desired but the quality of staff more than made up for it.
