VS200 LHR-SYD 22 May 05 (Upper)

This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

Checked in very early for the first leg from LHR to HKG, and it turned out to be a good move. Some of you may recall I posted a question about the potential to upgrade my PE outbound flights to Australia, although I actually only had a K ticket. Well, I thought Id ask the question at check-in, and sure enough the answer came back sorry your tickets not upgradeable. [:(]

So I asked the question slightly differently, hinting at the fact that in the past there has been some discretion allowed, and flexibility applied. Off the very helpful Audrey went again to check with the sales desk, and this time the answer was yes, and for the princely sum of 350 and 20K miles I was able to upgrade to UCS all the way from LHR to SYD; RESULT [:D]! Thank you Audrey for you patience and accommodating attitude.

Watched in absolute amazement as some pax checking in to UC for Nigeria decided to get start bawling their objection about the fact that they appeared to have brought everything except the kitchen sink with them as luggage. VAA check-in staff showed admirable patience and an ability to remain calm under the most ridiculous tirade of abuse. If it had been me, Id have told the PAX to go fly with someone else! Well done ladies, very professional.

Next stop was the clubhouse, and good grief what a state its in in terms of temperature and noise. Unbelievable. It should be closed and sorted out properly rather than limping along with a poor imitation of sweatshop.

Anyway finally boarded at 21:45, in to seat 2K now I had several thoughts about the pros and cons of that seat; especially the proximity of the loo. But as it turned out that was not a problem at all, and I had the bonus of the shelf between my seat and the bulkhead partition wall of the loo I do miss the storage space of the 747 upstairs PE seats. The flight was full in PE and UCS, so the crew had their work cut out from the start. Seat belt signs off in about 12-13 minutes and VPORT on in 15. Good work.

Given the recent debate about the standards and variety of food in UC, I decided to make some detailed notes about what was on offer on both the LHR HKG leg and the HKG SYD leg. This is what the menu offered;

Starters
Lobster & Crayfish salad
Organic Chunky Veg soup
Lions Head meat balls!

Mains
Seared tuna, potatoes, Mediterranean vegs balsamic dressing
Braised Belly of pork, oyster and 5 spice sauce, noodles and seared peppers
Seven flavoured chicken thigh, egg fried rice, baby pak choi
Pearl barley risotto, wild mushrooms, rocket, vine tomatoes and parmesan shavings.

Cheese
Farmhouse Cheddar, Cashel Blue, Bougnon goats cheese.

Dessert
Passion fruit tart
Sticky toffee pud and ice cream

I had the lobster and crayfish Caesar salad and the risotto. Both were competently cooked but wouldnt have won Masterchef.

After dinner, I watched a couple of films; Meet the Fockers not as funny as the first film, and Fahrenheit 911 very good. Id put my name down for a massage, but wasnt in luck so I was given a priority card for the next leg.

Got changed into my PJs and then settled in for a long stint helped by a good supply of very nice Gold Label Wolf Blass Chardonnay. Managed a good 5-6 hours of sleep and woke about 90 minutes before landing in Hong Kong. Ive not visited the new airport, so this was something novel. I do miss the old approach though down the hill. Past the washing lines and looking into peoples flats at eye level just before landing!
HKG Club House

The new HKG airport is indeed pleasant, spacious and airy. Not a great deal in the way of shopping (certainly in the terminal I was in). The HKG Clubhouse was not quite what I expected, as all my experiences of Clubhouses have been in the US. The HKG CH is open plan, not large, and has a sort of large balcony that overlooks the concourses and out onto the apron the airport by gate 36 where my next leg of the trip was going to depart from as fate would have it.

Some pleasant Asian food was on offer, and I was able to log straight into the wireless network and check emails. Now, without getting to techy I had a go at using Skype the Voice Over Internet stuff, and boy does it work well [8D]. I had a 15 minute conversation with my wife, and the quality surpassed anything a telephone can achieve. I took a snapshot out of the window of the terminal and emailed it home for good measure.

HKG SYD

Re-boarding, I was amazed to see how empty the UC section was; I counted a total of 9 pax including myself. Needless to say, the crew had a very pleasant time, and of course the 9 of us in UC were never left wanting for anything! Seat belt signs of in less than 15 minutes, and VPORT on in about 20 pretty good.

The passengers spread themselves around the cabin, and settled in. As per my previous TR I took note of the menu on offer and it comprised;

Starters
Seasonal leaf salad
Gingered pumpkin and coconut soup
Smoked duck breast

Mains
Saffron Vodka poached sea bass with bacon and fennel and vegs
Grilled chicken breast, saut_ed potatoes, beans
Saut_ed beef tenderloin, rice vermicelli, Chinese vegetables
Deep fried aubergine, Szechuan vegs, steamed rice, lotus roots, black mushrooms, Chinese greens.

Cheese
Aged Cheddar (got some of this at the back of the fridge at home I think!)
Brie
Stilton

Desserts
Mango Tart tartin
Macadamia nut ice cream.

I had the duck and aubergine; again nice but not outstanding.

I was quickly given my massage and then settled back in to watch a couple more movies. I tried to get some sleep but I think being in the suspended animation of going half way around the world was kicking in and I couldnt really sleep at all. Read a book, newspaper, magazine, sick bag hmmmm long flight! Its at times like this you wish there was on-board internet access one day.

We got to Sydney a little earlier than expected, however the captain announced that it was busy at SYD and wed be stacked for a short while (and that didnt bode well for immigration and customs). We eventually landed about 25 minutes late, but what the heck Ive got a long wait for my onward connection to Melbourne. With only 9 of us in UC we were off immediately and straight down to immigration where there are 8 or 9 desks open and Im through in a few minutes. Bags off in a few minutes and over to customs where they seem to be checking every bag except mine it seems; straight out and on to check in for the Qantas domestic check in for Melbourne.

So, overall a good trip but VERY long and not having the opportunity to stop-over in HKG was a shame. More on the return trip next week.












Edit by Mod to standardise heading as per new TR guidelines .. Nick

[HighFlyer]

Excellent TR!

£350 and 20K miles I was able to upgrade to UCS all the way from LHR to SYD

Result!!! That was money and miles well spent i reckon

Brilliant deal on the upgrade! Sounds like you had good flights on both legs. Look forward to the return TR.

Re the deal I got; I think the clue is in the fact that they had only a handful of pax in UC for the HKG-SYD leg, probably had a couple of seats spare to HKG and thought 'why not'. Seems sensible and pragmatic to me, and shows flexibility and a customer-focused view.

Well, its 12.30am in Melbourne and I'm wide awake...[8D]

Very interesting TR, I just don't know how people survive the trip to SYD (not having done it myself).

You reminded me of a story about a flight to Nigeria that a friend of mine, a supervisor for AA, told me once. Full flight ... but three people couldn't board because it was full, even though they were checked in and had boarding cards. Turns out the captain was taking a 3pc suite home for his wife and had it stored over three seats at the back!

Excellent TR! Well done on the upgrade, did you think the menu was good or could have been better?

[buns]

vizbiz

Thanks for a very illuminating TR[y][y]

Certainly an excellent result on the upgrade - I have to say,even though I have never flown to Australia, the thought of 24+ hours in an aircraft just fills me with dread.

All the best

buns

Originally posted by buns4vs
vizbiz

Thanks for a very illuminating TR[y][y]

Certainly an excellent result on the upgrade - I have to say,even though I have never flown to Australia, the thought of 24+ hours in an aircraft just fills me with dread.

All the best

buns

We're just back from a trip to Australia with VS in Y.
If I can piece together what I can remember of the flight
to SYD I'll get a trip report together.

Robert

[buns]

Robert

We're just back from a trip to Australia with VS in Y.
If I can piece together what I can remember of the flight
to SYD I'll get a trip report together.

that would be most welcome - for many visitors to the Forum, not only me[:I]

Thanks

Buns

[fozzyo]

Originally posted by buns4vs
Certainly an excellent result on the upgrade - I have to say,even though I have never flown to Australia, the thought of 24+ hours in an aircraft just fills me with dread.

I'm trying not to think about that bit at the moment.

Great TR, thanks for sharing!!

Foz xxx

Originally posted by vizbiz


Watched in absolute amazement as some pax checking in to UC for Nigeria decided to get start bawling their objection about the fact that they appeared to have brought everything except the kitchen sink with them as luggage. VAA check-in staff showed admirable patience and an ability to remain calm under the most ridiculous tirade of abuse. If it had been me, I'd have told the PAX to go fly with someone else! Well done ladies, very professional.

Lol come to check in at LHR every night - you'll see that at every desk with every Lagos passenger no matter what class they fly in.

But we do love our Lagos passengers - they are the most easy going bunch you'll find and all the agro is just a front once they know you're not budging. You can have a laugh an joke with them unlike most other nationalities and some say keep us in business - the flight goes full nearly every day.

I'd echo all of taht - sounds like you had a great time.

One quick question - I'm flying UC into Syd and then onto Melbourne via (TBC) how much time is sensible to allow to deplane, clear immigration and customs, get bags etc - switch terminals and check in. I know it is is a tricky one but any helpful advice welcomed - lets assume the VS flight arrives on time as a starter!

thanks

Andrew

Originally posted by phantomtwin
I'd echo all of taht - sounds like you had a great time.

One quick question - I'm flying UC into Syd and then onto Melbourne via (TBC) how much time is sensible to allow to deplane, clear immigration and customs, get bags etc - switch terminals and check in. I know it is is a tricky one but any helpful advice welcomed - lets assume the VS flight arrives on time as a starter!

thanks

Andrew

When I flew into SYD in February I allowed 3 hours for a connecting flight (on Qantas) onto Perth.

That seemed about fine, however I was given priority through immigration, and had I not had that, it could have been a tight squeeze.

Thanks - appreciate that Richard -

How did you get 'priority' through immigration?

We're looking to do Syd - Mel on (Quantas) which is currently cheaper than V BLue and has a better baggage allowance.

Shame there is no real incentive to fly V Blue down under - at least with Quantas there are the one world miles.

cheers

Andrew

How did you get 'priority' through immigration?

in a word, luck!

The queues were very big, and a lady was coming round giving certain people clearence to skip the queue. It seemed that they were being leanient on arrivals from London, and being stricter on asia arrivals (probably because of bird flu?).

So should you get asked, dont say 'you've just arrived from Hong Kong' (which is tehnically correct), say 'you have come in from London!'

I forgot one other thing, is that there is a Qantas check-in for domestic flights in the internationals terminal after immigration.

If you read the Qantas web-site it says it is for use only by people arriving on a Qantas or OneWorld international flight.

However, I had no problems using the facility, having arrived on VS.

The advantage of using this is that they take your luggage, and then bus you 'air-side' to the domestic terminal, saving you having to carry all your baggage between terminals [y]

thanks Richard -

two good tips! I'll flash the BA cards at the Quantas check in and just look tired!

cheers

andrew

Great TR[^]

That food sounds good[8D]

VS.

[honey lamb]

Originally posted by VS045
Great TR[^]

That food sounds good[8D]

VS.

Except that it's a year old [:w]

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by VS045

Great TR

That food sounds good

VS.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Except that it's a year old

Didn't see that[:I] Feeling pretty stupid now[:w]

[:I][:I][:I]

VS.

Originally posted by VS045

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by VS045

Great TR

That food sounds good

VS.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Except that it's a year old

Didn't see that[:I] Feeling pretty stupid now[:w]

[:I][:I][:I]

VS.

To be fair there was a years gap at one point between posts!!! I think its a mistake that we all could have made.[:I]

Excellent TR! Nice result on the upgrade too. [:D] [y]