This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
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I arrived at Terminal 3 departures just before 1pm for the 4pm flight to New York. The Virgin Atlantic check in area was just pure chaos; luckily I was booked into Premium Economy so after battling through the crowds I arrived at the calm that was the dedicated Premium Economy check in area. Whilst checking in I was given my 40 APD voucher which gave me 40 off a future Virgin Atlantic flight. I was assigned my prebooked seat of 20K.
An hour before departure we were called to gate 36, so we headed off and got the first sight of an aircraft! After the long walk we arrived at the gate area and were one of the first to arrive. I handed my boarding card to the gate agent, when it scanned it beeped and the light went red, didnt like the sound of that. After a word with a colleague she handed my boarding pass back and told me I would now be in seat 16A, which had now been written on my boarding stubb. Again the same thing happened to my mate who I was travelling with and she was now seated in row 17A. I was sure that this wasnt in Premium Economy, and this was confirmed when the gate agent said, both your seats are now in Upper Class.
I couldnt believe it, and walked over to sit down and look at our awaiting aircraft feeling rather smug inside. Lady Luck was on my side today and quite apt that we were flying onboard G-VWIN, named Lady Luck and airborne February 2006.
On entering the lengthy A340-600 the crew welcomed us and showed me to my seat, a nice window seat towards the rear of the Upper Class cabin, and near to the onboard bar which Virgin have. The crew took our coats to hang up and then offered me a glass of Champagne, which I of course didnt refuse. The crew seemed very happy and all through boarding was the background sound of champagne corks popping at the bar. Once seated a member of crew greeted me and showed me how to use the Upper Class Suite.
Whilst boarding continued I had a look at the snooze pack which was on my seat, which included a useful shoe bag, toothbrush, toothpaste, socks and eyeshades.
[img]http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a317/ManchesterMark/amenitykit.jpg[/img]
With boarding almost complete, I had been sat in my suite for nearly an hour now and it was approaching the departure time of 4pm, not that I complaining. The flight crew welcomed us onboard and informed us of our flight time of 7 hours 15 minutes with an on schedule arrival of 18:55 at JFK airport. Our dedicated cabin steward came round to take a drinks order for after take off. It was nice to have someone greet me personally by name, little things like that make upper class stand out as something a bit different.
Departure time arrived and we suffered a slight delay due to 2 passengers missing the flight and having their baggage off loaded, but we pushed back at about 4:15pm and headed to the departure runway, 09R today.
The crew announced that the V:Port inflight entertainment system would shortly be starting and that if anyone had any problems using it to just ask a member of crew. The noise cancelling headphones really work, even though I found the A340-600 cabin quiet anyway. My drink, a Gin and Tonic, was soon delivered to my seat by the friendly crew, along with a dish of crisps, Walkers Sensations actually as I had seen them all being dished out on the bar, cheese and chive I think they were, they were nice anyway and so was the Gin and Tonic!
[img]http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a317/ManchesterMark/GT.jpg[/img]
So with G&T in hand I turned my attention to V:Port and had a play around with all the features and on demand entertainment. The I:Map moving map was good to check on the status of the flight, though I never did figure out how to do the interactive feature where you can zoom in and out all over the globe! I then watched a bit of That Mitchell and Webb Look and then settled down to watch Borat the movie.
[img]http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a317/ManchesterMark/Window1.jpg[/img]
Dinner was then served and the crew came round with table cloths and then laid everyones table. My Broccoli and Stilton soup arrived, along with a choice of warm bread rolls. A choice of still or sparkling water and wines was also offered, and I opted for a glass of water and a glass of Chardonnay.
Next up was the Beef Hotpot, wonderfully presented and just as tasty.
[img]http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a317/ManchesterMark/Starter.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a317/ManchesterMark/Mains.jpg[/img]
Dinner was then cleared away and I settled down to the rest of my movie. After that had finished I had been sat down for a few hours and felt like a leg stretch and change of scenery so we walked over to the upper class bar area as no one else was there. Had a great chat for ages with the crew.
[img]http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a317/ManchesterMark/Cabin.jpg[/img]
The crew on this flight were superb and all very attentive yet still had fun at the same time and it was good to have a bit of banter with them sat at the bar. Our cabin steward told us that originally there was only 20 people booked in upper class for this flight but that everyone else had shown up so the rest of the aircraft was full hence about 25 people had been upgraded to Upper Class and there was now 45 people in the cabin, he was looking forward to a quiet flight, unlucky!
Also Mariah Carey was due to be on this flight but as it was so full and Upper Class subsequently full she had to wait for the following flight!
As the sun set we began our descent into JFK airport. Looking out of the window I could begin to see the snow covered streets of New York and Queens. The weather in New York had been bitterly cold and snowy recently. We touched down perfectly at JFK on scheduled at 18:50 to be greeted by snow all over the place, pilled up at the side of the runways and frozen solid over the taxi ways.
So to sum up, not only did I somehow get lucky and get an upgrade to upper class but the crew and service onboard were outstanding. Had a really good laugh with the crew, and thats what makes the flight I think, you can have a standard product across the board but if the crew just arent in the right mood then it just sours the whole experience.
Hope you enjoyed reading,
Mark
