This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
At 7:45 we decided to make our way to gate 55 where priority boarding had already commenced. Mrs D's Bose headphones needed a secondary for some reason but no other mishaps at security so straight to the gate. The clearly marked priority boarding section was mobbed with people queueing at the priority sign. Sizing up the situation Mrs D just swept to the front of the queue. 'Excuse me- there is a queue' interjected an interloper 'this is the PRIORITY queue' replied Mrs D. Sure enough they shouldn't have been there - although that didn't deter the staff member from continuing to let them through. The EWR groundstaff really don't seem to care.
We boarded from the front of the plane so everybody turned right! It was unusual to have so many people filing past but as the flight was half empty it didn't take that long. By 08:10 the flight was boarded and the captain announced a 7'5' flight. The usual 'last minute paperwork' delayed departure a little and then the catering lorry opened an armed door. This naturally led to chute deployment and the decommissioning of that exit. Cue the repositioning of several pax and the requirement for new load balance paperwork...
With all of this we ended up 25th in line for takeoff and ahead as far as the eye could see stretched plane after plane. The captain regretted that this meant we'd have at least a 50 minute delay before takeoff and gaining full credit for customer facing attitudes the crew led by the FSM stopped by every UC seat to fully explain the delay and to take breakfast orders to ensure prompt service after takeoff. I opted for the Eggs Benedict and Mrs D the bacon roll.
The amenity kit was distributed by the IFBT following closely with a wicker basket of 'add ons' - moisturiser, lip balm, Polos, razors, shaving cream and pens.
After we eventually took off breakfast was rapidly served and I was surprised to see that whilst the Eggs Benedict came with cherry tomatoes and asparagus there was a distinct dearth of muffin. So more like eggs and bacon with hollandaise sauce than Eggs Benedict but there you go.
The gentleman behind Mrs D asked upon boarding whether he could upgrade his wife and child to UC (they were in PE) using miles. Regretfully they can't process on board mileage upgrades but they did offer him the chance to purchase the upgrades for a bargain basement (*cough*) 800 each one way.
The gentleman in front of me had severe problems with his v:port just not working and so eventually moved seats to get a working v:port. The flight was a little turbulent at times with the seat belt sign being deployed, but Mrs D failed to notice this being fast asleep with her Sharper Image eye mask and Bose headphones. Despite this three people continued wandering around the cabin to use rest rooms or (as I strongly suspect of the gentleman in front of me) to ease their flatulence. Crew failed to chastise them although the turbulence was not sufficiently bad to cause crew lock down
.Interestingly unlike a night flight the cabin was not uncomfortably warm - quite the opposite, my feet were freezing at times!
Mrs D kipped down and I went to the bar and chatted to the CSS who remembered LROM from an Xmas SA trip - all in all those of the crew who knew of V-Flyer were positively inclined. The IFBT (boasting seniority that belied her appearance) took me for a 'hot hands' and was most amused by the concept of V-Flyer. She promised to look in.
Lunch was enjoyable and the landing was uneventful. All in all we believe this was one of the best West to East flights we've had in a long time - made, of course, by the crew. This final section would have been longer but I've written it twice and lost it twice so...
