VS059 LGW-TAB 22 Mar 07 (Upper)

This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

I agree with all of the above, given the changes and op ups VS should have gone the extra mile to ensure all booked into UC received extra special service. As is it seems you were treated as one of the herd. This is disgraceful. What a disincentive to reuse book again.

Added to this, did you get PJs, FSM introduction (clearly no IFBT), any offer of miles for the dismal failure of VPort?

If I were you I would write a stinky letter to customer services ... but you seem fairly relaxed about the whole experience????

Well after 9 months of waiting, our holiday trip to Tobago had finally come around. All packed the night before it was an early rise at 5.15am for our 6am trip to LGW. Arrived at the parking express just before 7am and noticed 2 volvos waiting at the drive thru check in which was in darkness.
Parked up and hopped n the bus which took us straight to the terminal in no less than 8 minutes. Not bad.
Now VS check in seemed choas with queues snaking everywhere, however we manged to shuffle through to the UC line. We were stopped by 2 people who asked us if we had pre paid the APD but as had booked through VS Hols not an issue for us. Next was the security lady who breifly and politely asked the relevant questions and asked Mrs F if she really was from Russia[:)]She did mention that our check in for Tobago was not redy and just to hang about a bit. This threw me a bit as the counters were fully manned. One thing I did notice was that the UC queue actually led you to the PE check in desk. The UC desks were to the left a bit. There was a mother and daughter standing in front of us who were also waiting to check in but as I found out they were in PE. Anyway after 5 minutes of hanging about I walked to the UC desk and asked if they were ready for the Tobago flight. Not quite was the reply. It was now close on 7.30am for an 8.55am dep.
CH time was slipping away.
It turned out that they had a last minute change of a/c and we would now be on a LHR config a/c.
We were finally called over at 7.30am and the check in lady did apologise for the delay stating that they had a lot of shuffling about to do.
As she viewed our passports she asked the dreaded question. 'Do you have a visa for Tobago madam' [:I] Mrs F did not. Unknown to us or VS Hols, Caricom countries intoduced a visa scheme for dodgy countries from 15th Feb till 15th May to combat any undesirables from watching the cricket. The previously polite security lady was summoned and after 5 minutes she came back with a photocopy of a visa application form and stating that we would need to pay $100 and need a photo upon arrival in Tobago. We always carry spare passport photos just in case.

Anyway boarding passes were finally issued and we noticed that our pre booked seats had been changed so we where opposite each other rather than side by side. Not such a big issue so we left grateful that we were at least getting allowed on the plane.

Security was ok and we were through in about 10mins. Fast track was closed[n]
A very quick dash round the duty free and then up to the CH. Now by this time we only had about 55mins to departure so it was a quick bacon sarnie and cuppa. No alcohol, an absolute first for me[:0]

About 8.30 we headed off to the satellite to see Cosmic Girl waiting for us, result V-Port. Not a long wait and then came the boarding announcement. Passengers with small children, those needing assistance and Premium Economy. No boarding for UC then. As we had little D we qualify in the pax with children so we were first to the gate. The gate agent saw the purple card and stated that they were not boarding UC yet. Third time this morning I was surprised and I had only been in the airport 2 hrs. Pulled out the joker which was little D and said what about the kid then. 'you will have to wait until UC is ready' Apparently the UC cabin was far from being ready for pax but the rest of the a/c was. Work that one out.
After 15mins we were finally allowed to board.

Settled into 7a & 7k and was soon offered a glass of champers. By this time I needed it.

Out of 44UC seats 43 were occupied. A total of 368 pax on board and 15 crew, so I think they were 2 down.

Push back was only 15 mins late which I thought was quite good considering the late check in.
This was more like the UC I remember, seat reclined for take off and feet up[y].

V-Port was fired up after about 30 mins so having never watched Casino Royale opted for that as my first choice. Drinks were prompty offered and settled back to enjoy. After about 20 mins in v-port crashed. A quick PA apologising for this and they hoped it would be back soon. Another PA quickly followed saying that they we need to reboot the system but this would take 2 hrs[:0]Hmm,

Another drinks round followed and lunch orders taken. I opted for the Potato and Cheese soup and Mrs F the hot smoked salmon. Main courses were Cumberland sausage and Mash, Chicken Tikka Masala or Cottage pie. As a curry monster I opted fpr the tikka masala, Mrs F, the sausage and mash. Little D had a kids meal with lots of E additives and an orange drink that brought him out in a rash.

I passed on the deserts opting for the wine course several times over.

The FSM came around with the premium economy ammenity pack apologising that as thay had 43 in UC as oposed to the normal 14, they decided to give everyone the PE pack [?] Still it was the new PE pack[:w]

As v-port was still knackered we slipped little D into 6K for a sleep only after asking the gentleman in 6a if this was ok with him. No worries as he quickly got up and spent most of the flight at the bar as not to disturb the wee one. I later found out after a couple of drinks at the bar with him that he was a regular on this flight and he was on his way home to Trinidad. Top bloke.

Now with v-port still knackered after 5 hrs, boredom was setting in and to make matters worse little D decided enough sleep was had and wanted to play. I knew my comments about a certain dad on a previous TR would come back to haunt me and sure enough I was Thomas the Tank on this flight. Now I know all about CAT etc,etc but when you have to play, you have to play. 26 trips up and down a 747 is also good exercise.The majority of pax in our front cabin were in a good mood so Daniels antics did not really bother them. This got me thinking though that if there should have been only 14 in UC that meant 29 had been op upped. No wonder they were happy.
V-Port was finally swithced on 6hrs and 43 minutes after it crashed which meant that you could not watch any film in full as you would miss the end.
Approach into TAB was smooth and after a nice landing it was a short taxi back to the terminal. PE were first off[:?]
As for the immigration in TAB lets just say we eventually got let in to the country with the promise we could collect Mrs F's passport in a few days after they issued the visa.

Sorry for the long TR, the return one will be shorter, I promise

Iain

[Decker]

Hey don't cut it we love it

That does seem like one heck of a lot of opups = more opups than paid which somewhat devalues paying. and PE amenity kits for all not just op ups? Sheesh

Look forward to the return!

Jeez, I can imagine the $$$$ you spent on the hol Iain and the UC experience to kick it off sounds sounds FAR from good.

Glad wee D had a good time - at least it kept you off the bevvy!!!

Regards

John

[buns]

Thanks for a very enjoyable read[y][y]

You certainly had your fair share of scares before boarding[V]

One thing that did strike me was notwithstanding the change of aircraft (BTW Mrs Buns & I were on Cosmic girl the next day coming back from MCO) was how come you & Mrs F were separated[?]

Hopefully, your next visit to the Clubhouse will not be bereft of suitable beverages[}:)]

Thanks once again

buns

[HighFlyer]

Iain, i am stunned, what can I say?

The Visa fiasco for Mrs F must have had you all so worried, but to top that off with incompetence after incomptence is just unbelieveable. Not letting a J pasenger with a child board before PE? What were they thinking? Then having the audacity to op-up so many passengers? (and give you all PE amenity kits!) Why on earth did all those passengers get moved as there are indeed only 14 seats in UC on the LGW fleet!

I am really dissapointed that the flight turned out this way for you, i just hope that you will all have a wonderful time in Tobago and a much better return trip.

Thanks,
Sarah

[RichardMannion]

Hi Iain,

I thought our flight to NRT was a disgrace, but this looks like it is even worse. You have more control than I do, as I would have gone absolute nuts. Totally inexcusable by the LGW ground staff, no prizes for guessing that it is outsourced.

If it is okay with you, I will be forwarding this topic link to the person that looks after the ground operations for an investigation as it cannot go untouched. Did anyone take any notice of your issues?

Thanks,
Richard

It's interesting to hear the bar was used on this flight, but on buns recent flight in a lhr plane from lgw, it had been closed.

David

Great TR....I was looking forward to reading great things about a route that isnt too often on the TR boards here- sadly that wasnt the case.

I do worry how many first time UC flyers have a bad experience and as a result then avoid flying VS (the same can be said throughout W + Y also).

Chuck- I was wondering simular things. How can it be that other carriers operate simular AVOD systems with no problems. Granted the AVOD offered by the likes of FCA and DL with its touch screen is no where near as good as V:Port but how exactly is it that other carriers dont have such problems? Ek had teething problems with their ICE system that has stoped but VS still has problems. V:Port problems were acceptable when it was first brought out but now its just getting silly. Can anyone shed anylight?

[Pete]

After reading the report, I am a little confused as to why the original J passengers weren't allowed to keep their original seat assignments in the A section, and then all of the op-ups could use the B section and upper deck - a bit like the back of the Upper Class cabin they used to use as premium on the MAN routes (you got the PE service - meal, etc - in a bigger seat). The PE passengers who got to sit in a Suite would have still no-doubt been delighted, and the J passengers could have had more attention from the crew along with less dilution of their product.

Pete

Originally posted by pixuk
I am a little confused as to why the original J passengers weren't allowed to keep their original seat assignments in the A section, and then all of the op-ups could use the B section and upper deck

It seems that when there is an aircraft config change, the computer automatically plays musical chairs with any existing seat assignments, and reseats the entire aircraft.

Bad news that there's been another ropey TR in such a short space of time. It sounds like VS really need to get a hold of these sorts of problems. Sure, they got you here, but when you choose VS, especially in W or J, you're buying more than just the A-B bit of the journey.

Mike

[Pete]

Well, even if the computer resets everyone's pre-allocated assignments, it wouldn't have automatically put PE customers in Upper - that would have had to been an active decision to upgrade certain customers. All it would have taken is a quick-witted dispatcher to keep the original J passengers in the A section and inform the flight crew appropriately.

Whilst Smile High has confirmed the crew don't know who is a W and who is a J, could not a manifest have been provided in this instance to ensure that J pax got the best possible service? The ground staff could have been more pro-active in this regard.

Iain, you do come across as very calm and rational for someone who has not experienced anything like value for money! Thanks for the report, and thanks also to Smile High for the useful insights.

My uncle experienced a 7 hour delay recently on VS043 (LGW-LAS). Plane went tech and a 747 was brought over from LHR. He was told 60 Y pax were bumped off (which must have cost VS a tidy sum). He was op-upped to UC from PE and then experienced a rather unpleasant episode onboard where a young boy (also upgraded from PE) re-presented his lunch in a violent fashion.

[Scrooge]

I am sorry to hear of all the problems on this flight Iian, though I know you are enjoying yourself in the sun now, so put it behind you, scream at the FC when you get 'home' and enjoy your trip.

As Richard & others have said, if a LHR aircraft operates a LGW route, it has to be a complete no-brainer to keep the 14 J pax in their existing seats and ensure that they get the complete 'UC experience' they paid for, even though the bar is obviously missing (so the Crew make it clear that 'you want a drink, push the call button and we WILL be right there').

Once you're behind the curtain of the A zone, give pax the service / meal they paid for, but in a different seat in some cases. I would be surprised if catering is a problem on an substituted aircraft flight - as the meals will have been ordered in advance (12hrs+ ?) and I bet the aircraft substitute often happens at shorter notice than that. So in theory, the meals loaded on board should match the original numbers of pax in each class (+ obvious extras, I hope, for J & W to try and ensure first choice of meal wherever possible).

Thanks
James

Originally posted by iforres1

The FSM came around with the premium economy ammenity pack apologising that as thay had 43 in UC as oposed to the normal 14, they decided to give everyone the PE pack [?] Still it was the new PE pack[:w]

Of all the insults you endured on this treacherous conveyance, here, sir, is the worst.

You know, I'm sorry to say this, but I put down $5000 for my friend to fly UCS this summer (to say nothing of $5000 for my own ticket) and I am seriously worried it's going to be a disaster. Seriously. If I had to do it all again, I might damn well have booked BA from SEA-LHR.

But fingers crossed, the whole thing won't come unglued as badly as the recent TRs I have read here.

GJ

[HighFlyer]

SmileHigh - Thanks for your comments, and i do understand and appreciate the points you have raised. True, this flight was problematic from the start for Iain and his family with a change of aircraft, but i'd like to think that this could have been handled a lot better. Any Upper Class passenger paying for a Z fare or higher would have been seriously dissapointed with what happened. The optimistic amongst us could look at the situation and say 'Well, at least i got to Tobago', but i dont buy Upper fares to be optimistic, i'm paying for a certain level of service, and to not deliver that to those passengers, and to further devalue the experience was just simply bad PR. I sincerely hope that all the passengers would be recompensated to in some way, as if this were my first J flight with VS it would certainly have been my last.

Thanks,
Sarah

[honey lamb]

Originally posted by David
It's interesting to hear the bar was used on this flight, but on buns recent flight in a lhr plane from lgw, it had been closed.

David

Erm, David, buns' flight was to LGW not from, although I'm still not sure why the bar was closed

Thanks everyone for all your comments especially Smile High for the background on some of the ops info.

I must admit the new visa requirement did worry me for a bit, but I knew if we got let on the plane we should be ok on arrival in TAB. The security lady and check in agent was very helpful in this matter so I have no complaints on this as it was not there fault.

Boarding was again not the norm, but we were told that because of the a/c change it would take longer for the U/C cabin to be prepared, this was after waiting the 15 mins.

The crew were very good and if they were junior cabin staff in U/C they did very well and I'm sure most of the upgrades would not see a difference. It's only when you know what the service can be do you compare, but it was not bad at all. Sleep siuts were not offered but then again I did not ask for one. The FSM did introduce herself and we had an interesting chat at the bar later on as she was filing out numerous reports on the problems with the flight.
As mentioned there was no IFBT as this was a LGW flight so no expectations there.

V-Port was a major disappointment but again the crew did keep us informed and the FSM was even in communication with ops to see if they could fix it from below. I did not mention that they did show 2 Z list films on 2 channels that they had on tape throughout the cabins, which may have pacified the boredom for some, but it was no Lazy Town [;)]

As for the amenity kits, judging by the one we got on the return trip we did not miss anything.

Iain

Originally posted by honey lamb

Originally posted by David
It's interesting to hear the bar was used on this flight, but on buns recent flight in a lhr plane from lgw, it had been closed.

David

Erm, David, buns' flight was to LGW not from, although I'm still not sure why the bar was closed

[:I] Ok maybe hadn't made myself clear [:I]- buns was on an lhr configured plane which was used for lgw flight and the bar had been closed due the fact that most of the passengers in u/c had been upgraded from p/e

sorry for any confussion.

Now if the bar would have been closed on this flight there would have been serious trouble[:D]

Iain

[ChuckC]

Greetings, Iain:

Always good to see your reports. The story of your pre-flight hassles was not so great to read, however, nor was learning of your problem with V-Port: (Naive-looking hat on) Can it really be that such a super costly piece of hardware and software works so poorly? Perhaps someone with VS can share the steps being taken to ensure V-Port's improved reliability. Thankfully the crew was doing a good job.

The point made by HighFlyer deserves repetition: at the prices charged for UC, pax need not be 'optimistic' about the chances for a great flying experience.

Look forward to seeing you and the family at the upcoming Riverboat Social, Iain.

Regards,
Chuck-

Totally agree with Highflyer & Slinky, 14 people on that flight paid well in excess of £1200 for their UC ticket whilst the remaining 29 that were upgraded (admittedly through no fault of there own)paid around £800. Surly VS could make a good will gesture to these passengers.

Iain I noticed that you were offered the UC menu but was it the same for the whole cabin? The original aircraft would have only had catering for 14 UC passengers and I was wondering with the change of plane were they able to offer the UC menu for all 43 people?

-Steve

[HighFlyer]

Good point Steve! What did happen with the meals Iain?

Fair enough that the upgraded pax would have a suite, but they should only have had a change of seat. The class appropriate meals and amenity kits should still have been given out. I know this is more work for the crew, but given the unusual situation i think this was a case where all hands should have been on deck to appease the UC passengers - not devalue them.

Thanks,
Sarah

Originally posted by pixuk
After reading the report, I am a little confused as to why the original J passengers weren't allowed to keep their original seat assignments in the A section, and then all of the op-ups could use the B section and upper deck - a bit like the back of the Upper Class cabin they used to use as premium on the MAN routes (you got the PE service - meal, etc - in a bigger seat). The PE passengers who got to sit in a Suite would have still no-doubt been delighted, and the J passengers could have had more attention from the crew along with less dilution of their product.

Pete

Yeah, how simple would that have been? Sounds like a lot of carry on could have been avoided with a tiny bit more thought (not suggesting your thoughts are tiny Pete!!)

Regards

John