This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
There was a rather long line at Y check-in, as only one or two agents were handling the queue so early on.
There were no upgrades going online the previous day, and from a sneaked glance at the paperwork at check-in (yes, I'm a bad person, and probably hated by airline staff the world over), there wasn't any chance of an op-up either... open seats in Y, W and J. So I asked if there was any chance of a mileage upgrade. Initially, the agent said 'You're ticket isn't upgradeable', and I pointed out 'Are you sure, it's an 'S' and should be'. 'Oh yes, right. It's lots of miles, are you sure?'. I'm thinking it's 20k miles and I have them, so just do the damned upgrade, but I gritted my teeth and said 'Yes, it's 20k miles, I have 100-odd thousand in the bank'.
So, she confirmed there were upgrades, and while I offered to go and sort it out in the Clubhouse, the agent insisted on doing it at check-in. I don't know, had I embarrassed her into doing it herself? Fortunately, there was no line behind me, so I wasn't holding anyone up.
There then followed a farrago of paperwork, treks up and down to the ticket desk, and a phonecall to check if I have the miles available - remember, I'd usually upgrade the day before with miles, if there was availability. Just seemed very complex, compared to other airlines where they can just do it all quickly and electronically. I always hold up UA as a beacon for having smart IT systems to help the airport staff do things like rebooking, upgrades, waitlisting, etc., all in a matter of seconds.
It seems the outsourced downline stations can't handle curved balls all that well! The great service that we used to get at places like SFO just can't be had anymore and I think VS totally shot themselves in the feet with that decision.
This was even indicated at the Clubhouse. It's just not what it once was. The service was less than great, they just can't seem to hang on to the waitstaff these days, and there were only two waiters for the whole lounge, one of which seemed new and fantastically slow, though he seemed to make up for it by keeping me regularly topped up with bowls of crisps.
Fortunately, the main I had (a tilapia fillet with spinach) was tasty, if a bit nouvelle-looking (i.e. fantastically small).
T-Mobile have helpfully changed the user interface so that you can't even sign up for a day pass using a credit card without a ZIP code. I guess it never occurred to some chimp in T-Mobile that there might be non-Americans in an International airport. When I asked the agent on the front desk if there was somewhere I could buy a 'scratchcard'-type day pass with cash in the airport, it was answered with a shrug - an apologetic shrug, but a shrug nonetheless. This person didn't even make an effort to find out.
It culminated in what I can only describe as being 'shooed out' of the Clubhouse before 1600, for the new 1700 departure time. A waiter 'offered' to clear away a half-finished drink! It's almost like VS have changed the departure time without telling the Clubhouse staff that they will work an extra half-hour too. I asked if the new policy was to kick pax out an hour before departure time now. Again, this was met with a shrug. That's just so not Virgin.
Security was very speedy, with no lines at all, however, the aircraft was down on A9, which is one of the furthest gates. As I got there, boarding was only just starting, and I was one of the last people to leave the Clubhouse (and I had deliberately held back, even dragging out the drink I had..), so I'll assume that other UC pax had ended up waiting around the gate area, which is not the product we're sold.
Getting there just as boarding was beginning was a good move, as I literally walked straight up, as the boarding scrum hadn't had time to form. SFO was doing it's usual thing with dual bridges, boarding through L1 and L2, however, there was no sign, and no agent directing people onto the correct door, so this meant a large Y scrum heading down toward L1!
SFO just isn't the station it used to be. Standards are clearly slipping, first the predictably unreliable priority baggage handling last year, among other things, so I can only wonder if the rot has set in, and it's just all too late now.
Things started looking up though, the moment I boarded trusty G-VROC, the same ship that had brought me here only 11 days previously and settled into 11A. The crew seemed to be on the ball, and ready to go the extra mile. The introduction from the SCC member looking after my side of the nose was really nice, very personal, and set the tone for the whole flight.
The Captain introduced the flight deck crew and passed on details of the flight, such as the 9h23 duration and that we could expect it to get dark about 2 to 3 hours in, and it would get light again before we made landfall. We got a manual safety demonstration, narrated with some gusto by the cheery-sounding FSM!
We pushed a little early, around 1650-ish, and we were holding the BA flight up, as it was taxiing up behind us as we were starting engines! Taxied out to Runway 28R, with BA following us, and wheels up was around 1710 local, with the usual right turn toward Sacremento after crossing the coastline, with lovely views of the Bay Area.
Cocktails were quickly dished out, and refills offered too, with the whole operation seeming fairly slick!
Unfortunately, we got the 'faceless nurse' video played, which is now basically 15 minutes of commercials for the likes of HSBC and Bombay Sapphire, along with the hand-wringing intro from SRB and everyone's favourite faceless nurse talking about the same old crap that we've all seen a gazillion times.
This meant we didn't get v:port until about 45 minutes after wheels up, shortly before 6pm, as we were passing Reno.
There was no IFBT, so the FSM did the rounds with the amenity dish, introducing herself as she went.
Routing took us from Reno toward Boise, ID, and Great Falls, MT, crossing into Canada on track to Swift Current.
Dinner was served about 70-odd minutes after wheels up. Here's the menu:
* Alaska Crab Salad with melba toast and argula
* Roast pumpkin soup
* Sauteed pork tenderloin, with savoyarde potatoes, green beans, and an apple and Calvados cream sauce
* Pan roasted cod fillet, with basmati rice, baby bok choi, and a bouillabaise sauce
* Autumn vegetable pie, served with baby carrots and Chablis sauce
* Warm pecan pie with cinnamon whipped cream
* Dulce de leche ice cream with chocolate sauce and crushed Crunchie pieces
Lighter bites:
* Panko breaded goat cheese with a sun-blushed tomato vinaigrette (an old favourite making a comeback, I think)
* Roast beef sandwich with portobello mushrooms and caramelised onions
* Duck confit roll wrapped in cabbage leaves with a fruit salsa
I opted for goat cheese to begin, cod for main, and pecan pie for afters.
Naturally, we got hit with continuous light (occasionally moderate) turbulence once the dinner service started, and this continued until just after we crossed the Canadian border, and even then, there was the occasional bump and wobble from the 75mph tailwind that was pushing us along.
Given that I've not got to drive at the other end, I did a bit of propping up at the bar and realised that I'd flown with two of the crew only last month - they took me to SFO on the 24th August! Small world.
However, all the frivolity at the bar was broken up by the seatbelt sign as we approached Iqaluit, near the mouth of Hudson Bay, and we bumped across the Hudson Strait and Labrador Sea.
I decided that I wanted to snooze, so flipped the bed over, and had a few hours of fitful sleep, before waking about 1h45 before landing. Our SCC member was there almost straightaway offering breakfast, so I had a bacon roll and cereal. The roll wasn't dried up like it had been on previous occasions, though the bacon was obviously an Americanised attempt at British bacon, and wasn't that great. Somewhere between Canadian bacon and ham. Tasted a bit plasticky, if you see what I mean, and I felt a touch sick afterward.
We had passed over the Southern tip of Greenland and to the south of Iceland overnight, and would just miss Northern Ireland, making landfall near Islay, then heading for the Lake District, Wallasey and toward London.
About 20 minutes before top of descent, the J CSS announced that breakfast drinks and snacks were available at the bar for those who had only just woken, and then it was time to put the cabin away.
No holding at Bovingdon, meant we got to land about 30 minutes early, at 1030, followed by a bit of a tortuous taxi-in to stand 319, but at least we didn't get a remote. IRIS proved it's worth yet again, and it was interesting to see the Immigration officers now in uniform, with blue shirts and epaulettes. We're looking more and more like the US at times, I fear.
Bags started coming out within 15 minutes of the parking time, and priority bag delivery seemed to work okay as there was a stream of W and J bags mixed together, and my bags were in the first 30 or so.
Up to Revivals for a lovely refreshing shower. Nice!
Verdict:
Check-in: Somewhere between Poor and Average. The airport experience at SFO just isn't quite what it used to be, and the ridiculous farrago over getting a mileage upgrade epitomised what's bad about VS (old, complex, paperwork-heavy systems, where staff are hindered by IT, rather than helped).
Seats: Good. Everything worked, but there were pen marks on the leather, the mysterious indellible red marks on the suite wall, and on the sleeping side of the seat, the cushioning seemed to have seen better days - a bit 'collapsible'.
Food and Drink: Fair. Simple and tasty food, but the quality was debateable. The cod seemed to come from a tough cut of the fish, the pecan pie seemed a bit on the cheap side, and I've already mentioned the bacon.
Entertainment: Fair. Didn't really want to watch much. An episode of the Mighty Boosh and a game of trivia was about it, other than watching the world drift by on the skymap.
Cabin Crew: Excellent. A really outstanding crew, led from the front by an 'Alpha FSM', and a great crew member looking after my aisle.
