This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Completed the online check in on 8th October & was pleased to see we were still allocated 8A & 8K.
Left for Gatwick at 6.15am the following morning, only to get caught in the traffic jams due to the bad accident on the M25 which resulted in a nice scenic detour around Crawley. Finally arrived at 7.45am, so an extremely long start to the day, when it would normally only take around 30 minutes.
Upper Class check in was a breeze & issued with our Clubhouse invitations - no queues & all baggage checked in within 5 minutes[:D]
Used the Fast Track line to get through security, although this did take 15 minutes. However, seeing the lines my family had to wait in, made me appreciate this service & in no time at all, we were through to Departures & on our way to the Clubhouse.
The Clubhouse at Gatwick is fantastic & it was so quiet. There were approximately 30 people using it that morning, & a few of the passengers were travelling in Premium Economy. It felt very spacious & the staff were very attentive. We had a few cocktails (mimosas) & some champagne, then ordered some breakfast. I opted for the toast (too excited to eat much) & my other half opted for the Full English, which he said was delicious.
We were informed that our treatment times had been pushed back as the flight was delayed by an hour. This wasn't a problem, as we both had a chance to relax & read until we were called.
I had the sensational facial & Paul had the sensational shave. Both of our treatments were fantastic & the staff were lovely.
All too soon our flight was called & then came the fun part at the gate. Arrived to find a massive queue of people still waiting to board & no priority boarding in effect whatsoever[V]
Found my parents & aunt in the queue & went to join them. As we were waiting on the gangway, my aunt asked a purser why there was no priority boarding for Upper & his reply was to snatch our boarding passes out of our hands & bark 'Well, you could always come with me I suppose'
As were walking down to board, some other passengers asked if we were flying Upper, to which I replied,'Yes, follow the tall ginger haired person in front of me'. What all of us were unprepared for, was the amount of rather nasty comments from passengers waiting to board, such as 'Some people have more money than sense' & 'Who do they think they are?'
Once onboard, settled in to our seats quickly & I asked the senior crew member if she could store my wedding dress box somewhere for me. We enjoyed a glass of champagne & then read through our seat instructions for later on. Smooth take-off, although it did seem rather noisy compared to Premium Economy where we have sat before.
The Amenity Kit was quite basic - the usual socks, earplugs, toothbrush etc, although we were offered extras from a basket if needed.
Food orders were taken quickly & so settled back to read. We both had the smoked haddock pate which was delicious & Paul had the chicken, which he thoroughly enjoyed. I had to make do with the vegetable stew as they had run out of chicken, but this was rather nice too, to my surprise (not sure about adding hazelnuts though?)
We both declined on dessert as we wanted to save room for our ice cream - mmm, toffee.
More drinks orders were taken through the flight & then the FSM came round & spoke to everyone in the cabin. She explained that the flight was completely full, as there had been a cancelled Continental flight from East Midlands & everyone had been placed on this one. She even added that some passengers were having to use crew jump seats[:0]
Afternoon tea was served, although we were too full to eat the scones & cakes & the sandwiches did feel slightly frozen in the middle.
Before we knew it, we were starting our descent into Orlando. No priority disembarking for Upper Or Premium, but we didn't care as it was nice & warm[:D]
Immigration was quick, took about 25 minutes & then on to collect our bags which were already waiting for us!
A big thank you to all the fab crew for making our first Upper flight memorable & we can't wait to fly this route in Upper again[:D]
A short limo ride later & then we arrived at the Renaissance Orlando Resort for our 2 week stay & wedding, no thanks to Virgin Holidays (that's a different matter altogether[V])
If you've made it to the end of this, thank you & I'm sorry if I've bored you! I'll post the return trip report later this week.
Ang
