This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
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Cabin Crew
The no. 1 and I had met in LA - he travelling from London, me from Delhi. As it happened I arrived into LAX about three hours before him to be met by the welcome greeter from the Peninsula and a lovely Mercedes S Class to whisk me through LA to the peace and quiet and luxury that is the Peninsula Hotel on Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills.
We really do love this hotel, visiting it once or twice a year, in the same jnr suite, fantastic service and the monogrammed pillow cases every time. Time for a shower and a freshen up after the very long journey from Agra and no. 1 arrived duly on time - his first experience of the new CDC ramp and security wing proclaiming it fantastic.
After five days we went on to Palm Springs and ten days of lazing around by the pool under crystal clear, blue skies - and hot too reaching 112F on our last day [:0].
So to the return - we had planned to rent an Audi A4 Cabriolet, however Hertz offered us a new hard top convertible Volvo S70 instead - 2.5l turbocharged to boot so we accepted that ... thing is it was far to hot in Palm Springs to put the roof down other than at night, and what is the point of that when no one can see you [}:)]. We loaded up at 12 noon, aiming for a comfortable drive and no time hassle, before dropping the car at Hertz and checking in. As usual, our two suitcases outbound had morphed into four on the return [:I] so a bit of jiggery pokery to get all the bags in the car then we headed off up I110 to LA - a really smooth drive and two hours later we arrived, dropped off the car and with some panting and puffing got the bags onto the Hertz bus to reach terminal chaos at LAX - an Alamo courtesy bus had 'burst into flames' we were told on the upper ramp so all arriving and departing passengers were using the lower ramp ... oh well, more huffing and puffing and we found a trolley, manouvred through the crowds, waited ages for an empty lift up to the departures level and into the pokey little corner that is the Virgin check in area.
Speedily checked in, more huffing of bags to be tagged and back on the trolley to the scanner then finally free of them. The check in staff were rather disinterested however, so a mark down here [V]. All very irritating really, as we were driving into LA we had determined, for the first time ever, to use porters to help with the bags - but with the Alamo bus fire there were none to be seen.
For once in my life, the security in LAX T2 was quiet and fast - we were through in minutes! I had been girding myself for the experience (frequently busy, hot, crowded etc. and reminded myself to take a pee before heading up the stairs) but what a joy and so we headed to the ANZ lounge with plenty of time to spare.
I've read some comments about how the ANZ lounge is a bit spartan and dull, not for me, I really like the design and layout, the choice of NZ wines, the view over the northerly runways and the facilities (plenty of PCs, showers etc.). We found a space in the far corner by the windows and settled in for a couple of hours - nicely aided by refreshments and snacks (soup and salad, meats and cheeses mostly for those not familiar). The lounge was fairly busy with folk from NZ1 resting on their stop from Auckland to London, but cleared out as that departed and slowly half filled again with a motley assortment of VS customers. Isn't Upper Class popular with men of a certain age and a certain per cent of hair loss nowadays [:p]!!! Thankfully no tantrumic super models, nor Z list stars though!
A little after 5 pm a boarding announcement was made - now I know VS like an on time departure but I find this (similarly in the Clubhouse at LHR) to be just a little bit too early, so we hung back and left for the short walk to gate 23A at 5.30 pm and joined the tail end of the Y passengers boarding. Upper Class was full, so was PE and Y pretty full - I'm glad to see a busy flight after seeing so many lighter loads this year. We were in 4K and 5K and one surprise was the number of VS virgins onboard, for a fair few people it was their first time in UC and 'seat training' was required. Second surprise was to see some familiar crew - and what a superb crew they were too! Our UC section was being looked after by Jo (permission to use granted) who I recognised from previous flights, our FSM who I will call 'R' was visible, wonderful and obviously led by example. Jo kept us 'filled' and entertained and is just great - a commendation already sent in to VS customer services.
Take off pretty much on time, the jet stream not very friendly so a very northerly route from California, upto Oregon then across Canada and over Greenland and Iceland before the hitting northern UK, and a flight time of a little over 10 hours. Sorry - I simply didn't look to register the aircraft.
After the confines of the new Cathay Pacfic business class 'suite' the 346 UCS was a welcome space, the suite itself was mostly OK but had a few loose panels, my table didn't seem to go back as far as I recalled - I was sure I used to be able to step out without climbing out??? I watched St Trinians - he watched Charlie Wilson War and we both even enjoyed the food - still not great mind, but a new menu (sorry I forgot to nab it to let you know) but mine was a very acceptable salad with Ahi tuna (though why served in a soup bowl and not on a plate I do not know), then chicken (overcooked but edible) and then a vvv tasty cheesecake (compeletely undietelicious!).
Unfortunately I had some work to do ... so iPod on I got down to that for a couple of hours. The no. 1 had disappeared to the bar which is where I headed when, spreadsheet complete and laptop put away I could relax. This turned out to be a BIG mistake ... I think we left the bar somewhere close to Iceland [:w] - problem was, there were such fun and entertaining people to talk too - and this is just about the no. 1 reason I prefer to fly on VS. We had a hoot, were asked to be quiet far to many times (sorry [ii]) and drank way to much. Now, to the only downside of the flight, champers ran out again after a few hours - whyohwhyohwhy does this happen all the time, come on VS stop being such cheapskates!!!
May be it was the end of holiday mood, maybe it was just a very good VS flight, but this was one of the best of recent times so to R and Jo , thank you all.
There's a plane at JFK, to fly you back from far away
all those dark and frantic transatlantic miles
all those dark and frantic transatlantic miles
