This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Me being the nerd that I am, realised just before leaving our holiday cottage that the outbound VS11 would be departing LHR round about that time (just after 10am) so, taking advantage of the cottages wireless internet, was pleased to confirm to the others that our plane was airborne ex LHR at precisely 10:05 and set to arrive at BOS some half hour early at 16:29. So off we all set for a leisurely drive to Plymouth where we would enjoy lunch and then head on to Boston.
Plymouth was OK, but, in IMHO, nothing special. As we approached Boston, given that I wasnt driving, I decided to see how well flightstats.com would work on my Blackberry. Before long I was anorakly relaying to my fellow companions in Jeep #1 that VS11 was well into its descent at 11000 feet and latitude of 42-18-360N & 70-17-240W flying at a speed of 337kts, bearing of 276 degrees and just 32 miles from Boston. You can imagine the response I got following my suggestion to slow down a bit as we might see our plane come in!
Having dropped the Jeeps off at Dollar and bidding goodbye to Jon, Andy & Neil we hopped on the Dollar courtesy bus and were dropped off at Terminal E a few minutes later. First port of call was the VS Ticketing Desk to see if any miles upgrades were on offer.
Whilst we had flown out in UC, at the time of booking this trip last year we didn't have enough miles to stretch to UC for the return, so were booked in PE. A couple of days earlier, and again the previous day Id called Flying Club asking if we could part with 60000 miles to get the three of us moved from PE to UC. On both occasions the answer was an apologetic no (presumably as there were no G class seats available) but told there would be no harm asking on the day at check-in.
We knew from Expertflyer that our flight had plenty of space in UC so, with this in mind, I asked the agent on Ticketing if we could upgrade. Straight away he said this shouldnt be a problem and I explained that the miles required for all three of us to upgrade would stem from my & Steves FC accounts. As he had to make a phone call to arrange everything he suggested we see the security agent while he sorted out our upgrades. This we did, then with fresh red sticker on our passports we returned to the chap at ticketing.
He came off the phone and explained that, under normal circumstances, the miles all needed to stem from a single account (Im sure this isnt the case?) but that he had pulled some strings and arranged a transfer of 30K miles from one account to the other from where the 60K would be debited to fund the upgrades. He smiled and said youre all set but added that the only suites available were in the snooze zone to which we said no problem. Steve & I accepted opposite suites 2A & 3D and Geoff got 4A. With purple edged boarding passes in hand, along with smart Clubhouse invites, we proceeded to security where the queues were horrendous. Thankfully, thanks to the priority channel we were through in around 10 mins.
A few minutes later we were welcomed by a charming lady into the new Boston Clubhouse. It slipped my mind to ask permission to use her name on this TR, what I must say though is that she's a truly extravert character who just loves to show off all that the new Boston CH has to offer and engage in banter & chat! OK this CH is, of course, far smaller than the LHR one but we can honestly say that the overall ambience & quality of product exceeded our expectations. There was a good choice of nooks and crannies in which to base ourselves, in particular we liked the booths down one side. A wide ranging food choice was on offer ranging from Clam Chowder to lobster salad to a lovely cheese choice.and naturally no shortage of champagne! Last time we flew out of Boston there wasnt a dedicated VS CH and we had to put up with the ghastly, dingy, grey, smelly, packed, stifling Northwest Lounge. The thing that really got my back up there was non VS pax making a bee-line for the VS buffet the moment it was put out & polishing it off in minutes! None of that in the lovely new CH, it was cool, calm and most civilised. It never got crowded suppose it cant given that VS dont share it with other airlines.
So after a leisurely couple of hours in the CH the boarding call came at around 19.10, it was also made clear that this was the first of two calls and that the second one would come in 10-15 minutes time. The three of us decided to head out at that point and up we went in the lift to gate level. Exiting the lift we were perfectly funnelled straight into the dedicated priority boarding channel, quite unlike at LHR where we often have to negotiate the gate room masses to get through to priority boarding. After a quick boarding pass & passport check we were being welcomed on to G-VGOA Indian Princess (only clocked this when we disembarked at LHR the following morning)
We turned left and headed down to our suites and spent some time titivating, like we all do prior to a night flight, making sure weve got everything to handbook, water, glasses (for when the contacts come out), passport (for when you want to use a credit card to pay for duty free, lip balm.etc. Quickly gauged that, once again, we had a lovely bubbly crew taking care of us this evening. The FSM came round with Champagne introducing herself and saying welcome back to me & Steve (I guess because were silver as Geoff didnt get this!) and having poured our champagne asked if we wanted our beds converted straight after take-off or fancied supper at the bar whenever we liked later on. Retiring for the night at 8 in the evening didnt tickle our fancy so we said wed probably relax at the bar after takeoff and decide at that point if we fancied supper (not being that hungry after sampling the delicacies of the CH). She was absolutely fine with that and said to simply ask whenever we wanted anything. She quickly returned with the supper menus, as these didnt appear to be out in the snooze zone and also asked if we wanted sleep suits for later to which we said yes please.
We pushed back around 15 minutes late, surprisingly there was no announcement from the flight deck at all prior to take-off, indeed nothing at all until half an hour or so before landing, perhaps this is the norm on east coast evening departures? Once the seat belt signs were off the crew busied themselves converting beds for some passengers in the snooze zone and serving supper at suites to others outside the zone. Geoff was among those who opted to retire for the night and had his suite converted. Between you and us he was suffering a mega hangover from the previous nights last night in Provincetown! Steve & I headed for the bar and got chatting to one of the friendly members of senior cabin crew. We were champagned out from the CH so enjoyed a glass of the Chilean Sauvignon Blanc while perusing the supper menu, heres the whole thing for those of you who enjoy the full picture:-
room service
Nightcap and turndown
If you have already eaten in the Clubhouse, slip into your sieepsuit and let us put you straight to bed with a heavenly good-night treat
Hot chocolate and coconut macaroon Camomile tea with chocolates Single malt whisky and cheese straws
If you fancy a glass of wine or another drink, please choose from our drinks list
Supper
The Express Supper Tray
The fastest supper at 35,000ft
Seasonal leaf salad
with seared ahi tuna, Asian pears, radish and lemon 6 herb vinaigrette O O
All express supper trays are served with fresh fruit and cheese, crackers B toasted bread
or
Hot Supper Trays
Tangerine braised beef short-ribs
with baby bok choy and herb infused basmati rice
Polenta and ratatouille stack
with red pesto and parmesan shavings
All hot supper trays are served with warm bread and Virgin house salad
Something to finish? Vanilla and Swiss almond ice cream with mint & raspberry coulis or cheese plates are available - just ask the cabin crew
Hot and Herbal
Served by the cup or in a mug, it's your choice.
We are delighted to offer FAIRTRADE tea and coffee on board today's flight.
Breakfast
Selection of breakfast cereals Cornflakes, Weetabix, Fruit 'n' Fibre, Special K
Butter croissant with a selection of preserves Marmalade, honey, strawberry & blackcurrant jams
Marbled chocolate pound cake
Oat bran raisin & apple breakfast square
Seasonal fresh fruit with natural yoghurt
Bacon roll
with either tomato ketchup or brown sauce
From the Bar
Grey Goose Vodka, Bacardi 8 year old, Tanqueray No TEN Gin, Martini, Bombay Sapphire Gin, Dewars 12 year old Special Reserve, Aberfeldy 12 year old Single Malt, Jack Daniels, Otard Cognac, Graham's Port, Drambuie, Kahlua and Baileys
Heineken and Stella Artois
Special Guest at the Bar
Virgin Special Bellini
A tribute to Giuseppe Cipriani of Harry's Bar in Venice, our special cocktail today
is the happy union of Prosecco and crushed peaches.
For some inexplicable reason we felt peckish again so placed an order for a selection of supper bits to share, namely seared ahi salad and the braised beef short-ribs, both of which were delicious, the beef in particular was moist and very tender. Although we hadnt asked for it we were also given a well stocked cheese plate and encouraged to enjoy some Port with it, which of course we willingly acceptedbe rude not to!
Through the course of supper at the bar various announcements relating to entertainment system issues were made by the FSM, these had begun with for those of you experiencing problems we are endeavouring to reset your systems ..to we apologise but the only way to cure the problem some of you are suffering is to perform a total system reboot which will affect everyone..to the only way we can offer entertainment is to provide two channels. This of course didnt bother us but I did feel sorry for anyone who was geared up for a night of movie watching.
We were joined by a lady passenger at the bar and got chatting about Boston, Cape Cod and generally putting the world to rights, as one does when you realise half a bottle of Baileys has helped you along the way!
I guess around 3 hours into the flight we retired to our suites which the crew member from the bar had made up at our request a few minutes earlier. Steve chose not to change into sleep suit but I did. We slept on & off until wake up time for breakfast which reckon must have been 1.5 hours or so prior to landing. I had Weetabix, fresh fruit salad & bacon roll, Steve had the same minus Weetabix. I was lazy and ate mine still in bed with the tray balanced at the end of the mattress.
As there was no sky map owing to the VPort issues we actually had no idea what time we were due in to LHR, our uncertainty was put to rest though when the female captain came on confirming an arrival time of 07:35, some 20 mins late. The one complaint we had cabin wise was the uncomfortably hot temperature. It was odd as earlier when wed been at the bar it had been pleasantly cool, not too hot or cold but for whatever reason it was simply too hot trying to sleep.
Anyway, weve rambled enough on this TR so lets draw it to a conclusion. Landing was smooth, we were off quickly and through Immigration in 10 minutesby the way does anyone know how Immigration fast-track works, how do you get to use the special channel? Cases were emerging as we approached the belt and we were in Arrivals by 08:05. Geoff was collected by sister and driven home to Reading while Steves Dad collected us and we were home in West Sussex by 09:20. All in all a great end to the holiday!
Hope this hasnt been to much of a ramble
Thanks
James & Steve
