VS011 LHR-BOS 1 Dec 08 (Upper)

This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

G seats secured in advance and assigned seats kept despite plane change. Unfortunately plane change was back to 340-300 which certainly didn't bode well for video system.

Could see plane out window of CH and it looked weary.

CH check in was wonderful--had been given unfortunately heavy picnic basket full of christmas cake, pudding, brandy sauce, crackers, tea etc. and really didn't want to cart it around aiport. It was put in two VA black carrier bags, taped and sent to hand luggage and arrive unscathed in Boston--which is good news and bad news as yes it's all there and yes we will still have to set some of it on fire and eat it.

Lovely couple of hours in CH--totally recommend collagen eye treatment (booked on site)--and CH made spicy tomato juice (not on eyes).

Flight called but either early or late as spent long wait in jetway with all pax but seats taken, champagne (aaah--such a dif to the truly sad sparkling in PE) and a hold. Flight time 7.5 hours due to strong gulfstream head winds which caused a real groan from all aboard.

The most annoying thing for me in the 340-300 is that it is v difficult to see out the window. I like looking out the window and to see Ireland flash under us (we flew a very nearly straight line from London to Boston)I had to kneel and crane my head. we were encouraged to close our shades for the benefit of video viewers in central aisles but really the view outside was far better than the video screen.

Video system even worse in UC than PE as screen resolution worsened by size but Dec choices improved. However I could not find the one movie I wanted to watch and ended up seeing a documentary filmed in my own town which was not listed in the seatback guide (Young at Heart) until all screens rebooted due to 80% outage. Chose poorly for dinner (not much veg choice)--cheese pudding listed as Stilton but none noticeably apparent and pear crumble which was not very interesting. Had some Aberfeldy single malt at bar and then gave up and slept/read/dozed until arrival.

Bags early off and headed home. Again, grateful for UC beds etc but not a patch on newer fleet for same cost....

cheers,
RR

Thanks for the TR! Great news about the hamper, shame about the IFE.

Thanks for your TR, always nice to spend a few hours in the CH before a flight....[y]

Spicy tomatoe juice on the eyes is actually a very good treatment - just make sure the eyes are closed!

Thanks for the TR. Was on the same flight, and yes, the 45 minute reboot was a pain. On an east coast 340-300 flight, hard to justify UC over PE sometimes. Food not critical - had a very nice lunch in the CH, and was set for dinner with friends in BOS, so did not want much food. Seat not critical - not likely to sleep much. All in all, can be tricky.

I actually spent more time in the CH than on the plane, almost, as BH was flying to SFO. But mostly working. Did not figure to ping you, which is a shame. I've been out and about for a few weeks, and just flat out missed you were on the same flight. Next time ....