Transport to the airport
Decided to finally use my free Gatwick express upgrade so got the district line from Ealing Broadway to Victoria (typical tube journey, nothing amazing!!) then settled into the relevant comfort of the Express. Its actually a very good and easy service making the journey into the airport very relaxing!
Check In & Security
Check in seemed very quiet with 2 upper desk open and 1 free. I checked in with the same girl who checked me in last time who was very efficient if slightly non communicative (grumpy in my words
). Fast track security was a doddle and I was from train to lounge in a very similar time to Heathrow.Lounge
I always enjoy the Gatwick lounge for its personal feel and it didnt disappoint this time, although the cloak of invisibility was on for a few minutes when I sat down, I would have presumed common practice would be to immediately welcome someone as the walked in and sat down but this seems to difficult to most lounge staff (Ive had this at Heathrow many times!!). Within 5 minutes someone was offering to shine my shoes and left me a horrific pair of slippers to bumble around in (these looked suspiciously like the BA First slippers) and my massage was called shortly after.
Boarding
Oh the joy of leaving the relaxed haven that is the clubhouse to wander of into the carnage that is Chavwick south terminal.. I walked as quickly as I could to the gate which only took 5 minutes and was amazed to see an upper class priority line, and was then equally un-amazed to see it full of what were clearly not all upper class passengers,. Having clarified with one of those queuing that it was indeed economy passengers I wandered up to the front of the line (tutting ensures of course..), the ground crew lady clocked my boarding card immediately and said in a comically loud voice Excuse me, could you all just move back while I deal with this upper class passenger absolutely hilarious!! Navigated my way through the mayhem at the gate and straight onboard.
Flight
Flight was superb, very good crew (I mentioned this to the FSM who seemed very interested to know why I thought they were good and what had made less enjoyable flights so bad recently.). Food was actually very good which is always a surprise on VS
I had invested in a emcor adapter for my mac book so settled in and watched films all the way. One thing that would have been good to see would be duel airbridges that I had at San Fran last year I know its not much but I find it just eases the stress of rushing off the plane!Got to the US and was first into an empty immigration hall and into the sun!!! All in all a great flight and crew and looking forward to my first airbus flight back form Miami
