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#259283 by McMaddog
21 May 2009, 17:51
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The return from Bay to Breakers ...

The traffic was completely clear and we reached SFO around 1pm - 3hr30 before departure. Checkin looked pretty quiet and headed over to UC - only a single family group in front of us. Well, their checkin took forever, phonecalls being made here and there, assistant going off and checking things elsewhere. All the time the next desk (displaying PE/Upper) happily avoided glancing in our direction and instead cleared the PE queue and moved on to Econ PAX [n]. Being our first time at SFO she explained where the clubhouse is - I have to say my eyes glazed over about halfway through. Why not say 'go to the left of security and follow the signs'!

[img]http://s3kr4q.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pKKpc7E_2vxQcWN4VxkjWi6BXMfyw9fS9U4Hhb3XP_tJ63aIa84bUeJTbz92pHdRkPhpFM8sG_g6gJnvdl06Qug/IMG_2664.jpg[/img]
Nice pic of mum and the SFO clubhouse

Faith in VS was restored by the greeting of Claire. Now I understand why you all rave about her. Found a nice sofa and demolished a couple of Bombay Breezes and a bowl of Broccoli Soup. I'm not sure I've ever seen a menu that was almost entirely veggie like the SFO clubhouse before - I'm guessing it's the preference of the chef - weird.

[img]http://s3kr4q.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pXjWzGhdhUIdJYeetFZISQMzDOjvUvqOdcWBKzouxRMdx5-1A5czMZ58_MB5bZXPIufKgpMbdBIBBywgauqOHXA/IMG_2662.jpg[/img]

Security was painless, pleasant and had humour - weird again! Borading was a little chaotic with what seems like a departure lounge too small for a 747 but anyway we were soon on board and upstairs and into our seats.

[img]http://s3kr4q.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pMSjHoXgKU0R8nBZy_tK11mG2geZdyE-cA6gGUGWPDCrV11CBL_EGO-tmhMeje47A1KXRo2kKojZqqPlao9adYMmg7fIisH3J/IMG_2667.jpg[/img]

I don't know what it is but in UC time seems to fly and it was time to push back and watch the safety vid. The CC here were top notch and I certainly didn't notice them being down one. Only saw the FSM briefly during the bread service. We both went for the beef - the meal was pretty good although the beef was perhaps a little dry for our liking.
Image

After that I went to bed and snoozed off and on through the flight. I remember it was a rough flight and I was impressed with the captain for not having an itchy trigger finger on the seatbelt sign. I decided to skip brekkie in favour of Revivals and the lights were on about 35 mins before landing. It was clear that we had a problem at this point - mum had lost an earing in the seat! The CC were great and tried their best but couldn't locate it.

We landed around 20mins early, left the runway and stopped. After about 10 mins the captain apologised and said another ac was occupying our stand. 5 mins later we moved about 200 yards and stopped again for another 10mins. He apologised again stating that it was a Heathrow and not VS issue. While waiting the CC got up and handed coats from the lockers - they also said they called an engineer for the earing. Eventually we were on stand. Almost as soon as PAX headed down the stairs up popped an engineer who took the seat apart and within a minute the errant earing was found [y] In fact it was so quick Y PAX were still departing as we came down the stairs!

The usual long walk to immigration heralded a pretty busy EU area - thankfully they doubled the desks and we were through quickly. Heading down to the baggage hall - I looked at the screens ... where was our flight? Heading down the hall I came across a whiteboard with flight details written on it! [:?] It said something like 'ignore the screens they're not working'.

With the luggage already on the belt we were quickly into Revivals where mum secured a manicure whilst I secured a cooked breakfast [}:)].

All in all an excellent journey - very poor checkin aside.

EDIT - added a few pics
#715710 by Guest
21 May 2009, 18:07
Thanks for the TR.

I didnt recognise you (but dont think we met a Bay to Breakers for some reason) but seems we were on the same flight judging by your TR - similar experience to you are checkin but certainly noticed crew down in A zone.

Regards,

Hackneyguy
#715725 by Tinkerbelle
21 May 2009, 20:15
quote:Originally posted by McMaddog


Faith in VS was restored by the greeting of Claire. Now I understand why you all rave about her. Found a nice sofa and demolished a couple of Bombay Breezes and a bowl of Broccoli Soup. I'm not sure I've ever seen a menu that was almost entirely veggie like the SFO clubhouse before - I'm guessing it's the preference of the chef - weird.



I personally loved the SFO Clubhouse menu! [:D][^][:w]
#715778 by Alex V
22 May 2009, 11:46
Thanks for your TR

cheers

alex
#715804 by McMaddog
22 May 2009, 16:45
On board the UC menu is as follows:
Starters
-Seasonal leaf salad with grilled shrimp
-Corn Chowder soup (v)

Main courses
-Flat iron beef fillet
-Salmon shank
-Roasted vegetable pasty (v)

Deserts
-Peach crisp with creme anglaise (peach crumble 'n' custard)
-Dark chocolate and banana cheesecake

One other thing I forgot to mention in my report was the iMap didn't work all flight - a missed opportunity as VPort wasn't turned off for landing - the passenger opposite happily watching her movie right to the gate [:D]

quote:Originally posted by Tinkerbelle
I personally loved the SFO Clubhouse menu! [:D][^][:w]


For those that are interested the clubhouse menu is as follows:
Lighter Bites
-Broccoli soup (v)
-Baby spinach salad (v)
-Strawberry Salad (v)

Bigger Bites
-Black bean and goat's chees quesadillas (v)
-Fettunccini pasta and artichokes in almond cream sauce (v)
-Pan-seared tilapia
#715808 by Tinkerbelle
22 May 2009, 16:53
quote:Originally posted by McMaddog

For those that are interested the clubhouse menu is as follows:
Lighter Bites
-Broccoli soup (v)
-Baby spinach salad (v)
-Strawberry Salad (v)



The strawberry salad was amazing! [8D]
#715826 by n/a
22 May 2009, 21:45
quote:Originally posted by Tinkerbelle


The strawberry salad was amazing! [8D]


Strawberry salads forever!

GJ
#715827 by buns
22 May 2009, 21:47
I travelled back the day before and my check in experience was close, but not quite the same as yours in that there was a family hogging the solitary UC Check in Desk open but at least I was summoned over by the PE Agent.

Unfortunately the infamous Claire was not in the Clubhouse[:#]

Thanks for sharing

buns
#715864 by HighFlyer
23 May 2009, 08:10
Glad you had a great flight home and that Claire looked after you!

Thanks,
Sarah
#715961 by ukcobra
25 May 2009, 00:08
Thanks for the TR. I found the new menu in the Clubhouse at SFO underwhelming. The Checkin issue I also noticed as well, I trust they will fix that soon.

Mark
#715973 by DMetters-Bone
25 May 2009, 13:27
Thanks for the TR and photos. Shame about check in, but glad VS on board were as they should be.

Dominic
#716038 by DarkAuror
26 May 2009, 10:07
Thank you for the photos and TR!
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