This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
What follows are selected memories.
Wednesday
Finished work in Manchester at 7.30pm and screeched down to London in two hours 45 minutes, only to take a wrong turn at the Chiswick roundabout. Bugger. Fortunately staying with my mate in Brentford and managed a bit of sleep before being up with the lark and the neighbouring M4.
Thursday
Wanted to make it to Heathrow by 7am to make the most of the Clubhouse but being dropped off so keep mouth shut and hope traffic isn't too bad. Made it by 7.30. Check in nice and smooth no line and straight through. Check in agent especially reassuring as I mentioned I was a nervous flyer and this was my first solo long haul flight.
Up to security, great, no line.. oh who's this ambling into view? Damn, a couple with more hand luggage than thought possible just get in there before me. Can I just say, you don't have to be a Frequent Flyer to know what security checks involve. For goodness sake get the laptop out, be prepared. Valuable minutes being lost in the Clubhouse here.
Finally through, and a quick bolt up the stairs to the CH. Very busy, only a couple of tables free for breakfast. I posted my comments on this before. Overall very good still, and the staff were excellent. Managed a haircut, breakfast, and plenty of time to catch up on emails and have a couple of drinks. Had to ask for the same things a couple of times but that doesn't bother me. Only nitpicking would be about little details: less variety of edible treats around, cocktails a bit flat and drab looking. Nonsense really. As ever, time in the CH was too brief.
Boarding was on time, although there was a lot of confusion at the gate and no obvious priority boarding. I was not the only UC passenger to note this.
Once on board I was made welcome and all the crew were very efficient. Some more friendly than others but that's always the case. As far as I can recall flight departed on time, certainly no noticeable delay.
What followed is a bit of a blur due to extreme tiredness,stress and without doubt, far too much to drink.
Service was very attentive throughout the flight.
Food - average. I opted for the salad and fish. Certainly not Virgin's strong point in my opinion, and even the crew commented that the food in Premium was as good if not better!
I did ask for proof of this when I had positioned myself at the bar and was duly shown a dish but what it was eludes me and it didn't look great.
Rejected the afternoon sandwiches in favour of the pork pie hmm, had better from Costcutter. But anything is better than the dreaded egg sandwich.
IFE at least it worked this time, after two previous flights where it failed. Good variety of music, foot tapped to Morrissey and David Bowie, but could do with more audio comedy I think.
Bar service excellent, maybe a little too good in my case! A highlight of flying in Upper is being able to talk to the crew, and they were very friendly. I always find it interesting to find out who likes flying where best.
Some moments that came back to me:
1. Being shown pictures by a crew member of his partner and how maybe things would work out for me because they had split up but got back together. Clearly I had been rather loose lipped at the bar about my recent split! What on earth had I been telling them???? Well probably everything because that's what happens when you meet strangers on a plane haha.
2. Having a lovely chat with a fellow passenger who was also a big tiki fan. Very helpful tips.
3. Getting up to take something out of the overhead locker and losing my footing, windmilling down the cabin. This was nothing to do with being drunk, I had sobered up and simply lost my balance. To the man that tutted, at least I showed a bit of respect to the crew and didn't moan about everything throughout the journey.
Highlight of the flight:
It's hard to be sure, and I'll probably be corrected about the timing but I reckon approx 4 hours into the flight we were told to look out of the right of the aircraft. Lo and behold a Virgin 747 was flying along beside us! The flight to SFO had departed LHR late but was making time up fast. It came pretty close -enough to alarm the man in the seat next to me, and then disappeared under us only to reappear for a while before zooming ahead. Alas I did not have a camera but a member of the crew did and promised to email me the pix. Still waiting...
I've never seen an airliner so close in the air, and of course the 747 looked beautiful. Even the crew said they had not seen anything like it before.
The time passed very quickly and soon we were descending into LA. My heart swells when I see the Theme Building, even if it is covered in scaffolding. Landed on time, and made it to a gate (several times arriving at LAX we've been bussed to the terminal. The most memorable occasion being escorted by armed police the day of the mid-atlantic bomb plot), straight through immigration for once, and my bag came out almost first, so a happy ending to a smooth and uneventful flight. Hurrah!
I was really looked after by two members of crew on this flight and have sent in Heroes forms. They appreciated that not everyone is a natural flyer, and travelling alone can be quite daunting on a long flight. Happily I lost all trepidation about that and the return journey was a breeze. And yes I did have a lot to drink, but so what, I'm certainly not the only person on here to do that and I'm more likely to pass out than do anything silly (which I did).
I mentioned V Flyers to the crew but no one seemed to know about it on this flight or on return journey.
Return journey to follow.
