This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Here is part II of my Upper Class experience, this is actually a report on the return leg of the second round trip to Chicago I made - and probably the last with VS.
I'm afraid I have to report an even worse experience on my return flight.
The issues I mentioned in the outbound leg were still present (despite writing to customer services immediately after my first outbound journey a month earlier) namely:
- The plane interior was still falling apart (my upper class suite on this occasion looked like a toddler had taken a pen and scrawled all over it such was the extent of the markings)
- Cleanliness on board was still poor in all respects
- The food was still completely sub-standard for a business class flight (see below)
- The business lounge at Chicago was still completely inadequate
My additional issues experienced on this occasion were as follows:
1. Check-in and boarding
The check-in at Chicago was a complete joke. There was one lady serving the upper class line, and the upper class line had 4 passengers queued up when I arrived. Economy had no less than four check-in staff on duty, two of which were doing nothing. No effort was made by anyone to redirect the upper class passengers to the economy desk I eventually left the upper class queue, and went round to the economy queue. The check-in attendant was abrupt and indifferent no sense of the Virgin welcome that I'd received at LHR.
When it came to boarding, it was something of a rugby scrum. There was no priority boarding for Upper Class passengers, and we ended up queuing for quite a while - no sense of a premium experience at any point prior to boarding.
2. In-flight entertainment
In addition to my continued amazement that VS does not provide AVOD on its A340-300 aircraft, on this occasion I was astonished and dismayed to find that the entire system had malfunctioned and that only one film was showing not one I cared to see at that. When I asked the Flight Services Manager, he responded rather abruptly that planes are not delayed for faults with the entertainment system.
Furthermore, it transpired that I was unable to switch off the screen (despite requesting for this to happen), and was forced to endure it flashing throughout the flight!
The icing on the cake came when I tried to plug in my laptop only to find that the laptop power socket was not working. The FSM insisted for a good 10 minutes that the power was working, and seemed to be suggesting that it was my equipment at fault. I was eventually moved to a different seat, where (funnily enough) the socket was working.
3. Food
As noted above, the food was again sub-standard for a business class flight. The steak was chewier than a gobstopper, and full of gristle. The cheese bread was bland and stodgy. The butter provided was something that resembled lard!! I was also dismayed to be told that the Spanish red wine (my favourite) was not in stock for this flight. Overall, unacceptable.
As noted previously, I am very disappointed by the overall quality of the Virgin product. This is a great shame to me, given that there are some very good points also the Clubhouse at Heathrow, and also the crew on board (with the exception of the FSM) were polite, friendly, and clearly trying to create a good impression. However, no amount of friendliness on the part of the crew could compensate for the fact that the underlying product was so poor.
I have been loyal to the Virgin group for some time now (I have a Virgin Atlantic credit card, I shop at Virgin Wine, as well as being a loyal member to Flying Club)
Virgin and BA business class fares are relatively similar (in the region of 3,000 - 3,500) this is a substantial amount of money, but a sum that I necessarily incur on a regular basis due to frequent trips to the US and Canada. Based on the points noted above, am struggling to see why my loyalty should remain with Virgin... rant over, sorry if I've offended anyone!
