This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
I do like SFO. It's one of the better US airports if you ask me, especially the International Terminal, with it's high ceilings and feeling of space.
Check-in wasn't bad - quickly seen by the head-of-line Virgin contracted private security person (who seems to wear a more TSA-looking uniform every trip) - a chap who I recognised from previous trips, and then directed over to the UC desk. It looked like I might have had a bit of a wait, but I was quickly beckoned over to a desk, and enquired about an upgrade.
The check-in person was pleasant enough, but the upgrade process was a rigmarole - phone calls, lots of clackety-clack on keyboards, wandering off to ticketing to process the fuel surcharge on credit card. I still think the US airlines - mostly from my experience on United - set a Gold standard in this area. Heavily automated and all easily processed either by the agent, or even DIY on a check-in terminal!
I only mark check-in down from excellent to good for that reason. The time taken to process a simple seat upgrade seemed disproportionate, but I suppose I shouldn't sniff, I guess I should be happy to get an upgrade, and I was, as I left for the CH with a purple boarding card! [:D]
There was a massive queue at security - probably for the AF, Cathay, and KLM flights, so I was rather glad to be missing that out and heading up to the SFO Clubhouse.
I congratulated Claire on her recent V-Flyer recognition and she told me to 'get online and send her regards to the V-Flyer community' - I followed orders, naturally, but not before having a bit of lunch: a pleasant green salad, followed by the grilled herb chicken. Simple food, washed down with a couple of glasses of Anchor Steam.
Being the geek I am, I listened to the inbound flight via the feeds on liveatc.net, and before long I saw the unmistakable shape of a 747 loom over the San Mateo Bridge, G-VFAB approaching in the breezy conditions - everything at SFO was landing and departing on the 28s (usually, SFO lands on 28s, and departs on a mix of 1s and 28s), because of the stiff westerly breezes.
The Clubhouse got quite busy, I'm guessing as a result of it being somewhat easier for people in the US to earn Gold status on VS via Amex spend - something I still think is a bit out of order. You shouldn't get status without setting foot on a piece of airline metal! Many of those who were in the lounge I didn't see in the Upper Cabin during the flight - though I noticed several in the PE cabin.
Another thing I noticed is that the SFO Clubhouse has had a bit of a refresh, with what looks like new carpet (a slightly different shade of grey, and different weave), and the seating looked brighter, like it had been valeted.
People started drifting off around 3.30pm, and we were called to the gate about 3.50pm. The massive security line had gone down to nothing, and I was through in minutes. It looks like SFO is trialling one of those short-wave body scanner cubicles, but it wasn't in use today. Sadly, when I got to the gate, boarding hadn't started at all, and the sign said that boarding wouldn't start until 4.15pm.
It turns out that TSA inspectors had chosen the Virgin flight for an unannounced spot-check, however it looks like this couldn't have been communicated to the lounge in time to delay the boarding announcement.
So, given that VS boarding cards call pax to the gate quite early anyway (1540), there was a sizeable mass of people milling around, so I chose to stay upstairs and watch proceedings, at least until the queue went down, while getting hard stares from a sour-puss bouncer-looking chap wearing a jacket with 'TSA' on the back of it.
Boarding finally started around 1620, and I waited until the UC/PE/AU queue had gone down before heading down in the lift. Just as I got there, one of the ground handling crew had directed a stream of Y pax over to the priority boarding line, and I was at the wrong end of it! [B)]
Fortunately, the purple boarding card was quickly spotted, and I was frog-marched to the front of the queue by the same ground staff member, and I was onboard through L1 door, welcomed onboard by name by the J CSS, and settled into 22A.
It took (compared with previous experience) a while to be offered a drink, by a male scc who I can only describe as going for the George Michael look - tan, stubble, same haircut.
Despite the late boarding, we still managed to push back around 1645/1650, which wasn't bad at all - we'd boarded a whole 747-400 in about 20 minutes. I think this reinforces my opinion that VS call the majority of pax (Y/W) down to the gates too soon, which in turn increases anxiety and causes a boarding scrum when boarding is delayed.
During the taxi out to runway 28L, the Captain welcomed us onboard and talked to us about routing and flying conditions that evening - in sufficient detail you could have probably flown it yourself - takeoff to the west, cross the shoreline, then a right turn to take us over the Golden Gate Bridge toward Sacramento, Reno, across Idaho toward Great Falls in Montana, cross the Canadian Border into Saskatchewan, with a right turn to pick up a strong (100KT plus) jetstream over Manitoba, across the southern part of Hudson Bay, starting to cross the Atlantic over the Labrador Coast, pass to the South of Greenland (Hi Godthab!), and make landfall in North Western Eire, with a flying time of just over 9 hours.
We were airborne around 5.10pm local time, the 25KT headwind giving us a shortish takeoff roll, getting wheels up around the intersection of the 28s and the 1s, and a strong initial rate of climb.
As soon as service could start, the FSM was very visible in the cabin, distributing amenities, though it took a while before 'George' in our aisle was around to take drink orders - the guy working the other aisle seemed much quicker. The J CSS came and offered our sole serving of bar snacks from a tray, which came long before drinks arrived. When the drink came, the glass was dirty. This is the third or fourth flight in a row that I've been served with dirty glasses, crockery, table linen or silverware. Dinner order was taken with a question of 'What are you having?', which seemed a bit 'direct', when compared to the more usual 'What would you like for dinner?'. I also did my usual thing of saying 'Don't wake me for breakfast if I'm already asleep, but if I am awake, I'll have something'. Remember this, as I'll refer to it later.
I can't help thinking that this style seemed to set the tone for the service as a whole. It felt a tad slow, even with the FSM helping with water, clearing away, etc., during the main meal, etc.
Dinner wasn't too bad. The asian-style chicken salad reminded me of something from the Upper Class menu of days gone by - though the 'crispy wonton strips' weren't too crispy by the time it was served. The baked cod was fairly pleasant, and the beurre blanc was an improvement on the last time, but the green beans had that olive-green shade typical of frozen and overcooked vegetables. Fairly decent cheese plate, didn't have (and didn't get offered) dessert. Sadly, both my wine and water were allowed to go empty during the meal service, I was only given one glass of wine, and not offered a top-up.
It was among the better Virgin J food I've had in a while, though still far from what some of the competition might serve. Couple it with what I can only describe as 'bare minimum' service, and it seemed decidedly 'average', if you ask me.
IFE seemed to work mostly okay, but I think the choice of non-film entertainment (i.e. documentaries and comedy) seemed a bit narrow these days. Even the Inflight Trivia was working on FAB, which I thought was good. Now, just get it working on the rest of the v-port fleet, and I might be happier. Sadly, it couldn't have lasted, and the seat hardware eventually segfaulted and needed a reset. Also, the coiled cable is very short, so with the handset on the left (as it is in the A suites) you have to keep a lot of tension on the cable to hold it in your hands.
The crew also used the messaging function on the IFE system to good effect - using it to bark orders at us to close the window blinds, with recalcitrants like me (who like to look outside) getting a visit from a cabin crew member to reinforce the message. Of course, I didn't comply, and so got to see a lovely show of the Northern Lights somewhere over Manitoba.
The plane generally, including the loos, seemed cleaner than the one on the way out. Of course, the cynic in me thinks that G-VFAB probably got a good deep-clean before working the 25th birthday VS1, reinforcing the 'world smells like fresh paint to dignitaries' theory. There was some sticky marks (probably from a food or drink spill) around the cocktail table though. I also noticed some sort of painted metal fastener added to the leather divider side of the suite, this seemed to be some sort of new addition - presumably added so that the sides don't seperate and expose the wiring inside, as has been described on here.
Couldn't sleep very well, so I ended up self-medicating with a couple of glasses of wine at the bar, and had a chat with the FSM, the crew member working the opposite aisle in J, and one of the other pax. The FSM was a long-serving VS employee and seemed very pleasant and proficient.
Nodded off in my seat with some music on after the seatbelt sign popped on, so converted the seat to a bed and dozed for a bit, but I knew I wasn't going to get any proper sleep as it wouldn't be that long before landing - indeed, it didn't seem long before the lights came up. The people in the row in front opened their blinds and flooded the cabin with light. Where were the crew ordering them to keep the window shades down now for the pax who still wanted to rest? Sheesh!
Remember, I'd originally said to my crew member that I didn't want waking for breakfast?
Well, that also seemed to be equal 'No breakfast if you turn out to be awake' to the crew. I converted my bed back to seat, and sat in my seat reading, with no offer of breakfast forthcoming, and no eye contact from crew members working in the aisles.
Eventually, about 15-20 minutes before top of descent, I wandered up to the bar, as coffee is usually laid out up there for 'late risers', but there seemed to be nothing set up there. So, off to the galley, where I stood around for a minute before interrupting a crew member scarfing down something and asked if I might have a cup of coffee before we start down, as I've not been offered any breakfast.
The crew member's response was 'Oh, you said you didn't want anything.' I explained that I didn't want waking. She responded, 'Well, you should have asked'. I made it clear that I didn't think pax sat in Upper should need to ask - the crew should be offering.
She did look a bit shaken by what I said, as though it came as some sort of shock (or reality check), and she then tried to offer me various pieces of cake and bread - of which there seemed to be lots left over. I'm not surprised that VS say that they throw food away from each flight - it's because it's not offered by the crew and the pax don't know it's there. There's a lot to be said from the service from a small open-sided trolley that many other airlines do - you can see what's on offer.
Shame there weren't any croissants on the menu, as I'd have had one of those, but they have been taken off and replaced with some cheap, sickly 'breakfast bread'. Another fine mess, VS.
So I got my cup of coffee somewhere over Dublin, and before long we were descending into Heathrow, only a quick lap of Bovingdon standing between us and a positive landing on 27L shortly before 1020 local time. Quick taxi in to stand 327, however, there was no-one to operate the jetway. Once they had arrived, only L2 had a jetway attached. Off to IRIS, priority baggage seemed to work reasonably well, my bag being somewhere in the first two cans.
Overall assessment of the flight:
It was on time, and okay, and the crew would have scored much higher if they hadn't commited what I consider to be a couple of major service faux-pas in a business class cabin. I feel slightly bad for the good FSM and possibly other hard working crew on this flight, but a small handful of their colleagues let them down.
What worked well:
* Check-in (apart from handling reward upgrade)
* SFO Clubhouse (apart from boarding call being early)
* Flight (almost) on time
* Priority Boarding at SFO (once boarding started)
* Greeted by name on boarding - but that was the only time it was used. Was not even used when ordering dinner.
* Priority Baggage.
* Pleasant and visible FSM.
What could have been better:
* Communication from the gate to Clubhouse about boarding delay.
* Having a jetway operator ready at LHR to receive the flight.
* The IFE.
* The food - those sad looking green beans, and 'wot, no croissants?'
* Being addressed by name.
What was poor and needed improvement:
* Handling of reward upgrades at check-in.
* The crew offering service - e.g. drink top-ups, and breakfast in my case.
* The pace of service.
Lovely shower and some real breakfast in Revivals, and a very pleasant agent there unfortunately got an outpouring about my current frustration with VS - the unforgivably dirty toilets on many flights, general dirt and grime elsewhere on some planes, the scrappy cutback service (not being offered a meal service, crew members arguing with me about their mistakes), the dirty service items, sketchy food, and the flight delays (like 3 hours on VS19 back in June).
So many of them are small things, but when they build up, it's almost like a loose thread. Human nature makes you want to pick at it and see what unravels. I hope some readers here agree that my expectations aren't unusually or unrealistically high?
She said that she would get in touch with someone in Crawley. I hope that I don't get the average follow-up - making light of the concerns, refutal with boilerplate spin, and bribery with bonus miles. I explained that I'm no longer even convinced that the feedback reaches those responsible, certainly not without considerable persistance and escalation.
She explained that at least I was saying something, rather than walking away silently, which is worse for VS. I wonder what I'll hear back, if anything.
This was likely to be one of my last flights with VS this year, as I currently don't plan on visiting a destination served by VS again until next year.
I'll be travelling with some of the competition in the coming months, and it will be interesting to see what they have to offer by way of comparison, and how this influences my choices in 2010.
Mike
