This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Aer John delivered me to the airport at Cork, stayed for breakfast (of which I had very little - after all the delights of the Clubhouse were beckoning) and then left me to board EI710. The flight left on time, arrived early and at 8:45am I was in possession of my bag and ready for the yomp to T3. That was quickly accomplished and soon I was approaching the UC check-in area. My, it was busy! Three desks were open and all processing passengers. The PE line next door was much quieter and I had visions of being transferred there. A VS lady was managing the UC queue and I did hope she would tell us to go upstairs to the DTCI area just as had happened before my last flight, but alas, no dice. In the end it did not matter as the line moved quickly and I was checked in by as pleasant a check-in lady as you could wish. Her only comment at my arrival at that hour of the morning for VS1 was 'Oooh you'll have lots of lovely Clubhouse time!' Oh, how I wish she had been right. Anyhow, back to check-in. Once free, it was quickly through the security channel and a quick dash through the Duty Free area and by 9:00am I was mounting the stairs to the Clubhouse.
I was welcomed by the concierge who also commented on my early arrival but that was all. I mentioned I was on an early morning flight and her comment was that they often had people checking in early because of that. I checked in my things and then headed for the brasserie. I was hungry. I had been up since 4:00am and apart from coffee and toast before 6:00am I had had nothing since the previous evening. There were no tables available and the server suggested that I sit in the bar area as the menu was exactly the same as in the brasserie. Well I don't know about you, but personally I prefer to eat a main meal at a proper table instead of trying to transport something like eggs, complete with runny yolk from a low table positioned at your knees. I told him I preferred a table and he told me that if I cared to wait in the bar area he would call me when a table would be free. So taking a glass of orange juice, I headed to the bar area and waited and waited and waited. I noticed others being seated and so headed back and explained what had happened. The server apologised and gave me a table straight away. He asked me who had seen me first and when I told he said, 'Oh, he is on his break'!!! [:(!]
As usual I had Eggs Benedict. Although it doesn't seem possible that one egg and a muffin could get any smaller, it certainly seemed lost on the plate. The egg itself was piping hot but the hollandaise sauce was cold. However at this stage I was hungry and disinclined to cause a fuss. Although the service was OK, I felt it could have been better and felt there was something missing. It was perhaps a tad sloppy.
After breakfast I reclaimed my carry-on bag and as I feared I had left my anti-histamine at home and so a trip to Boots was called for as well as a quick trip to Duty Free. As I mentioned in my post in the Clubhouse forum I met a celebrity on the stairs - and I don't mean a zelebrity! [:0] Once back in the Clubhouse, I took my MacBook, handed over my shoes to the shoe-shine man and headed to the glassed in area behind the bar and, somewhat inelegantly it must be said, perched myself on the hanging chair. I should say that at this point the Clubhouse was heaving and there were very few places to sit but in any case I wanted to sit there and look out over the tarmac and also the PA is much clearer in that area. No mumble, mumble mumble that you get in the main area. It was a bad mistake. One would imagine that because the staff congregated at that end of the bar to place orders etc., that one would readily be seen and attended to. Huh!! You must be joking. The Cloak of Invisibility descended on me and was to remain there unless I chose to remove it. The staff certainly weren't going to do it. [V] At first it didn't matter. I had just been fed and watered but after a while I was thirsty and wanted some water. Now you will appreciate that getting into a hanging chair isn't easy. Getting out is even worse and I didn't want the ignominy of tumbling out on to my face! [:I] And I do so love those chairs. After about half an hour or more I managed to attract someone's attention and a glass of water was finally produced. I should mention that there was also another guy in the area. He had two netbooks open and was obviously linked into Skype or similar as he was using them as his phone. I was intrigued by him as he spoke with a strong Afrikaans accent and as flights came and left he didn't move (other than to leave the CH and return rather incongruously with a Hannah Montana bag). Occasionally he slept and I guessed rightly or wrongly that he had come in on an early morning flight and was waiting for the evening JNB flight. He certainly knocked my lengthy stay in the CH into the ha'penny place!
In the fullness of time (and urged by V-Flyers) it was now time to move on to something stronger than water. So could I get anyone's attention? Nope! The only hope I had was either that a miracle would occur with the water left in my glass or that I get up myself and order it. I decided on the latter. In any case nature was calling and I also needed to retrieve my shoes, so staggering out of my chair (and loading it with my belongings as a couple newly into that section were looking at me getting up speculatively and the wife said so that I could hear that she usually sits there. Tough luck, darling. First come, first served - well except when it comes to trying to get something from the waitstaff. So, first of all asking for a glass of champagne to be placed by my seat, off I headed to the Ladies and then for my shoes, before perusing the newspapers to see which, if any I would take. And when I returned had a glass of champagne been delivered to my seat? No, it had not! Had it been too much to expect it would? Obviously it had. Fear not, honey lamb. A server was coming into the area with a glass of champagne. She had obviously been waiting for my return. Wrong! She waltzed past me and handed it to Mrs I Want Your Chair. A glance over to the bar area told me that no other glass of champagne was prepared so as the server went past I nabbed her and politely told her that I had ordered a glass of champagne several minutes ago and could I please have it now. She went past me and as she arrived at the entrance to the area, turned and looked at me with pure affront that I should have made such a request! She did deliver the champagne but the manner of its delivery was such that all pleasure was gone from it. [V]
Getting near to lunch time I was feeling a bit peckish. What to do? I was reluctant to order something unless I moved to another area of the Clubhouse. However a quick perusal of the menu showed me that really I only wanted a snack and my salvation was the deli area where cheese and biscuits hit the spot. I lingered with my champagne feeling too cowed to order another one!
At that stage it was time for my treatment and at once the mood changed. I was welcomed back by the reception staff who recognised me from my visit in July. I had a wonderful facial from as nice a girl as you could wish and went back to find there had been a shift change and my nemesis was off-duty. By contrast her replacement was up and down the area regularly and my champagne was quickly and pleasantly replaced, more water produced when requested and indeed such was her attention I could easily have finished the bottle of champagne such was her level of attention.
Soon it was time to leave the Clubhouse and for once I was glad to go. I packed up and left just before the second call and made my way to gate 13 where VFAB was waiting. My last two flights were on her so it was like meeting an old friend. At the gate priority boarding was clearly marked and they had two channels, one for economy and the other for the rest. In this instance it did not matter as there was no queue so it was a quick trot through to the gate area where pre-boarding was nearly through and as I made my way towards the door the call came for UC, Golds and PE which of course meant that the whole gate area stood up. It did not matter as I was near enough the door to be able to skip through and was quickly on board and directed towards my seat in 17A.
From this point on it just got better and better. [^] The up-turn had started with the staff change in the CH, continued throughout boarding and this set the tenor for the flight. As I reached my seat I was welcomed on board by the cabin crew who introduced himself, said he would be looking after me on the flight, offered me champagne and was there anything else I needed. There was a slight hiccup when he returned as the lady in front of me had ordered water and he started to give her my champagne and then realised his mistake. Before he could do anything about it she said 'Oh, I was going to ask for one of them in any case' and grabbed my champagne. He threw me a look of apology and quickly returned with replacement. In the meantime a couple had taken possession of 18 and 19A and at that stage the FSM came in and there were hugs all round. 'B*llix!', thinks I to myself, 'It's going to be one of those flights' Again, I couldn't have been more wrong. At this stage the cabin was filling up nicely. I had forgotten to watch the 12A/K pantomime because I have tended to travel in zone B and only recently have made the transition to zone A. Silly me!
We were just beginning to settle when the cabin crew assigned to me fetched up beside me, hunkered down and asked was there anything I needed. When I said no, he then asked whether I had been in the lounge and when I said I had and I had been very disappointed he asked me for the story. I told him what had happened and he apologised and said he would note it in the flight report, if he may. Indeed he may! He then went on to say, 'Mrs honey lamb, I notice you are one of our gold members. May I come back to you later in the flight and talk to you of your experiences so that we can know how to improve our service to our passengers?' Indeed, indeed he may! He went on to say that one of his roles was that of service ambassador, a role I had first come across on a flight from Dubai two years ago. We chatted briefly before going back to finish preparing for the flight. Before he had joined me I had been aware that the lady in 19A whom the FSM had greeted so warmly had joined her companion on the ottoman in 18A. Once he left, she popped her head over the divider and said, 'Excuse me but I couldn't help overhearing what you were saying to X. I'm cabin crew also. Will you join me at the bar later and talk to me as I too, would like to know how things can be improved?' Wow! [y]
There was a slight delay in pushback, the excuse given this time not to paperwork but administration, which of course is a posh word for paperwork! [:D] We didn't have a long taxi to the runway and there was no lengthy queue for take-off so at about 4:30 we were airborne. Once released to their duties, drinks orders were taken and I was given a Bombay Sapphire, alas with a slice of lemon - my fault as I hadn't asked for lime. However when a second drink was offered I asked if there was any lime. The cabin crew said there wasn't in UC but he would check upstairs to see if there was any there and if not he would take a trip through the aircraft to see if he could locate some! I told him not to bother, but bother he did and soon I was presented with a G&T and the requisite lime! I had also had crisps as my nibbles and a second dish was set before me. The FSM came through with the basket of goodies and spent some time talking to the couple in 14A/K. I had the same thoughts as I had had when I saw her talking to the people behind me but my thoughts were totally unjustified. I have to admit though that I was slightly irked at the time she was taking talking to them for the simple and selfish reason that I wanted her to turn on the IFE. I could see that we were currently over the coast of south Wales and I wanted to know if we were going to go over where I lived. [:w] In the meantime however, someone else turned it on and as it happened once over the Irish Sea the plane turned in a north westerly direction so there was nothing to be seen. In any case it was a bit cloudy.
For dinner I eschewed a starter since I had had the cheese and biscuits in the CH. I had the mushroom stroganoff which was absolutely gorgeous. I wondered about the dessert and whether I should have the chocolate ganache cake or cheese and biscuits. The cabin crew said the ganache cake was to die for (it was!) and why didn't I have both and so I did. With a nice glass of port with the cheeses. A really nice meal. [y]
Once the meal was over the lady in 19A, true to her word came and invited me to join her at the bar and also invited the lady from 14A who was also cabin crew. They were fun but also really interested to know what could be done. This was the time to point them towards V-Flyer and in particular the TR section. I told them that one of the issues that came up regularly was consistency, or rather the lack of it; that many of the things that made a flight memorable were little things like being addressed by name and on the LGW/MAN flights not to be treated as if it were a second class service. I mentioned in particular 747340's TR from BGI and they were suitably horrified at what had happened. When you consider that I had had a cabin crew who was prepared to search the plane for a possibly non-existent lime and on that flight the cabin crew was not prepared to go downstairs for meals and rolls that were readily available in Economy the contrast is even more cruel. However before we could debate any further the seat belt sign was turned on as we hit a patch of turbulence.
Shortly after that the second meal service began and I had the chicken salad sandwich which certainly was fresh followed by the chocolate brownie. Once that was cleared the cabin crew came to clarify some details of my Clubhouse experiences for his report and to talk to me about service delivery from a passenger's point of view. Again I told him of the issues that come up on V-Flyer and pointed him to the Trip Report section which would give him some idea of what passengers and readers of the boards were saying.
We began our descent into EWR and at this stage the most disappointing part of the flight took place. We were not flying in past Manhattan. [:#] However just as I was beginning to get over this the cabin crew fetched up beside me and whispered that he was sorry I had had such a rotten experience in the Clubhouse and presented me with a bottle of wine and some chocolates. Wow! [oo] [oo]
EWR is a very easy airport to get through. The walk to Immigration was short enough and was deserted when we got there. The Immigration officer was pleasant and on hearing I was on my way to a wedding said, 'Enjoy the wedding' as he sent me on my way. Again a quick trip to Customs and in the baggage hall the carousel was just starting up. The first bags through were marked PE, but I need not have worried as mine came off seventh or eighth and in less than ten minutes of leaving the aircraft I was trying to find my way to the hotel shuttle which took a lot longer. Nonetheless it was a very happy honey lamb who checked into her room after a superlative flight.
