This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Well my most recent VS experience was upper class LHR-JFK-LHR, booked at the last minute due to someone dropping out of a presentation at work in NYC... so Friday evening, I find myself booking onto VS009 for Sunday afternoon, whilst trying to get myself to Paris for my sister's 21st birthday party... those tunnels are murder for any kind of GPRS reception [:(!] But anyway, I digress...
This was a considerably better experience, however not without some points that still clearly need working on. I'd summarise these (including the return leg 3 nights later) as follows:
1. Clubhouse & pre-flight experience
The pre-flight helpdesk personnel were exceptionally helpful and fiendly in booking my ground transportation at both ends, especially at such short notice.
The LHR clubhouse is truly excellent, an opinion I know is shared by many v-flyers. I was able to really relax there after a stressful inbound journey from Paris on the Eurostar in the morning. So many nice little touches firstly the food (the duck a lorange was superb, and the trio of blackforest gateaux was unbelievably yummy - you get a pot of succulent cherries, a pile of rich chocolate brownie pieces and a shot glass of the most heavenly chocolate sauce - mmmmmmmmmmmmmm)
The treatments were excellent as always(I had a haircut from a great NZ chap) - and then the personal steam room, which was just what the doctor ordered. A real market leader - I boarded feeling totally chilled out.
2. Cabin Crew
The cabin crew were excellent on both legs friendly, helpful and attentive. Id particularly like to mention ****** on the outward leg and ***** on the return leg for their exceptional service nothing was too much trouble, and I thought they were both a credit to VS. The FSMs came round with the goody basket on both legs, the one on the return leg was really jolly and friendly - but no recognition of my newly-achieved FC Gold status (a small point, but surely it wouldn't take much)
3. In-flight entertainment
My first experience of V:Port SO much better than Odyssey - like a billion miles better. I really hope that VS will roll this out to older aircraft soon, as it seems crazy to have such inconsistency in the standard of IFE for premium-priced tickets.
V:Port had a great selection of films, and the AVOD functionality was definitely a huge plus point. I watched The Hangover on the return leg - I've never laughed so much at a film for ages - highly recommended.
4. On-board food
The on-board food had improved from last time (the fish pie was very good), however VS is still not a market leader in this area (Continental and Kingfisher are two airlines Ive recently flown with that have a better offering here). Interestingly, I felt the UK food on the outward leg was higher quality this time than the US food on the way back. Spotted dick and custard was old-school but well done.
5. Revivals lounge
Excellent as previously experienced fantastic breakfasts, and showers that properly wake you up! Also made use of the ironing service this time a great little touch.
Some areas I feel VS still needs to work on are as follows
Clubhouse at JFK - something of a disappointment after the LHR experience. Still a nice lounge in comparison to others I have experienced, particularly in the US; however I needed to do some work upon arrival to JFK, and didnt feel that the open-plan, bustling environment was really conducive to this.
JFK check-in staff were quite abrupt (to the point of rudeness) a shame, they stood out in a trip where VS staff were otherwise excellent.
Repair of upper class suite on the outbound leg, the control panel for my upper class suite became loose, and stopped working. The flight attendant did her best to get the seat into a decent position manually (again cabin crew to the rescue), however there was not the flexibility in having the seat in different positions during the rest of the flight.
On-board cleanliness whilst this was considerably better than my recent flights to Chicago (the suites in particular were a lot cleaner), I still feel the upper class toilets were not kept as clean as Id expect for a business class flight.
So overall, a much better experience; I think the cabin crew deserve recognition for more exceptional service. However Id still like to see some additional effort by VS on the areas listed above.
On a final positive note, I received a birthday card from VS earlier this month, and a free gift of 2,500 miles a nice touch, very much appreciated.
Thanks for reading v-flyers - still very much addicted to this forum! See you on-board soon.
Crew names redacted per forum policy until OP confirms crew permission given to post
