This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
The day started off fine, with a fairly quick Addison Lee transfer to T3 finding us checking in before 0730 - it's better to leave early and get across town, than spend 2 hours of your trip in a car.
Check-in was quite speedy, but it grates when the check-in agent says "You won't earn any miles for this trip" (it being a paid PE 'S' ticket upgraded to UC) which is plain wrong, and even worse when they sort of "argue the toss" with you, when they don't have their facts straight.
It grates even more when the boarding cards are showing "00500500500", blowing away what little Au recognition you get these days.
A tempremental lift meant it was up the escalator to the 1st floor and then to the UC wing, where security was speedy as usual, and off to the CH, where I managed to bag a haircut and the OH a massage (by virtue of getting there early, I guess), with the usual breakfast snacks (though these didn't seem as good as I remembered them - very dried out, overcooked bacon) and mojitos.
The concierge in the CH managed to fix the "00500" rubbish in the boarding card and on the manifest, after I had a whinge about it to the CH greeter. It turns out that VS still have their ticketing in one application, their check-in in a different application, and the two don't communicate much (if at all). So, for example, all that the check-in staff can see is that I'm a "G", and not what I'm ticketed as.
This is just so lame for a number of reasons, and must stand in the way of better automated/self-service upgrade processing beside other things. This is also the reason that FF miles for the paid ticket don't automatically accrue after a mileage upgrade.
This is just something other airlines seem to be able to get right - both the upgrade system and the customer recognition elements - so much better than VS do.
Sadly, all hell had broken loose at work, so I spent the rest of my CH time hunched over my laptop or on the phone. It's a shame that there's not a good "workplace" area in the CH, as the "hunching" over my laptop just gave me backache. While there are desks in the library area, you don't feel right making a telephone call from there. I hate to say it, but despite their functionality, I wonder if there is a place for a smallish number of library-style carrels with sound-deadening surfaces in the Virgin CH?
Finally, boarding was called down at Gate 40 (a mile-hike), so the OH headed off to Eat to go and buy food parcels for the flight, while I wrapped up emails. The "make your way to the front for priority boarding" was indicated in the announcement, and when I got to the gate I do wonder why they don't just say "stick your elbows out and barge away - pretend you're flying Ryanair", from the queue that greeted us.
Of course, on either side of the melee for our VS19, American Airlines demonstrated how to do this properly even with an almost identical gate layout, with clear signage and good use of tensabarriers, not a scrum in sight. We thought things were getting better, but I don't see a systematic improvement in this area to be honest.
Priority Boarding, like so many other things VS do, seems to be more by luck and a tailwind, than process and judgement.
Having got through the boarding card check, yet another queue for increased secondary screening, selection being conducted by a seemingly ignorant ass of a G4S sourpuss who spent all his time chatting on the radio to a colleague and didn't even acknowledge the pax.
So, the airport experience came to an end with us heading down the jetway with minimal scrum, to board G-VSSH.
Sadly, the inflight experience wasn't stellar either, despite recognising the FSM from a previous flight and thinking she did a decent job that time.
Not addressed by name once, either at boarding, or during flight.
When offered a pre-departure drink, and I opted for water, I was told "there's your water bottle", rather than being offered a glass of water.
The boarding music on the current cycle is nasty. Whoever chose some of that music was smoking something strong. There was some nasty shrieky headache-inducing racket that left my nerves jangling (which I think was Vampire Weekend's 'White Sky'), along with some other electronic music which may sound find on a decent hi-fi, but just doesn't work well over rubbishy PA speakers with their limited frequency range. Not relaxing at all.
Whoever is choosing that dross should get a kick up their arse for being so out of tune.
Settling in the seat, I found that as well as being a cramped Airbus suite (which came as no surprise), it was really bashed up and tired-looking. Chunks out of the leather and grime were noticeable.
Also, having flown on the equivalent Air Canada product recently, I found that the VS seat just didn't do as well on comparison with the AC version of the seat, which just felt less "coffin-like" and more roomy.
There was also some trim hanging off in places, and the OH's seat was doing the "hanging-open" thing exposing all the wires and guts in the middle of the seat divider wall.
I really think the Airbus UCS product is significantly inferior to that on the 747.
Anyway, we got airborne around 11.35 off runway 27L, and slightly unusually for a SFO flight, we headed straight out over the Bristol Channel, Wales and Ireland, rather than up toward Scotland. The whole track was flown at a slightly more southerly latitude than normal, giving us a long 10h50 flight time.
I should feel slightly bad for not cutting the crew a bit of slack for having to deal with a sick pax very early in the flight, but sadly, the service in the air didn't improve once the sick pax was put on oxygen and quickly feeling better, so I don't feel bad at all about giving them a "rock-bottom" rating:
* No drinkmat or napkin offered with post-departure drink, meaning your glass ended up in a puddle of condensation, and nothing to soak up slops or spills from the occasional bump.
* Didn't get offered any crisps or snacks with the drink.
* The IFE was switched on soon after takeoff, then switched off to play the stupid, pointless, advert-riddled, welcome onboard video, before being reactivated.
* Once again I found that I had been given dirty glassware - i.e. it had been "cleaned" by the caterer, just not very well and was still greasy - this went beyond watermarks from dishwashing. This is about the 5th or 6th VS trip in a row where I've been served with dirty service items (glasses, silverware, linens). My OH was also given a similarly dirty wineglass. I have complained about this to VS at a senior level previously. This has to be a systemic failure, rather than a run of bad luck.
* Took ages, over two hours, to get the dinner service started, after which it was "thrown out". Again, something I've taken exception to in the past.
* The main meal was barely okay, especially compared to the UA flight I took last month. I had the cod which was okay but dull, while the OH had the "lamb pie a la Wetherspoons" which was pronounced mediocre.
* It says in the menu something like "why not have a glass of wine with your meal?" Well that's what I got. One glass. No topup offered.
* When clearing away, I wasn't asked "Can I get anything else for you?", instead I was told "I'm clearing this away", followed by an afterthought of "want more food?"
* The sparkling water ran out, so when I popped to the bar for a mid-flight refresher, I didn't get an apology, I just got a glass of still water thrust in my direction.
* The coffee was so weak it was like dishwater, but I suppose I should be greatful at least it wasn't tea like last time.
* There was no linen or place-setting used in the afternoon tea service.
* The wrong food was delivered to me during the afternoon tea service.
* My OH's jacket was hung in the furthest possible UC closet from our seats, and then not returned before landing or on taxi-in, meaning that we didn't get the quick escape via the L1 door in SFO.
* A lot of PE pax weren't held back at the L2 door until UC had finished disembarking, blowing most of the immigration advantage.
Basically, I really didn't enjoy this flight, and just wanted it to be over.
I felt unappreciated as a loyal customer through most of the experience, and occasionally treated as an inconvenience.
Even my OH, who is not as much of frequent traveller as me (but is still an NZ *G), felt distinctly underwhelmed by the experience, especially when compared to Air NZ.
When I finally got off, and cleared immigration and customs in SFO, which took forever, I thought that the flight home on this trip might be the last VS flight I'd take in preference to other carriers.
Summary:
Ground Staff: Okay, but let down by their IT systems, giving a negative impression. Not stellar. Worthy mention for the CH Concierge who got rid of the "00500" insult. Priority boarding is either an insult or a joke, not sure which.
Seat: Poor. While primarily clean, was in bad condition, and the Airbus seat is crap compared to that on the 744 for personal space and elbow room.
Food & Drink: Pretty rubbish.
Entertainment: Good. Watched a few films and short features, though why they only had the first part of a two-part documentary loaded beats me.
Cabin Crew: Rock bottom. IMHO, the person working our aisle wasn't fit to serve premium passengers. The J CSS was pleasant enough, but couldn't save the day. Considering there were two FSMs on this flight (though one working out of grade as an SCC), the service from the crew felt shoddy and made a very negative impression.
Fortunately the crew on the way home convinced me that VS are worthy of yet another chance (which they seem to be in danger of getting next month), but I do find myself wondering more and more if I'm falling outside of VS' target demographic these days.
Mike
Last edited by mike-smashing on 25 Mar 2010, 09:14, edited 1 time in total.
