This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Completed on line check 24hrs beforehand and got the Silver and Bronze medals (SEQ 2 & 3) someone was very quick off the mark!!
We arrived at T3 at 12.00 and were met promptly by Purple Parking, we were early due to previous traffic problems (well that’s my excuse; it had nothing to do with an extra hour in the clubhouse!!).
No queue at check in and we were through the private security channel in no time. We had a quick visit to HMV then straight off to the Clubhouse. We were greeted at the entrance and had laugh with the concierge, as ‘Sinitta’s So Macho’ was playing which she suggested wasn’t the best tune to greet people on arrival at an Upper Class lounge.
The Clubhouse was fairly quiet and after the obligatory glass of champagne we went to book our treatments. I really do miss the booking system as I can’t risk not getting a hair cut and then looking like a member of the ‘hairbearbunch’ all holiday, so I opted for the massage which was good and for a small fee, my better half had her nails done, which she was very happy with.
For me, a self confessed carnivore, the new menu is somewhat limiting and I miss the Burger and the Steak pie, but the Duck was very nice, all washed down with more champagne before we moved on to the lethal ‘Virgin redheads’ (1 was plenty).
We waited for the 2nd call before semi-reluctantly leaving and making our way down to board G-VNAP (Sleeping Beauty). We were seated in 9a & 10a, which in my opinion are great seats on the 346. The suites were clean and the crew quickly provided us with another glass of champagne. We left a few minutes late but we were informed by the flight deck that this would be made up during the flight.
Having just eaten in the clubhouse, we both asked if we could wait a few hours before we ate on board. When we did order we both had the fish starter (very nice) and we both requested the beef wellington, unfortunately there was only one left (not a issue given that we had requested the delay), so we had the risotto as an alternative. All was washed down with a glass of red and finished with the toffee pudding. The meal was very good and a distinct improvement on previous upper class offerings.
After the meal we converted the seats into beds and both slept for a few hours. We were woken by the afternoon tea service, where I managed to force down a scone which was very nice. Not sure if I missed them due to sleeping but I didn’t see the cake stand which was a bit of a disappointment to me.
We did venture to the bar, but found it very quiet and the conversation on cosmetics was not something I could contribute to, so we returned to our seats to watch V:Port which was working fine, for the remainder of the trip.
Immigration at LAX was busy as the Air France flight had just beaten us to it and the guard directing people seemed to make matters worse rather than better. After about 20 minutes we both got through and by this time the Air New Zealand 747 had landed and they were queuing out of the doors to the rear, so I suppose it could have been worse.
Priority baggage was not in effect and all the Upper Class bags were the last delivered, a good 20 minutes after we got through Immigration.
Summary – Overall a very good flight.
The Clubhouse is still excellent even with the changes to treatments.
Flight Crew were good, but the service was not as good as on our previous flights
On board food was excellent
The FSM was fairly anonymous all flight
No recognition of Gold status at any point
Lack of priority luggage was an irritation
I am sure someone has said this does not match the "cool" image VS is trying to portray
. Thankfully we landed to an empty immigration hall, but very narky officers!
