VS019 LHR-SFO 29 NOV 10 (Upper Class)

This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

Having done 10 trips to the US last year, in various classes, I booked on the SFA flight and used miles to upgrade to UC. Arrived at Heathrow to find it quite busy - waited around 20 mins to check in (slower than the PE queue next to me).

Once in the CH, happy to have breakfast ready for the 11am flight. We boarded as usual, glass of champagne (didn't realise that they can't serve other alcohol until off ground for tax reasons!) but with 10mins to go, captain advised we had a problem with the air con, and soon afterwards we were asked to leave the plane and wait for it to be fixed.

UC passengers went to the CH, and as it became clear we in for quite a wait, I had massage, sauna and steam - which was a wonderful way to chill out.

They kept us pretty much updated through the day, but we finally pushed back as around 7.15, just 8.5 hours late...

The flight was pretty straight forward, the (new) crew were outstanding in UC and full of apology for the delay. We were offered 10,000 free miles, which is nice, and I can't really fault how we were treated.

I understand that Virgin gave the non UC customers vouchers for food and drink - I can't image it was much fun being in the main terminal all day!

So, big thumbs up for the way Virgin coped and looked after us in what was a pretty diffiult situation. My only negatives would be the slow check in and the film selection and other content was a bit below par. Don't know if they are cutting back spend in this area, but I'm not sure there is much more I will want to watch on the way home!

[Neil]

Thanks for the TR. Glad you were well looked after. A delay doesn't feel so bad with the delights of a CH to make it more bearable, imagine those in T3 didn't have quite as a relaxing and comfortable time as you did.

Thanks,
Neil

[mitchja]

Thanks for the TR.

10,000 miles for that delay. That's not good at all. If I'd have been in your situation I'd would have wanted more than that, even with CH access

Thank goodness for the CH for you UC folk on a day like that!

3 years ago, We spent 7 hours in T3 when the early IAD VS flight went tech in DC and we got rebooked on to the later flight.

After accepting the 10,000 miles and £10 food voucher, we parked ourselves in a quieter area of T3 and had a whole row of seats each to stretch out. Thank goodness that I had my iPod, DS and a good book.

Flying to SFO on 12th, Upper also;
I suppose it depends of the length of the trip and how long you've got away but I'd take 10k miles and a few hours in the Clubhouse. Sounds brilliant!
Depends if the CH is a monthly necessity for someone as a business traveler or if it's a once in a blue moon treat, (see if you can guess what category I'm in!)