This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Reg: G-VROC
Name: Mustang Sally
Load: Seemed full in UC, not so full down the back
First flight in A zone of 747, first flight in J with VS, first reward flight with VS, first V-F TR!
December 2010: having recently returned from LAS/LAX, attention turned to our next holiday. Wanted to get away earlier in the year as have been going in Sept/Oct for the last few years. With the aid of the Amex Platinum 40K sign up promo, finally had enough miles for a couple of Gs. Decided we wanted to make the most of it with a longer flight so weighed up Far East against West Coast USA. Decided to finish off the west coast - fly into SFO, an internal flight up to SEA and then a drive to YVR. Checked VS website and Gs were available, so after making sure all the miles were in place (had to buy 4000 through Amex as was slightly short) rang up and booked (quite painless) paying 150K from my account and 50K from Mrs. T's.
So fast forward to the day itself. Having collected our rental car the day before (a nice Saab 9-3 estate from Europcar), loaded up at 4:30am and away. Journey was good - a bit of light rain but roads clear and arrived into LHR at around 6:30am. Gassed up the car, panicked a little at the fuel guage not reading full despite hearing the click at the pump, but luckily it seemed to increase by the time we reached the return station. Turned in the car, boarded the bus and was deposited straight into T3. Rolled up to UC check in at just after 7am, check in agent really quite rude (similar check in experience to last VS flight and the reason 'ground crew' gets average rating above) - on receiving boarding passes had got SEQ 4 and 5. And I had got the bonus of SSSS (again - woohoo - not!).
Into the elevator, through security (a bit more private but just the far end of 'normal' security really) which seemed more thorough than usual (?) and then through to the Clubhouse. Didn't need anything from Duty Free so didn't bother to stop off - was ready for my breakfast!
The 'lounge dragon' on the door was very friendly, pointed out the main areas of the CH and we found a little area by the windows and settled in for the 5hr wait for boarding. Very attentive service, ordered George's Bagel (which was delicious) and Mrs. T had the sausage breakfast sandwich which she enjoyed. Went for a brief explore including taking a look out on the roof garden - shame it was just starting to rain. Mrs. T went to the Cowshed but all fully booked - they put her down as reserve for a neck massage and she was called a bit later in the morning.
Laptops out and read a couple of magazines. At 11:30 on the dot ordered lunch - Clubhouse burger for me (which was lovely, bit too much salad and onion packed in it though) and Chicken Tikka Masala for the wife.
Very soon the flight was called for boarding, off to the gate, had my extra search and then onto the a/c. Settled into 12A and K right in the nose. No overhead bins, so had to look for some space in others and stowed my rollaboard in the cupboard. The A cabin is definitely the place to be - seemed a lot more spacious than the aft lower deck UC cabin. Much clatter in the galley as cutlery was dropped all over the floor, cabin was secured and we pushed back on time. Long taxi round to RWY27 and got in the queue for takeoff. Shortly after departure, food and drink orders were taken - seemed to take a long time for the food to be served but IMO it was delicious (wasn't expecting much as most on here denigrate the UC food compared to PE but I thought it was better). Had the salmon starter (was really nice) and the cod main course (nice but a little bland) and then finished off with the chocolate cheesecake (again, very nice). All washed down with two glasses of champagne (making the most of it as not driving at the other end!). Managed to crash V-Port when viewing the skymap, had it restarted and it was fine.
Sat up for a bit and watched a movie, used my own QC3s but Mrs. T used the US N/C headphones and said they were very good. Kept drifting off - was very warm up in the nose of the plane (compared to usually being freezing in PE after a while). Opened the airvents and grabbed an iced water from the bar to refresh myself. Had my UCS converted to bed (didn't want to play with it myself and break it so got the FA to do it!) and settled down for a bit of sleep. Managed a few hours (although was concious that I didn't want to sleep through Afternoon Tea - where am I putting all this food!?!) and just managed to attract the FAs attention as she was handing out ice cream. Left it to melt for a bit and it made a nice refreshing snack. Heard a PA announcement that the IFE for the whole a/c was going to be restarted as there were some difficulties in all cabins - wasn't watching anything so didn't bother me.
Gave it another hour or two before converting back to seat mode (managed it myself!) and had the chicken sandwiches, fruit scone and xxxxx which were all very nice.
Only an hour or so to landing (my watch was wrong due to UK change to daylight saving time, so switched from LAX to DEN - felt like we were landing an hour early!) and soon was on the ground (a lot less bumpy than I had imagined despite being above the nose gear). Short taxi to the gate and straight off the a/c. A couple of flights had arrived just before us and the dregs of their pax were still going through immigration, joined the queue and was soon going through - quite painless this time (no interrogation on this occasion) and our bags had just come out as we got to the carousel. Onto a free 'Smarte Carte' and rang the SF City Shuttle service that we had prebooked to let them know that we had arrived.
Waited for ages outside for them - very windy but at least it was dry, boarded the van and took a tour of the airport, stopping for about 3 minutes at each terminal before heading for the city. We were the last drop as at the Hilton Fisherman's Wharf. Checked in and up to our room with newly refurbished bathroom - all very nice.
In summary, although the UC experience was lovely, I'm not sure that I would pay the asking price except for the longest of flights - won't stop me saving for our next Gs though...
