This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
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The night before my flight to SEA we decamped once more in the Hilton SFO where she checked in for her flight to Calgary but I held tough.
I wanted to try for an upgrade to First (and the tier points if the truth be told). Early the next morning I found I was guilty of a faux pas of mega proportions. I had forgotten to put my laptop on to charge and when it came to nearly T-6, the witching hour for cheap upgrades on Virgin America, discovered it was as dead as a dodo. 
Even putting it on to charge at that stage was futile as there wouldn’t be sufficient charge to start the process and the moment was nearly upon us. I had no option but to make a mad dash down to the lobby and use one of the PCs there both of which were fortunately free. I swiftly completed the check-in process dead on the dot of T-6 and headed straight to the Change seats option. Some had already been claimed but, joy of joys, there was availability. 
I swiftly selected 1F and went into the the credit card details bit of the website and it was at this stage that I was cursing my lack of foresight as my MacBook would have pre-populated all the billing details but I had to fill it all in manually. Still, it was accepted and in due course my upgrade was confirmed. More out of curiosity that anything else I decided to print my boarding pass to see what the sequence number - not that I expected SEQ1, after all OLCI had opened 18 hours beforehand. It was a good move as to my horror when it printed out there was no seat number allocated! I went back into the manage my booking page and while it confirmed I was checked in in First it would not let me view the seat maps or change my seating. Yikes! I had visions of being downgraded. Just after this drama had unfolded (OK, so I hadn’t a seat allocation but I’m such a drama queen, so to my mind it was a drama
) my friend announced it was time for her to leave the airport and so in a spirit of deep friendship, great magnanimity and pure selfishness I decided to come and see her off …....…... and swing by the Virgin America desk!! Having dispatched her on her way, I trotted over to T2 and the matter was swiftly resolved. I was in 1C. I was a bit peeved at being in the aisle seat but it was the only one vacant. I told my story to the lovely check-in agent who told me that we had probably clicked on 1F at the same time but obviously the other party filled in the details quicker. Oh how I berated myself1 I berated myself even more when she asked me if I would like to check my bags there and then but I still had to finish packing. Grrrr!
Duly packed and checked out I headed for T2 and re-acquainted myself with the very nice lady I had dealt with earlier. She directed me to the business first class security line and in no time at all I was through with the intention of grabbing lunch as I was unsure what the dinner arangements would be since I knew we would be picking up another friend much later at SEA. I must say that T2 in SFO is lovely. I always thought that the International terminal was nice but this beat it into a cocked hat! It was bright and airy with lots of eating places and shops but it wasn’t the typical BAA shopping mall. In one area they were demonstrating the Chrome books which Virgin America are promoting. It was light and spacious and all that you would expect of a Virgin product (even though American Airlines also shares the terminal)
After a rather nice lunch boarding was called and First was allowed to board first. A young-ish guy darted down the jetway, decamped himself in 1A and promptly closed the blinds. “Bollix”, thought I to myself - well something ruder actually but you get my drift! I glared at the lady and her husband who had nabbed 1F from under my nose and my temper wasn’t sweetened by the fact that she had an iPad, something that wasn’t in my possession yet but then decided life was too short for all that!
I was the second person to board and the flight attendant assigned to First came to the guy who had boarded before my and offered him a drink. She then passed on to the two in 2D and F before moving on to 1D and F (my nemesis). When 2A and C they were also seen to but as far as honey lamb was concerned, I was persona non grata. By this time boarding was almost complete and feeling almost like an escapee from the Priory or some other similar sanctuary pointed out that I hadn’t been offered a drink. She said she had been going to come to me right that minute and I bit back a comment of the previous 30 minutes she could have done just that and soon a G&T was in my possession. There was no pleasure in it as I had to knock it back pretty swiftly but a pre-flight drink is a pre-flight drink and, heck, even Main Cabin Select had been served theirs!
Soon we were pushing back and the pre-flight video was shown. However the one drawback of First is that you can’t watch it as your monitor is stowed. As it began, the flight attendant in charge of First (she who had taken it upon herself to monitor my alcohol intake) noticed that the guy next to me still was using his iPod and was wearing his earplugs. The flight attendant demonstrating the security spiel asked him to remove it and there then ensued a lengthy conversation between the two while the safety video was being shown. Granted she did go through the motions of demonstrating the seat belt and the oxygen mask dead on cue but not one word of it did I hear and in any case it was totally unprofessional.
Once in the air I chatted for a time to this young man and very nice he was too. A salad was served as well as another G&T and I watched a couple of TV shows. All too soon it was time to start our descent and this was the part I missed the most in the flight being in an aisle seat - flying in over Boeing Field or the majesty of Mount Baker from the other side of the aircraft.
Once on the ground I was quickly re-united with His Redheadedness for the weekend and my cases. Apart from the issue of the pre-flight drinkies and the unprofessionalism during the safety video it was a good flight......
…. The return was a different matter!!!
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