This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
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Cabin Crew
So..checked in online at just after T24 and was amazed to get Seq 1 and then Seq 2 on the second booking reference.
Picked up by Tristar in a lovely Mercedes which we booked independently as only the return leg included a CDC. Excellent value, with a very polite and helpful driver and with a good discount when booked through the VS website.
Arrived at Terminal 2 and were ushered straight to the UC check-in. Were given our lounge invites but I was silly enough to print off our boarding passes and we weren’t offered or given any of the proper ones. I was kicking myself for handing the printed ones over and didn’t like to ask for some more.
My mum was asked to check in her umbrella (which did have a significant point on the end). It was put into a plastic bag and she thought that was probably the last she would see of it. As it was only £3 from Ikea she wasn’t too worried.
Anyway, headed for the security fast track but were called over to the main track by the official there
and so were forced to walk up and down the winding lanes till we reached the back of the queue. I could see that the fastrack was pretty empty so crossed under the barrier (naughty!) and waited behind the only lady in the queue. Wasn’t frisked this time, and no bag searches but my mum (who is 79) was told to remove her “jacket” – which was actually a blouse over a little top! 
Straight up to the Escape lounge and we were greeted by name by the lady on the desk (maybe we were the only pair of ladies travelling that day). We were directed to the opposite lounge which she called the “business lounge” and which was a relief because that is my favourite room and it was almost empty. The other side seemed extremely busy. Selected a nice sandwich, crisps and a salad along with a couple of cups of tea (not V-flyer etiquette I know, but I like tea!
), read the paper and then a quick trip through the duty free to stock up on chocolate (I am a chocolate addict and can’t stand the US products 
) before heading for the gate (211 I think).Looking out of the window we could see a resplendent Jersey Girl waiting for us. Boarding appeared to have started, but we were told it had not. A garbled announcement moments later (no clue what it said) had people out of their seats to join the queue so we scooted around the side and were ushered through. We were greeted by name at the door of the plane and pointed in the direction of the nose of the 747. A couple were already installing themselves in 8A and 9A and, as we were in 6A and 6K, we set about putting our hand luggage in the free compartments.
As we settled in to our suites, a lovely flight supervisor came over and offered the usual champagne, orange or bucks fizz and sat down on the next ottoman to chat for a while. I had seen in the seating plan and from a kind load check from a V-flyer that Upper Class had looked very quiet, with only 3 seats pre-booked, but was surprised that it didn’t fill up – it remained with only 5 passengers, which was fantastic as it was so peaceful (so different than the overnight return – but that is for the next (much shorter) trip report!)
The FSM also came over and introduced herself which was a really nice touch.
Took off on time and it wasn’t too long before we were served lunch. Having seen the menu on V-Flyer I was a little apprehensive but actually the food was much nicer than expected. Had the Goats cheese tart to start – the chutney was lovely but the tart itself was cold and a bit tasteless. The salmon main course was delicious though, highly recommended and the bread and butting pudding to follow. Yum!
After lunch, we all (yes every passenger in UC) made up their beds and snuggled down under their duvets. It was like being back in nursery school – wonderful.
![][|)](./images/smilies/icon_smile_sleepy.gif "Sleepy"){kind=icon}
Woke up in time for the icecream and watched a bit of TV before afternoon tea was served. Again really enjoyed it, especially the warm scone with jam and cream. Some turbulence meant drinking the tea was an interesting event, but apart from that the only other thing to mention is that they requested “a volunteer from the medical profession” or words to that effect to make themselves known to the cabin crew. Not sure what had happened though.
The crew were helpful and friendly throughout, offering drinks etc. Yes the suites are no longer brand new and pristine, but the nose of the 747 is pretty much a first class offering. What more could we have wanted?
Just after landing, the captain came on to the tannoy to say that it would be a good idea to get off the plane as quickly as possible and to hurry down to immigration as fast as we could as the Gatwick plane was 5 minutes behind and immigration was already pretty full up. But after he had spoken we were held for a while for some reason and an Air France plane was disembarking at the same time. It didn’t take too long though, but because we don’t live in the same house, my mum was sent back (quite firmly) to stand behind the line while we were processed separately. By the time she had come through, though I had retrieved the luggage from the carousel (and found the umbrella with the buggies!) which had come through in amazingly quick time.
Not stopped at customs although a sniffer dog humiliated one family by identifying their salmon sandwiches still in their bag.
Funny.Double-dropped the bags and headed over to the other terminal on the train. I always feel like I’ve really arrived and kind of come home at this point.
Mum retrieved the bags from the carousel while I queued for the Dollar car. Didn’t dare risk the Dollar Express line (see previous thread) and the possibility of getting sent back, and it did take about half an hour to get served, so perhaps I should have. Chose a lovely Ford Fusion saloon with cloth seats (I have made the dreadful mistake of choosing leather before!). It is nothing like the Ford Fusions over here, much more like a Mondeo and fabulous to drive (no offence to any UK Ford Fusion owners of course!) The massive trunk took all our luggage (and we had a lot!). We were heading off to the Waldorf Astoria in no time and when we arrived we were lucky enough to be upgraded to a suite. Wow. What a lovely day! And made to feel like VIPs the whole day. And how fortunate are we to be able to choose to experience all this. We paid a lot more for our fare than we have done in the past but it was still worth it….IzzyRose x
