This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Then over the next few days we crammed in;
• A lot of walking; luckily MrsPJH’s gammy appendage cleared up
• 9/11 Memorial; calm and very understated, in many respects like the Vietnam wall in Washington, all those names,
• Radio City Music Hall Christmas spectacular; great Rockettes routines, not sure about the morality tale which seemed to suggest the meaning of Christmas was best found in a video game (though I may just have been confused by two hundred santas and three camels)
• Meeting friends,
• “Seminar” with Alan Rickman; why does the theatre audience clap and whoop when the “star” appears?
• Macys – several times. Service painfully slow. And ladies, don’t get in a sulk because we chaps can be done with shopping in short order. How long does it take to buy ties (red) and Levis (black)? Not long, I can tell you.
• “The Addams Family”; not as good as it could have been, but still smart and amusing
• Katz’ deli; where we didn’t re-enact the scene from “When Harry Met Sally” (though there is a sign pointing to the spot). Instead we watched someone making a five foot long sandwich. Oh, be still my beating heart
• Stephen Merchant; had no idea he was on until we walked past the theatre, and as there were tickets available decided to go. Very good show.
• Tree, skating and general lights and glitter around the Rockefeller centre
I had planned on putting up a few pictures of NYC but MrsPJHs camera decided to play up once in the USA. Suffice to say it was very jolly and sparkly and as hoped for.
During our time we’d had to compromise and drop a number of things we wanted to do, including the High Line Park, a thorough investigation of Soho and the Village (though I did get to walk on Bleecker St and see the Café Wha’) , MoMA, the public library, a play with a Kindle Fire…next time.
I used the VS app on my iPod touch to do OLCI late on the night before departure; very smooth and probably an not-to-be-mentioned SEQ number...
Our drive out the airport was very, very slow and I am currently instructing Lionel Hutz on a case involving the term “Expressway”. I have also retained him on an issue I shall come to at the end of the TR.
After a curious check in – the bags having been weighed we were instructed to leave them on the floor – we beat a smartish path to the CH. Strike me down for saying this if you must, but on a point in time comparison of those we’ve experienced (LHR, EWR and SFO) we liked this one the least in terms of position and layout; the openness made the rest of the airports comings and goings way too intrusive for our taste. Nor was the food that great; the CH sandwich consisted of huge lumps of chicken rather than a balanced content.
Service was, however, exceptional. We had a couple of staff falling over each other to serve us and make sure plates and glasses were never empty for long, and even when the seats filled up the standard didn’t fall away. Most of the passengers seemed to be for a TAP flight, and the rate at which comestibles were being squirreled away into bags suggests that airline’s onboard offering may not be that great.
One curiousity was chap of very late middle age, dressed rather shambolically in the short of mismatched check, stripes and colours favoured by the clientele of Ede & Ravenscroft in Cambridge, sat right at a reserved table by the CH entrance with a what looked like a wheelchair with a blanket fully covering the occupant; they’ll never feel the benefit when they get outside, I thought.
As there had been several comments about the speed of security, we opted to wish the CH staff a “Merry Christmas” before the flight was called and headed to the security line for business class passengers. This was actually shared with a security line for non-business class passengers, with the agent dealing with one from one line, then one from the other.
I have just realized that I have absolutely no recollection at all of the gate, so can’t say whether there was a priority line in operation and whether there was more than one jetway in operation. I like to think that this is due to the fact that I am so used to UC travel now, rather than (a) a senior moment or (b) having had too much to drink in the CH (perhaps that Cosmoplitan?).
On the jetway itself, Mr Ede & Ravenscroft from the CH was being escorted down the ladder taking with him a number of what looked to be bags of diplomatic or otherwise important mail that were on the luggage cart to (from what I overheard) supervise their loading into the hold. So he hadn’t, as I had earlier wondered, been concealing a recently deceased relative under the blankets.
Now, out of a Christmassy spirit and in deference to those V-Flyers with well behaved offspring so far I’ve kept away from the issue of children, but I have to say my heart sank and my head went “oh please turn right” as an increasing chorus of wails emanating from younger flyers echoed around the jetway. Now some did turn right, but one large group did turn left…and I was proved to be oh so wrong in my worrying as once quickly settled by mum and dad the little…darlings….passed to the land of nod sharpish and were, I believe, only heard during the flight when forced to complain about the snoring coming from 10A.
Once we were settled into our (clean) suites with a glass, I ventured off to find a cabin crew member to ask if they could do a couple of further glasses of champagne as we passed midnight UK time and into our wedding anniversary. No problem they said, but that given delays etc we may still on the ground / in climb mode at that time and therefore it would have to be on a “as soon as and best efforts” basis. I assured them that that would be fine, I just wanted to mark the occasion in some small way, as until we retire / win the premium bonds (probably both) it will be some time before we’re again having a meal at 35000+ ft on our anniversary.
Whilst waiting to pushback the crew were a bundle of positive energy, introducing themselves, asking were we returning home and had we had a good time, offering sleepsuits, fast track vouchers (oooh…never had one of those before) and collecting drinks, dinner and breakfast orders. As we were leaving the US, I thought a JD and diet coke was appropriate and being dull and predictable, I went for soup and beef and a bacon butty. Additionally MrsPJH was asked to complete one of the in flight questionnaires.
Throughout the flight the entire crew were supremely cheerful, helpful, a credit to themselves and an asset to the brand. Most were festively attired with tails of tinsel (which swished most…appealingly) or reindeer horns, just enough to make it fun and not be over the top. They gave no appearance of being tired, grumpy or wishing everyone would just go to sleep. They joshed happily about the size of the sleep suits, and were taking photographs of a girl in her suite for her boyfriend who they’d noticed taking pictures of the empty suite as she was so excited.
And thus it was that the delays mentioned as a possibility by the crew came to pass. The flight deck came on with the good news / bad news spiel. Yes, we’d be pushing back on time with 290 souls on board, but only to make the gate available, and we’d be parking up for at least twenty nine minutes (yes, they were that precise). The FSM came on to apologise, to say we’d be kept informed and if the delay looked to stretch beyond the estimate that they would request that the cabin service be freed up from pre-take off status. In the end we started the trundle to what seemed to be a runway at an airport in another state pretty much spot on the estimated mark.
Once in the air, the seatbelt signs came off fairly quickly, and I ventured to the facilities. We were still climbing, and as I stepped into the aisle the angle of climb increased just enough to lead to a rather faster than anticipated scurry on my part. Only a quick grab at the edge of the facilities prevented an unexpected and undignified trip though PE and Economy, probably shouting “Ooh, Betty” as I went.
When I returned, it was past midnight and the two glasses of champagne were at our suites for us to share one of those “would you have ever believed we’d be doing this?” moments.
The FSM then put in an appearance, introducing himself to every passenger and addressing them by name, and chatting about the nature of our trip. He even noted my (lowly) FC member status.
We opted to dine together again, finding ourselves the only couple so to do, everyone else preferring to be glued to the IFE. Both the tomato and fennel soup and the beef were well up to the mark; the goats cheese in the former gave it an attractive edge. As on the flight out I complemented both with the Baldrick red, which was still as cunning as a fox. I resisted (in part due to MrsPJH hissed “don’t you dare”…) giving the aeroplane salt and pepper set a comfortable retirement in Cambs..
After dinner, asked for a brandy, made my own bed (and how proud was I of that achievement!) and the next moment was being gently awoken for breakfast, brandy untouched. Tea and a bacon butty with brown sauce hit the mark and then we were into our descent. At which point one of the cabin crew came out, offering MrsPJH her congratulations on our anniversary and a bottle of champagne. Now, that was a nice touch and will be forever remembered.
We had to stooge around for a bit due to being early, but were soon legging it to “Fast Track”. Like “Expressway”, this term is currently the subject of a deposition by Mr Lionel Hutz. As the cheery immigration officer said when we finally feckin’ reached him, “no, you should have used EEC, would have been through in minutes”. Never mind, you live, learn and have another story to tell.
Then to Revivals and a wait for our car, to whisk us back to the flatlands and start final preparations for Christmas.
So, was it an excellent, memorable trip? Oh yes. Did VS service shine on both legs? Oh yes. Was it worth 180k miles? Oh yes. Were I a gold card holder I might say that PE is enough for the flight component for the east coast , but I’m not and never will be, and the whole CH experience adds so much to the fun. It's something that wasn't attainable for us when we were funding family trips - an occasional PE was an extravagance - and so as I coast down toward decrepitude in the bathchair of later middle age I intend to make the most of it each and every time possible.
Thanks to all on this forum who contributed wittingly or unwittingly to my preparations for this trip, in terms of what to do, how to do it, how to maximize miles (an astonishing number from Hotels.com!) and in doing so helped make it truly memorable. Now, where next and when?
We can get better, because we're not dead yet
