This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Arrived into London Gatwick from Guernsey Friday afternoon, and whilst having a drink in the Hilton, we checked in for our flight the following afternoon. We caught the National express to Heathrow Terminal 4. The express took about 2 hours or so due to heavy traffic, this was a Friday afternoon post 3pm, so not surprising.
Arrived at Terminal 4 and headed to the Hilton for our overnight stay.
Morning of the flight to New York was here, we arrived at the UC check in zone about 10:30am and were promptly dealt with, our cases were tagged and our boarding passes issued with the seats we selected at booking 12A and 12K. Before long we were heading to the lift and up to the security channel.
Security was quiet with only one or two people in front of us. We were quickly through and heading for the Clubhouse. Ascending the stairs and there were a couple of people ahead of us, it appeared that someone was trying to get in the clubhouse who wasn't flying Virgin, he was very quickly dispatched by one of the lounge dragons. We were checked in and welcomed back to the clubhouse.
Check in to Clubhouse in about 10 minutes.
Found a seat in the Clubhouse behind the bar and waited for a server, who soon appeared and before long a Cosmo and champagne were soon in hand.
Whilst relaxing, we were approached by a member of the Flying Club staff who asked how we were finding things and generally looking for feedback I think.
A clubhouse burger was ordered and whilst apparently still as good as previously, this was a little bit dry.
Boarding was called and we were advised the gate ( can't remember which one) was a 10 minute walk away, which wasn't a surprise as every gate that was called whilst we were in the clubhouse as a 10 minute walk away.
Anyway, we arrived at the gate to be greeted by Lady Penelope who would be our lady taking us cross the pond to NYC. We normally choose seats up in the bubble when flying on a 744, but this time for a change we thought we give the A-Zone a try and had bagged 12A & K. Walking onto Lady Pen, we were greeted at the door and directed to turn left and head to the front :-).
Being the first time in the A-zone, I was surprise by the space here. We settled into our seats and the cabin crew serving our cabin introduced themselves and took drink orders. Champagne was ordered and gratefully appreciated. The new coupe glasses are nice, but a little impractical as I couldn't place my glass on the little tray due to the light being in the way and totally impractical during turbulence. But in all fairness, the glass wasn't full for long enough for it to be a problem.
The pilot announced that we had a flight time of 6 hours 30 mins, with 14 crew and 363 passengers onboard. We pushed back relatively on time at 2pm, with a bit of a taxi, we were finally airborne at 14:40.
Hot towels ( which were very hot) were offered. Having freshen up, I wiped around my seat area and it was rather clean.
Before long food orders were being taken, having seen the menu on V-Flyer, I had ordered a special meal, which was confirmed as being onboard. The tables were set laid and I do like the new table settings. The Amuse Bouche arrived and was nice if a little small. Starters were delivered and I was presented with a Grilled Pepper, Artichoke and beetroot salad, which was very nice. My main meal consisted of Rice with mixed vegetables. It was piping hot. I finished the meal with the Lemon Cheesecake, which was delicious. My travelling companion had the Prawns for starters, which looked rather small but was ok apparently. She followed this with the beef, which she said was well cooked and piping hot too. She rounded off with the sticky toffee pudding which she said was very nice indeed.
After the meal, we headed to the bar and spent some good time there chatting with the cabin crew whilst they were going about their duties. I asked what they thought about the A330 and the new suites and the isles being narrow for the trolly of doom and they were rather curious about how I knew about it. We were both asked to complete X-Plane surveys and I can concur with other comments, these give no ability to provide comments at all and is just a tick box exercise.
Whilst at the bar and chatting to the cabin manager, it turned out that one of the cabin crew had been taken ill, he was behind the curtain to the right of the bar and he didn't look very well when I saw him through the curtain. There was a request over the PA for any medically qualified volunteers, though not sure if this was for the crew member or someone else.
We headed back to our seats for afternoon tea. I have to say the new cake stand is different, a nice touch, if a little too plastic and flimsy. Sandwiches and scones were ordered and enjoyed.
We landed into JFK at 16:40 local and made our way to security. It was busy and took us about an hour and a half to get through, so wasn't too bad considering the amount of people in the hall.
Over all we had an excellent flight with excellent crew and good service. Another great flight with Virgin
A Purple Boarding Pass and a glass of Champagne thank you very much :-)
