This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
We arrived at a very busy check-in area, but luckily we managed to get served quickly at the Upper Class desks. We asked out of interest how much the upgrade from PE to Upper was that day – when we fly back from JFK they always quote a price of over a £1,000 each. However, today we were quoted a total of $328 each – seemed like a bargain to us. As I got my credit card out, the very helpful check-in agent informed us we had already been moved to Upper! Throughout the check-in, the ground agent was fun and friendly – great at 6am in the morning! Having dropped off bags, we headed to the lounge. Have never used this before and seemed nice, although I miss not having windows. Not particularly hungry although snacked a little on the buffet breakfast there.
Flight was called a little late, and headed off through security. It will be good when the lounge is airside, as there was quite a queue and it took some time. When we finally got to the gate they hadn’t really started boarding yet. Managed to get through the “priority lane” and onto the plane – boarding was through 1L, which meant that everyone was coming through Upper....some interesting comments were passed! The offering this morning was tea/coffee/juice....champagne was on the bar although I think only one person had it – even for me it was too early! Upper was less than half full. Crew were fun, friendly and engaging with everyone throughout the boarding process.
Shortly after take-off, the rise and shine service was offered – selection of cereals, breakfast muffins, bacon butty and smoothies with tea/coffee etc. Service was very swift indeed, which was good as I was getting hungry! Had some rice krispies and a bacon butty – first set of cutlery had to go back as they were dirty (the only negative point of the whole flight). The FSM came around and personally spoke to each passenger in Upper individually, which seemed genuine. Then settled down to watch some movies – Man on a Ledge and Safe House, but of which were very good. At some point I thought I would order a Virgin Mary....when I discovered my partner was having a bloody mary, I decided to upgrade as it was after midday somewhere and I was on a flight (it reality it must have been about midday US time!). When I asked at the bar, the friendly cabin crew commented “I could never see the point of tomato juice without vodka!” – a fairly true comment. This was then followed by a glass of champagne – tricky in flight with the larger glasses (the comment this time was “there’s always champagne available in my house!”. These were accompanied by some crisps and snacks from the bar selection. Throughout the flight after the rise and shine service, the cabin crew were around and about in the cabin ensuring people had drinks / other things that they needed – much more attentive than I have ever seen before on a flight.
Lunch / dinner orders were taken about 3 hours before landing at LHR, along with drinks requests for those people who had not already started drinking. I opted for the bourbon-cured pork belly with Fuji apple salad (from the graze menu) followed by the pan-roasted free-range chicken breast stuffed with truffled mushrooms and then the lemon/vanilla cheese cake. The pork belly was really good indeed; I was tempted by the short rib as people have been very positive about it on here, but decided that I had had a lot of beef in the US. Service was amazing throughout, with drinks topped up as needed, along with plenty of water. The FSM was around and about in the cabin during service, making sure that things were running smoothly. Cheese trolley was around as normal – it would be rude not to! Again, I had this with a glass of the American Zinfandel....this had to be opened for me and when they got round to my partner and he had the same, the cabin crew person informed me that he was “stealing my wine”! All of the interactions with the crew were fun and friendly – I got the impression that some people had worked together before and were friends and obviously this lead to a better working environment.
After dinner, we had a short time at the bar....just because it was there! The crew were there to ensure drinks were topped up as necessary and we had a good chat with them about a few things, including potential new routes that might be happening. Moscow was mentioned – will be interesting if they do decide to take this on, since this is a there and back flight which is very different to what VS crew currently do. All too soon, it was time to pack up and sit down for our landing at LHR. Immigration was quiet and bags were off relatively quickly before we headed off to get the HEX back into London.
Impression
- Great flight back to London, and I would travel on the daytime flight back from EWR again. I often think that paying for an Upper upgrade on the short east coast US flights is not worth it as the service is very much about getting to sleep. However, on this flight, the whole experience was more like a flight to the US and also means that we were home shortly before bedtime!
- The cabin crew in Upper were amazing. They were fun, friendly and engaging and probably the best VS crew that I have ever flown with!! They were clearly led by a very good FSM and also were definitely customer focused. A letter has been sent to The Office in Manor Royal to point out just how good they were!
