This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Then to Gate Three where Uptown Girl was waiting. My first trip on an A333, as I came out on an A340 (Rainbow Lady). Makes a direct comparison easy. Brief conversation with the Black Shirt as I Board I settle in to Seat 1A.
Okay- First impressions. The seat feels shorter than on the 340 with the Otterman much closer. It doesn’t feel narrow. The aisles are tighter, but the cabin feels cosy rather than cramped. The new screen is much higher up and in my view hideous- mock wood in the fashion of a 1970s TV set. Retro gone wrong. It has plugs for Apple products and a USB on the left hand side, but you’ll need to buy a lead to use your iPhone/iPod. To keep it brief I’ll mention my likes and dislikes.
The seat- smoother operation than the old one with nice buttons that aren’t as accidently pressed. Comfortably accommodates me ( 6 foot 40” waist) in lie flat mode. Fits snugly into the fuse side – CC provided data suggesting it was actually slightly longer than the old bed.
Otterman – not currently certified as a seat but it is hoped it will be. (Still used as one by passengers but no belt) Under Otterman storage good for books etc. but again not yet certified- everyone’s using it though. Table –not much smaller but complex compared with old one- won’t last IMHO and will have to be dealt with. Would not be possible to share a meal unless prepared to be intimate with dinner companion’s legs!
Table – one for drinks very far forward ( hane operated flip) and a very slim one aft. In practice TV screen recess makes a good drinks/snack resting surface.
The screen – only one on my left in 1A but didn’t seem too intrusive. Has a silly light on top controlled by CC .
Reading Light on top of ents screen and better than old UCS. Headset plug point better than old UCS. Pocket ridiculous- will have to be changed- one guy put his laptop in and engineer required for removal.
Bar- Great- clean white curvy surface and clean appearance. Enticing drinks storage area. On this flight use inhibited by a couple of non rev pax on the jumpseats in the exits – this is in my view not an acceptable practice.
JAM great – good touch screen though not drag and drop(next time?). Lovely features like ability to go to skymap from anywhere and save feature. Big improvement on V-Port.
Front galley – a disaster. If you want to use the front loo, not available AoG and then you have to walk though/round crew preparing meals – more of a concern for them than us.
Aft loos – cluster of 4, 2 intended for us and 2 for PE. PE pax consider all are theirs. Will have to be changed by signing/curtains etc.
So some pluses and some minuses. AS always on this flight great cabin crew in particular supervision ( understand I can’t name her) leading to great on- board service. All other aspects of service unchanged. Food – well is very Indian but guess that is the market – so Lentil soup or chicken Keebab followed by Chicken breast and veg/Lamb Rogan Ghosh or veg curry. Would have preferred a choice of non-Indian main. Afternoon tea- what performance the cake stands are for the crew! Is it worth it?
So after all this evaluation we arrived in the hold at Lambroune; you still get that wonderful burble when the Trents are almost idling just like on the -600.
I think given the space VS have designed a suite that makes amazing use of it! It remains much better than Dark Side Club World and I enjoyed my flight just as much as I would have in 340. Only ever flown the 747 a couple of times so can’t compare with that.
Arrival at Heathrow- can it always be the Olympics- two girls to brief us on Team GB on arrival, and though the scanners in two minutes plenty of staff on hand. Bag prompt so though in under 30 minutes.
