This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
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Cabin Crew
A few months beforehand the flight was switched to a 747, so we decided to upgrade to Upper Class. My parents stayed in PE as I didn’t have enough cash/miles to upgrade all four of us.
We were the first booked in Upper so requested 6A and K our favourite seats.
I checked in online for all four of us and had no issues. My parents were allocated 74A and C, which I was pleased with as they would get to experience the bubble (my mum was amazed she’d be going upstairs on a plane!). We then made our way down to Manchester, and stayed overnight at the Crowne Plaza which was very nice.
We arrived at check in around 8am, and were told there was an issue with 6K, the agent explained the table wasn’t working and there was no entertainment. He then realised we were going to Orlando and actually that problem was on the Vegas flight, thank god! Bit surprising though as Vegas was being operated by Hot Lips who’d just been refurbed.
We were issued lounge invites for ourselves and my parents, and all given fast track stickers for security. There was a large queue at security but were through in no time with the fast track line.
After a bit of shopping it was off to the Escape Lounge. I really missed the clubhouse at this point, the lounge was packed, although we were escorted to a reserved table which was a nice touch. We’d already had breakfast so I had a glass of wine and a pastry.
We were boarding from Gate 300 by bus, so were told if we wanted priority boarding we had to be at the gate by 9:45. We did so and this was the worst boarding experience I think I’ve had with any airline.
The gate was enormous but there were multiple flights going out, meaning around 1000 people were crammed in this space. There was no where an near enough seats, so everyone was crowding the boarding area, and it was boiling hot. There was a problem with passengers on a connecting Aer Lingus flight, so they kept calling names to come to the desks, unfortunately there was so many people passengers just couldn’t get through the crowd. We stood for around 45 minutes before Upper and Premium were called, and finally got out to the bus and some fresh air. I do love walking up to a 747, but the boarding process was just chaos, and not a great first impression of Virgin for my mum and dad.
Once on board there were only five passengers in Upper so it was nice quiet flight, we were greeted with Champagne and the FSM came by for a chat. The crew were great on this flight, delivered all elements of the service promptly and were friendly.
Lunch orders were taken and pre dinner drinks delivered quickly. This was the first time we’d experienced the new service and I liked the table runners and stemless wine glasses. Not too keen on the new champagne glasses, they look good but I struggled to get it to balance on the little side tray.
I had the Sommerset Cider and Onion soup to start which was tasty.
DH had the salmon.
I had the chicken main course, which I really liked. The chicken was a little dry but the Gnocchi was tasty and the mushroom sauce had a nice flavour to it, I could a done with a little more sauce.
DH had the gnocchi, which I think he liked (he ate it all anyway!).
We then both had the chocolate pudding with salted caramel sauce. Yum, this was pretty good.
The cheese trolley was brought round, I passed but DH had a selection with a glass of port.
The table of my suite would not retract after dinner, and it was reported as a defect for the next flight. This meant I couldn’t convert the suite to a bed, but as 7K was empty I just used that one.
The other three passengers all went to sleep after dinner, so I asked the FSM if my parents could briefly visit the cabin. He agreed, so I collected them from PE and brought them down. Having never travelled anything other than economy before they were amazed by Upper, and spent about 10 minutes in our suites.
Not long after my parents had gone back to their seats one of the crew came and opened my window blind to show me the VS027 flying alongside us. I'd never seen a VS plane at 36000 feet before so proceeded to take lots of pictures!
I then grabbed a couple of hours sleep, while DH watched films. At some point he sampled the Vegetarian Sushi from the graze menu which he said was tasty.
We were served afternoon tea around 1 and half hours before landing. I really liked the little cake stands, although they were a bit fiddly for the crew to put together.
We landed just about on time. Unfortunately the VS027 we'd spotted earlier had landed ahead of us, which meant an hour long queue at immigration. By the time we got through all Upper and PE luggage had been removed from the belt and put to one side, so we grabbed our bags and headed to Disneys Beach club.
Overall we had a very good flight, it’s the first time I’ve been in Upper with so few passengers, the crew were good, but I think I’ll be back to flying out of Gatwick again for the clubhouse and less chaotic boarding.
