This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
So back to the actual TR. I normally do not get to the airport early for any flight and generally arrive at the airport a minimum of 2 hours before flight time, but this day was different as I fully intended to watch the Champions League matches playing that evening. That being the case, I headed out to the airport at about 5:00PM and was at DTCI a little after 6. Check in as usual was breeze, but that is when the fun stopped. Ended up spending almost 15 minutes in the security queue (too many people that were just taking the time to sort out liquids, laptops and tablets, belts, shoes, etc) but by the time it started moving, I think that there were about 20 of us waiting and when we started out I was about 5th in line.
So that was over, and after a quick stop at the VAT refund desk, it was up to the CH for me. Welcomed in with a smile and “I’m sure you know where everything is”. Once in the CH I dropped off my cabin luggage with the nice chap and made a beeline for the TV area. Chose a lovely spot to set up camp for the evening and staked my claim by artfully arranging a few belongings here and there, ordered a Redhead. I popped over to the spa and booked a maintenance mani for 9 PM and went back to my camp to order supper which was tapas (if I recall correctly, I had the pork belly, shepherd’s pie and sweet potato fries – all were wonderful).
Soon enough it was footie time and I had the pleasure of watching both the Chelsea and Arsenal matches simultaneously. At half time, I popped into DF to buy something called a Devil’s Cut for my husband. He also asked for Glenmorangie, Glenfiddich and some other Glen but considering the fact that I had 2 bottles of Mount Gay Rum in my suitcase, I decided not too venture too far off my Duty Free allowance. Annoyingly, on my way to the queue, I was waylaid and coerced into buying a Salvatore Ferragamo eau de parfum (this is why I avoid Duty Free). I paid for my purchase and went back for the second half of the footie.
When it was time, I went for my mani but was asked to come back 15 minutes later as they were running late. Not a problem for me as that meant that I could go back to the TV. Got my mani finished just as the first call went out, but as a true V-Flyer, I waited for the last and final call before leaving the CH.
I had a meeting scheduled for the following morning, so it was my full intention to sleep through the flight, so I popped a sleeping tablet and made the long journey to Gate 22 where the priority lane was full and economy lane was empty, so I walked past the people in the priority lane and went to the economy line and was through in 10A in seconds. I accepted the offer for OJ and changed into a sleep suit with every intention to be in bed as soon as the seatbelt light was turned off.
I wasn’t watching the time, but boarding was over fairly quickly and pushed off only a few minutes later than we were supposed to. Taxied and sat on the tarmac in the rain for a bit before we eventually took off. And true to my intention, I converted the seat as soon as the seatbelt light was turned off after the usual struggle to get the duvet and bedsheet[?] out. I then decided to watch a filmand made the silly mistake of forgetting that I was in a 346 so attempted to navigate Vera by touchscreen. I soon remembered where I was and scrolled through the choices and settled on “The Heat”. Seeing as sleep was not forthcoming, I decided to have some dessert and cheese and settled down to wait for sleep.
Now this is where it all went pear shaped and why CC got only 2 stars. I was asked if I wanted any duty free and I mentioned that I had some 2 sets of pre-orders and could they be brought to me. The reply was, “I’m a bit busy right now, but if you remind me later, I will sort it out”. I did remind him later and I went to sleep afterwards. Now what usually happens when I’m asleep and I have duty free to be delivered it is placed in the little cubby hole under the ottoman. So I woke up about 3 hours later expecting to see my stuff but I didn’t so I went up to the CC and gave him my receipts and after a lot of faffing about which quite literally p****d me off, he came back with only 1 out of 2. I asked where’s the second one and he says, “Oh, I thought it was the 2 items in the bag” and I say, “NO, I gave you two receipts for 2 different products”. So he faffs off again and shortly before descent, I get a visit from some other member of crew apologizing and informing me that it doesn’t seem that the order was loaded and I should contact retail therapy for a refund.
I did contact retail therapy (who were fantastic by the way) and they said, the item was loaded on the flight but returned to the warehouse. I got my refund the same day but was a bit miffed as this was something I had promised my uncle I would get for him.
Anyhow, back to the flight, we landed on time and cleared immigration pretty quickly and went into the newly refurbished luggage area and I thought oh joy it’s been done up, maybe I’ll get out of the airport even quicker, boy was I wrong, it took an hour and a half for my luggage to come out. That was painful. Eventually got my bags, went home, showered and went straight to work.
Thanks for reading. Hope that didn’t drag on too much.
Loyal VS Flyer since 2003
