From Limo to Lounge in 6 minutes….

I think that is a course record for me at LHR

What has happened to the CH library? No longer a quiet space to work but a space with additional seating and quite a comfortable armchair with a table attachment.

I shall post a couple of photos when the ladies speaking about pushy parents, trying to force marriage upon them, and their love of the VS brand disappear to board their flight.

Only thing missing is service and a glass of whiskey.

Have moved onto the brasserie bar where wifi is better although service again is alluding me .. oh and an american gentlemen has sat opposite and is rather provocatively eating a banana….. agh going to be one of those days. ii)

Happy Thursday all y)

[buns]

No doubt the extra seating is in preparation for the hoards of Delta folks ):

Enjoy the Clubhouse

buns

Wow six minutes :0 , I'll see if I can better that in Feb, not sure if it will be possible with oversize luggage I've never managed to use the DTCI with my Snowboarding gear yet.

Enjoy the CH and for heavens sake get that man some JD ):

Have moved onto the brasserie bar where wifi is better although service again is alluding me .. oh and an american gentlemen has sat opposite and is rather provocatively eating a banana….. agh going to be one of those days. ii)

Happy Thursday all y)

Lol lol genius lol
Off to the USandA?

Well dom I do have my trusty wheeled carry on which is ideal for pushing loiterers in the duty free area out of the way :0

Yeh buns was thinking that too, but I am not sure that it is going to be as bad as people think it is going to be.

Yep heading onto the VS1 G (stop sniggering at the back Blacky ) - thought I would fly it one last time before they move it to be in line with the VS3.

Actually on the subject of Blacky, I'm not quite sure why but I am slightly paranoid he will just appear and tell tales of being dropped off at the DTCI in a ford transit B)

Service is a tad shaky today actually.... Not sure why as the CH is barely full, staff are either distracted with the same pax or each other and if I watch the staffer in the restaurant re-stack the water one more time I am going to scream :0

I can agree with the service being below par.
When I was there last, about 2 weeks ago, the service was very below par v(
Not very full, lots of CH staff standing at the far end of the bar as they do. I tried to make eye contact four or five times, including raising my hand, like I was back at school, but nothing. In the end I walked up to the them and asked if I could order some food and coffee.
Now, I can see eyes rolling from all sides "He actually had to get up, oh my, poor chap"
For me, that is not the issue. The issue is the decline I can see in the service, the time before, just a few week prior to this visit, the service was only a little bit better as I stopped one of them as there were walking past.
Does anyone know if we have had a change of management in the CH or a huge staff turnover??

Alas not to be this time joey ,have a great time in good old NYC ,
Much jealousy in Hertfordshire at the moment !

I can agree with the service being below par.
When I was there last, about 2 weeks ago, the service was very below par v(
Not very full, lots of CH staff standing at the far end of the bar as they do. I tried to make eye contact four or five times, including raising my hand, like I was back at school, but nothing. In the end I walked up to the them and asked if I could order some food and coffee.
Now, I can see eyes rolling from all sides "He actually had to get up, oh my, poor chap"
For me, that is not the issue. The issue is the decline I can see in the service, the time before, just a few week prior to this visit, the service was only a little bit better as I stopped one of them as there were walking past.
Does anyone know if we have had a change of management in the CH or a huge staff turnover??

Unfortunately I think the subject of declining CH standards is going to be a very common and much debated topic in the next few months , v( n(

I've never seen particularly good service for drinks at certain times of the day in the Clubhouse in LHR. I think we've been there three times now, all from around 11ish to 3ish, and fine at first, but past about 1pm, you need a lassoo to get attention.

Its not even as if there's none around, they have got that blinkered vision thing on, picking up empty glasses, never passing your way, it would be funny if it didn't devalue the excellent place in some way... We end up having to walk to bar to order a lot of the times. Or sit at it...

I've never seen particularly good service for drinks at certain times of the day in the Clubhouse in LHR. I think we've been there three times now, all from around 11ish to 3ish, and fine at first, but past about 1pm, you need a lassoo to get attention.

Oh do not get me wrong. I have had some fantastic service in the LHR CH in the past, from wait staff to airline staff, to the point where I was traveling a lot they knew my name and I had a drink within mins of sitting down.
Of course I don't expect that every time, you have to counter amount of people to staff, staff having a bad day etc, etc, etc. It's just the last few times all the attributes have been in their favor and I almost felt I was doing something a little wrong by wanting a drink and a little chow!!!!

Well, I first visited the Clubshouse in February 2011 so perhaps the downside was there. I found it actually gets worse service as it gets quieter...

But the service around 11-12ish is fine.

From chatting to CH staff in the past, I believe the shifts change over at 3.

So once the morning rush has died down at 12/1, I imagine they're all pretty tired and let things slip a bit during the two hour lull at the end of the shift when it's pretty quiet.

That's not to excuse it - management should really ensure service doesn't slip - but if they don't you can understand why it happens. There can't be many people who are still at the top of their game at the end of an early shift.

It was not my intention to highlight the declining CH service standards this extensively.. to be honest it was only a select few that appeared a bit indifferent and, as someone picked up, it was end of shift so that zombie feeling was kicking in.

The bar staff clustered down one end of the bar all talking to each other and ultimately other servers joined in the little party - it would have been up to the CH manager to break up the fun so perhaps an easy fix for VS if they are reading

My time in the CH was spent eating, drinking and chatting... all that is really required from an airline lounge I think.

It is odd that although the work desks have gone from the library the mixing deck is still there!!! Has anyone ever seen this properly in use? Since it was installed I have seen some kids playing with it and the occasional pax investigating what the iMac in the corner is for, but that is about it.. ?|

I will not be doing a TR but the flight was good, crew were awesome and despite all the turbulence it was a pretty sound trip. The mini JD bottles are completely gone now and have been replaced with a big bottle of Gentlemen Jack, so there will no longer be a danger of me finishing the supply... I did float the subject, but the crew stated they would have stopped serving me long before I got through the bottle in fear that I would wind up patrolling the plane trying to organise a sing along ii)

I do have some photos of the new library layout but they are currently stuck on my phone with a dead battery. I shall post them in the morning when both the phone and myself have had a chance to recharge.

Safe flights to any taking them and have a good weekend V-Flyers 8D

Have the work desks really been removed from the library? Argh. I really liked working quietly in there.

another change for the worse.

Great to hear that the bottle of Gentleman Jack wasn't just a one off y)
Hailing from the Port of Plymouth I would have been up for a sea shanty or two to speed the flight along ): (after we had dealt with the Gentleman Jack of course)

On the occasions that I have found the CH Staff Lurking at the end of the Bar I have always taken this as my cue to find a seat at the Bar and chat with the Bar Staff (can't remember his name but the guy who is trailing the new uniform in there is a Diamond)

The mini JD bottles are completely gone now and have been replaced with a big bottle of Gentlemen Jack, so there will no longer be a danger of me finishing the supply... I did float the subject, but the crew stated they would have stopped serving me long before I got through the bottle in fear that I would wind up patrolling the plane trying to organise a sing along ii)

) ) ) ) ) That really made me laugh out loud!

As you can see the library is no longer geared towards a quiet space to get some work done n(

Granted this area was probably under utilised given its size, but for a business class lounge they really do need a quiet space for people to get some work done...

Thanks for posting that Joey.

But I am horrified that they've done that. :0 It was the only place where you could escape the noise and (unnecessary) background music. I agree it was probably too big, but to get rid of it with no compensatory arrangement (I assume?) is crazy IMO. Business class -- the clue is in the name.

To be pedantic, it's not business class - it's Upper Class. But I get your point.

From joeyc's pictures though, it looks like there are still individual "work pods" (for want of a better name).

To be pedantic, it's not business class - it's Upper Class. But I get your point.

From joeyc's pictures though, it looks like there are still individual "work pods" (for want of a better name).

When I was in the CH last month they had laptops in the "work pods ",
Are they not there anymore ?

To be pedantic, it's not business class - it's Upper Class. But I get your point.

I know that there are lots of v-flyers who fly UC for pleasure, but this is a business-class product and that is surely where VS is or should be earning a substantial portion of its UC revenues. I think it would be a serious mistake to neglect that side of the market.

I know I sound boring but quiet workspace with decent IT facilities is pretty important. I've not been flying much of late (will pick up again next year, sadly!), but the thing I need most in a lounge is the opportunity to have some decent food and then plough on with all of the work that mounts up whilst I'm travelling.

I don't know - personally when travelling on business I tend to eat, then do email in 30 mins in order to make most of champers and cocktails - as the trip over is usually the only relaxing time for a 1 or 2 week period (I tend personally to work weekends when travelling).

My view is if my staff can't let me enjoy the flight I'm not doing a good job. And there is wifi on *some* VS routes now which work will pay for if it is essential anyhow. Does anyone else thing VS should advertise X routes has having wifi - to attract more business?

To be pedantic, it's not business class - it's Upper Class. But I get your point.

From joeyc's pictures though, it looks like there are still individual "work pods" (for want of a better name).

When I was in the CH last month they had laptops in the "work pods ",
Are they not there anymore ?

Yep there are individual work pods (or couple's work pods if you are really close ), but unfortunately they are not very private or quiet if a group of people avail themselves of the new seating arrangement. I guess noise cancelling headphones could do the trick or they simply have a 'quiet please' policy in this area - just like an actual library. With service being non existent I do not foresee this being enforced though.

Yep Blacky, 2 of the 'pods' had laptops in them the other two gave desk space for people to plug in their own. The wifi is extremely weak in this area, so I was using one of the VS laptops in my photo. Don't forget guys there are also laptops stationed on the brasserie bar and the random little work bench behind the pool table and gaming area - the issue here has got to be the lack of that oasis of calm and quiet that we all could use at times for meditation and contemplation (or in AT's case to finish off that employee evaluation or two after a couple of mojitos )

Got to love a bit of pedantic reasoning gumshoe although, thinking on it this way, it is a Clubhouse that hosts not only the VS UC (the onboard offering) but also select partners' business classes and is a pay access business class lounge too Whilst I agree with the main sentiment that a bit of R&R is required, I do maintain that to completely strip out the quiet space option at this time is perhaps a tad questionable... let's see how it unfolds.

Their total area is finite and aside from stealing some space from the jazz corridor (the area behind the bar), or perhaps some of the zone next to the concierge desk I don't quite know where they can expand.... into the sky loft perhaps? The area is frequently 'closed' during the day anyway :w

As I have droned on a tad, here is a nice picture of a sunset - happy travels all

That's a beautiful sunset.

I will assume that the space was being under-utilised, hence it was taken up by much needed seats. I personally never spend up to 2 hours in the CH which is only enough to grab a quick bite and a drink or two, send a few emails (and maybe download attachments to work on in-flight, get a treatment and board.

Perhaps I'm not in the minority.