This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
This was to be my last VS flight. But they were so damn good, it just made me love them even more. So well done VS. I'm staying put.
Spending 80K miles on a flight isn't the best use imho but, as I wanted rid, that's what we did. 160K miles on two G's. Having done our research and with our son in school, we were somewhat free to pick and choose. VS made it easy. There were in fact too many flights to choose from and so a little research on here helped us out.
VS045 is a 1300hrs flight from LHR into JFK. Coming up from Cornwall, we wanted to arrive in time to 'use' the lounge as much as we could
so the plan was to get up early…….that soon faltered and we booked into the Hilton at T5. With status with that group being the only reason. I got a good rate courtesy of another forum, which gave me 40% off. Lovely.After dropping the car into our parking slot (I had ummed and aahhed about DTCI but as we were so close the hassle/cost was not worth the effort). So we did ONCI in Cornwall before we left home. Despite Superfast broadband, a keen Mac and keener operative, we failed the elusive SEQ1 and 2 and sighed at something like 17 and 22…..useless.
A fair sleep at the Hilton meant we woke and skipped breakfast (can't think why) to hot foot it to the CH. Our first time at LHR.
Despite using ONCI we went to the desks to get a proper boarding pass (sad) and directions to the CH.
Up the stairs, through security which was empty and whoosh. Magic door indeed. WOW. 8.15am.
Now, Mr Marshy and I are not usually indecisive but with an emptyish lounge and what looked like hundreds of seats we sat in about 5 or 6 spots before settling for good.
After decanting our hats, scarves and jackets we picked our treatments. Him the haircut and shave, me the nails and facial. Booked in for 9.30, perfect.
We slid across from our chosen seats to the restaurant to sit upright and eat like a civilised pair. Eggs benedict and eggs royale. Two glasses of bubbly. Delicious.
Service was superb. Everyone was on the ball and when the plates were cleared we headed for our seats (we contemplated settling again but Mr M saw a cricket legend, so we sat nearby
.)
After a few text exchanges with our cricket-mad son, the seats felt very good indeed.
Off to the treatments. My young lady was blooming, being a few months pregnant and so we chatted about all things relating to pregnancy, children and parenting. It was very relaxed and in no time at all I was done. That was the quickest 60 minutes of my life and only second to the entire time in the CH. Met up with hubby who had a very dapper looking hair cut and a glowing face. His lady was good too
We sampled the redheads, bubbly and more bubbly. Not being a good flyer, I would have been happy to stay put for the next 5 days, but suddenly the flight was called and we were off. Sorry, no second call needed (it's just to ease the nerves).
On board, we were welcomed by name (which for me is neither here nor there
and we took up residence in 17A and 18A.
Seat was a little worn but not having been in the nose before, it was an airy and very pleasant experience.
One glass of bubbly was emptied quickly but not refilled but I wasn't too worried. My preflight routine means I need to strap myself in tight, grip the sides and take deep breaths, so holding a glass is not the best thing.
We took off (on time I think) with 317 on board.
I couldn't look but pointed the phone to see what it looked like as we left. Not bad.
Once the seatbelt signs were off I released my grip and allowed the blood to flow back to my hands. After all, I would need them to grasp the many glasses of bubbly…...
Feeling peckish and in need of something to soak up the alcohol I perused the menu whilst scoffing the crisps.
I had the salmon followed by chicken and then the cheese. (sorry about the focus but the iPhone isn't that great close up when I've had a small sherry
)
It was all delicious and quickly devoured. Service here was perfectly timed and seemed more 'restaurant' service than trolley dolley. Each person was served singularly, by that I mean there wasn't a huge dash of the cabin with 20 knives and forks and 6 starters. 10/10.
I settled down and watched two films. Now, being frank and honest, I can't recall what they were. On my return (TR to follow) I found them and watched them again.
There was a spot of turbulence at this time, so I put my head under the duvet, resumed the 'grip' pose and I must have fallen asleep.
![][|)](./images/smilies/icon_smile_sleepy.gif "Sleepy"){kind=icon}
I woke up to afternoon tea. I couldn't work out what the sandwiches were but one of them was vile. Complete with moon shaped bite, it was put back on my plate only to be spotted by Mr Marshy who scoffed it without hesitating. Along with the cakes. I'm not sweet-toothed. He said they were delicious, but to be honest I think 20odd years of my cooking isn't much to measure it by.
Black coffee and stretch before i took a snap of the view and gripped down for the landing.
We landed at 3.30pm local time and were first-ish off.
Had the biggest shocks of our lives in the following 11 minutes. I say 11 minutes as that is all it took from arriving in the immigration hall and stepping foot outside on the tarmac. That was one shock. 11 minutes? Should we go back and check we didn't miss immigration? The other shock was our immigration officer. She was chatty, pleasant and funny. In fact, there were a few jokes made before she wished us a very pleasant stay.
Luggage was on the carousel so we stood patiently for a few minutes before we spotted it had been put between two carousels along with 20 or so others. It would seem all the UC and PE bags were off and the Y were floating around in a circle.
Grabbed our bright cases and fled.
Shell shocked, we opted for the train to Jamaica and subway to our hotel.
Just as a side note, our friends arrived on Thanksgiving on an AA flight from Manchester and had the joys of a 2hr 30 minute scrummage through immigration.
VS I know you didn't get us through, but you topped our cake with the most delicious of icing.
Last edited by marshy11 on 01 Dec 2013, 19:02, edited 2 times in total.
linda
