This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
The story starts a year ago when at the conclusion of my Retirement function, i told my Godson and his wife that Mrs Buns and myself would take them at their two sons to Florida as a thank you for all the support they had shown us over the preceding months when I was unwell.
At the appointed day (i.e. 333 days + 24 hours) I started to scour the VS Website for fares, having already discounted using VH Holidays as the prices were so excruciatingly high
The fares coming back were also high so I took to the phone and Flying Club were able to offer 4 return PW flights and 2 with PE out and Upper returns for less that was coming up on line 
My Godson and wife were pleased to be going PE and the wife returning in Upper as she is a nervous flyer.About a month later, I happened to stumble across upgrade prices at a fraction above the costs of buying "Guest List" for them - so in a heartbeat these were booked.
The only question was - could we keep this bonus a secret until the day
Flash forward to the day before departure and having done OLCI we made our way to the Hilton Gatwick Airport to meet up with the family to stay there overnight before travelling. I took the two boys around the Airport whilst mum, dad and Mrs Buns had a drink at the Bar. The two boys were far more interested in finding "Match Attax" cards and it transpired that football was to be a reoccurring theme for this trip. Later that evening there was an impromptu V Flyer get together as we met Smid and Nottingham Nick with their respective over halves in the Exec Lounge in the Hilton - everyone there knew the surprise Upper upgrade except my Godson and his family
The following morning we made our way to the Upper Class check in and all went smoothly as they believed our Gold Cards entitled them to use the facility. Within 20 minutes of leaving the Hotel we were safely in the Clubhouse and it was fortunate that during my visit in March I had mentioned the fact to the staff there and they had set aside a table for us to have breakfast
The girls booked treatments immediately on arrival and after breakfast we settled down to enjoy the atmosphere. This was of particular importance to my Godson's wife as she was still pretty nervous about the flight. The boys played on both the Gamers Consoles available and were particularly struck with the X Box as this had a football game on it !! During our stay, an ex England Football player came in and at an appropriate time he gladly posed for photos with the boys
Sadly, the time came to leave and we made our way to the aircraft - being in the Clubhouse meant that we had only 15 - 20 minutes before the door closed which i realised is also good for nervous passengers. As we boarded we were shown to the front on the aircraft where it finally dawned that we were all travelling Upper
There was disbelief (and some treats) and I knew then that we had managed to keep the secret. The CC were equally surprised at what had happened and could not do enough for every member of my family throughout the flight. After takeoff I had my one and only drink as I would be driving at the other end, whist my companions (boys excluded) took advantage of everything on offer
I will not go into too much detail as to the menu as has Amo has already pointed out, there is now a now menu in operation. Suffice to say the beef was nice and tender and the eldest boy lapped up the chicken. The boys were soon engrossed in the IFE and quickly worked out that the "Kids Only" button, watching both Despicable Me 2 and the Lego Movie.
Everyone enjoyed Afternoon Tea and before too long the cabin was being closed down for landing.
Just before landing, an ex Arsenal Player who was travelling in PE kindly agreed to the FSM's request to come to the Upper Cabin to have his photo with the Boys - a big thumbs up from them as their cousins support Arsenal
We had been delayed taking off for over an hour so had concerns that we would be faced with Immigration Queues seeing a VS, VS and a Thomas Cook aircraft all on stand, fortunately, there were no queues and we were through in next to no time and ready to do battle with the Theme Parks - something that I am still trying to recover from
All in all, an excellent flight and I am pleased to report that having young ones in the Upper Cabin can be accomplished with ease to the benefit to all concerned as long as they have plenty to occupy themselves with. Of course having a fantastic Crew did help
Thanks for reading
buns
