I didn't want to do four trip reports so i wanted to condense everything into a super report here. I hope that's OK.
I initially booked in economy out and premium back, but then i decided to splash out (i've not been on holiday in years, and a few trips to Manchester via Little Red doesn't count) so i upgraded the whole lot out to DL BE out to JFK and VS UCDS via ATL back. I realise people don't like it, but as i'm 5'4 i figured i should be OK.
I flew out on DL1 in BE via LHR T3 to New York to connect to my flight to Nashville, so I wanted to do the full VS experience including DTCI and the Clubhouse.
The first issue i ran into was with the VS flight - i booked for Seat Plus, but VS failed to take the money when they should have. So when the credit card statement was due (and i paid all of it minus £75), several calls to VS later and I was told three times (over a month) to "wait a few more days for the refund to go through". On the third call they admitted the money was never taken, panic ensued and i had to call the card company to cancel the interest (as it was a special circumstance) which gratefully they did. VS gave me 8000 miles for the hassle.
The second issue i ran into was with booking the DTCI. The twitter feed, customer services, VS upper class support, Delta support (who had no idea what the "upper class wing" and DTCI was!) and even email support said no (in some cases, multiple times). You lovely V-Flyers helped me out with this and I was able to book this in perfectly. My friend drove me down to LHR, who was confused with the idea of DTCI and wanted to see it.
"Oh it's literally a roundabout"
DTCI, for the first time was great, the VS staff i ran into was extremely friendly and very excited i was going to Nashville and the culture there. When they took my bags, they asked me to hold up there as they need DL staff there needed to do security which they couldnt do. About 3 minutes later someone from DL security turned up who only asked three questions and then escorted me (again chatting about nashville) to the security wing. A quick dash through security (after the candles set it off and they poked at it) taking about 5 minutes i wandered over to the glorious-time-black-hole that is the Clubhouse. I was expecting more issues, but i found things run easier when you have the original flight codes (DL1, rather than VS5301) and they found me in seconds. Straight to breakfast and spa and then straight to the bar to sample the delights of the cocktail menu.
A fantastic facial (which nearly sent me to sleep) later i sat outside and watched the world go by before i went back and tackled more cocktails.
At the last and final call, i went over to my flight and took my seat and got comfortable. DL BE is totally different to VS UC. I cannot remember who said on here (if its you wave!), but DL BE is much better suited towards working and if travelling in a pair then it suits better because of the tables and the level seat layouts in the centre two. The massage function (and Delta Sunrise cocktails) really did help the flights go by - although for some reason i got about three electric shocks from the headset they gave me (should i report this?). The food was really nice, although they stole the menu after i tried to hide it. I had a chicken dish which was quite tasty (especially with another cocktail) and the olives/cheese starter was really nice to get my appetite going.
The IFE was great to use, although with the chair being laid all the way out (and being so short), pausing/unpausing the video meant leaning up rather than an armside pause button. That would have been nice.
After faffing through JFK immigration and customs (and managing, for the first time ever, a smile by saying "i normally look less miserable than the photo on my passport", collected baggage and transferred to T2.
The Sky Club in T2 here is, for all intents, a waste of time. To call it "not a patch on the clubhouse" gives a disservice to the clubhouse - it's just a room with not very comfortable seats, wifi that doesn't work properly and some very basic amenities. I sat in the corner watching the gates and eventually left 15 minutes later, opting to sit downstairs.
Once i boarded my flight, i realised this plane is TINY! It was a CRJ900, my first experience in one. It was quite lightly loaded too. They offered refreshments for the 2 hour flight, but the flight basically flew by when they realised i was from London because they asked every time they passed by if i wanted something - eventually going off, getting the other cabin crew to come back and ask me AGAIN if i wanted something just to hear me say "can i have a bottle of water please"
I realise it's quite awkward but i was too busy laughing at how entertaining the were. I noticed on all the delta domestic flights i took they kept the seat belt light on all the time.
The DL flight back to ATL was only 30 minutes, and for the first time in an MD88. Quiet on the ground, but when it got to 10k feet it was EXTREMELY noisy - and i was in row 2. The AC was up to full blast which certainly did not help.
The cabin crew came up to everyone, greeting them by name (according to the roster) and taking their drinks orders - only to, 10 minutes later, apologise that there would be no drinks service as it's a full flight and it's only 36 minutes. They then came around again, apologising to everyone and thanking everyone for flying DL and they "appreciate the custom". To be fair, flying DL wasn't a conscious choice but merely a blip in between the VS experience.
The plane itself looked real tired: looking down you can see loose panels and wiring, and looking up i could see panels loose and could see the yellow oxygen masks above.
The real jewel of the whole flight experience had to be VS104 back to London. I was in the dreaded UCDS for the first time, so i wanted to see if it was as bad as i had read. Being so short, no it wasnt when i was sat up. Plenty of space either side and the seats was very comfortable for me - travelling alone i opted to entertain the cabin crew, so once we was at cruise i changed into my bright pink onesie (warned the crew what i was upto) and sat at the bar. Over the next 90 minutes virtually all the premium/upper crew came up and asked - even talking to me in the galley when i went to get my case - about my onesie, why i was wearing it and where i got it from. One crew member said she wanted to get one to surprise her son, so i encouraged her to get it. After a 3 hour nap in the bed (which was quite narrow, but i sleep on my front so no surprise) i changed back out of my onesie and packed it away (had two more crew to ask me about it ) and returned to my seat. As i left the plane in London, the FSM came up to me and said "to say thank you for making out flight so memorable, we'd like to give you something" and they gave me a bottle of wine!
I was like...
"is this a joke?!" and they said "no its yours enjoy it!" and i just stuffed it into my luggage and ran away quickly.
Despite being a night flight the staff was all completely on point, extremely friendly and very chatty to me the whole time - even just to say "i love the pink". I've already written an email to say thank you to the staff at the VS clubhouse and on 104 back to London. I've never laughed so much on a flight before, but that VS sparkle really did show through on this trip.
I initially booked in economy out and premium back, but then i decided to splash out (i've not been on holiday in years, and a few trips to Manchester via Little Red doesn't count) so i upgraded the whole lot out to DL BE out to JFK and VS UCDS via ATL back. I realise people don't like it, but as i'm 5'4 i figured i should be OK.
I flew out on DL1 in BE via LHR T3 to New York to connect to my flight to Nashville, so I wanted to do the full VS experience including DTCI and the Clubhouse.
The first issue i ran into was with the VS flight - i booked for Seat Plus, but VS failed to take the money when they should have. So when the credit card statement was due (and i paid all of it minus £75), several calls to VS later and I was told three times (over a month) to "wait a few more days for the refund to go through". On the third call they admitted the money was never taken, panic ensued and i had to call the card company to cancel the interest (as it was a special circumstance) which gratefully they did. VS gave me 8000 miles for the hassle.
The second issue i ran into was with booking the DTCI. The twitter feed, customer services, VS upper class support, Delta support (who had no idea what the "upper class wing" and DTCI was!) and even email support said no (in some cases, multiple times). You lovely V-Flyers helped me out with this and I was able to book this in perfectly. My friend drove me down to LHR, who was confused with the idea of DTCI and wanted to see it.
"Oh it's literally a roundabout"
DTCI, for the first time was great, the VS staff i ran into was extremely friendly and very excited i was going to Nashville and the culture there. When they took my bags, they asked me to hold up there as they need DL staff there needed to do security which they couldnt do. About 3 minutes later someone from DL security turned up who only asked three questions and then escorted me (again chatting about nashville) to the security wing. A quick dash through security (after the candles set it off and they poked at it) taking about 5 minutes i wandered over to the glorious-time-black-hole that is the Clubhouse. I was expecting more issues, but i found things run easier when you have the original flight codes (DL1, rather than VS5301) and they found me in seconds. Straight to breakfast and spa and then straight to the bar to sample the delights of the cocktail menu.
A fantastic facial (which nearly sent me to sleep) later i sat outside and watched the world go by before i went back and tackled more cocktails.
At the last and final call, i went over to my flight and took my seat and got comfortable. DL BE is totally different to VS UC. I cannot remember who said on here (if its you wave!), but DL BE is much better suited towards working and if travelling in a pair then it suits better because of the tables and the level seat layouts in the centre two. The massage function (and Delta Sunrise cocktails) really did help the flights go by - although for some reason i got about three electric shocks from the headset they gave me (should i report this?). The food was really nice, although they stole the menu after i tried to hide it. I had a chicken dish which was quite tasty (especially with another cocktail) and the olives/cheese starter was really nice to get my appetite going.
The IFE was great to use, although with the chair being laid all the way out (and being so short), pausing/unpausing the video meant leaning up rather than an armside pause button. That would have been nice.
After faffing through JFK immigration and customs (and managing, for the first time ever, a smile by saying "i normally look less miserable than the photo on my passport", collected baggage and transferred to T2.
The Sky Club in T2 here is, for all intents, a waste of time. To call it "not a patch on the clubhouse" gives a disservice to the clubhouse - it's just a room with not very comfortable seats, wifi that doesn't work properly and some very basic amenities. I sat in the corner watching the gates and eventually left 15 minutes later, opting to sit downstairs.
Once i boarded my flight, i realised this plane is TINY! It was a CRJ900, my first experience in one. It was quite lightly loaded too. They offered refreshments for the 2 hour flight, but the flight basically flew by when they realised i was from London because they asked every time they passed by if i wanted something - eventually going off, getting the other cabin crew to come back and ask me AGAIN if i wanted something just to hear me say "can i have a bottle of water please"
I realise it's quite awkward but i was too busy laughing at how entertaining the were. I noticed on all the delta domestic flights i took they kept the seat belt light on all the time.
The DL flight back to ATL was only 30 minutes, and for the first time in an MD88. Quiet on the ground, but when it got to 10k feet it was EXTREMELY noisy - and i was in row 2. The AC was up to full blast which certainly did not help.
The cabin crew came up to everyone, greeting them by name (according to the roster) and taking their drinks orders - only to, 10 minutes later, apologise that there would be no drinks service as it's a full flight and it's only 36 minutes. They then came around again, apologising to everyone and thanking everyone for flying DL and they "appreciate the custom". To be fair, flying DL wasn't a conscious choice but merely a blip in between the VS experience.
The plane itself looked real tired: looking down you can see loose panels and wiring, and looking up i could see panels loose and could see the yellow oxygen masks above.
The real jewel of the whole flight experience had to be VS104 back to London. I was in the dreaded UCDS for the first time, so i wanted to see if it was as bad as i had read. Being so short, no it wasnt when i was sat up. Plenty of space either side and the seats was very comfortable for me - travelling alone i opted to entertain the cabin crew, so once we was at cruise i changed into my bright pink onesie (warned the crew what i was upto) and sat at the bar. Over the next 90 minutes virtually all the premium/upper crew came up and asked - even talking to me in the galley when i went to get my case - about my onesie, why i was wearing it and where i got it from. One crew member said she wanted to get one to surprise her son, so i encouraged her to get it. After a 3 hour nap in the bed (which was quite narrow, but i sleep on my front so no surprise) i changed back out of my onesie and packed it away (had two more crew to ask me about it
) and returned to my seat. As i left the plane in London, the FSM came up to me and said "to say thank you for making out flight so memorable, we'd like to give you something" and they gave me a bottle of wine!I was like...
"is this a joke?!" and they said "no its yours enjoy it!" and i just stuffed it into my luggage and ran away quickly.Despite being a night flight the staff was all completely on point, extremely friendly and very chatty to me the whole time - even just to say "i love the pink". I've already written an email to say thank you to the staff at the VS clubhouse and on 104 back to London. I've never laughed so much on a flight before, but that VS sparkle really did show through on this trip.
