This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
I'd arrived early, so check-in was virtually deserted except for a small group of 5 or 6 people all crowded round the UC check-in. After standing there in a queue of one to be seen, and with absolutely no passengers at any other desks someone finally called me forward to be checked in at an economy desk..... whoa hang on. I want to be checked in THERE. Where it says Upper Class. I suppose in some respects it didn't matter since there was nobody around to go "what's that scruffy git doing in the UC line?" anyway.
The other annoyance with LAS is the lack of Clubhouse, especially given the number of poor reviews I've seen of the shared facilities that you're lumped with.
"I'll give you the lounge access pass in just a second", the check-in girl said. "Oh, it's OK I don't want it" I replied, to be met with a look of complete bemusement.
The reason I wasn't interested was simply because I was heading to the Amex Centurion Lounge. For one thing it sounded better, and secondly I've never been in one so this was an opportunity I'd not be passing up. Thirdly it goes some way to mitigating the annual card fee, although I'm just a V-Flyer plastic pauper in that mine's not black.
The lounge was small, and very full. I ordered a glass of wine and promptly sat down and started drinking it. Now this seems like normal behaviour to me, but of course this wasn't any old lounge. In fact every time I saw someone order a glass of wine they made a huge point of doing the full wine tasting experience - sloshing it about, sniffing it, and then discussing with their colleagues - just bloody drink it!
There was a hot and cold food selection too, which was pleasant enough.
I headed over to the gate about 45 minutes before departure. By the time I rocked up there wasn't much of a queue, so boarding was quick and I was soon in my seat and being offered a glass of champagne. Followed by another one. And a top-up. Oh and there's a glass going spare if you want it. Yes I do. Thanks!
To avoid any possibility of you thinking I'm a raving alcoholic *cough* I should point out that alcohol makes me very drowsy and since I needed some sleep I was aiming to put away as much as possible. That's my excuse anyway.
The cabin was full, a couple at the front in the sixes, what looked like another couple in 7, although more like someone on business who'd taken his other half along, and then a mixed bunch for the rest of the rows. What there was no sign of were the 6 people who'd been hogging the UC check-in desk! Very annoying. I'd had to do the walk of shame to economy for nothing.
Breakfast orders were quickly taken and the dinner menus handed out. It's the same one as in many other reviews right now obviously so I don't need to write it all out again (in other words I left the menu card in my apartment this morning) as you're all familiar with it.
I decided on the crab salad followed by the beef, even though after 10 days in the USA I didn't think I'd ever be able to stomach another meal made of cow.
A flight time of about 9 hours something was announced which meant we'd be early into Gatwick, with some possibility of bumps due to the high winds that would facilitate our expedited arrival time.
So, dinner service. I kicked off with a soft drink. No, just kidding, I had a mile high mojito for which the crew avoided the issue of using lemon or lime by sticking a slice of both in it. They're very pleasant I have to say. The crab salad was delicious, very light and flavoursome. The pretzel bread roll with it was superb too, I couldn't refuse the offer of a second one when it came round.
So onto the main course. Seared fillet of beef. Seared you say? Seared how exactly? By placing it in the exhaust of one of the aircraft's engines at full thrust for about 6 hours maybe? Now I know that some people get a bit funny about beef being pink but it's fillet. Fillet needs to be pink. OK I'll admit it was nice, but after an incredibly divine 20oz rib from STK in the Cosmopolitan, it was a bit of a let down.
Next up dessert. Or at least it would have been, had I been offered one. Straight onto the cheese course for me. Maybe I didn't look like a dessert sort of person. I rectified matters by polishing off the cheese and then asking for some lemon pudding, which was duly served although without any mention of the fact that everyone else got their dessert before the cheese!
Once dinner was cleared it looked like very few people were bedding down, in fact only one person did straight away. Given this was my first UC flight I headed back to the bar, which had pretty much been closed down, and ordered a second mile high, which I basically drank alone as the crew were all in the galley and nobody else was in the mood for any form of socialising.
Whilst I was away from my seat it was prepared for sleeping, and by now I was nodding off quite quickly. Maybe one or two people had got changed, I'd opted to wear stuff I would sleep in anyway which made life a bit easier. By now virtually everyone else was also getting ready for sleep too so at least it was going to be a quiet night.
I can't say I thought the bed was fantastic, it was comfortable enough but not to the point where I slept well all night. However it was sufficient to ensure I needed waking up for breakfast, which was served with the flight time indicating we were about 2 hours away from landing. I've read a few comments about the hot breakfasts on board but I found both the eggs and bacon to be fine for my taste.
Rest of flight was uneventful. The only comment I had about disembarking was that as the airbridge was between PE and Y, the PE passengers got priority over UC. Hmph.
So in summary, in some respects I found the whole experience a little underwhelming. The crew did their job but were barely seen for long periods even during service, the food was good, and although I marked entertainment as "good" I didn't actually watch anything on it, I did want to use the skymap but it wouldn't load on my IFE so I had to go without.
If nothing else it was certainly a pleasure to get to lie down for an overnight flight and for that reason alone I am glad I did UC. My next jaunt is HKG in November, so I'm hoping that both UC legs on the 789 (fingers crossed....) deliver a little bit more of that tingling feeling you want to get when flying up front.
