This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
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Cabin Crew
We snagged return flights to SFO at the old knock-down rate of 78,000 miles each, plus the usual ruinous amount of taxes and surcharges. And then wondered where to go...
After a merest microsecond of cogitation The Kitten managed to come up with Baja California: the bit of Mexico that hangs down from San Diego bordered by the Pacific on one side and the Sea of Cortez on the other. For the price of a couple of extra flights we'd hopefully have sun, sand and snorkelling with a few nights in San Francisco as well.
The plan was hatched: fly the VS19 to SFO and then immediately down to San Diego in search of some sun, then on to Loreto in Baja for a week, returning by way of The City for the final 3 nights. The vaccilations of AeroMexico meant we ended up on a combination of United, American and Alaska airlines for the additional flights, the latter only begrudgingly since their religiosity has always painted them as one to avoid in the Cat's eyes.
So, it was off to Heathrow one Thursday in late February, with the sleet just beginning to dust the roads with a fine patina of white, and Chiswick quiet in the early morning gloom. Our local cab company did the honours for twenty quid, and soon we were queuing at the Upper Class check in where it was apparent that all was not well. Thursday 23rd was the day on which Virgin introduced the collection of Advance Passenger Information (API) for US-bound passengers, but despite this the online check in had not asked us the relevant questions. So it was a 15 minute wait whilst the agent struggled with a recalcitrant computer systemm whilst three of his colleagues stood behind him shouting words of encouragement. What it was going to be like later in the day made us glad to be there at 7am.
Computer mollified, we made our way through a fairly quiet Fast Track security lane up to the lounge. Here The Kitten had her claws sharpened and I, mindful of the current VS ex-LHR menu, had two breakfasts. And a Bloody Mary. And three glasses of champagne, after which I stopped counting.
I'm not going to wax lyrical about the Clubhouse, other than to mention some very good service and some muffled banging sounds coming from behind the temporary partition to the left of the bar. Hopefully the end of March might see the next phase opened, although VS have rarely kept to timescales in these matters.
A trot to the gate (something in the 30's I recall) had the heart pumping and the usual sobering effect, whilst a secondary security check on the gate area also got the blood pressure up. As did a call over to the desk where more passport details were taken: things were clearly not going to plan today.
We waited only a couple of minutes in the lounge before being called to board, but a single jetway (despite two being available) meant the usual crush behind some wheelchairs. I presume this is to do with BAA rather than VS, but surely boarding via all available jetways makes for smoother operations all around?
Our seats were 9A and 10A in zone A of the 747. I didn't catch the registration but the good news was that it had V.Port even if the selection was the same as my trip to IAD earlier in the month. Champagne was duly provided, and mostly spilt in my case. Not incipient DTs as The Kitten humorously suggested, but clearly some design defect inherent in the glassware. Still, I did at least manage to find a good use for one of the on-board copies of The Daily Mail; mopping up spills being infinitely preferable to reading ths alleged newspaper.
Unfortunately the calm (or at least my muffled swearing as I attempted to mop down the rear of my suite) was rudely interrupted by a gaggle of four young men of an age and mien that presaged a noisy flight. Fears were soon realised as they started shouting across the cabin and generally behaving in that boorish fashion that the British male does so well.
Still, once in the air they were sufficiently distracted by the bar to give us some quality time trouncing all-comers at the trivia quiz, and introducing The Kitten to the delights of The Green Wing. The food was plain bad (once again), but the holiday spirit led us into bottle after bottle of the vaguely drinkable viognier.
Then time for some in the cabin to snooze (happily the louts included) whilst I completed a few laps of the lower deck and said hello to preiffer in zone B. Before too long we were starting our descent, taking a great approach into SFO that gave those of us on the port side of the plane a good view of the Golden Gate Bridge. And gave the aforementioned louts the excuse to get up out of their seats (ignoring the seatbelt signs of course) and cluster around the bozo behind me in 11A whilst bashing hell out of the suite partition.
At this point it became apparent (in fact, given the volume of their voices, downright obvious) that at least one of this party of oiks was Virgin staff. Had I known this earlier I would have definitely mentioned it to the FSM, but this late in the flight it seemed pointless. This is not the first time I've had rowdy staff in Upper Class, and frankly Virgin need to exert better control: it does the airline and the brand a disservice.
We were on the ground slightly early, having made up for the de-icing delay incurred at Heathrow, and the pilot was good enough to mention that if we ran we might be able to get ahead of a few of the KLM passengers from the plane in front. We ran, our strides devouring the concourse, and were rewarded with a short immigration queue. Despite this good fortune it still took 15 minutes before we got through to the carousel, our immigration officer seemingly bored enough to want to read every page in each of our crowded passports.
Once through, our bags appeared with the first tranche, and we headed through customs to be directed to the domestic terminal area for our connecting flight to San Diego. It had been a decent enough VS19 flight, marred only by a few noisy oiks and the usual poor quality of Upper Class food.
Baja in February itinerary
London to San Francisco
San Francisco to San Diego
San Diego to Los Angeles
Los Angeles to Loreto
Loreto to Los Angeles
Los Angeles to San Francisco
San Francisco to London
