VS020 SFO-LHR 8 Mar 06 (Upper)

This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

And so home. After eating in a few new restaurants in The City and re-acquainting ourselves with some of our favourites, we headed back out to the airport. The Hotel Triton has its own limo service out to the airport for the same price as a taxi, so we arrived at the International Terminal tanned, relaxed, and looking forward to one of the best Clubhouses on the network. We were also clutching a rather fine (and bubble-wrapped) print of a work by Michael Leu which, as with all good pictures, included an image of a large cat.

The usual security check (sorry, but rather pointless) added to the collection of stickers on my passport despite my increasingly frequent attempts to remove them, and we checked in at the desk of an extremely friendly guy from Guam who had that great customer service knack of seeming genuinely interested. Boarding passes and lounge invitation in hand, we headed up to the Clubhouse where shock horror we werent first. However, service was attentive, drinks (margueritas and some good wines) were strong, and the food was just excellent. I had the halibut with mash and The Kitten had some vegetarian pasta thing.

We struck out for the departure lounge a little early, using the escalator to go down to the gate area and to wait for a few minutes until the priority boarding was called. Unlike at Heathrow, San Francisco uses both jetways, ensuring that we had the opportunity to turn left before the airplane door, and heading down the ramp to the Upper Class entrance. However, wed booked seats 2K and 3K so it was up the 747s staircase to find our suites.

And now a word about size. Its not everything in most walks of life (apparently), but in terms of the Upper Class Suite it makes a huge difference. The suites upstairs on the 744 are definitely the longest in the fleet, but the width seems to be exactly the same as that of the Airbus. For width the downstairs suites on the 744 are clearly much larger, so be forewarned.

Upstairs the Upper Class section was full: a combination of couples and business types. And thankfully no children. The print already framed was far too big to fit in the overheads so a kind member of the crew stowed it for us. We asked for sleeper suits straight away, changing before take off, and before too long we were taxiing out to the runway and heading off for home.

Ive always been slightly concerned about the Upper Class service in the bubble of a 747, feeling that during a day flight one seems too disconnected from the main service and often (in my experience) having to deal with an influx of Premium Economy interlopers using the WC. However, at night it is a haven of peace and tranquillity. Im not sure it its official policy, but Ive never seen any kids up there in Upper Class, and people seem to recognise it as the zone for maximum zzzzs.

This flight was the last where we got to sample the old-style Upper Class menu. I had a salad thing and a chicken thing which was dry and nasty. So much so that I left it and sought solace in the viognier but within a couple of hours I was converting my bed and getting my head down. The Kitten had rather less luck, her suite requiring a manual setup and even with the flat bed in place she didnt get much in the way of sleep. Reliability problems do seem to plague the UCS: every flight I can remember has had at least one poor so-and-so struggling with a recalcitrant table or a refusenik bed button. We know that new and much improved tray tables are being retrofitted (not apparent on our flight), but this wont address the core issue around reliability.

Anyway, the night was long, the flight smooth and I managed around 4 hours with a few fits and starts before seeking solace in the V.Port IFE. Landing at a civilised time into Heathrow we were handed back our picture and then built up a good head of speed towards immigration where, despite the mid-morning time the queues were lengthy. Grabbing our bags we resolved to go through the red channel due to the print I was conspicuously carrying. This was the first time I had ever gone the red route, and I was expecting a phalanx of ravening customs officers to descend upon us and rip the wrappings from our purchase. Instead there was one rather bored guy at a desk who was clearly happy to have someone to talk to.

Customs formalities completed, we headed out into the usual Terminal 3 scrum and eschewed the temptations of Revivals for a cab home to Chiswick where the rest of the Cat family awaited. A fine flight, marred only by the usual crap food, but if you are looking for maximum sleep and dont mind a slightly narrower suite, the top deck should be your transport every time.



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

Nice TR, thank you. [y] [:)]

BlackCat,

thanks for a great set of trip reports. As always, very entertaining.

Vslf

Not having gone through the red channel either I would be interested to know what happened. Did you have to pay duty, and how much cheaper was it than getting caught sneaking through the green channel? Did they take most cards, and was there a heavy load of forms to fill out?

Our print wasn't expensive enough to warrant duty -- there is a £145 limit under which you don't have to pay anything, and by itemising the print and frame separately we were just under. I believe they take credit cards and certainly the classification system is complex enough for no helpful information to be available on the Customs & Excise web site.

BC

Ah, the Triton. One of the better SFO hotels. If you like the Triton, but may like slightly bigger rooms, try the Palomar (which is another Kimpton hotel). Slightly less quirky than the Triton, but still very agreeable, and with genuinely nice, as opposed to 'charm school' nice, staff (which seems to be a feature of Kimpton).

Don't hold your breath about the new tables, they don't seem to be bearing up all that well either from my experience on Air NZ, who have been flying these since their first 777 was delivered. If you get a recent refit or a new plane, the tables are okay. Once they've been on the road about 6 months, they start to go wobbly as well, and do things such as refuse to open (and have to be released with a credit card or hotel room card), or open and 'pop-up' uncommanded.

Air NZ even say in their 'operating instructions' for the suite that the table is known to be recalcitrant, please ask for crew help if it sticks, and that 'Table Mk3' is under development.

Cheers,
Mike