My first TR, a little lengthy I'm afraid!
There are some times when you simply have to get out of the country. My impending 30th birthday was one. As I was hardly looking forward to this event, it seemed only fair to leave these fair shores for my favourite city, San Francisco.
With my mileage balance around the 90k mark (and the OH's around 35k), it struck me as an appropriate time to use up some of these miles and enjoy an element of luxury for this journey.
We opted to purchase L class economy fares for the outgoing leg, use 30k each to upgrade to G class UC fares; for the return I chose a K class PE fare and the OH opted for a modest Q class economy fare.
My 30k was made easier from using the 20k awarded from the recent Amex gold promotion and 10k from Virgin Casino (total cost of 30k miles = 115).
To give you some background, we are both FC Silver. Historically we have always travelled in Y, with the exception of one leg I have flown in PE. I am someone who gets excited enough about the mere thought of flying. Couple this excitement with the thought of my first flight in UCS (along with experiencing the new LHR CH) and you have a (soon to be) 30 year old looking forward to the flight in the same way a small child might anticipate a shiny new bike for Christmas.
Before the flight
Two days prior to the flight, I had confirmed with FC that my vegan meal was booked. I asked FC if we were able to change our original assignments of 2A and 2K to 1A and 1K; we were told that this was only possible at the airport on the day on a first-come, first-served basis.
Check-In
Our taxi from Southampton arrived at a rather un-godly 0445 hours. Bleary-eyed, we got to T3 at a ludicrously early 0550.
I should explain at this point that, as I normally fly in Y, I am pedantic about arriving at check-in horribly early in order to snag exit row seats.
We chose to arrive early this time to make the most of the Clubhouse, but also in an attempt to snag 1A and 1K.
Check-in opened a few minutes late. Annoyingly it looked like the Y line was moving prior to UC. Anyway, there was one couple in front of us in the UC check-in line. They were dealt with quickly and we were called over.
As you will see, I have not rated check-in highly. Whilst I can't really say it was 'bad' per se, it certainly was not in keeping with what I would have imagined an 'Upper Class' service to be. Allow me to explain.
Firstly, the agent seemed neither enthusiastic nor especially happy. Admittedly, it was early in the morning, however, her attitude seemed poor.
Firstly, I requested to change our seats from 2A/2K to 1A/1K (my reasons for doing so were that they appeared to afford a little more privacy, and, if I'm honest, I just liked the idea of having 1A. Petty yet true).
The agent responded by saying that we couldn't have 2K as it 'had gone'. Confused, I explained that we had pre-booked 2A/2K but now wanted 1A and 1K.
'Sorry, 1A has already gone.'
I pointed out that FC had clearly told me 1A/K were only available on the day, and asked that, if only one couple had been served prior to us, if they had taken them. She and her colleague responded with a blank look and said this wasn't the case. She continued by saying that it may have been taken by someone checking in online. I pointed out my frustration that no-one had told me this was possible.
Realising there was nothing further to gain from this, I asked if we could stick to 2A/K.
'2K is in-op'.
If there's one thing I dislike, it's jargon. I'd have been OK with it if I had used it first (i.e. her using it as a rapport method) but this was just rather annoying.
'Are you saying we can't have 2K?' I replied.
'Yes, 2K is in-op,' she repeated.
Silence.
'Erm, can we have 2A and 3A then?' I asked.
'Yes, we can do that,' was her reply.
It may seem like I am being pedantic (and perhaps I am) but what annoyed me was the complete lack of apology for FC's mis-information.
She checked us in. My 'special' meal wasn't mentioned (i.e. it would have been nice if she had confirmed it). No UC tags were placed on our cases (although to be fair I'm aware this doesn't make a difference in terms of baggage handling).
She did not point out that we were entitled to use FastTrack.
She handed our tickets and muttered something about there being directions to the CH inside them. What would have been nicer and more service-driven would have been for her to take one minute and tell us.
As it was, we walked away feeling disappointed. I felt the service was less than mediocre; to be honest, I have had better check-in service in Y.
The Clubhouse
We went through FastTrack in a matter of seconds. Definitely a refreshing change!
After purchasing a UK-US travel adaptor we made our way to the Clubhouse. I had been looking forward to this for ages, especially as we knew that PhaseII had recently opened.
We arrived at the entrance around 0645. The staircase is very impressive.
[img]http://www.virginflyer.com/photos/2180.jpg[/img]
Two members of staff opened at just gone 7am. I found both to be charming and surprisingly awake for that time of the day! The lady that greeted us took our names/flight, then took us in to the CH. She showed us where everything was and explained that the previous night had been a party as it had been the launch party for Phase II along with the inaugural Dubai flight. She was extremely cheerful and polite and I found her manner to be excellent.
My first impressions of the Clubhouse were - stunning. I may be a little easy to please, having not used an airport lounge before, but personally I think the CH oozes class. The colour scheme is gorgeous and I love the flooring.
We proceeded to the Brasserie for some breakfast. Again, the service from the person here was faultless. As I'm vegan, I found nothing on the menu I could eat (you get used to it!) so we went over to the Deli where we picked up some fruit salad and bagels. We washed these down with some (very nice) decaf coffee, fresh orange juice, and mineral water.
Duly fed and watered, we went for a wander around the CH -
[img]http://www.virginflyer.com/photos/2181.jpg[/img]
I had anticipated the CH to be busier than what it was - however I assume that being a Tuesday this reduced the amount of business travellers.
I especially liked this room -
[img]http://www.virginflyer.com/photos/2182.jpg[/img]
Me enjoying the very comfortable chairs -
[img]http://www.virginflyer.com/photos/2183.jpg[/img]
This shot is of the 'library' section. Again I found this to be very tastefully designed -
[img]http://www.virginflyer.com/photos/2184.jpg[/img]
We then played several games of pool (you have to give your passport and boarding pass in exchange for the cues). Despite the slight tilt on the table I walked away with my masculinity solid, having consistently trounced my girlfriend.
At 0830 we walked over to the Cowshed. We had prebooked treatments (this can be done up to a month in advance). I opted for a Rhinestone Cowboy, my OH a Fresh as a Daisy.
Although the treatment was pleasant, I found the loud music did not facilitate relaxing much. Still, it was a nice way to kill thirty minutes.
We then ordered some more drinks, picked up a newspaper or two and spent some time hanging out (if you can excuse the pun) in those hanging spherical chairs.
Finally, we took a seat at the bar for a quick drink. I don't drink alcohol, so asked for an alcohol-free lager. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the bar stocked one, (Cobra). The lady on the bar was very pleasant - made good conversation and was polite. She told us that some of the staff had been up late the night before (4.30am!) at the PII/Dubai launch party. Apparently SRB ('Richard') had been there too.
What struck me from this conversation, and that of the lady who showed us around initially, was that they seemed genuinely proud to work there. This was so nice to see and is something that is sadly rare to see these days.
We decided afterwards to take a walk up to the gate. Although it was early to do so (0945), I wanted to make the most of the suite!
Boarding
We walked up to gate 26 to find at least 30+ people queuing for it. The Y passenger in me began to queue behind them when my brain kindly pointed out that there would, no doubt, be a separate line for UC.
I gingerly strolled up to the end of the queue to find a sign saying UC/PE.. I called the OH over and, both to the queuing pax's dismay, and our smugness, we were able to 'jump' the queue.
Pre-boarding began two minutes later and before we knew it a bit of a free-for-all had developed with UC, PE and Gold heading for the plane.
We arrived on the plane and walked upstairs. Walking through PE we had a brief chat with a nice couple in row 70 of PE who were having a look through at the UC cabin. Turns out they had a friend who worked for VS who had managed to get them upgraded from Y. They wished us well and we proceeded through to the UC area.
We were first into the cabin, which was clean and well-presented. I liked the fact there was an overhead compartment per seat.
View from 2A -
[img]http://www.virginflyer.com/photos/2185.jpg[/img]
First impressions of the seat - very comfortable. I'd always imagined the ottoman to be a bit different - i.e. I'd envisaged it to be something with a lid that you could store items in, rather than being solid on top. However, I liked the fact that you could store your shoes in here and then rest your feet on top.
I liked the arm-rest on the right-hand side but found my left arm was a little awkward to get comfortable.
The cabin began to fill up - all seats in this section were taken aside from the 'in-op' 2K.
The FSM came over to introduce herself. She seemed uninterested and lacked enthusiasm. I was very disappointed in the service in this respect. I am quite fussy when it comes to service and I was expecting great things from UC, which did not materialise. For example -
FSM - 'Have you flown with us before?'
Me - 'Yes, but this is my first time in UC.'
FSM - 'Do you have any questions about the suite?'
Perhaps I am being a little pedantic, however I feel a more pro-active and customer-focussed strategy would have been for her to offer to show me how the suite worked.
FSM - 'That's the button for the bed - you probably won't want to use it though, as it's a day flight.'
Really, I won't want to use one of the main facilities of UC (i.e. the flat-bed, the main emphasis of UC advertising), will I? I found this to be quite presumptuous.
FSM - 'If you want, I can do it for you, or you can just do it yourself' - the tonality of her voice made it quite clear she did not wish to be bothered to convert the seat for me. I began to be a little paranoid that because we were on 'G' tickets we were not going to get great service on this flight.
Drinks and snacks orders were taken so I got stuck into some orange juice.
The flight
We were delayed a little due to some de-icing issues (according to the Captain's announcement) and so it took a while before we began to taxi. I was drifting in and out of sleep at this point but from what I recall it took ages before we actually took off.
It is a slightly strange sensation taking off whilst sat at an angle but not unpleasant.
Seatbelts-on sign remained on for longer than usual due to some turbulence.
Once in the air, the FSM came round to take drink/snack orders. I spoke with her about my vegan meal requirements and told her about my conversation with FC. I dont think she understood what the difference between vegetarian and vegan was (e.g. ..but the cottage pie doesnt have meat in it!).
Another crew member came round to introduce himself. By contrast he seemed more sincere and cheerful. Unfortunately we didnt see a lot more of him that flight. He handed out copies of Carlos. After thumbing through it for a minute I realised it was a pretentious waste of paper and gave up on it.
I wasnt especially taken with the amenity kit as nicely presented as it is, I dont really see the point of the cufflinks.
After busying myself reading for a while (Blink by Malcolm Gladwell a great read), the FSM came round to take lunch orders. I explained to her that a vegan meal had been ordered for me. She seemed a little surprised and told me that no vegan meal had been ordered or loaded on to the plane. Gritting my teeth, I pointed out that I had ordered the meal when I originally booked the flight, and confirmed this with FC two days prior to the flight. Realising that there was no (bad pun) mileage to be had from arguing the toss, I suggested that they could improvise with side servings, etc., from the Freedom menu, and re-iterated that the main items were not vegan.
A few minutes later she returned with a vegetable cottage pie which I had told her twice I could not eat.
To confuse matters further, she took that away and returned with my vegan meal, which they had managed to find. I didnt bother to take a photo of this rather humble portion of a vegan Y meal (rice/veg) served on an UC plate. This as followed by what appeared to be some Y dried fruit. Mmm-mmm, lucky me. The joys of being a vegan travelling long-haul!
After lunch I finished off my book and settled down for the flight. My partner was sat in 3A which in hindsight was probably more preferable than having an A/K combination. Although it wasnt fantastically easy to talk to each other, it is quite possible to lean over the suite partition to talk to each other.
The suite is very comfortable, with perhaps a couple of minor flaws. Firstly, I found my left arm (when seated) couldnt quite get comfortable as there wasnt really anywhere to rest it. Secondly, I guess I could agree to an extent with some comments I had previously read about the suite feeling claustrophobic for some people. However, personally I found it cosy rather than claustrophobic. I found that if you lean right back and down into the seat it really does give you a good amount of privacy.
My other criticism of the seat is that the buttons that control it, as theyre touch sensitive, dont feel right i.e. I prefer buttons that push in, which feel more satisfying, if that makes sense.
As I was still hungry I asked one of the crew if they could improvise me something. They said they could heat up a jacket potato with beans for me. Yep, sounds fine to me, just as long as I eat. Said potato derived some strange looks from a couple of the other UC pax and indeed the afore-mentioned starchy snack did look a little odd laid out on an UC plate and table. Still, it did the job.
We decided to get some sleep so requested a couple of duvets from the FSM, who handed them over in a somewhat sultry manner (having observed her manner with the other pax, it seemed as though her less-than-happy attitude was not reserved exclusively for us).
I converted the seat into the bed, placed the sheet, duvet and pillow down on the suite and laid down. This was a novelty for me, having never travelled in a class higher than PE or WTP previously. In its bed state, it still seemed comfortable. I found the length more than adequate (Im just under 6 tall). I took a brief look out of the window at the clouds before pulling the shutter down. As I laid down I thought to myself, life is sweet flying out to celebrate my birthday in my favourite place in the world, and here I am laid back in a flat-bed complete with duvet. Very nice.
I do agree with something I read either on V-Flyer or FT about the shoulder end of the suite feeling a little cramped for myself, this is due to the position I sleep in (face down, arms under the pillow with elbows pointing out).
I managed around two hours sleep I would have had more quite easily but I didnt want to spend the whole flight asleep. Still laid down, I got V-Port on and watched a couple of episodes of Peep Show.
I only watched one film (Stay very good, so much so I bought the DVD when we were in San Francisco) and whiled away much of the other time by listening to my MP3 (lovely shiny new Sony NWA 3000B) and reading.
The flight felt like it went more quickly than normal. The service didnt improve, and we barely saw the crew for the majority of the time.
Post-flight
We touched down and soon after were de-boarding. Again, little details like a cheery, sincere smile/thankyou/goodbye were lacking from the FSM. Anyway, we made our way to SFO immigration. Not much of a queue, a few people then we were called over to shock! - be dealt with by someone who was polite and had a sense of humour!
Baggage reclaim was delayed a few minutes but once the bags starting coming we didnt have to wait long.
Over to customs. I always hate going through here because I feel guilty even though Ive got nothing to be guilty about! I think this stems back to my first visit to SFO in 2003 when I made the crass mistake of having my tattoos (well, my arms, at least) on show, which I feel was a deciding factor in having my bags subjected to a random hand search.
The agent (before the section where they do the searches) obviously felt like playing a quick mind-game. He checks my passport/landing card, then asks,
Agent: Mr. K., are you pleased to be here?
Me: (taken by surprise) Yes, very much so.
Agent: (after a long pause with a stern look on his face) Thats good if youd answered no I would have had to send you back! (smiles and ushers me on his way, much to my relief)
And off we went to grab a taxi to Telegraph Hill.
Quick bit about the holiday
Typically, the week we went, the City was experiencing rain , rain, rain. Thus, our plans to spend some quality time in Golden Gate Park and the beaches were shelved in favour of some quality abuse of the credit card (Virgin MC, naturally). Still, we had a great time and I think its worthy of mentioning the apartment we stayed at in Telegraph Hill. You can find full details here - http://www.vrbo.com/56770 (great site for rentals, by the way). Heres a quick photo
[img]http://www.virginflyer.com/photos/2186.jpg[/img]
The apartment was superb value worked out as 700 for seven nights. Loads more room than a hotel would provide. Fully equipped kitchen, very comfy sofa and chaise longue, open fire, views of Coit Tower (which was literally just up the road) from the lounge and views of Bay Bridge in the other direction. The couple that own the apartment were extremely friendly and helpful both before, during and after our stay and Id highly recommend it. It was nice being in an area well away from tourists (aside from ourselves!).
Luckily the rain let up briefly on the morning of my birthday and we spent a pleasant morning exploring Coit Tower and the Filbert Street steps
[img]http://www.virginflyer.com/photos/2193.jpg[/img]
Summary
Seat fantastic. Clubhouse loved it. Service at check-in and during the flight very, very disappointing. I would expect, whether using miles or on a revenue fare, that, if I am flying in UC, to receive consistently the best service the airline can offer. This was not the case and I walked away thinking, is that it?, to the extent that I now question whether VS is an airline I wish to continue flying. The issue for me is consistency, or lack thereof. It frustrates me that there are many excellent staff working for VS (both in the air and on the ground) who take real pride in their job; yet their hard work is let down by (what is hopefully) a minority of their colleagues who obviously couldnt care less.
Thanks for reading
Andy
