6 hour delay on 3rd Jan ( VS 251 PVG-LHR)

Hi,

I was coming back from Shanghai on th 3rd Jan ( due to leave at 1145 and arrive at LHR at 1605).

I got to the check in counter at 0945 only to find notices saying the inbound flight was delayed from London and the new boarding time was around 1600 with departure at 1630 with arrival at LHR at 2115.
( I had a bmi flight booked separately to EDI at 1830)
I was given my boarding pass/lounge invite and a voucher for a meal for 130RMB at the Charon restaurants in the departure hall.

I took the Maglev back to Pudong and went up the Oriental Peart TV tower, the Jin Mao Tower and had lunch at the Hyatt before returning to PVG for 2pm.

Whilst waiting in the lounge the lounge receptionists came round with a letter from VS. This was apolgising for the delay and offering 10,000 VS miles for the delay. The letter had to be returned to the Shanghai office within 18 months.

During the flight I had to do something unusual (use the in flight phone to call work and take an extra day's leave and phone bmi and change my flight to the 1100 flight on the 4th.

I got talking to the Upper Class purser and she filled out a form to go to customer relations to get them to contact me (I mentioned that I would like a letter explaining the delay in order to claim the additional costs of my travel insurance). She also commented in the form that could the miles be credited directly rather than going via PVG.

We eventually landed at 2145 and had to get a hotel so I went to the LHR Hilton at T4 which had rooms and I stayed overnight.

Regards

TBS

[RichardMannion]

I've seen the 10k thing before in the CH for a dealy much shorter than 6 hours, think it was 2.5 if I recall.

Your travel insurance would cover somethign typically for a delay over 4 hours.

Thanks
Richard

What a nice day out in Shanghai!

If you need to go there again, you can dial 0086-21-96081388 (obviously change to 021-96081388 when you are in China) for PVG airport information hotline. It is an automatic answering system which will tell you any possible delays.

I think for English service, you need to press 3 (or 2). The first few words are in Chinese, followed by "for English service press 3".

Or you can check http://www.shanghaiairport.com/en/index.jsp from your hotel room before you travel to PVG airport.

PS. as I mentioned before, I had an overnight delay about 3 years ago in PVG (from 14:30 to 07:00 departure). VS offered a 50% discount on one future VS ticket, which I've never used.

Owing to me having to attend a funeral at short notice I needed to travel back to the UK from Singapore. Unfortunately last week there were no Y seats available ex SIN, KUL and BKK.

I decided to take an Upper Class miles flight from PVG-LHR which would be my first VS flight.

On the 3rd I arrived at 05:50 on an SQ from SIN to begin what I hoped would only be a 5+ hour wait. Upon arriving the screens said delayed and none of the staff could advise me when the flight was going to depart. A different tactic was needed - the arrival time of VS250

I checked in at 9 when the check in desk opened and was given a voucher got 130 CNY of food.

And so the long wait began..........

At around 12ish I went to the lounge and it was pretty much what I expected having read the reports on this site. There was a distinct lack of facilities (no shower, an internet connection that didn't work or comfy seats) and a complete lack of information from the staff. Most of the pax in the lounge were very unhappy with the ground service.

In the lounge I was given a form offering 10K of miles miles and later I met up with the The_Banking_Scot

Finally at around 4 ish we were asked to board so we made our way to the air bridge and then at to wait around 10 mins in rather cold conditions - again the ground crew (non VS) were clueless. Why move us from the lounge if the aircraft isn't ready??

Once on board I was very impressed with the cabin. I had chosen 17A because I wanted to be near the bar and toilet because I has thought that the it was a day flight. The crew showed me how the seat operated and ensured that I well supplied with champagne. The last thing I remember is the slow taxi out and then I must have dropped off to sleep.

After a short sleep it was dinner and movie time. Later I decided to move to bar were The_Banking_Scot joined me for a drink and I'm very thankful to him for reminding me about the sleeping suit.

Whilst chatting with the crew I was told that the incoming flight was minutes away from being cancelled due to the crew doing too many hours and the FSM confirmed that she had heard about the LGW-KUL route later in the year

I found the massage treatment and being able to sit at the bar a very relaxing pastime and certainly made the flight go quickly. I later got some sleep and was woken up as we passed the Dutch coastline. Very soon after this the map was switched off and after a taking a long holding pattern we landed at about 9:40pm

Just a question - why turn off the map?

For the past 6-7 years I've been flying KUL-LHR in Y and C and whilst the current C product is very good I strongly believe that the VS Upper Class product is far superior. I often prefer the SQ/MH cabin crews because of the good service however I cannot fault the VS crew I travelled with.

On the 6th I travelled back to SIN on SQ319 in Y - I'm spoilt now and only want upper class

I wonder when they award these miles is that an arbritary thing or does VS have guidelines that the staff adhere to. I was flying LGW-ANU to return home in June of last year and experienced a similar 6 hour delay (or thereabouts).

I was given 20K miles which at the time I thought was marvelous and from the sounds of your trip report I didnt go through half of the issues you did and had the LGW clubhouse to hide in until the issue had been resolved (and I had made a severe dent in their stocks of Stella).

So do you think 10k mile is ok or should I try for more?