V-Flyer

Is it me or is everyone else, suffering from a dirty seat on VS

I travel UC most of the time and im tired of getting into it, and finding the remains of food, and other unexplained objects attached to the seat

I know planes fly alot, and deep cleans are done occasionally, and turn arounds are short, but I really cant believe how much crud I have to sit in everytime I fly.

I think that LGW is worse that LHR. Interested in everyones views on this[8D]

Have a good xmas folks

The last UC trip I did was on the same seat (8A) on the same LGW aircraft both ways, but 10 days apart. The suite was in a reasonably clean condition both ways. There was no litter / crumbs / other mess in the suite from previous occupants, bar a few pen marks on both sides of the suite.

James

My last flight- on Sunday in PE the seat had salt all over it, the boarding pass from the previous passenger in the seat pocket and tea stains on the arm rest, it was pritty grim an I had to ask for a wet wipe.

The old PE seats on the upper deck LGW fleet are really showing their age now glad they are going to be refitted soon.

It's an unfortunate thing when this happens - and for me more than once I've had to ask the crew, immediately after boarding, to clean the seat and area for me before I sit down. However, that's only been twice in 40-50 odd flights in the last two years, which is unacceptable but hardly always. Whether LHR, LGW or downstream stations are worse, I do not know.

Our seats were clean - no problem!
This was UC MAN-MCO-MAN so perhaps they just have better standards there, that or perhaps the CC are more professional and are checking things out before boarding the pax.

I did MAN-MCO-MAN back in November & we got to MCO early for the return flight, i.e. about 3pm for a 6:30 departure - the VS75 from MAN that formed our VS76 back to MAN was already in when we got the train to the satellite terminal. Whilst I admit the incoming flight may have been early, there is clearly more than enough time for a good clean of the LGW fleet on some turnarounds in MCO, if everything runs to timetable [or better still, ahead of schedule].

I got a filthy UCS once from LGW, salt everywhere, food stuck to menu and the glossy books, crumbs in everything. Only ever happened once, never noticed anything from MAN apart from the loos.

I always get a funny look when they hand out the hot towels and I immediately clean my IFE screen, one of my many quirks, I hate dirty monitors.

I also hate noisy eaters, people that clatter pots and pans or cutlery
or interrupt me when I am speaking, but thats another story lol.

I can usually find some element of dirtyness and poor cleaning on most VS flights, unless the aircraft is either new, recently refitted, or had a deep cleaning of the cabin.

Usual problems I can put my finger on are:

* Dross left in the seat pockets, such as used socks, earplugs, boarding cards (from flights several days ago).
* Crumbs on the seat and floor around the seat.
* The usual pen marks and mystery red marks on the suites in Upper.
* Sticky tables.
* Dirty inside windows - finger marks, grease, etc.
* Dirty IFE screens.
* Stained seat covers.
* Dirty galley floors - at the start of the flight! This is a food preparation area, and it should be properly cleaned after each flight, because it will get messy!
* Dirty, smelly toilets, and within the first 30 minutes of the flight - so it starts out bad and therefore can only get worse. Dirt encrustations on the floors, especially in the corners, seem to be an issue on VS.

I can put my finger on most things that are wrong in this area, and I'm surprised that there's such a blind eye turned to these things.

It's almost like someone has quickly flipped over the plane with a damp, dirty rag, on the turn around, and spread the muck around, rather than cleaning it off.

It seems there's a real need for increased quality control in this area, such as spot checks, audits, and review of processes.

A simple example - I don't think that the suites are laid flat and vacuumed during the turnaround clean, as I almost always find crumbs and dirt in the area behind the seat, and all the nooks and crannies are dust magnets. This should be fairly obvious, but it seems it's not done.

Mike

I agree with your comments Mike, there are areas on board that the average passenger can clearly see crud, but the cleaners do not be able to spot it.

There is no excuse, but with the pressure to turn around the plane quickly, I suspect the cleaners have only a limited time to do a superficial clean.

Originally posted by ukcobra
There is no excuse, but with the pressure to turn around the plane quickly, I suspect the cleaners have only a limited time to do a superficial clean.

As most VS aircraft spend the least amount of their life on the ground at LHR (a typical LHR turnround being between 3 and 4 hours for a 744) the aircraft need to be rotated through downline locations where there are longer layovers (such as JNB, SYD and MIA).

There, VS can engage the local cleaners to perform a more thorough cleaning, or if the sub-fleet's normal work doesn't take it to one of these places, be scheduled to be 'down' at LHR/LGW for more than the usual 3 hours, to allow for a heavier cleaning once a week.

I think the 744 suffers the worst, as it mostly flies UK-US flights, it's a relatively small fleet with little slack, and therefore has relatively short turnarounds at both ends of the trip.

So I wondered how this might work. Looking at the LHR 744 fleet, take the aircraft arriving off the VS46 (around 7am) and rather than do a quick turnaround to go back out on the VS19, send it on the VS1 or VS9 instead (4pm departures), which effectively doubles the time that aircraft has on the ground.

If the aircraft rotate around the various 744 operated flights, in theory, each of the five LHR 744s will get a more intensive clean than can be achieved during the standard turnround each week, and it should prevent the buildup of the ingrained muck we currently see.

It seems the current situation is to allow muck to build up over a period of several weeks, because turnaround cleans seem to be little more than litter picks, then stop the aircraft for a day or more and try to blitz it.

The fact is, Air New Zealand have a similar onboard config (UCS, PE, and regular Y cabins), their eight 744s are used almost as heavily, yet they still manage to keep them very clean inside.

So it's either bad specifications and broken processes, or lazy cleaners, with insufficient quality control. (Or possibly VS just have dirtier, messier pax?)

Mike

Several of the discussions on this forum talk about the poor seat quality (esp for those of us who always have to travel Economy as we're too poor to do otherwise!!!!). The trouble is, if VS leave the seats with muck on them, it gets 'in-grained' in the seat and then that leads to the seat generally becoming poor quality much quicker. VS need to clean the planes far more thoroughly generally and then the insides will not need refurbishing so often.

Of course if some users weren't such dirty pigs in them, a quick run over is all they would need. Seen many a near foodfight.

Flew to LAX in Econ in September and my safety card was covered in dry sick.....Nice!

Originally posted by AndyR
Flew to LAX in Econ in September and my safety card was covered in dry sick.....Nice!

I believe that is known as a biohazard. [:$]

Seriously, that safety card should have been wiped clean and sanitised, or just replaced with a fresh one.

Mike

Please can the passengers just keep the seat tidy!!

Look at the economy or PE cabin after a flight, blankets everywhere, magazines and newspapers everywhere!!

I think the customers need to be nice and tidy too!!

PE from LGW looks smart these days, they all have new red seat covers in the new pattern and the blue has gone.

The new Y seats covers ex LHR and LGW have more padding too making the seats a little more comfortable.

Oooooo - its not just the PE and Economy cabins! On any airline - when you walk through the premium cabins after a flight - you can guarantee that it look like WW3 took place - and that is with less passengers in the area. Economy will always look messy as you cant reach under your seat to pick anything up as you would knock yourself out on the seat infront!

I totally agree that passengers need to be neat and tidy - but I dont believe passengers will make any effort to make their area look tidy if it was a mess when they arrived at it.[n]

Pen marks on UCS are my biggest pet peeve with regards to the state of seats.3

45.

Oh dear, all these problems with Upper Class seats. My heart bleeds for you, it really does.[:w]

Next time the champagne is 0.5 degrees too warm, why not come back to peasant class and tell us all about it? You'll find LOTS of sympathy I'm sure![:D]

Originally posted by Vegas Tone
Oh dear, all these problems with Upper Class seats. My heart bleeds for you, it really does.[:w]

Next time the champagne is 0.5 degrees too warm, why not come back to peasant class and tell us all about it? You'll find LOTS of sympathy I'm sure![:D]

but if you are paying UCS prices then you should expect a minimum level of cleanliness and quality. If you choose to fly Y and are not happy with the conditions then that is not the fault of a UC pax who has paid to fly UC.

Neil

Originally posted by Vegas Tone
Oh dear, all these problems with Upper Class seats. My heart bleeds for you, it really does.[:w]

Next time the champagne is 0.5 degrees too warm, why not come back to peasant class and tell us all about it? You'll find LOTS of sympathy I'm sure![:D]

And I will LOL ... just forgive me please if I spill the champagne over you, after all one should try at least six glasses to get a mean temperature [:$] [:w]

Ouch!! Every passenger - regardless of class - should be responsible and try to be clean and tidy. OK - UCS have a large amount of room, but that comes with a fairly large price tag! I dont quite get the 'pen marks' thing about UCS though (loads of people seem to comment on that) - what do you guys do up there ..... doodle in your sleep?

Originally posted by Neil

Originally posted by Vegas Tone
Oh dear, all these problems with Upper Class seats. My heart bleeds for you, it really does.[:w]

Next time the champagne is 0.5 degrees too warm, why not come back to peasant class and tell us all about it? You'll find LOTS of sympathy I'm sure![:D]

but if you are paying UCS prices then you should expect a minimum level of cleanliness and quality. If you choose to fly Y and are not happy with the conditions then that is not the fault of a UC pax who has paid to fly UC.

Neil

Oooohh touchy! Mine was a tongue in cheek comment, which I thought was made abundantly clear with the use of smileys.

Apologies if I offended your sensibilities Neil. *tugs forelock*

Incidentally, those who travel in Y rarely do so by 'choice', they are there because their budget dictates nothing greater.

And I will LOL ... just forgive me please if I spill the champagne over you, after all one should try at least six glasses to get a mean temperature [:$] [:w]

LOL!

Thankyou Slinky, for taking my comment in the spirit it was intended.[y]