VS021 LHR-IAD 20 MAR 15 (Upper Class)

[mitchja]

This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

(real time TR as making use of the on-board WiFi)

Currently sat on G-VOOH (Miss Chief) in 6K about a little over half way across the Atlantic on my way to IAD.

Flight down from MAN was pretty standard with a nice hot bacon roll for breakfast. Even though my bags had been checked all the way from MAN to IAD, I had already decided that I would not use the VS transfer from T2 to T3 meaning I could go land-side for a nicotine fix before my trans-Atlantic flight. No issues passing through the Upper Class wing at LHR using my PassBook boarding pass.

Headed straight up to the Clubhouse where I was warmly welcomed. Straight to the Spa desk to book a haircut. They were able to do it for me there and then so no waiting which was a bonus. Clubhouse was quite busy but the service was good. After the haircut, I headed to the Brasserie for some breakfast. Was in a sweet tooth mood so had the cranberry pancakes which where delicious.

By this time is was almost 09:30 so I just popped up to the roof garden to see if I could see today's eclipse. Not be be unfortunately with it being so over-cast and cloudy. Several other people (including staff) also had the same idea.

The flight was called around 10:40 so I slowly started gathering my things and made my way across to gate 22. I already knew this flight/route was Dreamliner route as that was one of the reasons why I choose IAD . At the time I booked this, VS had 2 x 789's on the BOS and IAD route.

Only about 136 pax on board today. We pushed back 5 minutes early at 11:20 and where airborne at around 11:50. Today's flight will be 7hrs 15mins.

The Upper cabin is very nice and spacious

A few people have been asking for pics of the 'Wander Wall' - this is in-between the Upper and Premium cabins and is available to all Premium and Upper pax:

There's nice selection of snacks and cold drinks (in the fridge) as well as water.

Service so far has been excellent on-board.

Here's the menu:

Starters
Pea and Mint soup
Warm chicken satay
Buffalo mozzarella and Roma tomatoes

Main
Lemon and thyme chicken
Seafood linguine
Kerala curry
Chilled Thai beef salad

Desert
Warm brioche and butter pudding
Chocolate torte

Crew are coming around very often and checking if pax need anything else. Within the last 30 mins, I've had the snack basket come round, the fruit basket and then ice-creams!!

Afternoon tea will be served shortly.

Yes, I've been playing with the window shade buttons which is excellent . You can either use the button under the windows or even your IFE screen. The crew can also change them remotely as well. There are 5 settings to choose from.

The VERA Touch 2 IFE screens are very clear and sharp producing an excellent picture. The flight map screen next to the bar area is also a good addition

Nothing much else to report on so far. I will finish this once I arrive in Washington

Thank you for the first part of your TR.
I am particularly pleased to see the photos of the Wander Wall ( or should it be Wonder Wall !)
Glad all good, so far

Great photos!

Thank you for the TR and pics. I do like a TR on the hoof, so to speak!

Enjoy Washington.

Thanks for that James - great TR.

Sniff, sniff, I'm off to IAD in May, sniff, but my aircraft will be a 333, sniff, sniff . Really wanted to try UC in a 789.

[mitchja]

Now I'm settled in The Willard Washington DC with a rather nice room upgrade here's the rest of the TR.

Afternoon tea was served about 90mins before landing. It was the usual choice of sandwiches, cakes or a scone.

During the flight I watched a couple of movies on VERA. The USB socket is now in the recess below the IFE screen along with looks like another headphones socket (took me a while to find those) The full size power socket is in the magazine holder (in the same place as the EmPower sockets are on VERA On Demand A/C).

If you touch the screen surround at the bottom in the middle, the USB and headphone sockets light up for a short time. That's where you also touch the screen to access the reading light button, call button and window dimmer switches.

The WiFi costs £14.99 for 24hours use with unlimited data usage. VS use a T-Mobile hotspot and there is wan option to log-on if you have a T-Mobile WiFi add-on as part of your mobile/cell phone plan - nothing for any UK mobile network customers though. There is also an option to log-on using Boingo as well. Not sure if AeroMobile is in use or not? The WiFI speeds are pretty decent as I was getting between 1 -2 Mbps downloads, though the upload speed was very slow. It logs you off after 15 minutes of in-activity and as you create an online account, you can log in using other wireless devices as well.

There was no shortage of crew coming round and asking if we needed anything during the entire flight.

The bar area did start to get a little loud at one point. The seat-belt sign was put on and I suspect this was only to clear the bar area

Here's the screen across from the bar area, which is also touch-screen

The bar (before it got busy)

The changing cabin mood lighting for afternoon tea

I had a did a quick circuit walk round the A/C to stretch my legs. All the cabins looked good.

We where soon approaching IAD and we landed about 40mins early at around 15:20. We where only 3 or 4 minutes behind the BA A380 flight as they where in the queue taking off in front of us at LHR.

Managed to navigate those stupid mobile lounges which take you to immigration. Immigration was not too bad with only about a 35min wait with the last of the BA pax in front of us. They must have had a light load. Bags already off the carousel and straight through customs.

I always use the Washington Flyer and then the subway to get into the city. By 18:00 I was checking into the Willard.

All in all a fantastic VS flight with a great crew on a fantastic aircraft

Very good to hear that the flight continued to be of a high standard for the second part.
Thank you for the photos. I am just a bit worried that the mood lighting for afternoon tea looks more appropriate for an evening meal prior to going to sleep - just at a time my body clock needs to believe it is early afternoon !

Thanks for the 2 part TR James, sounds like a great inflight experience which we all love to read about. What happened to the pics in part 1? I can't see them, only the tags.

[mitchja]

Pics now fixed in part 1, sorry about that!!

Great TR - really enjoy seeing the 787 reports coming in now.

I'm just wondering if the newer Vera touch is HD? Or is that a really stupid question? lol

Brilliant report nice to see it done live!!

Does the mod lighting not get annoying? I think the red in the first few shots (unless it's just the camera making it worse than it was?) would irritate me!!

[mitchja]

The IFE screens could possibly be HD. The quality was fantastic what ever it was. Way way better than VERA on-demand on the A346's and B744's

The mood lighting started as being orange early in the flight not long after take off, but it was then changed to a pretty much standard cabin lighting (the pic I took of the bar shows this) for most of the flight. It was then changed to purple just as the affernoon tea was served.

The windows where all dimmed during the flight as well, although I turned mine up as I do like to see what's outside my window.

. It was then changed to purple just as the affection tea was served.

Is this a service enhancement?

Thanks for the TR, particularly with the pictures.

[mitchja]

Fixed thanks lol, I blame Apple auto-correct!!

Great TR James, thanks. The new 787 looks lovely, can't wait to try it out.

Great photos James, thanks

That cabin looks superb, only another 8 months to wait before i experience it! I think that's also the first time I've seen a menu not featuring fillet of beef!

How much light do the windows let in? I'm all for being able to see out of the windows but not if it makes the rest of the cabin to bright for everyone else.

And good to see the wonder / wander wall in operation rather than reading the concept.

[mitchja]

There are 5 'brightness' settings for each window. Where J seats have 2 windows, both are linked so you don't have to strain yourself to change the window directly behind the seat. You can also use the buttons on the IFE screen as well.

They don't go completely black on their lowest setting, more a sort of very dark green colour (I'm guessing it's a polarisation filter)

On the highest setting they are completely transparent as per normal A/C windows.

The crew can and do also over-ride the whole cabin windows remotely, though there's nothing stopping you from changing your own window setting.

Nice positive TR. I'd love it if one of our flights to/from the West Coast in April was on the new Dreamliner but perhaps next time! Smashing photos too. The UC cabin looks very nice, as does the food menu. Sounds like a brilliant flight for you

Thanks for the TR.

Cabin looks great. Enjoy Washington.