VS121 MAN-BOS 6 JUN 18 (Upper Class)

This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin

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Food & Drink

Entertainment

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Cabin Crew

This is my very first trip report on V-flyer, so please go easy on me!

On Wednesday I flew MAN to BOS in Upper Class, which was operated by an ex-Air Berlin A332 (G-VMIK / HonkeyTonk Woman). I’ve only ever flown the A333 Upper Class (before the refit) so I was interested to see what this different cabin layout would be like - which seems to be a controversial topic at present.

I stayed overnight at the Premier Inn (North) a few minutes away from the airport. No complaints, exactly as expected. They offer a shuttle bus to the airport for £3.00 which is slightly cheaper than a taxi/Uber.

Check-in
Check-in was an absolute breeze, plenty of representatives available. I got to security and both the priority and standard lines were practically empty, and I actually ended up using the standard queue to pass through quicker. Straight through duty free (and past the guy trying desperately to cover me in Armani fragrance testers) and arrived at the Escape lounge, literally 5 minutes after arriving at check-in. It must have been the quickest airport experience in my life!

Escape Lounge
Despite being nowhere near the standard of a Clubhouse, the Escape lounge is fit for purpose. An off-duty (pregnant) member of cabin crew was there to look after everyone - she was super friendly and attentive. At one point she was giving out feedback sheets and mentioned something to do with “future clubhouse plans”, unfortunately I was never given a sheet so have no idea what it was asking. I am however desperately looking forward to there being a clubhouse at MAN.

Flight
I was advised that Upper Class was now ready for boarding, the gate was a bit of a trek and they had already started boarding economy when I arrived, but I was let through quickly. I made my way to seat 5A, which is branded as one of the “Solo Suites” - it lives up to the name as it was very private compared to the regular Virgin cabin. I had 3 windows to myself, and managed to get some lovely pictures of the Atlantic.

149 pax on board, and Upper Class was full so I’m guessing economy was quite roomy. The Upper Class cabin is really dated looking and needs some TLC, luckily it’s being refitted to match the rest of the fleet later this year. The seat is very slim, and the padding is worn out/thin, I never put it into bed mode but I can’t see it being very comfortable to sleep in. Also one quibble, there’s no individual air vents above, and with 3 windows facing southwards my little pod got very hot. The IFE wasn’t touchscreen, it uses a cursor-like remote which I actually prefer because the system is more responsive - I find that the touchscreen ones are quite slow and require you to press very hard.

The FSM came around and addressed each passenger by name, using her trusty iPad with all the details pre-loaded. I have to say, although the cabin is a bit of a let down, the crew made up for it with their excellent service.

Menu
June menu for: VS071, VS073, VS075, VS077, VS085, VS109, VS121, VS125, VS127 & VS163


I skipped starter and went for the Salmon, finished off with custard tart and cheese & crackers. Clean plates all round, so no complaints here!

Arrival
We touched down and filed out through the jet bridge, then went though Customs which was all done using automated machines, followed by manned passport control. I hopped in a Lyft to my Airbnb in Winthrop and then ventured into Boston town to catch Sutton Foster performing at Boston Symphony Hall.


I’m in Boston for 2 days, followed by Washington DC for the weekend then finishing up in New York City.

Thanks for reading

Thanks for an interesting report

Thank you for your enjoyable TR. Pleased to read that you had a good crew. Thank you also for the menu and beautiful photo.

Hope you had a good time in Boston.

Thanks very much for the TR!

[mitchja]

Thanks for the TR. MAN T2 security is odd in that it always seems either very busy or very quiet. There never seem to be a happy medium. Yep, I too hate that walk from security to the gates / lounges area in MAN in T2 through the duty free area. It's worse than LHR T3. At least at LHR you are not surrounded by fragrances

As security at MAN is on the upper level, what appears to be the same level as the airside lounges, I'm sure they could quite easily have a premium pax lounge area entrance immediately after security to bypass the duty free area if they really wanted to!

Thank you very much for the menu - we are going to SFO in 11 days on the A332. I am beginning to think I may have messed up choosing the Love Seats?!

Thank you very much for the menu - we are going to SFO in 11 days on the A332. I am beginning to think I may have messed up choosing the Love Seats?!

I would say that if you're going with your other half, you should be fine. On the flight all 3 sets of Love Seats were occupied by couples. You still get a good level of privacy (apart from each other, obviously!)

I wouldn't recommend the "Solo Freedom Suite" a.k.a. the aisle seats as they offer no privacy at all, and it looked like people were spilling into the aisle. One entire side is exposed to the passing flight attendants.

Thank you very much for the menu - we are going to SFO in 11 days on the A332. I am beginning to think I may have messed up choosing the Love Seats?!

Just a quick heads up for when you arrive at SFO from Manchester. The immigration hall was packed and people were queuing outside as there were loads of International flights arriving at the same time. [mind we did get to stand nearly an hour late] If you have a returning ESTA you can bare left and use the US nationals que . There was a small board next to the line, which you may have not seen if you were In the horrendous visitors que. You are then directed to the machines and it only took 30-40 minutes

Thanks for the report.
I cant see the menus, anyone got any ideas?