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#948572 by ColOrd
09 Feb 2019, 09:50
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So! This was an odd trip and Im gonna combine four trip reports into one.

Thanks to LREDI, and the Golden Ticket promo I managed to get a £1 flight to New York in Premium! This was a genius marketing idea from VS however it was limited to one specific outbound flight which was the V9 on the 5th. I just couldn't turn down the chance. You could return anytime within a month but the fare was only on the VS154 which is the 2355 from JFK! So it was set I was having 26 hours in New York. A few Hilton points and the Hilton JFK was booked! These tickets are normal K Class so full TP's and points as appropriate. I had never flown premium so thought it would be cool to try it once....spoiler alert...I still have never flown Premium!

Flash forward a few weeks and I booked to be on the Airbus 220 from LGA to BOS on what should have been its first week in service. 0600 from LGA and back at 1200. The Trump shutdown then happened and the flights got switched out to 717's and then started the day after I left on the 7th! GUTTED! DL were really good and offered me the chance to cancel and refund, but I thought I would stay with it for the Tier Points and with the times of the flights it helped me stay on UK time. I also am in the middle of a major project at work, so spending time lounging in the SkyClub at BOS would be productive and then do the same when I got back to JFK, it actually meant the whole trip was just an extended working from home type day!

OLCI in was smooth, but offered me an upgrade to Upper booked into I Class, which was too good to turn down but I originally did turn it down then thought it was the wrong decision so popped into T3 and did it there instead! Off to the Hilton T4 for a lovely nights rest and my limo booked for 0700.

DTCI was really smooth. The agent insisted I sit down and she would sort everything. She came sat down showed me my boarding pass, explained where the CH and I was on my way.

Service in the CH was good, most of the staff recognised me from my visit in December and one or two of the Spa staff were up from Gatwick for a training session/meeting.

After the 0900 round of flights the CH was absolutely dead. My usual area down the bottom only had me in. I worked solidly till 2 when LREDI appeared and we had few redheads and a bite to eat before boarding promptly at 3.15.

On to G-VINE Champagne Belle. Upper was nearly full bar two seats. And there was a total of 109 passengers and 10 crew. Two FSM's on board, the actual FSM and one completing her check flight after coming back. The one on her check flight was wonderful and couldn't have been nicer, she was just an angel! The girl on my aisle was similarly fantastic and came up and welcomed me to Gold! Lots of other little bits of recognition too but relatively subtle!

Food was the same as my last two flights, and it was really well served, the soup was the best I've had it and I did comment to the crew that it all seemed to depends how much blue cheese they actually put in it thankfully today was very light and it was lush!

Thai Stew was similarly tasty and spicy and the chocolate torte was to die for. I had a second slice with a tea later on in the flight! The menu though was boring for the 3rd time in 8 weeks and VS need to change it more often!

I spend most of the flight at the bar trying to get some work done but the Wifi was terrible. I had spent £30 on two connections one for my phone and one for my laptop and the connection was too patchy. I've never had this on the GoGo system and generally its been fantastic!

Afternoon tea was served about 50 mins out and then we had a smooth descent into JFK. Onto a gate at the terminal end of the B Gates, so from plane door to taxi to the hotel took a grand total of 8 minutes!

Hotel was functional, I am a Hilton Diamond, so it was an upgrade to a junior suite for me. I crashed out it being 0100 UK time and woke up about 0700 UK time with just enough time to shower and get an UBER to LGA for my flight to BOS.

I was so impressed with LGA's terminal C.

Nifty Ipad system for ordering food at all of the restaurants. Gates for the Delta Shuttle service are laid out for people to work with tables, powerpoints and really good Wifi. I had to finish some work off before I got on the flight and it was so easy to do. (The SkyClub didn't open till 5 and my flight boarded at 0520 so didn't seam worth it for 20 minutes when the gate area was so good!)

DL was service with a smile, nothing was too much trouble for the crew. I am a big fan on the 717's and they are really good aircraft. I had a joke with the captain about why I was making the flight and we had a few choice words to say about Trump and the current state of US politics! First Class was full on this flight but down the back was quite empty.

I checked out both DL Skyclubs, no issues getting in as VS AU with a long haul sector later that day, even though both were on different tickets.

The one by the A Gates is nice and refurbished to the same standards as the Flagships in Seattle and San Fran. The one at the B Gates, is nice, bigger, better views of the apron and runways, but the furniture feels a bit older! I spent a few hours doing some work, and relaxing with a spot of breakfast. Did a couple of conference calls and then headed to board back to LGA.

Same crew who were teasing me about being a plane geek! Flight was good, and you can see why DL and VS fit together so well! I always perceive DL to be a cut above American and United with how they treat their customers.

Back over to JFK and the CH was yet to open and checkin for the VS flights was still an hour away. I wasn't dropping a bag, so I went through on my boarding pass and headed to the DL SkyClub. This is the only SkyClub I haven't liked! The staff were arsey about letting me in on a Premium VS ticket and only let me in when I showed my VS AU Card even then it felt begrudging.

Clock hit 3 and I headed for Duty Free and round to the Clubhouse. The tiredness of what I was doing was starting to kick in by this point thankfully the CH was a haven of calm and an angel of mercy sorted me an upgrade for a really good price (hint if you know the flight is dead....do a bit of a haggle!) and then moved me to the earlier VS46 which was incidentally a 340-600 that I hadn't been on.

The Cabin was a bit tired, it was the same aircraft Woralla was on on his recent video TR, and I originally had 8G, but asked for a window seat and they offered me 6A which had a broken table. Cool with that I can deal for the sake of having a window seat on a flight I shouldn't have been on! Flight was totally full in Upper and Premium but Y was dead.

Crew were less engaging, but the service was much more functional around the demands of people wanting sleep. The FSM did recognise my AU status but to be honest I was falling asleep during taxi let alone staying away during the flight.

Landed a little ahead of schedule at about 0700 on to stand and into Revivals in about 10 minutes for a quick treatment and some brekky.

Overall - a great first trip with my AU status...with the upgrades it cost a lot more than £1, but it was a fantastic two days of AVGeeking!
#948575 by pjh
09 Feb 2019, 10:21
My “working from home day” TR would have said “got up, pulled jeans on top of PJs and walked up the stairs to the office”.

Kudos for the carpe diem attitude and thanks for the TR.

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