This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Our trip started anxiously as our ComCab was 20 minutes late. We had plenty of time before the flight, but I didnt want to be late for my CH treatment! Fortunately the trip itself only took about 20-25 minutes, and actually cost about the same as a cab to Paddington + HEX tickets, so I think it will be our preferred method of getting to the airport during non-rush hour times.
Check-in was efficient & not particularly memorable. It only took about 5 minutes. Not that I am complaining! We then waded through the confused masses to get to the FastTrack entrance for security. There were a decent amount of people FTing it and it probably took about 15 minutes to get through. We avoided the shoe carousel and then decided to check if Iris was open (it was not last time we tried to sign up, in T1). It was and we had _ an hour until our CH treatments so we headed in. Luckily for us we did not wind up with the immigration officer who was grilling people about politics! Of course after exiting the sign-up MrStars started grumbling about giving out a scan of his iris. As if we had just given it to the corner shop instead of the British government. Puh-lease! He changed his mind later on, as you will see in the return TR. [}:)]
DH simply forgot to put his watch on and I dont generally wear a watch, relying on my blackberry for the time. I did actually bring a watch, so I would be able to see what time it was in-flight, but the battery was dead. I checked both Boots & Dixons, but found no watch batteries. Not a big deal, as the flight map did work, but means I have no concept as to how long certain aspects of our flight took.
We headed to the CH where MrStars realized that he had shaved that morning, having forgotten he had an appointment for a shave! They were able to offer him a neck & shoulder massage instead, which he was happy with. I got a haircut. It was fine I wouldnt go there for a new or complicated hairstyle, but for a trim its good. After my haircut I found MrStars exactly where I expected to find him near food! He had some salmon while I opted for some tea and a fabulous chocolate chip cookie.
Our flight was called and we headed to gate 32. There appeared to be a real scrum for boarding, but surprisingly, there was a separate channel for priority boarding and there were extra people at the gate directing the flow of people to make sure the appropriate people where priority boarded. I didnt see what plane we were on, but just looked it up and it says we were on G-VOGE, Cover Girl.
This is the part where being watch-less leaves me with a lack of detail I dont really have a concept of exactly when we pushed back, how long we taxied, etc. What I do know, is that IFE was on. I noticed it when I was settling into my UCS. Im not sure why there was no announcement about it. I know for sure it was on b/c I was playing Tetris while we were just off the gate. Im not sure exactly when it was turned off/restarted as I had stopped playing before take-off. I know that it was definitely turned off or restarted at some point, b/c we had an announcement that it was being turned on, and whatever that preview thing is (not sure as I never pay attention to it) played.
Random thought: does anyone else notice that when announcements are made on an aircraft, the foreign language announcements always seem to be at least three times as long as the English announcement? [:?]
We were not greeted by the FSM, but in all fairness, we booked our trip before we made Au, and I saw our boarding passes had our old Ag FC numbers on them, so it is possible the crew did not know we were Au. The IFBT did not make it around to us until after take-off. She made no mention of our CH treatments, but neither of us received treatments in-flight. Not sure if it was because of our CH treatments, or if it was because we asked not to be woken. The IFBT came around with the basket of extras, drink orders were taken, and landing cards were distributed. Noted, particularly because of a thread on here just before I left on which I said I hadnt seen any peanuts in UC in recent memory, peanuts were served with the drink service and were out on the bar during most of the flight.
Dinner was served promptly. I dont really remember the food choices, other than what I ate, which was a pumpkin soup. It was actually pretty nice. MrStars and I both watched Knocked Up. We like watching comedies while flying and it was entertaining for both of us. When the movie was over we were about 3 hours in. I watched the destinations guide for Tokyo and then slept on/off for the rest of the flight.
Overall I though the crew were good, but of course I guess I am not the best judge as I slept for about 3/4 of the flight so wasnt aware of what they were doing. For the last hour before we arrived there was the usual cabin bustle, and I cant remember anything in particular to report.
When we arrived at NRT they had two jet ways and so we deplaned from the pointy bit. There was no one in the airport. I mean no one. There was seriously not a single passenger in that part of the airport from any other flight but ours. At least, in arrivals there was no one. Little did I know until the return flight, how bustling the departures side of the airport was at that time of day. We had no line for immigration; bags were off in no time, and no line for customs. Then it was on the bus for the transfer to TCAT where we would get a taxi to the Mandarin.
