VS 400 LHR-DXB Friday 20th October 2006 (PE and UCS!)
I was booked PE on the outbound leg, but decided to book for the Clubhouse, having heard the good reports on this site. Travel to Heathrow via Virgin Rail and Heathrow Express was smooth and efficient, and even bag drop amongst the building works at T3 was quick and straightforward. The seat I had pre-selected, 20A, was allocated to me and I set off for what proved to be remarkably quick security process and, following a quick circuit of the shopping, off to the Clubhouse. It took a little while to find my way around and explore the different delights; I paid a visit to the roof garden to see the Jaguar XK Coupe and watch a few take-offs on 27L, before the warmth below drew me back downstairs. A cocktail and some smoked salmon seemed like a good idea, before checking e-mail and heading off to the Spa, where I had pre-booked a Rhinestone Cowboy. A puzzled attendant on the desk checked, double checked, read my e-mail confirmation, then apologised and said it had been double-booked and someone else was already in that slot. Rather a nuisance. I decided to ask for a haircut instead, which they were glad to do, when who should appear at Bumble and Bumble for a quick trim but SRB! I ended up two seats away, but got no opportunity to strike up a conversation- a PA buzzing round with a phone and documents as well. Nevertheless, a good bonus for my first clubhouse experience. Next stop was a meal- I had decided to eat in the clubhouse, forego PE catering and try to get some sleep on board. I opted for soup with Ham, followed by Chicken, and accompanied by an Australian Shiraz; a really excellent meal, well worth the clubhouse booking!

It was completed with coffee and choice of ice-creams- chocolate and vanilla in tubs, but good quality. With time moving on, I had the chance for a quick shower, and experienced the steam shower booth- very nice and a good way to freshen up before the flight.

Boarding was at gate 5, so a short walk, and despite a bit of a queue down the jetty , I was soon onboard what I knew to be a pretty full flight; aircraft was G-VYOU, Emmeline Heaney so a very recent addition to the fleet. I was just getting comfortable when someone else appeared with a ticket stub bearing- Seat 20A! A slightly frazzled flight attendant took away both stubs and returned a little later, and told me that I would have to be moved- to 4K . Maybe the aura of earlier being near SRB helped, maybe it was just my lucky day. 4K also proved to be a good UCS seat- on the starboard window side, not overlooked, in a quiet part of what is quite a big UC cabin. Indeed the flight was almost full and there were no other spare seats in UC that I could see- maybe travelling alone helped, but I’m curious to know how the seat allocation system could possibly have allocated two people to the same seat…? Why were Virgin double-booking me everywhere- in the Spa, on the Plane? Was there some conspiracy theory at work…?

Takeoff was 27L, and there was quite a queue, but eventually we were airborne into the night sky and I set about enjoying the unexpected UCS. I had travelled UCS once before, in the summer on VS032 from St Lucia to LGW and that was a real treat- the exclusive nature of the UC cabin on the 747 was preferable to the larger A340-600 UC cabin, but I wasn’t grumbling too much this evening!Despite wanting to sleep- and I was pretty full, so couldn’t enjoy much of the inflight hospitality though I did make room for a nightcap- I wanted to spend a little time exploring v-Port.Unfortunately it takes about 30 minutes to boot up and there were clearly problems- I was about 15 minutes into a film- when it was announced that over half the screens on board didn’t have a connection and the system would have to be rebooted. I decided to don the sleep suit, put on my eyeshades, turn the seat into a bed, and go to sleep. Thanks to Bose QC2s, sleep on an aircraft is now just about possible for me- the flat bed certainly helps!Somewhere not quite over Baghdad- the flight screen showed that we were wisely skirting round the east side of Iraqi airspace- I woke up, and was invited to a wake up head and shoulder massage from the onboard masseuse- well a massage at 38500 feet somewhere over a mountain in Iran would be a first, and it was a gentle way to wake up, and would make up for the missing Rhinestone Cowboy. Breakfast of a lamb sausage bap, Mediterranean fruits and crème fraiche and cappucino was very welcome (and tasty) and as v-Port had successfully rebooted, I changed, went back to chair mode, and settled to watch a few more bits and bobs.DXB was misty on approach and few of the sights were visible out of the window. We taxied to a remote stand and were bussed off to arrivals, where another perk of the upgrade, fast track immigration meant for a very quick and efficient process- it wasn’t long before I was in a limo en route to the hotel. Marks out of ten for the Virgin Atlantic VS400 experience: 9.85- excellent; a haircut with Sir Richard Branson and a free upgrade to Upper Class were really good bonuses, and it was marred only by the problems with vPort. Photos should be embedded above, if not, here is a link:http://picasaweb.google.com/davidrnoble31/LHRVirginAtlanticClubhouse

Return Leg, VS 401 DXB-LHR Friday 27th October 2006 (PE)
A dreadfully early start- wake up call at 3.30am and arrival at DXB at 5am- an hour too early I reckon, though not of my choice, and a wait of 20 mins until the check in staff arrived and set up, though the Friday call to dawn prayers may have been the reason for the delay. Thereafter the formalities were quite quick and efficient and there was plenty of time to explore the famous departure hall and duty free centre.I notice that the second (or actually third) terminal is still some way off completion- the shell is complete but there’s lots still to be done on the underground area.Gate 43 indicated a remote stand, and indeed the plane was in the same stand near the Emirates cargo bay, and proved to be the same aircraft, G-VYOU Emmeline Heaney. Once again I had chosen 20A, only this time, despite some hints, I got to experience it. There were a few seats spare in PE, and I had the impression they had room for manoeuvre in the other cabins as well. The crew seemed busy though, and it was a while before pre-flight drinks were offered; in the meantime the cabin was disappearing in mist from the air-conditioning unit at full blast.We were about ten minutes late in pushing back, but a short taxi to runway 12L and we were soon in the air, turning N over Sharjah and then NW out over the Gulf and up to cruising altitude, whilst headphones and ‘amenity pencil cases’ were distributed.This being a day flight, I was keen to explore V-Port a little more, but it was still misbehaving quite badly, and the interactive menus would not work for me (or many others), nor was there a moving map available. The flight attendant did try to help but it was clear others were also having problems. However after a little while about 20 video channels came on line, and (with a bit of guesswork and detective work and quite a lot of rewinding) I managed to watch ‘Stormbreaker’, ‘The Queen’ and ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ which passed the time well. Breakfast was Scrambled Egg with Hash Browns, fruit salad, orange juice, coffee, Croissant and a muesli-type snack. Sadly this was the hot meal service and early lunch was not served later, only a roll as ‘elevenses’. Weather over the London area was clear, and our approach over the Thames Estuary gave plenty of opportunity for photos- no need to stack either, so our approach took us north of London City Airport before a 27R approach and smooth landing, some 15 minutes after the advertised arrival time. The arrivals procedure was quick and my case was already on the Carousel as I reached the baggage reclaim- the priority baggage seemed to be successful as many other bags were UC labelled. And… home! The flight was pleasant and comfortable without being hugely memorable; maybe I‘m getting too used to the experience of flying at the pointy end! I preferred the PE experience upstairs on a LGW 747 where the cabin feels more exclusive, there is a dedicated crew and there is more space to stow things; however I think the A340 will benefit from the proposed improvements to PE (not in evidence today, unfortunately). Finally I do hope they sort out the V-Port problems on G-VYOU pretty soon!Photos should be embedded above, but if not, this is a link to the return leg:http://picasaweb.google.com/davidrnoble31/VS401DXBLHR