VS900 – LHR to NRT
21st September 2008
Scheduled Departure: 13:00
Actual Departure: 13:03
Scheduled Arrival: 09:00
Actual Arrival: 08:41
As I mentioned earlier this trip was necessary due to the health of a family member. I was due to depart on 14th September, but on the morning of the flight the family member passed away and I therefore needed to re-schedule the return trip. I spoke to VS customer services who were very professional about this matter and off loaded me from the flight and made a temporary reservation for the 21st September, which would be confirmed when I faxed them the necessary documentation.
On the day of the flight I made my way to LHR from East London at 0915 and was at T3 within 1 hour. I made my way to the upper class check in area and inquired about cash upgrade to PE or Upper Class. They quoted 451GPB and 1650GBP respectively. Emergency exit seats were available for 75GBP, which I accepted and my
boarding pass with seat 31C was issued after handing over the cash to the ticket agent. The agent also mentioned I could use the
VS fast track channel, which was great and I found no-one in front of me at security and was in the duty free area within 15 mins of check in (would have been quicker if I didn’t need to visit the ticket desk) I did some Duty free shopping and proceeded to the flagship VS Clubhouse.
What a huge space this is, and so much to do. Again this is waiter service and my drinks/food order was taken. I caught up on some work with the free Wi-Fi access and before long the flight was called. The gate (Gate 42) was quite far away and it took about 15 mins to walk there. When I arrived, boarding had commenced and I was straight onto the
plane and into my seat.
Just before 1pm Captain announced that 2 passengers had not arrived and their bags would be off loaded. We departed the gate 5 mins later. As usual the queue for take-off at LHR was long and we took off at about 13:30.
Headsets were handed out and V-Port started, followed by the drinks round. Hot Towels are not offered in Economy. Following the drinks round, lunch was served with the option of Teriyaki chicken with Rice / Spicy pasta or Japanese bento. I chose the Chicken, again it was ok, but the rice was rather hard and seemed a bit stale. Since I had eaten in the lounge it didn’t bother me. I watched a movie over lunch and put my head down for some sleep.
The FA’s came round with OJ and Water throughout the flight.
Approximately 2.5hours before landing breakfast was served and consisted of Scrambled Eggs with Cheese or Ham/Cheese Omelet.
Landing was smooth and we arrived at Gate 27, 20 mins early.
There was no queue for immigration, however priority luggage was not working since the Upper class bags were coming out in and amongst the rest of the baggage. I had to wait 15 mins for mine to turn up.
Again a great flight and looking forward to my next trip on VS.