BACKGROUND
Hi everyone and welcome to this FR mini-series.
Firstly, sorry for being so slow to finish my Thailand series, but I've decided to interrupt that to review my recent trip with VS… in upper class!! I found a very good $2000 RT SFO-MAN fare, which is a great excuse for a trip to Europe! I won't waste time reviewing my internal flights (mostly easyJet and Ryanair), but I wanted to review this very special (and not often reviewed) product! Here is my routing that I will be FRing:
PART I:
SFO-MAN in J on VS ( CLICK HERE)
PART II:
ATH-AMS in Y on KL CLICK HERE
PART III:
MAN-JFK in J on VS (HERE)
JFK-SFO in Delta ONE (COMING SOON)
So, lets get down to business (class)
LETS GET FLYING!!!
Arriving at MAN T2 2.5 hours before departure:
MAN departure hall with FIDS:
No line at checkin but no agent manning upper class desk. We had to checkin at Y+ desk, but still got priority tags, so no complaints – but no photos of your beloved author walking the red carpet either; sorry folks.
Security was excruciatingly bad as per British standards (Now that's someone who's had to stand in line at LHR T5 for five years with the constant siren sound! But wait: it gets worse. Welcome to Manchester everybody!!!)
On a brighter note: the escape lounge that VS contracts has a special private lounge for J-class passengers on contract airlines (UA< VS< QR, and maybe some others?). The lounge was very nice with a good selection of drinks and a hot buffet:
My selection today: cappachino and green curry
Lounge FIDS:
CX A350 from the window:
Leaving the lounge for the gate:
Our beautiful ride to NYC – an A330-300 named "Miss England" – and the livery looks so great!!!
Press at the gate:
Boarding:
and… how sleek and modern is that cabin!!!
My seat for the next 7 hours:
Cabin view:
Its a little hard to see the window – but its really foggy today in both MAN and JFK (almost 0 visibility actually) so it doesn't matter:
Seat pocket contents, headphones, and safety card:
PDBs were offered, just a water for me!
The very nice amenity kit:
Safety video was played:
Pushback:
Plane-spotting while taxiing to the runway:
Holding short:
Takeoff!!
Moving map:
Hot towel:
Menus were distributed:
Sorry for the bad pics, heres the gist of it:
Starters
Ham and asparagus, pea and mint soup (my selection), quinoa and walnut salad,
Mains
Fillet of beef in béarnaise sauce (my selection), wasabi salmon, mushroom risotto, tomato and mozzarella salad,
Dessert
Chocolate pudding, eton mess (my selection)
Mid Flight Snacks/ Pre Arrival Meal
Paella, pork burger, scones, assorted sandwiches, carrot cake (NOTE: no substantial veg option)
Drinks: my selection wasn't loaded so the FA offered a passionfruit drink instead:
The potato crisps instead of nuts haven't exactly endeared VS to other reviewers, but I liked them.
Table setting:
Starter: pea and mint soup
Fresh and creamy! Delicious! Definitely the highlight of the meal.
Main: fillet of beef in bearnease sauce:
This was a nice refreshment of the usual chewy and dry airline beef. It was a little dry, but mostly tender and the béarnaise sauce made it a lot better. The sides were good too and complemented the dish. Good job!
Dessert: Eton mess
This packaged dessert was a little less than what I would expect in J class – the only weak part of the catering. It tasted okay for a packaged dessert though.
Biscotti after lunch:
Tea:
Watching the movie "I Am Not Your Negro":
The bedding was great:
Crew rest seat: what the seats look like reclined:
Mid flight snack:
Press:
Bathroom:
Fruit in the bar mid flight:
Tea and scones before landing:
Almost there:
Oshibori:
Parting gift:
Final approach and landing in zero visability:
NYC is clearly DL turf:
CONCLUSION
Overall, VS offers a great value J product for transatlantic flights. Where there are hard product shortcomings, they make up for in great service!
Cabin: While it was impressive and cutting edge in the 90's, upperclass is now a little outdated. Unfortunately, it might be time to retire the iconic hard product. The seat is a little cramped and there is very little storage. Otherwise, the all-aisle access and lie flat seats are definite perks. 6/10
FAs: All very friendly and somewhat efficient. 9/10
Entertainment: A good selection on VERA, but the navigation is a little difficult. Hardware is satisfactory. 7/10
Meals: The Lunch was great except for the skimpy packaged dessert and the mid flight options looked good – but there was no substantial option without seafood or pork; so I was left with tea and scones.
ESCAPE Lounge: A good buffet section and a separate are for J-class were all great! Nice coffee too.
MAN: MAN was a little inconvenient because of bad design, and thelong line at security,
