Upper Class standards falling

[Daiboy1980]

Just arrived back from NYC UC return, not travelled to the states with Virgin for a few years. I have done HK a few times, but thought best to compare to my previous NYC trips for a fair comparison.

As ever the check in staff were great, as was the check in and security in Heathrow. The lounge menu, staff and set up was as spectacular as ever. My faveourite lounge globally.

Then things started to change, on the plane, we were not given a boarding drink, and I had to ask for one, which arrived about 5 minutes later.
Then after take off, the service was very very slow, first drink offered was about 20 minutes into the flight. The food was truly awful, breaded chicken breast with boiled cabbage (advertised as wilted greens! lol) bread roll arrived after the food was finished, the wine ran out after an inch of pouring, and was told she woudl come back, came back 15 minutes later with warm white wine, so asked for ice, this came after i finished the wine.

Things may have been different, however i recall beers and spirits being left at the bar for free pour? Just some popcorn and no beers or drinks.
Speaking of beers Bud or Stella!! Come on guys, maybe some nice craft beer? Brookly Lager? Or just go for the cheap option

I know they may seem like small things, but combined, it does not feel like a luxury experience, and remove the lounge, it felt more like a PE experience. I would probably struggle to justify the UC over PE in the future, especialyl as I have a few early morning flights and remove the lounge enjoyment and the difference is minimal.

Any others had similar experience ?

[Richie]

Sounds more like AA economy.

[ChrisC]

20 minutes after take off is probably the quickest they could start service.

Even if they took drinks orders on the ground they can’t do anything until they reach a safe stage in the flight to be able to get up and start opening the carts and start pouting.

On a TAP flight I did in 2019 it was 45 minutes before even the clank of the trolley was heard and it appearing in the cabin.

20 minutes fits in with my experience of both BA and AA trans atlantic and with AA on transcontinentals

[NorthernLass]

I need to see these pouting cabin crew 😂

[davefl]

NorthernLass wrote:

I need to see these pouting cabin crew 😂

My last two Virgin crews were the same in/outbound all male in UC, softly spoken Scottish lead and a very camp guy who was “so excited to be back in the air” and really annoyed most of the passengers by bending down, pulling down his mask and talking directy into the face of everyone he had to interact with.

No pouts to be seen.

I’ll undoubtedly get them again on my upcoming flights.

[Andrew J]

Agreed, UC food makes CW food look good and that’s saying something!

[davefl]

Btw, for anyone complainng about lack of UC availablity, it’s wide open for Feb/March from LHR-JNB almost every day

[PeteM]

A gay flight attendant?! The horror… 🙄

[davefl]

PeteM wrote:

A gay flight attendant?! The horror… 🙄

I didn’t say he was gay, i just described him as camp due to his behaviour. I make no judgement on what he does between flights!

It just got really tedious hearing how good it was to be back in the air about 100 times on a 9 hour flight.

Back on topic, does anyone know how the meal pre-order service works (not special meals, std ones). Does it just appear as an option during check in?

[ChrisC]

VS send you an email 3 days before the flight.

[davefl]

ChrisC wrote:

VS send you an email 3 days before the flight.

Thanks

[AndyGWP]

Did Miami return at Christmas and Las Vegas return over Easter and neither sound anything like your experience OP (apart from the no self service bar). Sounds like you may have been unfortunate / I was lucky

[Andrew J]

davefl wrote:

PeteM wrote:

A gay flight attendant?! The horror… 🙄

I didn’t say he was gay, i just described him as camp due to his behaviour. I make no judgement on what he does between flights!

It just got really tedious hearing how good it was to be back in the air about 100 times on a 9 hour flight.

Back on topic, does anyone know how the meal pre-order service works (not special meals, std ones). Does it just appear as an option during check in?

Being gay isn’t something one “does between flights”.

[davefl]

Andrew J wrote:

davefl wrote:

PeteM wrote:

A gay flight attendant?! The horror… 🙄

I didn’t say he was gay, i just described him as camp due to his behaviour. I make no judgement on what he does between flights!

It just got really tedious hearing how good it was to be back in the air about 100 times on a 9 hour flight.

Back on topic, does anyone know how the meal pre-order service works (not special meals, std ones). Does it just appear as an option during check in?

Being gay isn’t something one “does between flights”.

I know, I was being flippant. I know plenty of camp people who aren’t gay, plenty of people who aren’t camp who are gay. I don’t give a rats ass what a person is. My issue was he was loud, repetitve and kept taking his mask off and talking directly into people’s faces.

Anyway, Malcolm the chief steward on my side of the bus was excellent, and I didn’t experience any of the issues of the OP on the outbound or return. There was self pour and snacks in the bar, and we did get pre-take off drinks. In fact since I didn’t like any of the menu choices Malcom offered to get me a meal from the PE selection which he really didn’t need to even offer but he insisted.

I’m likely to get the same crew next week so we’ll see what happens now the novelty has worn off and there’s no mandatory mask requirement. (which wasn’t enforced in UC).

I think the OP just got unlucky and maybe they didn’t restock properly because of supply issues at JFK.

[ts84]

My experience with the service has been very positive, but the food is abysmal.

They’ve moved from homely, nicely cooked meals to ‘sustainable’ nonsense that resembles a plate of regurgitated vegetables.

The amenity kits are terrible now. I loved the Herschel ones and got a lot of reuse from them carrying plugs/chargers/wires when travelling.

I also noticed on my recent overnight back from Vegas we didn’t get Pyjamas anymore.

Not great, to be honest. The Covid excuses for reduced service are starting to wear thin now.

I guess this sort of thing happens when you’re competing with other airlines also reducing quality.

By contrast – Emirates etc are still exemplary!

[davefl]

Agreed, on all that. Hate the new amenity kits, left the last one on the plane. Food is rubbish, actually the PE food is better.

Last flight from ATL didn’t even stock the bar, every time I went up there the crew appeared and offered to refill my glass from the pointy end and bring it to ne.

[mrcrsearle]

I flew Heathrow Vegas return UC recently. Was fantastic from start to finish. Staff were brilliant. Couldnt do more.

[mrcrsearle]

You need to ask for pyjamas….ts84