LHR – JFK VAA 747-400

hi guys

great fun site and nice reports here…
though may i share my trip a couple of weeks ago to NYC which is when the 3 cunard queens were in dock there so i went over to see them off…

i live in paddington london so i took the heathrow connect train which is much cheaper than the express and takes only 25 mins…

i had checked in online and i was upgraded to premium economy which i was looking forward to being the first time for me since virgin have fitted the new seat…

check in was empty being a saturday and so was fastrack security,
i am lucky to be able to use the clubhouse which is great and had nice food and fresh juices before boarding the 747-400 to JFK std 1400 vs045

the clubhouse really is one of the best features of the whole VAA experience likewise the new drive up private check in…

we boarded a wee bit late (turns out the captain was called out on his day off from his home in eire and got to the a/c at -10!!!)

the new premium Y cabin on the 747-400 LHR versions is 62 seats
all now downstairs in the zone aft of door 2L. 2-4-2 seating at 38 pitch,
exit row is 28

the seat is great, wide, leather, and roomy, u can ask for a leather foot rest or use the drop down foot rest,
if this seating had maybe 2 more inches of leg room then i wouldnt bother ever with business class…
for this 7 hr 35 min flight it was a dream.
the cabin was 1/3 rd full

u get premium drinks or juice served at once and your coat hung up (nice)
crew very professional on this virgin flight ( for a change, not silly kids all squawking about their last trip or bitching someone off which i have had many times and its not nice)
the CSM was lovely as was the lad looking after my section.

pushed back few mins late off stand 32 and took off on 28R very briskly,
de-rated take off ( we were pretty light) and only ate up maybe what seemed a few hundred yards of the runway before rotate but no doubt was longer than i imagined…

the cf6’s didnt make much noise 🙁 and we soon levelled off in the cruise and the drinks came round (and round and round lol) orange juice for me though!

early dinner was nice and better than the dogs muck i have been served in recent times it was simple roast chicken and tatties all hot and very tasty
with a GU chocolate mousse pud for afters yummmmy
the premium dinner tray is now china and real cutlery and afternoon tea served before landing is now only coffee and biscuits/crisps or a GU brownie
no more sandwiches or scones with jam though 🙁
the new premium blanket/amenity kit is better quality too.

the whole flight was boringly smooth and we routed not as high up the globe as normal and flew over the isle of man belfast then over the atlantic below iceland.

we overtook a zoom 767 (well it was blue lol so it must be zoom) then over some very cracked ice ( a worry) which was the southern part of greenland.
i napped a wee bit
we hit the land over labrador then we flew down towards halifax then boston then i saw the spit of islands on my left,
i had watched a bit of the avod ife including the movie hairspray which was a hoot.
i guess then the st lawrence seaway became the hudson river i looked down saw the george washington bridge (links NJ to upper westside mahattan) and we sharply banked left over that and out to sea down the beach
a right down back over rockaway beach and i glimsped lower manhattan in the twilight and my sense of thrill and excitement when everytime i fly in to NYC came on and it was superb to see the famous lights of the empire state and chrysler buildings from the 1930s which for me is true NY!

we had a wee bit of slat and flap down then the gear dropped,
not much needed from the thrust to maintain the level except in the last banking descending turn where a nice poke of power to the cf6’s spooled them up for 10 seconds to line up nice to JFK and we whooshed in over the beach as the last few rays of sun filtered through and skimmed the dry runway to a very classy landing…hes been there and done that many times before LOL!
no reverse, mimimum brakes and the spoilers went in fast and we turned off pretty quick for very long taxy to the international terminal…yawn!

you really cant beat a 747 for a T/A flight, its big roomy, comfy (usually) reliable
shame it wasnt a coal burning G-VIRG, G-VGIN or G-TKYO or G-VRGN though 🙁
or even the grand old lady now long gone G-VMIA the only -100 series VAA had until 2001 which i flew many times on across to florida.
still the 747-400 is smooth and fast and had 4 nice big GE cf6 engines, not rolls royce but they were ok lol!

not much interesting planes to see or report at JFK that evening im afraid
jet blue jet blue jet blue oh yes jet blue and delta lol

really there was nothing unusual to see just the normal internationals and no cargo surprises
sorry about that !
aer lingus had 2 a330’s so did swiss
BA 2 x 747 and a 777
air india 777

the young steward looking after came round to all the pax and personally said it was his pleasure to have been looking after us today and hoped we enjoyed our trip to NY which i thought was really nice
i havent had a personal thanks like that for many years…impressive virgin!

i was amongst the first off the plane,
immigration was a hike but no queues and i was very pleasantly welcomed and dealt with then straight to my car for downtown manhattan!!

i had yummy italian dinner at il cantinori restaurant (sex in the city fame) that night which was buzzy and cool then walked upto see times square then walked back to my super new chic (cheap) hotel in chelsea nr the westside piers for bed at 2300h for an 0600h meet with 3 big queens LOL!!!

cheers for now
i do have a pic of the plane
http://img230.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img4610ry0.jpg

do you want part 2 ?? upper class back ???:D :rolleyes: :rolleyes: yawn