Just had my first VS experience this past saturday, on VS 17, from LHR to EWR, in Upper Class. Needless to say, the club in LHR is amazing, and the service and food onboard were top notch. However, my experience my have been a tad skewed. Why, you may ask me? Soon after the seatbelt sign was turned off, I am relaxing at my seat reading a book, minding my business, when all of the sudden, I look up, and none other than freaking Sir Richard Branson (!!!) is standing in front of me, extending his hand to give me a hand shake, and welcoming and thanking me for flying Virgin. I only had the mind to get up and say what a great honor it was to meet him, since I was a bit stunned, and could not think of anything else to ask right away before he moved on to my travel companion on the next seat (whom is my +1, and I love dearly, but he is as clueless as a door knob). My husband goes: "Who is that?" - a little uninterested. "Are you kidding me?? That's Richard F**ing Branson!" "Oh. And who is he?" I explained to him, and he though it was cool, but was much more interested in what we were having for dinner. As he made his way through the cabin, more people realized who was onboard, and had a little more advance warning to prepare I guess. He was quite friendly and chatted with some other passengers for some time. I made my way to the bar as soon as it opened - this is a place I frequent often - and was hoping he would come by so I could offer to buy him a drink . Got chatting with the FAs manning the bar, and they all told me Sir Richard is quite friendly, and puts all the staff at ease. I could tell they were all relaxed and not at all on edge having the boss on the plane. Before they had a chance to do dinner service, the IFE system went out -"Don't even go there!", was what the lead FA said when he was told this. He was at the bar chatting with me. He went to reboot the system, and kept everyone abreast. Naturally, the bar became quite a popular place to be. As long as the whiskey bottle was still functioning, I was a happy camper. Sir Richard walked past the crowd at the bar and said: "I see where everyone's gone to!" But unfortunately did not hang around for long. He did get on the loudspeaker at the end of the flight, thanked everyone, including the crew, and congratulated a FA on his first flight with Virgin. I saw him again clearing immigration, just like everyone else. I am guessing he poops like everyone else too. It was quite fun to meet a guy who got his start selling records out of the boot of his car, and it now worth over 4.3 Billion Dolars, and yet still flies commercial and on top of it keeps a down to earth attitude. I loved Virgin! I am usually a Continental flyer, and Virgin beats the pants off CO is almost every aspect with a couple of exceptions: The seats on CO are better, the dessert on CO is better (Ice cream cart!), And the IFE is better. But I will fly Virgin again, just to hang out in the clubhouse at LHR. Holy Bejesus, that place rules!
Well, Ygor---This is a great story; but if I recall in Young Frankenstein, you wern't even the real Moto, youre were only a.....Quaisi-Moto ("what hump?")!
Most billionaires would fly private and even if they flew commercial, they wouldn't want to make the rounds to say hello. Gotta respect that. I know I would probably just nap!
Normally most posts on the interwebs elicit a "pics or it didn't happen" from me but from what I've heard about SRB this is not farfetched at all! Nice.
I got a blurry picture of him when he was on the other side of the cabin chatting with another passenger. Let me look through my phone and see if I can post it. This was quite a way to pop my Virgin Cherry!
I've a friend who not only had the same experience last year on EWR-LHR, but was actually across the aisle from said beareded one. He signed her copy of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. They were both reading it at the same time.
Richard Branson is a great business man imo and little things like this don't take much time or effort and look at what it accomplished!
That's fantastic. Some people were taking pictures with him at the end of the flight. I regret not asking him for one... Would have been a fun addition to book.
I'm just surprised to hear you say that you really liked the food. That's usually the worst part of the VS UC experience for me.
I had a shrimp risotto as an app that I would have paid money for at a restaurant. The food at the clubhouse was really good too overall I thought the food was comparable. Portions were smaller, but they were good for me. The desert was meh, but if I had the ice cream cart CO has, I probably would have blown up.
