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#238067 by deep_south
25 Sep 2005, 22:57
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My wife and I returned from Las Vegas on Friday - good break, but a bit wierd - we were in the MGM Grand last Saturday, and one of the boxers in that nights' 'big fight' was making his way through, and being very friendly to everyone, having his picture taken and giving autographs. Heard later he was injured in the fight, and died a few days later.

Then on Thursday, a car drove up the sidewalk outside the Bellagio and killed two people and injured a dozen, which was creepy, as I was actually taking a video of the scenery outside the window just a couple of moments before, and then we saw the emergency vehicles and news helicopters - strange (and goulish) watching the scene on TV and outside your window. And then the Jet Blue flight that had the nose wheel problem was being shown at the same time...!

But back to the flight, which started in a wierd way as well... Taxi to the 'charter terminal' as the driver called it, where there was a huge line that wasn't moving for security before check in. Fortunately the UCS pre-screener pulled us through, and we went to the check in desk as the previous group was leaving. As we presented out documents, the lady asked if we would move seats, as the plane had been changed (!). Which confused me a little.. (we had 6a and 6k prebooked since December, when the reward flights were booked).

Then she said that the previous party were elderly and disabled, and didn't want to sit near the bar. Then she said that they had been 'split' from the rest of their party, and wanted to sit near them. Strange, as the previous group didn't seem to be particularily elderly or disabled (but I know that not all disabilities are visual).

As I was more than confused by the changing story, I asked the agent to explain simply why they wanted us to move - and basically the previous party did not want to be near a noisy bar. Since my wife and I also didn't, we politely suggested we would keep the seats we had pre-booked. Especially as the alternatives she offered were 12A and 12K, way across the cabin from each other... As it happened, the bar was empty almost the whole flight. The other party were actually in 7a, 8a, 10a and 11a. - a strange experience,. I have happily moved seats on other occasions for good reason, but not for the whim of another passenger.

Anyway - back to the flight. The gate security was very fast and efficient, with jovial staff(!). The shared lounge was quiet, as only Virgin has a flight at that time. Good coffee from their machine. Flight called at 3:20pm, for the 4:05pm departure. Short priority line, and then on board. Where the chap from 7k was ensconsed in my seat..! He apologised and moved. Slight scramble about the (lack of) overhead lockers at the front. Good job it's a holiday flight, as 'business' carry ons would overfill them quickly.

Doors closed on time at around 4:05pm, but we didn't move until 4:15pm. Pilot came on and apologised for the heat at the rear of the plane, but said it would cool down quickly once we had taken off. We then did a very slow taxi all the way around Las Vegas airport, and joined a queue of 9 for take off. The first 6 went reasonably swiftly, with about 2 or 3 minutes between each, and then the America West plane at the front of the queue didn't move for over ten minutes.

We eventually took off exactly an hour late at 5:05pm. That delay must have played hell with some of the short haul schedules. No reason for the delay was given - LAS has 2 parallel runways that they use for landing and take off simultaneously. Must have been hot as hell at the back of the plane - we were pretty warm up front. Then for the 9 hour flight back.

The flight itself was uneventful - my wife pointed out the 'Freedom Menu - eat what you want, when you want' had printed just below it 'we will serve you a four course dinner just after take-off' - so much for freedom! She had the salmon, and I had the lamb. Both were excellent. Leek and potato soup was OK as a starter.

I had a problem with the connector for my headphones - it kept losing contact, so one of the FA's tried to secure it with sticky tape. Which didn't help. In the end I used a rolled up newspaper to 'wedge' it in place.

Lights went out after the meal, but as it was still only about 7:00pm I couldn't sleep yet. Watched Monster in law (pretty good), read a little, then asked for the suite to be converted. Slept a little - found it pretty good as a bed (better than it is as a seat).

CC were good at 'protecting' the UCS toilets from the economy side - much better than on the way out. Only a couple of people used the sleep suits as the cabin stayed warm all the time.

Breakfast served - bacon sandwich and ommelette were pretty good. I prefer my bacon thick and unsmoked, though..

Landed on time at 10:00, then taxied to a remote stand, where they had busses but no steps. Finally got off (this time they were holding the rear economy passengers) and onto the second bus, which then gave us a free tour of all the parts of Gatwick that you don't normally see. Wonder why they never uise the rear doors, even when accessible.

Immigration was fast. Then waited for our luggage, which finally arrived at around 11:20, and off to meet our taxi driver, who had been waiting well over an hour.

Overall a reasonable flight. As a reward flight it was excellent. I'm not sure I would pay my own money for UCS for this flight - when you leave the local time zone in mid-afternoon for a 9 or 10 hour flight, I don't want (and can't) sleep that early. We landed at 3:00am on Las Vegas time, and were woken 90 minutes before that. If we do it again, we will go from LAX on the 9:00pm flight, and get the benefit of the suite.

Sorry for the long 'what happened on my holiday' essay.
#313471 by preiffer
25 Sep 2005, 23:01
Thanks for the TR, Peter. [y]

Sounds like you were there for an exciting week [;)][:D] I take it it's still hot enough out there to warm the plane up like an oven if it doesn't move for a while?

Although they do have the 'four course' statement on the menu, unless you're on a 'Good Night Flight', you really can still eat whatever, whenever - just ask them.



Just one thing - Are you going to write a TR for your final sector back to Afghanistan? [;)]
#313472 by Nottingham Nick
25 Sep 2005, 23:03
Thanks for the TR, deep_south [y]

Many V-Flyers share your dislike of VS' attempts to 'force' pax to go to sleep by switching out the cabin lights in the very early evening West Coast time.

Nick
#313473 by deep_south
25 Sep 2005, 23:19
Hot enough over there - oh yeah - still in the mid 90's. Which I enjoyed - hired a convertible for a couple of days, and Avis gave me a Ford Mustang, so we had to have the roof down. The downside is that the Ethel M chocolates my wife bought melted into a solld goo after being in the car for a couple of hours - she needed a knife and fork to eat them!

Should be under 90 in the next couple of weeks.

And I'll fix my profile!
#313474 by honey lamb
25 Sep 2005, 23:40
Interesting to have two reports on the same flight

Like you and many others I too dislike being 'told' when to go to sleep. It's like being sent to bed early for being naughty! [:0]
#313475 by preiffer
25 Sep 2005, 23:45
Good spot, Honey Lamb! [y]


Although strange - as vegascrazy's flight took off at 16:10. [:0]

I know J is a small distance away from PE, but for one part of the plane to take off at 17:05, and the other 55 minutes earlier is quite impressive...[:p]


'Reading other TR's this seems to be in line with what so many Vflyers have said about the crew on UK bound night flights being overly eager to get the service out of the way and lights off Ð even in UC? Don't forget this was at 17:30 last night after a 16:10 departure, the sun was still high in the sky outside! '
#313478 by deep_south
26 Sep 2005, 00:43
Hmmm - yes, now I have seen the 'other' report. It doesn't state actual departure time - just the scheduled. We did have a long stooge and wait before take off.. honest!

And the UCS pax would have been off sooner, except for the d**n PE passengers from upstairs blocking our path... ;-) When we came off there were definately staff 'holding back' the economy pax from the back - but maybe not on the other aisle, where they were coming 'under the stairs' as it were.

I didn't realise the flight was completely full - on the way out a week earlie there had been some spare seats in Y, but not many. UCS was full both ways. I didn't stroll around this time, as I usually do.

I can confirm our UCS bags were among the first off - there a few tagged as 'heavy' and then our two bags were in the first 10 off the belt.

I find the comment about the food interesting - I reckon the UCS food is definately (usually) much better than PE/Y, but the presentation does help a lot. But UCS is (I think) more about the space than anything else, and it wins hands down there. Shame that it isn't 'couple friendly' though. I think there is a great opportunity for any airline to serve bacon and/or sausage sarnies to all - I find the sugar laden muffins that you get nowadays are worse than useless. And if you don't eat cheese...
#313479 by jilly
26 Sep 2005, 00:50
I know J is a small distance away from PE, but for one part of the plane to take off at 17:05, and the other 55 minutes earlier is quite impressive...[:p]


Thanks for the belly laugh - I'll just say that I really needed it after my family have departed and left me in MCO alone, but I suppose there's worse places to be.

Jilly
#313487 by Vegascrazy
26 Sep 2005, 08:21
Hi all, re the discrepency with departure time - the ticketed and scheduled departure time was 16:10 however the screens at McCarran for some reason were saying 16:05 which I guess is what deep_south is talking about when he said doors closed on time at 16:05. My recollection is that we did push back more or less on schedule at 16:10 and yes I do remember a queue for the actual take off, what deep_south says sounds about right, i.e around 17:05. Next time I write a TR I'll try to remember to differentiate between actual departure (push back) and actual take off [;)]

Re the crew holding back economy, when we disembarked from PE upstairs there were already a lot of economy pax getting off the plane, again this concurs with what deep-_south says about UC pax making it to the second bus and not the first. We managed to make it into the first bus, just [:)]

Agree fully with deep_south's comment about UC not being couple friendly. We flew UC on the outbound to SFO and loved every minute of it - great flight! However general chit chat was difficult unless one of us went to the other's ottoman or we went to the bar. Nonetheless the UC experience totally lived up to expectations and we can't wait to do it again, hopefully next year.
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