After 15 days in the US, it was finally time to make our way home from SFO.[:(] We had spent the last 3 days in San Francisco, and enjoyed every minute of it. The weather was great, our accommodation was excellent (The Grosvenor Suites).[y]
We got to the airport at about 12:15, check-in was due to open at 12:30. There was already about 60 or so people in the queue, but as I had used OLCI the night before, we went to the DIY bag drop off, where there was no one else in line. The guy doing the security checks on the passports noticed the stamp I had in mine for Prague, and as he had visited there earlier in the year, we had a quick chat on the quality of Czech beer[^].
Check-in opened on time, and I was the first person to be called forward, as our desk was ready before the UC and PE desks, and I could also feel the eyes of everybody in the economy queue who had been there a lot longer than me burning into the back of my neck! This OLCI lark is great!![:D][y] The check-in lady was very friendly, and within a few minutes we were checked in (60 A, B, and C) and we were on our way to the departure area, our gate was A8. Security was the usual, belts off, shoes off etc, but the agents on duty did seem to have a smile on their faces and were very courteous, and we were through with in a few minutes.
As we were waiting we saw Cosmic Girl arrived at about 14:00, so we knew we would be on her for the flight back.
The flight started to board on time at 15:40, and we pushed off the gate shortly after 16:30. The captain advised us that the flight time would be around 9hrs 56mins, so we should arrive in LHR right in time.
The fight itself was great, the crew were all very efficient, but there were several problems with the V:Port system, and they had to reboot it a few times. I had the BBQ beef for dinner (Salmon and Cannelloni was also on offer) and also included a salad, a slice of Key Lime Pie, cheese and crackers, chocolate and one of those annoying foil covered containers with water in them! The food was quite nice, and after this I settled down to watch War of the Worlds.
On the way across we hit turbulence several times and the fasten seat belts light was put on. It still surprises me how many people ignore this, and the crew has to ask some people several times to sit down!
About 6hrs into the flight the crew came around with water and orange juice, and about 90mins before landing breakfast was served. This included an Egg and Cheese Croissant, fruit and an apple and cinnamon muffin.
As we were approaching LHR the captain told us we would be held in the stacking pattern for a while, and we finally touched down at 10:45, about 15min late, but things were about to get worse! We taxied for a while, and were then told that there was no gate available, and we would have to use a remote stand, but none of these were yet available so we had to sit and wait for one for about 20mins. When we finally got to the stand there were only 3 buses waiting, so we had to wait for more, and there seemed to be some confusion on how may were needed. As we were in row 60, we were amongst the last ones to get off, and finally boarded our bus at 12:15, a whole 90mins after we landed!!!! Whilst this was not entirely Virgins fault, several people were starting to get a bit annoyed by this, especially some who had connecting flights, trains and buses to catch. We had a 5 hour car journey to do, so this didnt really help us out either! Somebody really needs to look into this, and hopefully when T5 opens it will be a thing of the past.
When we finally got to immigration the lines were huge, and the one for Non European passport holders seemed to be moving a lot quicker than the one UK passport holders! Our baggage was stacked up on the floor when we got to the baggage hall so we collected it and went on to pick up the car for our journey back to west Wales.
Overall, another very good flight with VA, which was only spoilt by the chaos we encountered on our arrival at LHR.
