This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin
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This was mine and my g/f's 3rd time on VA and have to say this was not the best trip we've ever had with VA and will probably be the last.
VS007 LHR - LAX. We arrived about 5hr early so check in was nice and fast. My g/f suffers from Coeliac disease which means she is alergic to anything which contains gluten/wheat/oats so we had requested a gluten free meal for her in advance which checkin confirmed. We settled in for breakfast and when we went to board the flight we were delighted to see Tubular Belle so we knew we'd get V:Port. We were in row 45 by the window. Although we boarded the flight on time we were kept on the runway for well over 90mins with no reason given and it got extreamly hot on the plane! A lot of people were starting to complain about feeling sick because of the heat. We eventually took of 90 mins late and I was really surprised when the food wasn't served for another 90mins so thats 3hrs since boarding the flight! When my g/f got her gluten free meal they had given her oat biscuits. Only by her being quick enough to spot it did she avoid getting very ill but this wasn't the only mess with the meals. They actually did the same thing later on and also completely missed out the mid flight snack saying its not classed as a meal for special meal passengers! The chocolate they served also had wafers in which again they said doesn't count for special meals so her evening meal consisted of a bag of fruit! Personally, I also didn't get a choice as they had run out of everything each time so I got what I was given. Also drinks were only served once for the whole 11hrs!
Best bit of the flight, V:Port! Excellent system!
VS020 - 18/09/2005 SFO-LHR.
Because of the problems on the way out we were not looking forward to the return trip. Although we took off on time this time VA still messed up the special gluten free meal a bit as there was always something on the meal shouldn't have been there. Luckily this wasn't a nut allergy as you can imagine the sort of consequences of a person alergic to nuts eating nuts on a flight!! I also drew the short straw again on meals and was limited to NO choice yet again. Apart from the turbulance the flight wasn't too bad and once again V:Port was stunning. Turned to a downer at the airport when my suitcase had been seriously bashed/dented to such a degree that I have had to bin it now.
So overall, would we fly with VA again? Probably not. Mainly due to the mess up with the special meal, lack of drinks service and the ridiculous amount of legroom you get in cattle class. Think I'll stick to AA or Delta if there still going.