This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
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We stayed the night before the flight at the Slough / Windsor Marriott, which was functional but nothing to write home about. We got the Hotel Hoppa at 7.30am. It is a cold, crisp morning with a fair amount of frost on the ground. We fairly sped to the airport, but as soon as we left the A4, the traffic snarled up. Ah, the joy of travelling at half term!!
We crawled along the airport perimeter road and through the tunnel, then went very slowly round terminals 1 and 2, it was even busier at T3, so the driver very cleverly took and short cut and dropped us at the pick up point. This meant a slightly longer walk, but no doubt saved a fair bit of time.
The premium economy check-in was very quiet and we only had to wait a couple of minutes, despite this two people approached us and attempted to sell us upgrades for the bargain price of 319 - 369 each to PE (depending on the booking class of ticket we held). Both of the people had quite a hard sell attitude and appeared surprised when we didnt choose to snap up the bargain. The lady assured me that the normal price of a one way upgrade to premium economy was 1000!!! I am no expert on consumer law, but would suspect a few are being broken here.
We made our way through the very busy, and slow moving security check laptops now have to be out of the bags, which is new. We made our way to the sanctuary of the Virgin Clubhouse. It was a nice feeling to get out of the hubbub, especially as there were only about ten other people dotted around the place when we arrived. We sat down, and the first person we saw was SRB, who was about to go for a Cowshed treatment. As soon as we were seated we were approached to order food and drink. Christopher and I ordered full English and Sue had salmon with cream cheese on a bagel. I then went at booked Sue in for a massage and Christopher in for a hair cut.
We helped ourselves to some fruit salads while we drank coffee and waited for the hot food. The internet connection on the computer terminals in the Clubhouse is so slow that, I booked an hours internet access on T-Mobile and caught up on V-Flyer. The food was very nice and the very helpful staff kept my coffee topped up whilst I surfed the net.
Sue and Christopher went off for their treatments and I continued to read V-Flyer. When they got back I went to have a chat with SRB, who was sitting on his own reading the FT and watching Sky News. He told me he is on his way to SFO, I gave him a V-Flyer card and left him in peace. Whilst were in, the Clubhouse filled up a lot and soon there werent too many spare seats. The waitress said that the other half is due to open towards the end of next month.
As usual, the time passed very quickly and we were soon making our way on the very short walk to Gate 23, which is the one that the CH overlooks. Waiting for us there was Mustang Sally, which means that we have V-Port, which is good news for all of us, as there are several films we want to watch. There was a bit of a queue at the gate and then all three of us were asked to go for security screening, which is a bit of a joke really, but I wont get on my soapbox.
In the holding area I saw a lad who I knew from work. He and his wife have booked a last minute cruise and are on their way to Miami for seven nights of Caribbean Island hopping. We were due to take off at 11.15am, but the plane was apparently late in, so boarding was delayed until about 11.10am. The plane is about full and we made our way on board to seats 44 H J & K, just behind the wing. We pushed back at 11.35am and the Captain introduced his flight deck crew, he told us flying time would be 8 hours and 50 minutes and we would be heading straight along the south coast, over Lands End, across the Atlantic over Bermuda, and into Miami. I don't know if it is me getting old, but the PA on VS flights seems to get quieter and is very difficult to hear sometimes.
We had quite a long wait but, eventually were wheels up at 11.55am. It is a sunny day, with a little scattered cloud, we did see Windsor Castle and Legoland before losing the view of the ground. We got occasional glimpses as the cloud broke, but for the most part of the early journey we didnt see much.
The flight passed quickly, considering we are down the back- thanks to V-Port. I watched Four Brothers, The March of the Penguins, During the first film, we had a drinks service,followed by the meal. The choice was roast chicken, sausage and mash or a veggie pasta . We all plumped for the chicken, but they had run out!!! So we all had the sausage, which was served with cheesy mashed potato and red cabbage. It wasnt great, but it will keep us going and was served with some delicious, but very unhealthy, profiteroles.
We continued to read and view, I watched a bit of the Simpsons, played a bit of Tetris and then watched a film about football called Goal with Anna Friel it is a feel-good film about a Mexican lad who comes to Newcastle United for a trial and has lots of footballers in cameo roles. It was unashamedly cheesy, and I am quite red faced to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed it. There was another drinks service (juice / water) then and ice cream.
A bit more TV, a few more games and a tea of egg and tomato sandwich and a bag of fruit. The other sandwich was chicken and cucumber and we did get the choice this time. Great views of the South East Florida coastline and downtown Fort Lauderdale and Miami, as we circled over the city and landed from the west, very smoothly, at 3.45pm. The Captain had made up all of the lost time, and a bit more. A nice touch after landing was a reading of the afternoons FA Cup scores, the matches had been played while we were in the air.
The temperature on Miami was 80 degrees when we landed, but I think it notched up a couple of degrees when we got off the plane. First of all they wouldnt let us into the Immigration Hall, we were kept in a holding area. When they did let us in it was packed, with massive queues at every desk. We got in a queue, and estimated that it would be well over and hour before we got to the front. It was chaos. They then announced that non US citizens could use some of the US citizens desks, so we managed to slide over, and got quite an advantage. Despite this, by the time we got through all of the cases from our plane had been taken of the belt an put on the floor at the side of the carousel.
All in all, a very good flight. I believe that the secret to flying in Y is your mindset. Yes, it is boring but there are a lot worse places you could be.
Nick
