This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Intro
After 1 year in the planning and an excuse to go on a 747-400 we went to finally time to go, here is the flight report, i have travelled To Orlando with Virgin Atlantic Airways for 6 Days to a family wedding it was back in 2002 when i last travelled with Virgin Atlantic on there TF-ATN 747-200 to Orlando, but now the big one, the 400.[:D]
Flight #1
Airline- Virgin Atlantic Airways
Flight Number- VS 075
Aircraft- Boeing 747-443
Registration- G-VROM
Named- 'Barbarella'
AirBorn- December 2001
Date - Wednesday 15th March 2006
From- Manchester International Airport (MAN / EGCC)
To- Orlando International Airport (MCO / KMCO)
Seat Number- 44K
Departure Schedualed- 10:25
Departure Actual- 10:46
Arrival Schedualed- 14:50
Arrival Actual- 14:14
Food- Sausage & Mash Potatoes, Then Later On In The Flight A Chicken Salad Sandwich
We arrived at Manchester Airport at around 05.45, as we knew that check-in opened at 06:00 so we waited and we got told we could check-in. The check-in agents and security people at Manchester were extreamly friendly for 6am they we laughing the most enjoyable check-in expeirence ive ever had! (well done Manchester!) we then go the security checks done on us and we went to the check-in agent who supplied us with seats 44K,G,J & H, He told us the aircraft hadnt yet arrived and hadnt been issued a gate, he also said that boarding was at 09:30 and not 09:10 which it had said on the boarding card.
We passed through security and did some shopping, as you do, and we looked at the screen which said we had gate 206, so we went there they started boarding around 09:35 and everyone was onboard by 10:20 we started pushback at 10:26 and headed for 06L which happend to be our departure runway. we departed and climbed to only 32,000ft,
inflight entertainment came on, and i watched Harry Potter for 3 hours then comedy programes for the rest of the flight, After passing over Ireland we traveled over the Atlantic Ocean for around a couple of hours, some mild turbulence hit the aircraft, So we climed to 34,000ft, Then headed down the east coast of New Foundland then Canada then Boston, Washington DC.
here we had hit some more turbulence, So we climbed to 36,000ft, Just The Ouskirts of New York, There is a pic of our route map
more turbulence hit whilst passing over the east coast of Georgia, we started our decent into orlando around 13:30 (USA Time).
The clocked ticked on and as we passed by 8,000ft the spoliers were put up
and the wing shuck and so did we altough at that time because of all the turbulence we had it wasnt no different to the inflight. Some fantasic views of Orlando can be seen,
Spoliers Down and flaps down and gear down we touched down, Arrival was 36 minutes ahead of scheduale and we parked up at gate 81 i do belive.
Flight overall - 9/10 (i didnt get the choice i wanted for my meal)
Flight #2
Intro
Well after a beautiful wedding it was time to come home, the night flight home would turn out to be a very bumpy flight, Enjoy reading it.
Airline- Virgin Atlantic Airways
Flight Number- VS 076
Aircraft- Boeing 747-443
Registration- G-VROY
Named- 'Pretty Women'
AirBorn- June 2001
Date - Monday 20th March 2006 / Tuesday 21st March 2006
From- Orlando International Airport (MCO / KMCO)
To- Manchester International Airport (MAN / EGCC)
Seat Number- 42 A
Number Of Passengers On Board- 438
Crusing Speed (Average / MPH)- 557
Temperature (Lowest / Farienheit)- 71
Departure Schedualed- 18:30
Departure Actual- 18:58
Arrival Schedualed- 07:25
Arrival Actual- 07:48
Food- Beef Casarole, Later On In The Flight A Light Breakfast Consisting Of Fruit And A Blueberry Muffin
Well time to come home, we set off from my auntys house at around 1:45 for our departure we had an hour trip to MCO we also had to make a stop-over at Thrifty's Car Rental to return a car my uncle had hired for us, we had directions there but when we had to turn onto a road called Narcosse Road (i think) East it was a dead end so we were lost. We then arrived at the airport around 16:15 to check-in, it was packed and the queue for Virgin Atlantic was hurrendous, they have no sense of order there[:(!]. they were rushing passengers for the 18:05 Gatwick flight, so they got priorty to check-in, then around 16:35 they started rushing the Manchester flight through by this time we had arrived at one of the desks we origionally pre booked seats 42 A, B, C & D but D had gone so my father had to sit in 41 C so we had to live with that, then we had learnt that the baggage belt had broke so we had to take our bags to the security, we went there and got sent outside and we had to leave our bags there.
We got to the security and it was jam packed full of passengers trying to go to the departure lounge, we got ina queue and we got through security around 17:20 and got to gate 85 (the gate we got issued) for our boarding at 17:40, at gate 84 a British Airways Boeing 777-200 was preparing for its flight to LGW at 83 a VS 747-400 Preparing to go to LGW at 19:55 (G-VTOP) and 81 was another VS 747-400 at 18:05 (G-VROM) preparing to go to (guess where!) LGW, so we was there waiting and we ahd to stand up as it was packed, no suprise...., our plane at gate 85 (G-VROY). the women on Gate 81 & 84 came on the speaker saying there wa sa delay to boarding due to lateness of the cabin crew, it turned 18:00 and no movement had happend in our boarding, at 18:20 we fianlly started we got on about 18:35, there was a very starnge smell around rows 40, 41 & 42 it was sick and the smell wasnt nice, so there was a party of 5 in seats 40A,B,C 41 A & B, they asked to move and were able to, so my dad took 41A and my mum took 41 C me and my sister streteched out on 42 AB &C i loved it and so did my dad as we had a flap view (as my dad calls it) i call it a back wing view dont ask why lol. After that everyone was seated around 18:40 we pushed at 18:46 and departed and headed for Manchester.
link to pic
link to pic
The flight route was basiclly the Atlantic Ocean untill Ireland, we didnt bother much with the East Coast, we reach our cruising altitiude of 36,000ft and dinner was served etc, it turned 21:05 (USA Time) and some turbulence started it stoped then came on very sharply, the seatbelt sign came on as quick as a flash and the plane was really shakeing, the cabin member came on ordering all the cabin attendents to take there seat immideatly it was a very strong turbelence and it passed around 21:15 we continued our journey, i watched TV and then fell asleep. Dawn broke around 06:10 (UK Time).
link to pic
At 06:40 we climbed to 37,000ft, we hadnt been informed that we would be late arriving into Manchester, not sure why really, (Headwind?) anyway we started decent at 07:15, The Spoilers Popped Up,
link to pic
link to pic
and as we did the British Airways 777-200 which we saw at Orlando, (i know this because i was told at the end of the flight by the captain) was to our left and above us a Ryanair 737-800 going in the oppisite direction. we turned to approach runway 06R
link to pic
link to pic
link to pic
link to pic
We touched down at 07:48 23 minutes behind sceduale, we headed to gate 206 but had to cross 06L,
link to pic
where we had to wait for 2 FCA 757-200 to depart, then we crossed and had to wait for a TOM 757-200 to pass then we arrived on stand, end of flight!
Hope you enjoyed reading this report! (Comments Very Welcome!)
Regards Jon![:)][:D]
{mcuth: edited to change larger image inclusions into URL links - including the larger size images causes the page formatting to break}
