This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
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Cabin Crew
We go to LHR on the 7.55am BMI flight from Teesside. The flight was delayed by ATC at Teesside and London but still managed to land in quite good time. Ian Botham was on the flight which was funny as he had been on my last BMI flight over a year before. He must live somewhere near Teesside and commute (?).
We had checked our bags through to Tokyo so just had hand luggage to take from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3. We were surprised to be waved through a security check by a bored looking lady, annoying as I had taken the trouble to get my metal thingies out in advance. After that we went through to the Virgin T3 check in desk. Male and female staff at the head of the queue told us that we did not need to see the check in staff as Teesside had given us our Virgin boarding cards. There was a minor panic when it was thought we had not been given luggage claim tags but it turned out they had been stuck to a leaflet about the flight connections centre rather than the tickets. The virgin staff were great and gave us directions to the T3 shops and restaurants. We only had 90 minutes or so to kill so went for an early lunch (it was about 11am by now) at TGI Fridays. I had battered shrimps - lovely. While eating, I noticed I had lost my coat - I had dropped it outside the restaurant. Lucky it was still there.
At about 11.45am the bording gate was announced and we headed down. I can not remember which it was but it was one of the furthest away from the shops! On arrival there was one more quick check of boarding cards and passports with Virgin staff before we were through and able to see Varga Girl waiting for us to board.
About the passengers: I would say that the flight had 75 percent Japanese passengers. This was not surprising as it was the end of the Golden Week of public holidays, during which time a lot of people take trips abroad. The plane was probably full. There were a lot of FA's onboard. One of the British FA's in my cabin was clearly on her first trip on this route as she was getting advice on how to address the Japanese passengers. She seemed experienced and professional in her duties, but her Japanese accent was rather London!
We were in seats 35A and 35C, which is at the front of the economy section. I had the window seat and could easily see out of two windows, giving me views in front and behind the wing. That gets a big thumbs up from me [y] as I enjooy watching the flaps change during take off and landing. The V:Port box was not too big at all and the leg room was fine. I am 6 foot 2 and still had an inch or so space. There were problems in the reclined position, with my knees against the seat in front, but I was never uncomfortable. V:Port was superb. I must have played Tetris for about 5 hours of the flight on and off!
The problem we did have with space was the seat width. Both me and the OH are overweight and it was snug to say the least! I didn't mind and as the V:Port control can be removed from the handset there were no issues with accidentally changing channels etc. Seat 35A also has some space on the window side and the window is at the right level to rest your elbow.
The flight took off slightly late due to air traffic issues but had been early to push back from the gate. Take off was smooth and the FA's were very quick to get to work. We had a snack and drink first, then shortly after V:Port started they were round with the main meal. There was a choice of Bangers & mash (which I had - lovely), Japanese bento box, Vegetarian ravioli and Teriyaki chicken, which the OH had. To help out the FA's, they each had a little card with the options written in English and Japanese. Our FA was Japanese and we tried to talk to her in the language. She was very kind and after making her laugh I noticed I got an extra large vodka portion in my 'brudy maly'.
In 35C you are one of the first economy passengers to be served but I heard that further down the cabin they ran out of the Japanese food options.
After the food service was all done it took a while for the trays to be collected but this was understandable as the plane was full to bursting. The flight then settled down and most people seemed to sleep or watch movies. I am an active type though so was up and down quite a bit. I swapped into 35C and left the OH to sleep. I went down to the galley quite a lot and had some chats with other passengers who were hanging out there. It seemed there were only a couple of kids on the flight and there was a little hyperactive Japanese lad who was hilarious and seemed fascinated by my 'huge' feet and kept standing on them. His mum (also hanging out in the galley area) was apologetic but he was so funny I didn't mind at all.
Walking up and down the plane I noted that the most popular movie seemed to be 'Memoirs of a Geisha'.
The flight was pretty smooth with a bit of minor turbulence over Scandanavia about 2 hours in and then nothing until we were over Japan - where it is expected due to the mountains.
We had an ice cream sometime later into the flight, then breakfast as it was about 7am in Japan. The landing was smooth and I managed to see a couple of mountains peek out from under the clouds on the way. No views of Tokyo as the airport is so far away from the city and the cloud was low. The plane landed nearly 30 minutes early, beating the arrival from KLM which meant that immigration and customs were a breeze. The queues for Japanese were horrendous but us lucky Gaijin were through well before the bags came around the carousel. Miracle - our bags were together and off the carousel almost straight away - we were the first to customs and straight out to the arrivals area. The airport was very quiet and we made the first Limousine Bus (actually a coach) that was due to leave for our hotel in the next 25 minutes. The stop was literally outside the Arrivals exit so we had some tme to stretch our legs and have our first go at one of the many vending machines. The Limousine Bus service into the city was quick and will drop you off at or near your hotel, avoiding all those stairs on the subway - I highly recommend it.
I loved Japan and would go back right now if I had the opportunity. It was a dream. I would recommend it to anyone as a holiday destination - there is so much to do and see, the people are lovely, the shopping is brilliant and the food is varied, cheap and plentiful. Japan seemed cheap compared to the UK in fact. Anyway, this is getting OT, I'll post about the hotel and return journey etc elsewhere!
Thanks to Virgin for making my first flight a good one
[:D][:D]
