The terminal is, well, the terminal. I had toyed with the notion of booking the Escape lounge, however some very sage advice on this site dissuaded me and to be fair, we found loads of empty seats in a relatively quiet area adjacent to gate 208, which with more luck than judgement, was our gate. English Rose was on stand, loading in process
Flight was called, UC, PE and Au card holders first no point in moving yet! Our rows were called for boarding and after standing in the queue for a couple of minutes it dawned on me that the people in front were not those that were called, they were just milling around awaiting their call in anticipation of the charge of the light brigade! Why do people do that? The flight is not going without them; they have their assigned seats and, with the restrictions on hand luggage, there is not any shortage of locker space!!
Settled into 59C with Mrs Droflet in 59B and junior Droflet in 59A. Droflet seniors were suitably ensconced in 58 A & B. First impressions: seat pitch was adequate, not too dissimilar to Gold seats on a much travelled charter carrier; cabin seemed huge, light and airy; seat covers were definitely a little tired; CC were top notch.
Pushed back bang on time @ 10:25 and headed out to one of the westerly runways, take off at 10:48. Couldnt help being impressed with the sensation of power as we started rolling down the runway!
Cold beer in my hand by 11:20.. now the office can go shoot, Im on holiday!
Meal service came and went; beef stew and the scrummy GU choc puds which, IMO, by airline standards were very good: more juice and water runs and the ubiquitous afternoon tea.
Never having experienced VS before I cannot comment on the relative quality of the IFE, however it kept me and the family entertained for the duration of the flight which can be no mean feat.
Very smooth flight, very little by the way of turbulence and not one episode of seat belts on
Wheels down 10 minutes early and straight to stand. Immigration: efficient and, surprisingly, friendly.. do you think they are realising that the majority of people flying into MCO/SFB are the B&S brigade?
Luggage reclaimed with minimum of fuss, straight through customs (5 of you sir? No problem just head right out). Dollar car rental desk was a little light on staff, however a short wait saw Joey suddenly appear and sort out my crew bus (Well done Airline Network!!) Hit the road and here we go!
