This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Bags dropped at a very quiet Disney Springs this morning. The only place there were queues were by the AMC Cinema next door – people were already queuing up there at 10am to get into the Star Wars movie which has pre-release screenings this evening.
The normal last day routine of both Universal parks & lunch at Mythos then followed. (More queues at CityWalk AMC cinema for Star Wars too). As it’s been rather hot (28C) here today & as we’re on the later VS74, we did a stop at Aquatica to shower & change on the way to the airport. (Aquatica entrance was included on our park tickets so it cost us nothing). Will definitely try and do the Aquatica stop again in future if it’s on our tickets.
As we were paying the 2nd toll on the SR528 just before the airport, a Virgin plane was landing – the plane that is going to form our return flight G-VGAL). Got through the TSA checkpoint in about 15mins which is not too bad. On the train out to the satellite terminal a BA crew were in the same section as us. Pam Ann jokes aside, this lot looked “p155-off bored” & really happy to be there.
Once airside, did the obligatory T10 shopping & had a brief wander round the terminal. Interesting to see The Club MCO lounge – never noticed that before, but according to the sign this is where BA now send their passengers (along with Lufthansa, Emirates & a few others. Also interesting to see an Emirates 777-200LR parked up at a gate at the end of the pier with The Club MCO lounge on, as there are no EK departures left for today (the plane is in darkness, so it’s clearly parked).
Up to the Delta Sky Club which is not over busy – plenty of choices of where to sit. (Maybe all the other airlines now using the Club MCO lounge has helped?) Had a couple of drinks whilst waiting for the flight to be called. We really don’t want to be travelling home, but the only consolation is that tomorrow & Saturday in Orlando are forecast to be a good 10C cooler then what we have been enjoying. As has been mentioned on here, there is now a premium bar selection in the lounge that you have to pay for. There are 2 beers, 2 white wines, 2 red wines and basic spirits for free. If you want anything fancier, then get your wallet out.
Boarding was called from the lounge at about 19:20 and we made our way to the gate, passing the VS ground staff member who was heading to the lounge for the passengers. Got to the gate and after being asked to wait about 1 minute, we were onboard Jersey Girl.
The Garden Brut was promptly offered & accepted. We have a short 7h15m flight back to Manchester with 208 passengers & 15 crew onboard. Interestingly for a short flight there are 3 crew on the flight deck. The FSM introduced herself to two passengers before pushback & they have run out of large sleep-suits – only medium or small available.
After takeoff drink orders have just been taken – we’re going for more Garden Brut just to avoid mixing drinks. Drinks delivered, but no crisps. Crisps [a term I use loosely] have just arrived & they are bloody awful. Not potato crisps & near fluorescent orange in colour. We both sent them back & they were replaced with normal potato crisps – quite spicy ones, but that is no problem for us. After a week of American food – which tends to err on the milder side of mild, even for a spicy dish – it’s nice to have a bit of a spicy tingle in your mouth.
Drinks have all been delivered & the crew came round shortly afterwards to take dinner orders. Due to our Mythos lunch, we’re passing on starters & have both asked for the beef – will follow this up with either pudding or cheese before trying to get a little sleep.
The FSM has shown her face in the cabin again – briefly – but not to say hello, just to look at peoples drink glasses & top a few up. She can hardly have her work cut out on a flight that is under half full.
Current Upper Class inbound menu is as follows – December 2015 menu cycle for VS6/118/22/28/74&76;
Starters
Celeriac & pear soup (v)
Mixed salad (v)
Snow crab
Warm breads
Mains
Beef fillet
Kali much ka murg
Wild mushroom tortellini (v)
Seared duck and orange salad
Pudding
Molten chocolate cake
Nougat mousse cake
Cheese and port
Blue cheese
Brie
Smoked cheddar
The beef main course was OK for an ex-USA main course. As above, followed this up with the cheese which again was OK. Decent portion size, but nothing really special.
Now it comes to sleep time. Who had the one seat in Upper Class that would not convert to a bed? Me. The crew tried all the tricks they knew including knives / safety cards / brute force, but the seat was having none of it. A switch somewhere was telling it the table was deployed, so it would not turn into a bed. I was offered an extra legroom row of 4 in economy so I could lie flat should I so wish. I declined the offer as I would not have slept for long anyway. Seems I am now in line for 20K miles & a couple of bottles of Garden Brut. The crew were really nice about the fault, despite it being way out of their control.
Had pre-ordered a full breakfast (minus the eggs & mushrooms). Given the seat situation I had, I was awake when breakfast service began. Have just realized too that the crew have given me a couple of bottles of the PE sparkling wine, as opposed to the Garden Brut – unsure which is the lesser of the two evils to be honest! At least as it is Christmas I can give the bottles away to friends / neighbors with ease hopefully they will think it is classy!
Arrived at Manchester about 10mins early. Got through the UK Border on one of the new e-passport gates in seconds – way better than the old e-passport machines. Bags were on the belt within a few minutes of arriving in the baggage hall, so all in all nothing to complain about there.
To summarize, I’d have to say this was an average Virgin flight. The crew – whilst good – were not wow either (they were a London based crew too, a bit unusual on a MAN flight). Given the 50% load factor & full compliment of crew, this flight could easily have shone out there as excellent had the crew wanted it to. That extra sparkle in the service was lacking.
