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#918686 by julmops
11 Mar 2016, 21:38
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I was supposed to fly back to London from Denver via Atlanta via DL and VS. Before arriving at Denver Airport, I had checked the Delta app and noticed that my flight to Atlanta had been delayed, preventing me to connect there ... A choice of other possibilities was given but the only acceptable one was to connect via Detroit, which I was happy with. Changes were made online and once at Denver Airport, check-in had to be made on the Delta Special Services desk which were pretty busy, meaning quite a long queue to go through but I had thought it might take a while so I had arrived at the airport with plenty of time. Anyhow, flight from Denver to Detroit will be detailed in a separate TR as it was on DL.
We landed in DTW on time. As I was in Economy Comfort and in 4D, I was very quickly out of the plane and on my way to gate A46, having arrived at gate A70. It doesn't seem like a very long walk but it actually requires to catch a little train to bring you from one side to the other.
Very quick and efficient way to move within the terminal as the train is actually above the main terminal and make things very effective. I arrived at gate A46 with about 30 minutes to spare until boarding. I needed to get a new boarding pass so went to the gate desk which was manned by 5 people, both from DL and VS uniformed employees. There was some nationwide technical issues with issuing boarding passes so it had to be done manually.
I quickly explained that I had been rerouted and that I needed a new boarding pass but also that on my original booking, I had paid extra for a ELR seat, which was provided to me once I gave them my original booking reference ... The gate agent was pretty impressed when I gave him the requested reference without checking any document :D
Boarding started with plenty of time and once onboard, I realised that the plane would be pretty empty, at least in Economy. With the A333 being laid out on 2-3-2 in Y, I had 2 seats to myself, which was really cool.
The FSM announced 162 passengers, 12 cabin crew and 2 pilots for a flying time of 6 hours and 50 minutes.
It was making a whopping 90 free Economy seats ... No need to say that we all had plenty of space to stretch.
We pushed back on time and took off after a short taxi. Service started pretty soon afterwards, with a full bar service and the usual pretzels ... It mostly was a ladies affair in tems of service in the Economy cabin, with the exception of the CSS, who was the most gorgeous male cabin crew I've ever had the chance to talk to :blush:
Food was then served and I had the pulled pork, which was actually not bad at all. A mixed salad and a little pot of GU chocolate pudding were complimenting the main dish quite nicely. A pretty decent Sauvignon Blanc did the trick, as did the 2 little bottles of Amarula with my coffee ... I tend to prefer Baileys but I'm developing a serious interest to Amarula these days, thanks to Virgin Atlantic ... :-D
Lights were dimmed after a duty free round, not to be switched back on until about 85 minutes before landing.
In the meantime, I managed to watch A Good Dinosaur and to sleep for about 90 minutes, which is unheard of for me in Y.
Breakfast was then offered in the form of a yogurt with granola, with some fruits and a choice of tea or coffee.
We landed in LHR a whole 40 minutes early, without going in rounds, which I was quite grateful for.
Landing was from the West, so taxi was kept to a minimum but we docked at gate 20 so walking back to immigration took quite a while.
E Gates in Terminal 3 are currently closed for refurbishment so it took quite a while to get cleared but once done, my luggage was already on the belt.
All in all, a very pleasing flight, especially as I hadn't flown in Y for a while with Virgin and wasn't really sure what to expect.
I had the chance to get a pretty empty flight and a lovely crew and it definitely made my flight.
#918714 by tomthumb
12 Mar 2016, 14:43
Nice Trip report, in fact I went through DTW on route to Cleveland once and found the terminal I used very nice indeed - taught a Lt in the US Airborne the benefits of adding just a small drop of water to Malt Whisky :D

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