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#918764 by VS075
13 Mar 2016, 20:25
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After a week visiting the theme parks, the time had come to fly back home. As the flight wasn't till the evening, we elected to return to Epcot and Magic Kingdom in the morning before heading to the airport. We got to MCO about 3hrs before the flight back to MAN was due to leave. Check-in was again a painless experience despite the crowds, which was a stark contrast to the security queues which, by my reckoning, took us about 25mins from start to finish. Once cleared, we headed to airside 4 for a meal at Outback Steakhouse, a spot of duty free and then ambled over to the gate where G-VROS was waiting to take us back to MAN.

Airside 4 was very busy at this time with a total of 7 flights (VS to LGW and MAN, 2x BA to LGW, Norwegian to Oslo, Lufthansa to Frankfurt and TAM to Sao Paulo). With about 45mins to go, boarding commenced and we took our seats in the bubble - I was in 23K - where sparkling wine was offered along with a choice of the 'i' or the Daily Mail. Boarding was complete on time and the captain made an announcement welcoming us on board. He explained that the flight time was "longer than usual" but mentioned we would still arrive on time, so I took it as there being no tailwinds tonight which often result in earlier arrivals, as well as claiming that the weather made for "perfect flying conditions" which, as I will explain later, wasn't entirely true.

We took off and whilst waiting for the evening meals to come round, I watched Star Wars on the IFE over a Tiger beer before opting for the penang vegetable curry option. After this was consumed, I finished watching the film and then decided to settle down for some sleep.

As I was tired, I was asleep for pretty much until about 45mins before arrival back into MAN. The only events being at least 3 instances of turbulence, which by my definition wasn't exactly perfect flying conditions as the captain suggested earlier...unless the weather changed in between boarding at MCO and flying through the pockets of turbulence?

Anyway, soon enough we started our descent and we were on the ground into Manchester ever so slightly behind schedule, but thankfully we didn't have to circle the skies directly above my house as is sometimes the case if MAN is busy. Upon arrival on stand, we disembarked, cleared immigration in a reasonable amount of time and the baggage was soon coming through on the carousels in order of UC, PE and Economy. As my bags were one of the first of the PE batch off, I said my farewells to my friend and went up to departures for my lift back home.

Overall, it was another great PE experience. As mentioned in my first TR, I am flying this route again in September in PE and I have noted the reports about the number of cabin crew being reduced, so it will be interesting to see how much this effects the quality of the service offered to passengers.
#918772 by hiljil
14 Mar 2016, 09:24
Thank you for the TR. Glad you enjoyed the flight.

I must say you have more stamina than me ( actually that's quite easy !) managing to visit Epcot & The Magic Kingdom before a long haul flight home ! :-D
#918820 by Traveller2
15 Mar 2016, 15:01
The security queuing system at MCO is a completes shambles with everyone pushing into one line (that snakes for miles) from many different entry points! It took us almost an hour to get through the last time we were there. They need to take a leaf out of Disney's book IMHO!
#918850 by Snora
16 Mar 2016, 08:44
We flew VS704 at the end of January, PE in the bubble. about two hours after take off the pilot announced he was expecting some turbulence in about half an hour and suggested anyone who needed the bathroom should go in the next 30 mins before the seat belt lights would go on. Consequently passengers started to move plus anyone who was enjoying a nap or the IFE, thinking " I had better go now " and proceeded to the loos and a small queue formed. I am sure downstairs the same thing was happening only x 10

We landed just over an hour early - one of the smoothest quietest flights you could hope to have ! but a lot of bleary eyed passengers disembarked that morning !

I felt particularly sorry for any nervous flyers who would have had a bit of an anxious flight.
#918855 by Traveller2
16 Mar 2016, 12:11
I flew to Jersey from LGW last August and when we boarded the captain said weather conditions were great for a smooth flight. Well, we took off and got the usual bumpy ride through the clouds but it didn't stop. In fact it got worse and worse and was just about the most turbulent flight I had ever experienced!! The crew were not allowed to serve drinks and passengers were gripping onto their seat arms and screaming. The poor girl next to me was beside herself and I did comment to the lady opposite that if this had been my first flight, I might never get on another plane! Thankfully it's only about half an hour to Jersey and things calmed down as we came in to land. When we touched down the captain said he hoped we'd enjoyed our flight and a huge groan of disbelief filled the plane! He made no mention whatsoever of the dreadful conditions? I've flown many hundreds of thousands of miles and have never had a flight like it. I'm guessing it was clear air turbulence that he couldn't have foreseen?
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