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#921124 by mitchja
12 May 2016, 11:00
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
After 4 lovely days in Chicago, it was sadly time to head home. I'd done OLCI the previous day, again whilst it would check me in, it wouldn't let me print or download a boarding pass.

I used the blue line to get to ORD. Going off previous experience using the blue line takes roughly the same as a cab and it's a lot cheaper. It's very easy to use. The only thing is that the CTA blue line station at ORD is only linked to terminals 1 or 2 so you do have to jump on the monorail to get to / from the International terminal (T5). Once off the mono rail it's a short walk up to departures.

VS check-in was in full swing when I got there. Not long to wait for an agent and whilst waiting I had a nice chat with the checking supervisor. The agent was great and I was soon checked in and heading to security with my SAS lounge pass in hand. Security was pretty painless with only a few minutes wait. The SAS lounge is next to gate 13. It was the usual standard share lounge affair. A small selection of cold snacks along with hot and cold drinks including alcohol. There's no washrooms in the lounge so you do have to use the ones in the departure area.

The flight was called around 17:10 and we where departing from gate 17 today. Priority boarding was in use and working. This evening's flight was on G-VINE so WiFi was again available on-board (which I didn't use). I was warmly welcomed on board and directed to me seat (4A this time). A few more pax in J compared to the out-bound flight, about 16 of us this evening. There was a grand total of 140 pax on-board this time, again with 10 crew and 2 flight deck crew.

Sleep suits (which I always decline as I prefer to sleep in my own shorts and t-shirt) and pre-departure drinks where also offered.

The door was soon closed and we pushed back a couple of minutes early. We were airborne by 18:10. For some reason the IFE wasn't switched on before we took off. Once the seat belt sign was off the IFE was soon switched on. I continued watching the end of a film I'd started on the flight out. The FSM came round and introduced himself to everyone in the Upper cabin. He also thanked me for my continued custom (I'm only Flying Club AG here) which is always nice.

Drinks orders where soon taken followed by the meal service. Breakfast cards where also collected and I was asked if I wanted waking up for breakfast. The menu was as follows:

Starters
Red pepper and sweetcorn chowder
Smoked salmon plate
Goat's cheese and cranberry salad

Mains
Blue cheese beef fillet
Chicken in mushroom sauce
Mushroom teriyaki
Niçoise salad

Pudding
Melt in the middle chocolate orange sponge
Raspberry cheesecake

So be warned, mushrooms are back!!!

Breakfast was the usual selection of cereals, full English, pancakes or a bacon butty etc.

I had the chowder, chicken and cheesecake. All of which where excellent, especially the chowder. I could have had 2 of those! VS do finally seem to have got the food right now in J :)

I collected my duty-free order along with ordering a couple of other items. Once that was put the way, I converted my seat to a bed.

This was my first time I'd flown the A333 in J over-night and just wow, the A333 bed configuration is as rubbish as people say it is. It's far too narrow with barely enough room to turn over and those bright seat button white LEDs are a bloody pain (I ended up covering them using the safety card in the end after giving up any hope they would be switched off). The cabin was also overly warm.

Whilst the A333 J seat is reasonable for a day flight, it's truly shocking for an over-night flight. I have actually had a better nights sleep in a Premium Economy seat compared to this A333 seat in bed mode!!

I did sleep a little as I was woken up about a hour before landing for breakfast. I don't think the bar was used much during the flight. I certainly didn't use it other than sitting there waiting for a free washroom.

A personal observation - whilst this won't effect most people, I do feel it's still worth pointing out. The hand products offered in the J washrooms (soap and hand cream) do both contain MI (methylisothiazolinone) which is preservative and a known allergen for some people. Whilst I'm not completely allergic to it or have been tested for it, my dad is (it was quite severe for him before he had a patch allergen test that picked this up) and he has a very similar skin type to me, so I now try and avoid products that contain MI. It's now longer used in a lot of products now but it is still used in a few things. It has supposed to have been removed from all 'leave-on' products now (sun creams and hand creams etc, however, this doesn't seem to be the case for the hand cream VS offer in the J cabin). Since I've stopped using products that contain MI, a couple of irritating dry patches of skin I had on and off for ages have now all cleared up.

Once again, all the crew where fantastic on the flight and nothing was ever too much trouble for them :-)

Breakfast was ready for me after returning from the washroom to change and freshen up.

I had a bacon butty and some pancakes which where very nice.

It wasn't long before we were on final approach into LHR with the cabin being secured for landing. We had a quick merry-go-round and landed around 07:50. We soon reached the stand, only to find the ground staff where unable to operate the jet-way. Apparently the previous airline had managed to lock it up so an engineer had to be called to release it. It took about 10minutes, but before long I was saying my goodbyes to the crew and heading to immigration.

The queue for immigration was insane and was backed-up as far back as the ramp / steps leading down into the immigration hall. Still no e-gates in use yet. According to the UK Boarder force, the 5 old ones are being replaced with 15 brand new easier to use ones, due to open in a few months time. They are taking so long to instal as apparently they can only be worked on for a couple of hours over-night as work cannot take place on them during the day - go figure that one out!! It took about 20 minutes to get through the manual immigration desks.

Headed down to baggage reclaim, where the bags where already coming off and where being taken off by staff and lined up next to the belt. Found my bag and was soon heading out and up to Revivals (via a quick pit-stop outside for some nicotine).

Revivals wasn't too busy with a shower immediately available for me. After a fantastic shower, I had a nice relaxing breakfast. Service was good in there as ever.

I had several hours before my BA flight up to MAN so wasn't in a rush to leave.

All in all another fantastic VS flight with a great crew and fantastic, enthusiastic ground staff at ORD.

Just a shame about the A333 Upper Class seat :-(
#921127 by SlimpyJones
12 May 2016, 11:23
Very glad to hear James! At least those seats are on course to be taken out, I believe someone mentioned on the board that it was slated for some time in October. Not sure whether that's still the case.
Two distinctly average loads for both your ORD flights. I can see why it's seasonal if that's all they tend to get.
#921137 by buns
12 May 2016, 12:55
Thanks for your detailed TR - as always helpful to those taking the route in the future.

Very helpful pointer about the on-board toiletries - I would not have noticed and thought about the issues with the contents.

As for the 333 seats, the refurb cannot come quick enough

Thanks once again

buns
#921199 by ScoobySu
13 May 2016, 03:27
Thanks James for a brilliant review. The crew mentioned today that the A333 refits are due from the Autumn.

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