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#922707 by Solarm
12 Jun 2016, 19:51
Ground Staff
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Off the train and through premium in 5 minutes, straight the clubhouse, greeted and found a place to watch the Mohammed Ali rolling news on the BBC.
Ordered breakfast with extra pastries and settled in for the bun fight at the gate. The staff were attentive and I had stop ordering.
boarding was called 15miutes late and decided to order the pastrami bagel just to keep be going :-D .
Walk down to the gate only to hear my name being called a little surprised as when I got there the gangway hadn't cleared, Ah I had been selected for secondary security.
Onto Vros and seated with a smile and drink forthcoming.
Pushed back about 20 mins late but the Captain said it would be made up during the flight and then the great plane jam at LGW. Stuck behind 8 queuing for take off, second runway at Gatwick please( counted 10 planes behind us as well)
Service was good throughout the flight, appeared to have 3 crew looking after us on a rotation basis, smiles helpfulness even when I was awkward asking for my bed to be made up before lunch service had finished.
captain was a good as his word and even with the further delay at takeoff we landed 5 mins late, can't complain.
So I had a excellent experience throughout the day with Virgin.

And then it all goes wrong!

10 mins at the gate no jetway. Captain then informs us that the US customs can't cope and are holding us on the plane for 30 mins.

30mins we are released but not to the customs halls oh no, to a holding room with an entire Lufthansa flight in front of us.
An hour later we make it out of the holding room and then start the queue in the customs hall.
Stunningly badly organised, those with Global still had to queue until they made it to the customs hall, those who could go through the electronics still had to queue until nearly at the end of the queue even when the area was hardly used. I chose not to jump over the barriers I don't think that would have gone down well but it really, a bit of flow management could have reduced the wait.

So after 2 1/2 hours after landing through customs, never had this problem at MCO before JFK yes but MCO, this supposed to be entry point for Disney, tourists with young children after 10 hours on a plane not a good experience. Sanford is looking a better option maybe Virgin should open up a route there.

So to conclude great day with Virgin awful day with MCO.

Steve
#922723 by buns
13 Jun 2016, 06:02
Thanks for the TR.

Regrettably, the arrival experience s not getting any better at MCO - especially if you are on the VS15 :-(

I am sure the airlines have raised both the arrival and the departure experience with the Airport authorities and I bet the answer is "everything will be all right when we get the new Terminal"

Until then, not a welcome prospect

buns

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