This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
With time to kill in the airport I headed for the Duty Free shop to pick up a bottle of Crown Royal (why is the airport the only place I can get this stuff in the UK!) and then to Starbucks - thank goodness theyve now opened, Terminal 2 is definitely improving with every visit.
Spooky moment as I was leaving Starbucks, I ran in to my cousin who I havent seen for nearly a year and guess where he was headed? Yep, MCO on VS too ... small world!
The gate number finally appeared so I headed off for 204 as I get there I here my name being called so I approach the desk, the GA explains that theres been a problem with the IFE on my seat so shes moving me forwards (sadly not that far forward) to Row 28, its still a window seat she explains, not realising that thats not what Im after, but she then goes on to explain that Ill be on my own so will still have plenty of room - result!
We pushed off from the gate on time and the take off was nice and smooth - Im not exactly frightened of flying but Im not keen on any sharp banking,thankfully there was none of that so I was a happy camper.
The first drinks run was soon coming round (if only Id known at that point it was going to be the only one, Id have bought water in the airport!) shortly followed by lunch. The choice was Mushroom Risotto, Beef Stew or Chicken Pasta - I went for the Mushroom Risotto. Word of warning if youre served early, the food is very, very, very, very hot! I guess thats why the red wine was chilled then!? Once it had cooled down it was very nice (which if you knew how fussy I was about airline food should be taken as quite a compliment), the only small quibble Id have would be the chilled red wine.
At this point its probably a good point to mention how disappointed I was with the drinks service. Only once did the trolley come through the cabin, before dinner. Yes there were also drinks served with the meal, but that was it for a good few hours as the crew vanished behind their curtains. It became clear after about 2 hours that it was up to us to ask for drink - perhaps in that case when the in-flight health tips tell you to drink lots of water it might also say, dont sit waiting for your drinks, you have to ask. To add insult to injury, given where I was sat I was afford a great view of the cabin crew chugging down their water, whilst Im sat there gasping!! When asked the crew were very polite and attentive and seemed happy to get whatever people asked for, but wouldnt it be easier on them to do another one or two drinks runs instead of having to keep getting up and down or have people try and catch them when theyre probably actually in the middle of doing something else.
Back to the good things, my seat was great, I cant say it was any better or worse than any other Y seat Ive been in, what made it great for me was having those extra seats to lie down on - practically had my own UCS [:)]
There seemed to be a good choice of films, for my first one I went with Sahara. There were two reasons for this one was Matthew McConaughey and the second was (shameless name drop coming up ...) was because a friend of mine wrote the soundtrack! A good action flick, not too complicated. Next I plumped for Madagascar - very funny, really enjoyed that. My favourites were the penquins. After that I decided to try and get a bit of shut eye. Oh before I forget on the subject of the IFE, why no Airshow, I dont like not knowing where I am and how far we still have to go. I assume that it should have been where the error message was appearing (No configuration loaded, please install custom CD and cycle power now).
After a couple of hours resting (couldnt really call it sleeping), it was time for the snack service, a rather horrible roll - cheese or chicken. I went with chicken, but not being a big bread fan only had about 3 mouthfuls.
The landing was great, very smooth descent and soft landing - just the type I like. I was quickly through immigration - do they not bother asking any of the normal questions? Just assume everyone is a holiday traveller? Im used to travelling through ATL or EWR - lots of questions there, not nearly so many in MCO. Customs was also a breeze and transfer happened so quickly I completely forgot about ditching stuff out of my carry on into my case to save me having to cart it to ATL and PNS.
Im really liking MCO as an airport, very quiet compared to the cattle markets of ATL & EWR, I think I could enjoy transitting through here on the next trip. Of course this free wireless internet access is really great - makes for a speedy TR!
Another hour to go for my next flight up to Atlanta, but Ive arrived relaxed and ready for the next 7 hours of travelling!