We booked with Virgin Holidays as a package this time around. We made full use of the online view your booking service, to add our advance passenger information(api) and also to pre select our seats. As we were flying on a jumbo we decided to try and get seats on the Upper Deck having always been on the lower deck previously.
We also checked in online 24 hours before hand and printed our boarding passes at home all very easy.
The next morning we arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare
but we were able to go straight to the bag drop and leave our cases....really doing the online check-in didn't save us any time and all details were rechecked when we dropped bags.We were traveling as a party of five, so my husband, 3 year old son and I sat on row 76ABC and my inlaws were behind us on row 77AB. We found it nice and quiet up there with the limited number of seats. The toilets were located to the front of the aircraft behind the flight deck and you had to walk through Premium Economy to access them.
The extra space for storage located along the window seats came in very hand and saved having to get up numerous times during the flight to get things in and out of hand luggage.
We had preordered a childs meal for our son and were suprised that he received it as PE Meal but at the same time a little disappointed. It was one of the meal options on the menu for all passengers but was served in a porcelain dish which was really hot and he also had silver service cutlery. Needless to say he didn't eat it and I had thought that Virgin would have offered a better alternative. He ate his bread roll and his dessert and that was him done for the flight apart from a packet of Penn State Sour Cream Pretzels that he seemed to like.
We were provided with a menu which offered a variety of drinks from the bar, I opted for the Virgin Cocktail with Vodka which was really tasty and a 2nd one would have been nice
. We were served a Caesar Salad to start, Bread roll, Beef Lasagna or Chicken in a creamy sauce which I opted for and wish I'd chosen the Lasagna as I really did not enjoy it. Dessert was a GU pudding which was a few mouthfuls but very tasty.
Tea and Coffee was served and then it was time to settle down.
VERA was a little less responsive than I had hoped and I was trying to be so considerate of the person sat in front so that I wasn't constantly banging the back of his seat....a bit of a design flaw there really.
There was plenty of legroom on the flight and I was kept entertained with The Hangover Part 3, Grown Ups 2, The Conjuring and a wide variety of music to listen to which soon passed the time.
My son was entertained through the flight with Disney JNR programmes but the films failed to keep him entertained for long and we resorted to having to switch between rows and playing games. All in all I was suprised he was not a screaming nightmare!!
We were served a "Fab" lolly mid way through the flight....not very tasty and would have preferred something a bit more luxurious but hey it was ok.
Drinks were not that flowing and a couple of times I had to go up and ask for a drink, considering that this was a day time flight I expected there to be more refreshment opportunities.
No amenity pack provided to us as I believe that was only for the night flights now but our son received a small red VS drawstring bag which contained a colour pencil....again a good idea in principle but in practical terms if you lose one of the small colours it becomes useless! A "Where's Wally" book a pair of socks that were huge, an eye shade and the bag itself. A long way off what we saw last time we were on a VS flight where kids got a really good back pack but I suppose with the price of flights being what they are cut backs have had to be made.
Before we landed we were presented with an afternoon tea box which came with a cheese and pickle sandwich and a banoffee cupcake and tea or coffee.
This was not too bad and I soon ate it.
Landing was smooth and all in all a very good flight. Landing on time.
