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#962897 by Kraken
03 Dec 2023, 01:18
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Had travelled up to Manchester the afternoon before the flight & stayed overnight near the airport. Had an excellent Sri-Lankan meal [again] in nearby Hale.

The morning of the flight arrived & a taxi to the airport, followed by a very efficient and friendly check-in – 10/10 to the check-in agent who dealt with us. Security “FastTrack” was the normal Manchester joke as you get bundled in with all the special assistance passengers / passengers with small children, pushchairs etc that take longer to screen.

After a quick trip to duty free – well you are forced to walk through the shop – it was up to the 1903 lounge, where things went downhill. Those familiar with Manchester T2 will know the Escape & 1903 lounges are accessed via long corridor with some Ladies toilets off to the right about 2/3 of the way down on the right. Well the queue for the lounges started at the toilets. Eventually got “greeted” – a term I use loosely – by one of the two lounge dragons on the desk. It was the same one we saw back in June who got expelled from charm school on day 1. They clearly haven’t been able to find another charm school that will take her either. We commented on the queue and she just blamed “the booking system”.

Given the length of the queue to get in, we were dreading what the 1903 lounge would be like inside, given our experience back in June (no seats available). Well we were wrong – the 1903 was not over full & you could easily find two seats together, including near the window overlooking the apron. (Given the long queue to get in, the Escape Lounge must have been hell on earth). The breakfast buffet was good & kept replenished and the drinks selection is very good too. Given the current Upper Class menu we both had a good full breakfast!

Gate 202 in “old T2” appeared up on the screens to it was a nice long walk down to the gate. Normally Swissport [who ground handle for Virgin at MAN] can’t organise a pissup in a brewery when it comes to boarding – but credit where it’s due, they got it spot-on today. The introduction of boarding group numbers clearly helps the process.

We were fully boarded and ready to go about 10mins ahead of schedule, but due to the sub-zero temperatures the aircraft needed to be de-iced. We must have had trainee de-icers on the job as it took about half an hour for them to de-ice the aircraft, so we pushed back about 20mins late. As we turned onto the parallel taxiway to the runway the VS76 from MCO was just touching down. We were airbourne at 11am, with an expected flight time of 9h10mins.

Normal post take-off drinks service was done – nothing worthy of note other than the truffle+something crisps were not nice (to me). Crew quickly replaced them with ready salted crisps.

Now onto the lunch service… having seen the new menu I went onto the flight with low expectations, very low expectations. We had both pre-ordered the chicken main course & both went for the Serrano Ham starter. The Ham starter was very nice and a decent portion too. The chicken was certainly better than I was expecting, albeit a bit on the dry side, but chicken can be a difficult one to re-heat, as once you’ve cooked it “just right” it is going to dry out. It could have done with a little more sauce though. (The meals are clearly plated on-board as the food is hot, but the plate is stone cold). Having both had breakfast in the 1903 Lounge expecting the worse on the food front, we passed on deserts and went for the cheese. Not bad but the crackers / biscuits on the plate were awful. Thankfully there was still some bread left from the food service.

After lunch the cabin went into it’s quiet mode for the boring 4 hours or so. I am aware the A330-300 has no crew rest area, so crew were taking pillows & duvets behind curtains by exit doors. The 4 empty seats in Upper were also used by crew for rest breaks. I don’t know what VS were thinking in not putting in a crew rest area. Let’s hope this is addressed on the A330-900’s.

The afternoon tea / whatever you want to call it was served about 1h45mins out of Orlando. We both went for the Spiced Lamb Flatbread. Very disappointing. Basically a large lamb puri, but served on a thin flatbread instead of a deep fried pancake. The lamb was barely spiced – it’s certainly not going to set your mouth on fire (NB: this is coming from someone who normally orders Madras / Bhuna dishes in an Indian Restaurant). The flatbread was very unevenly heated too for saying the ovens on the aircraft are fan ovens. Half of the flatbread was just warm (i.e. you could tell it had been in an oven) & the other half was lukewarm at best. Also our hot drinks were served about 15mins before the food – can they not serve both together? A very disappointing afternoon tea – glad we were not hungry.

I noticed that the SkyMap on the A330-300 is out of date – when it zooms in on Orlando and you get pop-ups telling you about some of the attractions there, Wet’n’Wild is still on there, despite the fact it closed in 2017.

We landed in Orlando about 5mins ahead of schedule so were at gate 96 only a couple of minutes late. I had intended to try the new Global Entry App but erred on the side of caution as it’s relatively new (sods law says it wouldn’t work for me & I’d have problems). The new Global Entry Kiosks are basically a physical version of the App. You don’t have to touch a screen, just look at the camera & you get a big green tick. Waited 10 seconds to see an Immigration officer who just said “Mr Kraken?”, I said Yes and was waved straight through. The baggage belt was already beeping for start-up and I had my bags within 5mins (clearly the long walk from gate 96 gives the baggage handlers a bit of breathing space to get the Upper Class container(s) off and onto the belt in a timely manner for the passengers. The MCO experience with Global Entry could not be faulted.

One of the couple sat next to us was born in the same town as me & had lived there for quite a while before moving away so we chatted a fair bit. As we were walking towards Immigration in Orlando the female of the couple asked me what I thought about the food onboard. I replied “not much”. We agreed the Serrano Ham was very good, I repeated my comments [above] about the chicken. She had the Pasta and said “it may be nice if you are a rabbit” – she had sent it back and ended up with bread and butter. She went on to say “if you had paid full fare £6k for the flight and were served that rubbish”….

It was a very smooth flight and the seatbelt sign was not needed at any time other than departure and arrival. The crew were good – not quite up there with the best I’ve had on Virgin, but equally nothing worthy of note to be critical about. The one big let-down was the food – and, as above, other passengers felt the same way. Sort it Virgin!

8 days in the Sunshine State beckon now.
#962899 by Murraymint
03 Dec 2023, 08:40
Thank you for your excellent TR. It’s a shame about the food and VS really need to get this sorted given the number of times we see TRs making the same comments.
We’re flying from MAN to MCO in April (having said we’d never do so again back in 2019 - but hey ho, it was all that was available for reward seats on our dates). I’m praying that the clubhouse might be open on time - but not holding my breath.
Glad that the MCO GE experience was good and that they have the new cameras. When we used them in MIA last year, I had just stood in front of it for a few seconds whilst looking for instructions when an officer with a tablet nearby shouted “Mr M - you’re good to go” and that was it - excellent!
Enjoy your trip.
#962910 by buns
05 Dec 2023, 21:35
Kraken

Thanks for a very interesting TR (yes-I am posting mine shortly :-D ) and the sad state of affairs on the rather poor reception at the MAN Lounge.

I was only speaking to a friend the other day about independent lounges are now so full, any enjoyment is now lost for everyone - time VS opened the alleged completed Clubhouse.

As for the food - could not agree more. Given the fares charged (not to mention the 'fees") the pitiful offerings are a scandal.

Enjoy the rollercoasters in Orlando

buns

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