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#960355 by VS075
07 Nov 2022, 22:46
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So in an attempt to re-populate the forum with some more recent trip reports after the great server crash and seeing as there aren't many Economy TRs, I'll add my TRs to Barbados from June. Please bear with me as I'm relying on memory here from nearly 5 months ago.

For those with long memories, you will recall my postings on here how we were supposed to fly MAN-BGI in April 2022, which changed to MAN-BGI outbound and BGI-LHR inbound with a BA LHR-MAN leg back due to VS announcing the suspension of MAN-BGI for summer 2022 (and if developments since then are anything to go by, it appears to now be a permanent winter route given it's not bookable for summer 2023). Sadly, we both got COVID with a few days to go, so we had to hastily re-schedule and June 2022 worked due to a combination of shifts and a reasonable enough change fee. It meant LHR instead of MAN, but in the circumstances the schlep down didn't matter. Sometimes you just have to do whatever it takes and it wasn't the end of the world.

We stopped over at the Renaissance the night before taking advantage of the package they offer allowing you to stay and park your car for the duration of your trip. At the time, it worked out better value than staying at a Premier Inn and using LHR long stay, however with taxis costing approx. £16 each way for the 1 mile or so trip including PU/DO fee, I suspect there wasn't much in it. We paid for an upgrade to a runway view room which I recommend if you're into planes like me or need something else to help get you in the mood.

Up at 5am for a 6am taxi round to T3 departures. As the only other VS flight out around the same time as us was the first JFK, check-in didn't take too long and the security queue upstairs was very pleasantly short too! In no time at all, we were through to the other side and went for breakfast at Spuntino following by a little mooch round the shops. One hour before departure, our gate was announced. When we got there, boarding had already commenced, but they weren't boarding them in groups like you would normally expect. Instead, you were free to board at your convenience regardless of whereabouts you were sat. Our aircraft that day was G-VRAY - an aircraft I saw visited BGI every other day for numerous weeks both sides of our trip with other days seeing it go to ANU.

Being in Y, we were sat towards the back and the walk was very unceremonious. Departure from the gate was slightly delayed due to a lack of ground staff being available to board a disabled passenger, which made a change from the usual stories of disabled passengers being left on a plane after landing and being found by the crew boarding to work the next flight! Eventually, we pushed back. The safety video was interrupted after a few minutes due to the IFE not working for everyone and a manual demo was done instead. After take-off, the IFE had to be re-booted again due to it still not fully working and it took about 15 minutes to do a full boot. I don't know if it cured it as they didn't do it again, but my IFE was working fine.

Lunch was served (quite early on) and I was glad I had a big breakfast at Spuntino as the chicken dish I had was bland and awful. Right up there with some of the "meals" charter airlines used to serve 20+ years ago. The only good thing about the meal was the focaccia barm. I gave my dessert to my wife as we had forgotten to order her a gluten free meal (the need to do this was lost in the rush to re-schedule).

It was also noticeable how "austere" the meals looked in terms of packaging presentation as a result of the steps VS took to reduce plastic consumption. Laudable, but certainly in Y it gave off the impression your meal was an afterthought.

I settled down to watch the IFE and stuff on my iPad for the flight. About 90mins from landing, afternoon tea was served and this was a lot better than the "meal" I had earlier on. The sandwiches were a decent size with tasty fillings and the scone hit the spot.

We descended into BGI and we got in just ahead of a Copa 737 inbound form Panama, but their passengers would beat us to the immigration hall. However, we got to the hall just as a JetBlue A320 arrived from the US.

Despite joining the wrong queue given we had already completed our landing forms beforehand and complete the COVID-19 protocols required at the time, it didn't take long to clear immigration. We quickly reunited with our suitcases and, within 30 minutes of stepping off the plane, we were out the door at the Virgin Holidays desk awaiting our private transfer to our hotel.

As we were one of the last passengers off, I saw the first of two reasons why I can see VS cancelled the MAN flights this summer. There were 215 passengers on board our flight and I estimated approx. 60-90 passengers were continuing on to St Vincent. The second reason became apparent during our transfer to the hotel. The driver was very welcoming of us to the island and said that summer's advance bookings were looking bad.

Don't forget that Barbados, like many other Caribbean islands, rely heavily on tourism and until late-May, if you were fully vaccinated you had to get tested before travelling and, until late last year, you also had to get tested on arrival and stay in your accommodation until that came back. With the faff and expense of testing, I can understand why that might have put some people off. By the time of our visit, no tests were required if you were fully vaccinated (but still had to show proof) and I believe Barbados recently scrapped all COVID protocols for everyone regardless of vaccination status. Hopefully with this and despite the cost-of-living crisis many people will be facing this winter, Barbados' tourism numbers return close to winter 2019/20 levels and I hope they still had a decent summer.

Return TR to follow.
#960362 by TimCrawley
08 Nov 2022, 08:27
Both TR were very interesting - as you say we don't seem to get enough PE or E TR so thanks for posting.

I have considered a future BGI trip using E outbound (as I find real bonus value for me of UC on that route being for the inbound leg from trips made back in the early 2000's) so your mention of Delight legroom difference was a timely reminder for me to check out reviews of those extra legroom seats. The extra couple of inches legroom do count for me as back in dim & distant past I used to do quite a few trips to the US and tried to do AA whenever possible as their E seats had an extra 1-3 inches legroom over BA/United/VS for a while (back when we used to work 8 days a week, 25 hours a day etc).

Thanks again for posting

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