This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Dropped the car off at Thrifty and got the bus over to the terminal- on drive over saw the inbound VS15 doing a low fly past over the tower before turning off to the east coast- guessed either it was a go around or something wrong the undercarrage. Half expecting a nice delay on the service if it was an undercarrage fault.
Arrived at MCO around 5pm to find check in dead- complete opposite to last flight in March! Walked straight up to DIY Check in desk to be served by a wonderful agent. Checked in and informed that the load for the 16 was very light. The flight was ontime so the 15 must have done a go around of some sort. Very good agent nice and friendly!
Did a lap of the pre airside shops and popped up to the Hyatt (the secret haven of many a MCO regular!) for a coffee. As all ways a good service and the bar wasnt busy at all.
Straight through security which was empty and arrived in the delta wing in time to see the MAN and 28 both delaying their boarding. Quick last stop at starbucks and after reading USA today- made my way down to the gate. Priority boarding working fantastically well- never seen such a great operation. Number of pax traveling was very low- a quick headcount of some 150 waiting in the gate area. Waited till the very last minute and jumped on board!
Well I can say that I have never seen such an empty 744 in my life! Spoke to the CSS who said PE and UC were full but Y was very much empty- in the middle section of Y there were only 9 people!
FSM came on and gave a decent introduction and pilot did the usual intro informing us of a lot of bumps all the way across the pond. Doors closed and ready to depart some 15mins a head of time- surely a first for a MCO flight!! But alas my excitement at an early departure was dashed as soon as the APU was fired up the plane fell into complete darkness [i]- I mean not a single light, all emergency lights went out, air con off, ife out, all galley lights etc. FSM came on after couple of mins to inform us that one of the APUs had failed and that lights would be back on asap. At this stage I start wondering if this could be an overnight delay. 10mins later on came the lights and the FSM informed us that the IFE system had crashed, so it was to be a manual safety demo. Crew did a very good demo [y] and we were on our way.
An amazingly short take off run due to the very light load and up we went. Crew very quick to start up IFE, get the bar served then the food. In fact at some stages they were too quick- trying to clear trays before people had finished. Duty Free came through and lights off around 75mins after departure. Watched a bit of the IFE before stretching out over 4 seats...who needs to pay for UCS hey!! [:p]. After a night of fantastic sleep- awoke of Ireland. The normal breakfast served and down into LGW coming in over the west country. Captain informed us that we were in the hold for 10mins and appologised for the rough desent into the hold pattern.
Landed from the west onto the runway and a fast slam on the brakes so that we didnt have to travel to the end of the runway. Arrived at gate ahead of time but sadly the ground handlers had a problem with the airbridge and it took them 35mins to connect it to the aircraft [:0]! Large lines at immigration for non EU members, line at EU wasnt too bad- bags collected and at Parking Express within an hour of landing.
Overall a decent flight- crew did a good job but then again didnt have much to do at all. FSM kept us informed at LGW which was good. Food was good and the IFE was fine. all in all an good flight! I think I will be looking for more times of the year when loads are low on the MCO service!
VS you have just reconfirmed my faith in you.....[^]
