VS075 MAN-MCO 22 MAR 10 (Upper Class)

This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

Firstly can I apologise for the lateness of this trip report, been really busy with work since we returned.

We arrived at Manchester around 3hrs prior to departure,there were long queues at all desks except Upper. We were checked in quickly and efficiently given our lounge passes and fasttrack security and we were on our way, in fact we were checked in and in the lounge in less than 10 minutes.

The Escape lounge at Man was half full,and we had some coffee, fruit and toast ect and waited for our boarding time.

We headed down to the gate and was confronted by at least 200 pax queueing for the secondary security screen, I went to the front and asked is there a priority boarding line and was told NO!!!. We ended up being the last to arrive in Upper.

Once on board we waited around 10 minutes for anyone to even acknowledge us or offer us a pre flight drink. The seat was really dirty with crumbs and a few unsightly dark hairs in the drinks tray, i ended up cleaning it all off with my hot towel.

Once we were in the air the crew came round for drinks,and food orders. I ordered a G+T with lots of ice, the FSM came round to introduce herself but she seemed just to be going through the motions, not bad, but not really freindly.My drink was finally delivered nearly 1 hour into the flight with no ice as requested, or maybe it had melted as it had been waiting so long to get to me. The food was OK i had the lamb pie which was a small portion but quite tasty, my wife had the fish which she didnt like, too dry. after that the service was mediocre really, most pax were going to the bar to help themselves to drinks. When I went to the bar there was no mixers out for the gin so I opened up one of the drawers and was getting one out when the CC came in and told me " You cannot do that sir,I will get it for you" consider myself told off!! Landed at MCO on time, bags were off first with the crews. Overall a disspointing UCS experience, although the return journey was much better, i will post that report later

Danny

Hi Danny

I will be interested to read your report on the return journey; Ours was ok, but nothing special.

When I went to the bar there was no mixers out for the gin so I opened up one of the drawers and was getting one out when the CC came in and told me " You cannot do that sir,I will get it for you" consider myself told off!!

Another comment that goes to show that it's all about attitude with cabin crew that can cast a shadow over your flight.

If this crew member had been thinking, and remembered they were serving a supposedly premium cabin, what they could have said instead is "Oh, please, let me help you with that... Sorry, I hadn't noticed you there.", hands you your drink over with a "If you do need anything else, please let me know."

Instead, you got a rap on the knuckles like some naughty schoolboy because, from your description, this crew was not properly service oriented (if they had been, they would have kept an eye on the bar), and you were left with a negative impression.

It's not just what you do, it's how you do it, and that matters so much at the front of the bus.

Thanks for the report, and glad the return was more enjoyable, look forward to hearing more.

Mike

Too often the MAN/MCO flights are let down by inconsistency of crew. Sometimes they are really good and sometimes mediocre like this one.
The response I make is to always write and praise when there is a good one - and hope the comparison is made with those crew who don't get the compliments.

To be honest I can put up with dodgy IFE and mediocre food, but if the service isn't there ( which is what i pay such a high premium for ) you have to ask yourself could the money be better spent on other things!

We headed down to the gate and was confronted by at least 200 pax queueing for the secondary security screen, I went to the front and asked is there a priority boarding line and was told NO!!!. We ended up being the last to arrive in Upper.

Things have changed abit since I did Virgin then. I was only there when they started doing secondary searches but I always made sure UC and PE PAX went straight though, however much it annoyed other economy PAX. The company doesn't know what it's missing in me

Great TR
Considering that the UC cabin is very small you still had to try and get your own drink from the bar where the hell were these so called cc?
If i lived anywhere up north i would still fly from LHR, whilst not a perfect service by any means, it does feel like the man service is really poor compared to LHR.

cheers

alex

Thank you for the great TR. Sorry to hear about some of your experiences on the flight.