This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Arrived at the airport in plenty of time. SYD is nice and spacious, having completed its renovation a while ago. Went to bag drop, as I'd checked in the day before online (and got Seq 1!). Went through security to the departure lounge. As Sydney is not really a transit airport there weren't many people so it didn't take long at all. Once through, I found the Virgin Atlantic promo that'd been mentioned by VS on facebook a few weeks before, which was basically just an upper class suite setup so that people could see what it was like. It was being staffed by "cabin crew" who I think were just hired to work the booth, as they didn't seem to have any idea that the upper class meal service was being updated, and were telling people you could take the salt and pepper shakers. Scored a free copy of SRB's latest book for being a flying club member, which was nice.
After a while it was time for boarding. The gate used for VS201 is quite a bit away from the main departures area, so if you're ever catching this flight be prepared for a bit of a walk.
Shortly after take-off the crew came round handing out the new economy menu, which I confess to being a bit excited to see. Last time I'd flown this route the food was terrible (especially compared to Singapore airlines, who I normally fly with if I'm going straight to london), so I was hoping to see some improvements.
Meal service started with the welcome cocktail, which looked to be vodka with "Just Juice" brand juice. I don't know if it's a worldwide brand, but in Oz Just Juice is the sort of thing included in school lunches for kids. I opted to have a vodka and orange, which ended up being about 50% vodka, so I have to rate my welcome cocktail a success!
On to the food itself, I opted for the Beef Tagine with couscous, which was delicious!!! I would totally have it again. Easily the equal of anything I'd had on Singapore, and much much better than what I'd previously had on this flight. So props to VS for improving the economy food.
Unfortunately, after the meal the flight experience began to decline. The person sitting in front of me fully reclined their seat, significantly reducing the amount of space I had. The main problem with this is that even with reclining my own seat (which I don't actually find that comfortable), and angling the seat back screen fully upward, the lower half of the screen remained difficult to view, as the screens are designed to be viewed from front on. This was very frustrating considering that it's a 9 hour flight from SYD to HKG.
The other issue was that this ended up being the most turbulent flight I've ever been on, which is no fault of VS, but does effect the experience. From about the time meal service was completed, the seat belt sign was mostly left on all the way to HKG. Luckily this was an afternoon/evening flight, so I wasn't trying to get any sleep.
Later in the flight, we had our second food run, which I was looking forward to after the first meal. This is where it diverged from the menu we'd been given at the start of the flight, as we were given the breakfast meal boxes, which included ham and cheese sandwiches. But they were fine, so nothing really to complain about.
And then it was time for a very foggy landing, which was on time at 10pm despite the turbulence. So all in all a good flight, with the main drawbacks being things beyond VS's control.
