This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin
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Well it was off to Southampton to visit my girlfriend for 10 days
I arrived at JFK T4 at 15:50 via the Long Island Railroad and the AirTrain (very easy but takes a while if coming from Westchester - you have to change from Grand Central to Penn Station).
I walked into the terminal and was seen immediately by the PE desk as there was no queue.
Very nice agent checking me in but the machine had trouble reading my passport for some reason so it took a few minutes to get it sorted, but once it was, I was off to security.
I walked through what is currently a maze - they are refurbishing the terminal and its construction barrier after construction barrier with not every sign being clear on which way to go.
I found my way though and arrived at 16:00. It was easy enough to get through as usual - no body scanners, but took 24 minutes because of the amount of people.
I did a quick run to duty free for a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue and went to the gate.
Boarding was called at 17:10 and I was at my seat at 17:22 and there was no one sitting next to me. I watched as person after person walked by but it seemed every seat around me was taken except for the one next to me.
The flight deck advised us of a 6 hour 14 minute flight. Pushback was two minutes late at 18:02. The captain again advised us of the flight time and the 6am rule LHR has and said we would be sitting for 10 minutes away from the gate before moving on. We ended up sitting for 30 minutes instead.....
Takeoff was at 19:12. Headphones and amenity kits passed out as soon as the seatbelt sign was off. There was a drinks run and the usual pretzel snack about 20 minutes after that.
I had the beef for dinner which was better than I had expected. Probably better than recent Virgin meals I have had.
I settled in to the Bourne Legacy over dessert and got some rest once it was finished. I didn't manage to sleep much but did feel fairly rested when the lights came back on. There was mild turbulence overnight.
It was my first time on an A333 and using the touch screen interface. I thought it looks much nicer and V:PORT looks ancient compared to it. It was easy to use but there were a few things I miss from V:PORT - like when watching a movie being able to hit the info button and bring up the map.
Breakfast was served 1 hour 30 minutes out and is much improved over the old danish they used to serve.
05:50: The captain advised us of landed at 06:25 with maybe an extra 10 minutes for holding. We began our descent at 05:52 and it was pretty turbulent. It was one of the more turbulent descents I've had crossing the Atlantic.
We sat in a holding patter for 10-15 minutes but then gear was down at 06:27 with a smooth landing at 06:31. We reached the gate 10 minutes later at 06:41.
As soon as I was off the plane I legged it to passport control beating most of the other passengers and waiting for five or six minutes until I was seen.
I then waited about 7 or 8 minutes for my bag which only took that long because the reclaim belt stopped for about have the time I was waiting. It then restarted and my back came off soon after.
I was then out of the airport and on the tube into London to catch the train. After living in London for the past two years it felt a bit weird to be back - almost like I never really left.
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