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#843145 by horburyflyer
07 Apr 2013, 15:49
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So it was time for my third Little Red flight in less than a week....after all the fun and frolics from inaugural day I was keen to see how things looked a week in and as I was in that part of the country with work, it made sense to travel home from Heathrow.

Arrived at the Priority check in desk in T1 to be met with "you must be travelling to Manchester" and was processed quickly with a seat change at my request completed without any fuss. A light load of 25 passengers was confirmed and I just mentioned if they could direct me to the Servisair lounge, having never been in it before..... :0

A puzzled look and a reply came of "why, are you Gold"? and though my Gold card number was on the boarding pass, I simply said yes and he called over a supervisor...anyway, it turned out I was the first passenger to ask about the lounge which I find hard to believe but I was sent on my way with a cute Little red lounge inviation and provided with directions. The supervisor saying, this should all work but any problems ask the lounge staff to ring us.

Security was fine and no delays but a quick additional check and then the long march to find the lounge which is more or less above "World of Whiskies" near the Star Alliance lounge....it took about 10mins to walk to it.

The welcome was warm and the staff friendly and the invitaton was taken with "this is the first one I have seen"...settled in with a drink and some snacks. The lounge is a windowless large room with snacks, drinks, soup and a few breakfast pastries were hanging around when I arrived around 1130am.

To be honest I would not be in an hurry to return, it was fine but I found it a bit basic and though lots of newspapers and free wifi - not a lot else going on. The lack of windows makes a difference I think....plus when leaving the lounge you have to walk to the other side of the terminal to Gate 8 which took me about 15mins. But it is what it is.

Finally arrived at Gate 8b at 1215 and the inbound flight had already arrived and the passengers had left. At 1225 boarding was announced with Gold members and UC transferring passengers invited to board first.

The ground team member was friendly and wished me a good flight and then I was met at the aircraft door by the same senior cabin crew member who had been on my inaugural flights from last week.

She addressed me by name but did not seem to remember me from last week (not that she would!) and I settled in 19F which I like, it was two windows and is a pretty comfortable space.

Boarding was completed quickly, a few transiting VS staff but a confirmed count of 25. Doors closed with a nice welcome from the flight deck and we were off at 1252.

A long taxi to 09R and we were airborne at 1314. A flight time of 35 minutes was confirmed and the senior crew member introduced herself and the other cabin crew and welcomed back Gold card holders....which I thought was a nice touch.

The drinks trolleys appeared and a G&T was ordered and served with a packet of "Plane crisps". It didnt take long to serve everyone else and a second round of drinks was offered as the trolley came back...... :D

Lovehearts were handed out as "sweets for landing" which was nice.

We commenced our descent from 18000ft and made our approach to 05L which was rather shaky to the say the least especially on the final approach.

Safely down at 1349 and disembarked quickly with a cheery goodbye from the Cabin crew. My bag was quick to the belt too and I was landside at 1402.

So another fantastic Little Red experience, shame about the light load but hopefully things will pick up soon.

Thanks for reading.

Jon
#843185 by shazam
07 Apr 2013, 18:46
Sounds good Jon, thanks for sharing. I'm looking forward to my first Little Red return trip next weekend.

S
#843192 by shazam
07 Apr 2013, 20:53
I had to go and check ! Ours is VS3045 return, I think it's the last one of the day ?

S
#843198 by Petmadness
07 Apr 2013, 21:38
Nice TR againJon, thanks for posting y) Sounds likeVS have everything right of this route just now waiting or the customer base to grow ^) I'm sure they'll steal a few pax from the darkside ):
#843200 by horburyflyer
07 Apr 2013, 22:26
Petmadness wrote:Nice TR againJon, thanks for posting y) Sounds likeVS have everything right of this route just now waiting or the customer base to grow ^) I'm sure they'll steal a few pax from the darkside ):


I certainly hope so.....BA will be a tough nut to crack on this particular route but I really hope VS give BA a very serious run for their money. Things are off to a great start and long may that continue...... ):

Jon
#843333 by joeyc
09 Apr 2013, 09:40
Thanks for the TR Jon, will be looking to do a couple of these Little Red flights soon to try out the service for myself. All sounds good so far though y)

Cheers for posting 8D
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