This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Online check-in completed day before all ok and seat map indicated we were flying in a new Airbus A330. Flying outward on a Sunday the roads were very quiet and when we arrived at Check-in there were absolutely no queues and very quickly we had dropped bags and collected boarding passes. Security also fairly quiet so did not take very long to get through. We were in T3 departure lounge much earlier than expected. Time for some duty free shopping, before visiting the No.1 Lounge. We have used No.1 Lounge before and find it very good, free Wi-Fi, snacks and drinks but you have to pay for alcoholic drinks at the bar and also pay for treatments. Not in the same league as The Clubhouse but a very reasonable alternative.
Flight was 1600 departure and boarding passes shows boarding time of 1445. Advertised on departure screens as “Gate open at gate 13” at about 1450. Finished our drinks and headed to the Gate to see “Miss England” sitting there. Boarding commenced about 1500 and was not very long before we were on the aircraft. Welcomed on board by name, which was a nice gesture even though we were flying in economy
. First trip in economy on an Airbus 330 so just hoped that seats would be OK. Seats were in the middle of the cabin but with the WC & emergency exit right behind there was nobody sat right behind us. Initial thought were that seats were more comfortable than the Boeing 747 or the airbus A340 and with slightly more legroom.Pushed back from the gate about 5 mins early and with takeoff only 15 minutes later. Captain advertised a flight time of 7 hours 25 and a total of 200 passengers and 15 crew. The take off was smooth and generally the aircraft seems much quieter than the larger aircraft. The service provided was very good and has greatly improved. Service stated with choice of drinks and packet of pretzels. The main meal followed with a choice of wines. The meal consisted of a salad starter and then a choice of Beef stew, chicken with cheese & leek sauce or a pasta dish. A break after main meal was cleared away before the service of the Chocolate dessert which was served with either tea or coffee. Then spent the rest of the trip relaxing and watching the excellent in flight entertainment system which is far superior to what is in the Boeing 747 or airbus A340. During the flight very friendly & helpful cabin crew walking up and down offering juice or water and generally ensuring that everything was OK (another nice touch)
. The afternoon tea was served about 2 hours before we were due to land. This was cheese & onion sandwiches with cupcake and choice of tea or coffee. Not long after and we were starting our descent into Newark. We touched down at 1835 and arrived at the Gate at 1845 parked next to a Lufthansa aircraft that had arrived a few minutes before us. Exiting the aircraft was through L1 door so able to see UC in the Airbus A330 – seems to be to be cramped, compared to the Airbus 340; but I guess there is some spin about good utilisation of available space. Once off the aircraft we headed up to immigration desks. Took around 30 mins to get through which I thought was pretty good as we had arrived just after the flight from Germany - a friend who flew in to JFK earlier on the VS45 spent an hour and a half in the Queue! Once we had collected the bags found it very congested at the point where you hand in the blue customs form. We emerged from the airport at 1940, less than an hour after arrival at the gate. Headed to the bus stop and got the Newark Airport Express coach to Manhattan. Run every 15 minutes and takes about 30 mins to get to Grand Central, booked online for $16 each one way.
In summary:
The Airbus A330 gets my vote for travelling economy (compared to 747 or A340)
. Not sure it would get my vote if in UC.The VS001 is better than VS045 for avoiding queues at immigration.
Great service by the Cabin crew made a good, relaxing flight
.
