This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
and now it was time to return home.OLCI was done promptly as usual. My seat hadn't been moved from the one I requested and I couldn't change it anyway. This was a pretty full flight looking at the loads so I think that is why they had locked the entire seat map.
I made use of Downtown Disney first thing to drop off the bag and check they hadn't decided to move me post check-in like last time
. My gold card got me straight to the front of the queue (although I'm sure my PE ticket would have had exactly the same effect).I dealt with a very pleasant lady who quickly confirmed I was still in my assigned seat and printed me off a new boarding pass. I also got a food voucher for use at the airport as I didn't fancy the Delta lounge. The Downtown Disney staff seemed to be a lot more pleasant than the last time I passed through. My family who followed the next day also said the same thing, perhaps some of the feedback has been passed on and they are now making more of an effort?
I spent the morning at Magic Kingdom (inclusive of an extra 15min sat on Pirates of the Caribbean, shipwrecked one might say
). I headed to the airport for 1700 to allow plenty of time to clear security. As usual this took around 20min - my tip is to head for the queues to the right hand side as they will be shorter! After making it through I headed off on the train to the satellite and grabbed a cup of tea and snack before waiting for boarding.As usual everyone has to stand right by the gate waiting to board. They must think that the plane will take off quicker if everyone is waiting there to go, although it could be that the announcements are a little difficult to hear from further back!!
I decided to talk advantage of the priority boarding to avoid the scrum and so went on with Upper Class. This was pretty good as I was able to walk straight onto the plane and get settled in my seat before anyone else got on. I politely declined the pre flight drink.
We pushed back a little later than the scheduled time but were still expected to land on time at Gatwick. The FSM was excellent on this flight - I have never heard anyone give the pre flight speil (and the other flight annoucements) in such an engaging manner before. Normally I am barely listening as they read from the script in a monotone voice but she explained everything so clearly and interestingly that I was hooked! Anyone who was a first time flyer or slightly nervous would have found this extremely reassuring, I think. Interestingly our cabin crew also took the time to explain to everyone upstairs that we had two different emergency exits depending on whether we did a water landing on or the ground - I did not know this! Great to see the little extra detail to safety here
The cabin crew could not be faulted through the flight. I get the impression that a good FSM generally means a good crew and this was the case here. The crew were always visible and ready to help throughout the night and came through several times that I could see with juice and water (impressive as I am sure I had my eyes shut for several hours!!). In fact this was the best service experience I can remember for many flights so I even sent an email to VA when I got back home - hopefully they will pass on the positive feedback.
Food was alright but not the greatest. I hadn't booked a veggie meal for the return flight as I thought I would see what the full menu had to offer. Alas it was smoked salmon for the starter which I had to turn away (please do a starter without fish - at least one way!!). The ravioli was very nice though and the bread roll was lovely and warm. The cheesecake was also very tasty! Brandy followed after dinner and I dozed on and off until breakfast.
Breakfast was the full english or an omlette. I had the full English but I wasn't very impressed - the scrambled egg was tough and very bland. Mushrooms were little shrivelled things!! I think I would have rather had the breakfast bar and muffin from economy.
Soon we were landing at Gatwick and heading to the gate. The FSM clearly explained that we would have to disembark the front of the plane first followed by the upstairs cabin before the main cabin would then be let out. She apologised for the wait for the main cabin but thanked them for their cooperation. Nice touch again as it meant there wasn't a herd of people straining again the cabin crew downstairs as they try to restrain everyone!!
All in all another excellent flight, helped by the brilliant crew. Food could be better, but I have certainly had worse! Now begins the wait for my next trip in January......
Thanks for reading.
