VS072 MCO-GLA 1 AUG 14 (Economy)

This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

vs72 gate 82. Pre board due to infant seat booked. Qualifies as special assistance in usa.
Had done olci and then dtdci, so fairly relaxed.
Zoomed thru security...tsa no problems if you are leaving ( see outbound TR).
Outback steakhouse, very good as usual then the sight of 4 of the 5 scarlet ladies for tonight all lined up..English Rose, Ladybird ours Pretty Woman and the aircraft (name unsighted) for the second LGW flight. All against a single forlorn looking BA. Final lady for 2nd Man flight arrived as we boarded.
Time 7hrs15mins, pretty swift.
36a b, 37a b c. Hoping for empty 36c....result!
398 pax 15 crew; pushback 18.30. Takeoff 18.48.
Food terrible. Seriously poor. This is now standard on ex MCO. Not good enough when outbound food was very good.
Landed 07.03 then held on taxiway for 10 mins for stand to be cleared of aircraft.
For some reason, 12 mins hold to allow UC and PE pax off.

Food on the way back with BA not any better, think they use the same catering co.

Surprised you didn't get a bulkhead seat with the infant, I'm assuming the baby is too old for the basinnet but it makes it easier to fuss over them and give them space to play.

I can't think of which aircraft would have been in the way at that time of the morning at Glasgow, possibly a late running Air Transat A310 which then gets parked for a few hours. With Thomas Cook running A330 to MCO and LAS suddenly Glasgow are short of stands for heavies.

Thanks for the TR. Shame that the food wasn't any good. A little bit of consistency is all we want really.

Booked infant seat to keep our 16 month old in 1 place - he is WAY beyond bassinet....
On board, crew advised that you are now allowed to bring your own car seat on board (just changed 2 weeks ago) - assuming you have booked you infant a seat or your young child is still using a car seat...interesting..

Must also add, as I mentioned in outbound TR, new refurbished LGW 747's are pretty good.

The Economy main cabin seat has a greater pitch (and I don't care what Virgin say, it is from personal experience) than the PE on the A330 which were used during the refurbs.

I am struggling now to think of reasons to book PE - other than luggage allowance - and as you can buy the same extra bag each way for £110 (WAY less than fare difference), food is similar, seats meh - I am 6'3" and fitted into mine fine...., what is there "better" in PE.

If you are smart and go for non centre row seating towards front or rear of EC cabins, it is quiet, well served and the seats very comfortable - albeit I admit, my reviews may be slightly spoiled by having the C seat empty both outbound & return - but as this is available on seat plus usually (although I just got lucky)....

Oh and I have to ask, has VS managed to redeem itself in your eyes, or will this be it?

Whereas before I would travel VS even if it cost more or even made a more complicated trip, I will be looking elsewhere from now on in addition.

That sounds very sensible.

I'm glad though that it hasn't been completely ruled out. Happy travels.

Pleased with your comments above, we were pretty disappointed with the BA PE (WT+) product this year and have already booked Virgin economy GLA-MCO for next year, never been on a Virgin jumbo but was always happy with Economy on the A330s. Was considering using miles to upgrade to PE bit you've made me reconsider.

I didn't know the rules had just changed, I thought you could always put the car seat in the hold for free or take it onboard if you have booked a seat (not sure how Seat Plus would figure into this).

Seat plus is a no go for either belting in a car seat or an infant booked without a seat.

Reckon you could always check in the car seat, but crew on board were certain you could only now bring it on board & use (I think that they have greater demand for infant car seats than supply, esp on the MCO route...