This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin
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In August we decided to check availability for September and managed to secure our first choice for a quick weekend jaunt to Edinburgh so here is a really quick run through of our experience with Little Red.
Booking was really easy, some have said that sometimes the agents weren’t aware of these free flights but the agent I spoke to knew all about it and a pair of T class tickets to EDI on 20th Sept and back to LHR on the 21st Sept were quickly secured.
We live pretty close to LHR so decided we would drive and stick the car in the short stay car park at LHR T2. This was also our first experience of the new T2 so off we set to arrive at LHR for about 09:00 for our scheduled departure on VS3005 at 11:20.
Having pre-booked the parking at LHR back when I booked the flights we got a good rate and when we drove into the car parks there was loads of parking space available, quiet a neat idea they have there with individual green lights above the parking bays that are only illuminated if the space is empty. Not something we needed as there was so much space but I can imagine it will be really helpful when all the other airlines move in and things start filling up, no need to start craning your neck down lanes trying to find an empty space then think you spot one only to find a little smart car has been tucked in there
Anyway, back to the review, a short walk through the car park up a couple of floors (or was it down I can’t remember) and we walked into the brand new terminal at LHR – wow what an improvement over the old dark and claustrophobic previous T2 this was really bright and airy.
I had already checked in online and had a mobile boarding pass – but I also wanted a hard copy for my own records (thanks to everyone who answered the question I posted on the main forum regarding this). I quickly printed out a copy of my boarding pass and tucked it away in my hand luggage for safe keeping. We were only going for a quick trip so only had hand luggage so we walked over to the electronic gates which were pretty empty and I plonked my mobile phone down on the gate reader to let us through and nothing – the gates stayed shut whilst my other half was already through. This wasn’t the priority lane but the normal one for us everyday mortals to use
I jiggled my phone about a bit but still nothing, thankfully it wasn’t busy so I wasn’t holding everyone up. I picked the phone up to have a look and then I remembered I had it on auto-rotate so it had swung the image of the boarding pass round and part of it had got cut off. Carefully holding the phone at an angle I got the reader to read the QR code and the gates opened and I was through – as soon as I was through and out the way – auto rotate was quickly turned off to prevent a re-occurrence later on.Security was empty as well and we were through without stopping and quickly into the main departure area. Again this was pretty empty so we equipped ourselves with a coffee and a seat by the windows to have a look at was going on outside. At 10:00 we had a look at the departure board to check for a gate, only then did we discover that the flight was now delayed for an hour.
At 11:00 the gate still wasn’t showing but at 11:20 it came up as 226 so we decided to take a stroll down there expecting a reasonably imminent departure. When we got to 226 you can’t see out onto the stands so wasn’t sure if our plane was indeed there, about 20 minutes later I saw a reflection in an adjacent window as our plane pulled on stand. Only then was there any announcement apologising for the delay due to the late arrival of the incoming aircraft.
Boarding started at about 12:20 so up to the desk, photograph taken and the check in agent took my phone off of me to scan my boarding pass before handing it back. The flight was almost full, except the middle seat between us and one other that I could see nearby. When I picked the seats I couldn’t really decide where to go so just plonked for 3A and 3C hoping it may deter anyone booking the middle seat if the aircraft load was light. Well it worked and we kept the empty seat between us, we pushed back at 12:47 an hour and twenty seven minutes late and after a 20 minute taxi in the queue we lined up and took off from 09R.
Not a lot I can really say about the flight itself, flight was smooth and cloud covered for the entire duration so I had some fascinating views of clouds, the flight deck crew apologised for the delay and were trying to do their best to make up time due to the late arrival of the inbound aircraft. Cabin crew were very friendly and efficiently dealt with the drink and snack run. 30 minutes after departure we started our descent into EDI and eventually broke through the clouds about 5 minutes before we landed. We touched down on 06 just after 14:00 – total airboune time was 53 minutes it was a quick taxi to stand 6 before we were sent on our way by our friendly cabin crew.
This was our first flight on Little Red and apart from the delay in getting going we were very happy, the Virgin branding was carried over very well and was as we remembered it from our trip to SFO. Now it was off to do some exploring in Edinburgh.
A shorter version of the return trip to follow.
