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#964016 by Murraymint
18 May 2024, 12:16
After 3 weeks in Orlando it was time to come home. As others have said, it is really more expensive to go there now- not just at the parks but seemingly everywhere. It’s also much busier when trying to get around as there is so much construction going on. With thousands of people moving to Florida from the cities since Covid, the roads are really getting worse- especially the I4. Between Orlando and Davenport where we were staying, there were several places where traffic just stops and the projects to expand it and create express lanes are taking forever. Mind you, we never saw any more than 6 workers so maybe that explains it.

We were due to come back on VS76 (A333) and having seen the issues recently with the fleet we were a bit concerned about delays, however on the day I could see that both A333s, 1 from LHR and 1 from MAN were on their way and on time so a good sign. We returned the hire car and headed over to an empty check in line for PE. I can never sleep on the flight so didn’t see the point in spending more points/cash for UC.

Lady Love was to be our ride home and I saw her parked on stand next to one of the A350s - she did look a bit tatty compared to the newer aircraft. The gate was well managed with people being called by group and an agent standing holding a sign for the relevant group and asking those not in it to sit down so that there wasn’t the normal scrum.

We boarded and first thing we noticed was the creaky seat. The cabin was almost full with 1 spare seat across the isle from me which was soon filled by a lady whose seat had a defective IFE. As the FSM passed through the cabin she was called over by this lady to “have a chat”. She then proceeded to tell her that she was a frequent traveller. Her IFE had blue screened and the flight attendant had told her that they would reset it. This was not good enough as she knows that once it blue screens it will not recover. She was made to feel stupid, she knows all about IFE and she was now stressed and she needs her TV for the flight and she can’t fly without it and on and on she went. The FSM handled it very well but she had to take 10 minutes out to listen to this. All part of the job I guess and I wonder if the complainer managed to bag some points.

We had preordered the salmon for dinner and it was good with a decent sized piece of fish. Wine was offered (in a can) but after dinner I was sure that pre Covid we were offered a glass of port. Not this time but to be fair when I asked about it, one was brought out.

As usual I didn’t sleep so when breakfast came out I was looking forward to some bacon and eggs but when I opened it up, I had been given the omelette. I assumed that it was all that was available but I later heard some others saying that the attendant had been giving out the wrong plates to everyone! I wished I had said something at the time.

Flight time was 8 hours 10 minutes and on landing the central overhead bins were making a horrible screeching noise and feeling that they were about to collapse. This was added to the loud clanking noise coming from underneath during taxi.

Parked at a remote stand but only waited 5 minutes for the buses and then sailed through the e-gates without issue and had our luggage in a few minutes.

Overall a great improvement at MAN since our last flight there but a decline in the PE product and the aircraft comfort.

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