Left home (Central London) nice and early 1:30 so to get to the airport and make use of overnight hotel booked. Arrived at Gatwick about 2:30 and went to twilight check-in with no que so bags were gone, and relaxing in the Hilton by 2:45.
One thing to note was that passengers were being told be in the airport 4 Hours before the flight due to the security checks and that they will be calling the flight 2 hours before departure time for additional checks at the gate.
12 September 2006
Checked out of the hotel after a restful night and made our way to the terminal early morning, on arrival found the que at security to be long but not too bad, we managed to get through in about 30 minutes (Which at Gatwick is not really any different from before the new measures)
Spent some time wondering around the terminal until flight was called for boarding at 09:40, two hours before departure as told last night. We made or way to the gate where everyone was put into a que for individual baggage and person searches (This is done for all passengers). As we were quite quick to the gate we were through this check in about 15 minutes, others at the back for the que took about an hour to get through as there were only two guards doing the checks.
Date: 12 September 2006
Flight: VS027
Route: London Gatwick Orlando Int
Aircraft: G-VROM Barbarella Boeing 747-400
Class: Premium Economy
At about 10:40 boarding has begun, upper class followed by premium and pre boarding, so we made our way onto the aircraft and ascended the stairs and took our seats 79 A/C on the upper deck (First Time On The Upper Deck). Boarding was complete quite quickly with a 70% load today. The crew came around with the pre departure drinks.
Pushback was on time and made a slow taxi to the runway, the safety video was played while we waited in the line up for the runway. We soon turned onto the runway and full thrust was applied and was soon in the air, I was quite amazed how much quieter it was on the upper deck.
Once in the air the usual announcements were made about todays services, once this was done the crew were released for duties. The crew came around with the amenity kits, headphones and a first drinks round, followed by a second. After about an hour into the flight the meal service began with the standard choices Beef, Chicken, Veg Risotto, I opted for the chicken. The meal was very nice, it was good to see that Virgin have done away with the kids desserts (Cadburys Flake) and put in a pot of Gu. The meal service was followed by the Baileys / Brandy service.
After lunch the flight was pretty uneventful, very smooth and quiet, so we settled down and watched a few movies on the Nova Entertainment System. The crew were excellent always walking up and down the cabin and offering Orange / Water service every 30 minutes.
About 90 minutes before arrival the crew came around with the afternoon tea service with the usual choice of sandwich.
We started our decent about 45 minutes from Orlando which again was smooth with few bumps and made an on time arrival. Once on the ground we made a quick taxi to the gate and were off the aircraft very quickly. We made our way to immigration and were through in about 5 minutes a record for Orlando. Got thought to the baggage reclaim and our bags come up as was approached the belt. We made out way through the airport where they take your bags from you (Again) and you are left to get on the monorail to the main terminal building. Once at the second bag claim we waited for about 20 minutes for the bags to come out, this didnt seem to long as I went to the Virgin Holidays desk to sort out my transfer to the hotel and by this time they were coming up.
Summary:
An excellent flight with excellent crew made for a smooth trip.
{edit:mitchja - just changed the title slightly to show the correct route map}
