V-Flyer

After doing a morning's work, drove to Heathrow from Birmingham on the M40 and was amazed we had a fairly clear journey with no major hiccups. Found Purple Parking and no waiting to hop on a bus to T3 either.
We had checked in on line and weighed up the shortest queue, bag drop or PE. Bag drop won. Enquired how full the plane was and was advised it was virtually full which was different to what I had been told by VA on the phone a couple of days before (only 50% full apparently!).
Hung around in the T3 shopping area for a while (with the other half had a whisky tasting session and bought some champagne at a reasonable price). It took ages for the gate to be announced and off we headed for the long hike. The queue there wasn't too bad when we arrived but it seemed to take an age to load the plane. Found out later they were short of security staff at the gate and we missed our take off slot due to this.
Found our seats 41A&C which were three rows in front on a large toilet in the centre section of the plane. The seats themselves were fine and not too much disturbance from the crew rest area which was just tothe right of us. I felt sorry for those in rows 43/44/45 in the centre section as they had the toilet door opening onto them all the time.
V-port worked fine and watched Jim Carrey in Number 23 (which really didn't do it for me) and then Happy Feet for a bit of light relief. The drinks round arrived about an hour after take off followed by a meal of meatballs and rice which was rather nice or chicken tikka. Ice creams were handed out later and after that a chocolate brownie with tea/coffee/water/juice. Didn't get much sleep - tried to with headphones on and music playing but a baby's screeching unfortunately kept penetrating through so just rested my eyes for about an hour.
Had one of the smoothest landings ever at JFK but the worst ever immigration queue as an Air Jamaica and Cathay flight had landed at about the same time as us. Arrived in the queue at 9.30pm and half the staff decided it was clock off time at 10pm and left approximately 4 desks open for 3 flights! By 10.45 they did allow us to use the US desks and we made it through by 11pm. The baggage belt had stopped rolling and we just picked up our static cases ready to grab a car.
Hopped into a nice Lincoln town car which took us to the Millenium Broadway hotel and consequently had an upgrade to the Premier section of that hotel offering inclusive breakast and free drinks between 5-7pm - always helps to have an upgrade to improve the mood following a nastily long immigration experience [:)]
Unpacked and walked around Times Square for an hour before retiring to bed for a nice relaxing sleep [|)]

Thanks for the TR[y][y]

It is always welcoming to have reports from the Economy section and your advice about rows 43-45 are appreciated.

Arrived in the queue at 9.30pm and half the staff decided it was clock off time at 10pm and left approximately 4 desks open for 3 flights! By 10.45 they did allow us to use the US desks and we made it through by 11pm.

I have always considered using this late flight, but your experience might make me think again.

The upgrade ay the Millennium must have been a pleasure after having to wait to long to get through JFK.

buns

I was on the 25 in economy on 31 July (I will do a trip report when I get back) and we managed to land at JFK on time just before 9pm. As a result, we managed to make it to the immigration queue before any other planes landed and was out of the airport by 10pm. I guess what time you land really makes all the difference. Also, we had 3 choices of mains for dinner - chicken tikka, meatballs and vegetarian cottage pie. I too had the meatballs and also thought it was rather good, although I thought it was served with that type of pasta that resembles rice (orzo?).

Jonathan

Thanks for the TR, immigration sounded a nightmare, but great news on the free upgrade! [y]

Dominic

Yes, there were three meals, forgot about the veggie option, sorry.

Hint if anyone has a child - get them to have a tantrum in the immigration line as 1 family of 6 who had a 4 year old having a tantrum and screaming were pulled from 2 rows behind us in the snake section and got taken straight to the VIP line. My husband said he will lie down on the floor, cry and stamp his feet next time and it might happen to us [NOT!].

If the 25 lands at its scheduled time, I don't think immigration would have been a problem it was just that were were slightly late due to not having enough gate security staff at LHR.