V-Flyer

With touching on three weeks spent in the 'real' Florida without a sign of the big eared one or his friends it was time to head off back to blighty and move into my new place!

After my lovely tour of Jacksonville airport on the outbound I was hoping for a much quicker flight but with an equally excellent crew.

Used OLCI at around 10am and arrived at MCO to see the full extent of four 744 flights a day. Whilst check in was well organised the Y line was long beyond belief and there clearly is a need for extra check in desks. I have always been struck by how good the outsourced VS staff are at MCO and was rather happy to see them short listed for the V-Flyer best airport award last time round. Walked past the Y line to find no one in the bag drop/PE/UC. Answered the usual security questions including one that struck me as rather odd 'what time did you use OLCI today'.From security I was called straight up to the desk and checked in within a matter of seconds. The check in girl was fantastic, everything was done with a smile and all explained very well. Considering the b+s nature of the MCO flights and the sheer number of flights in a short space of time, I am strongly of the view that the ground staff at MCO doing an amazing job, just a shame their work often goes unnoticed. Big [^] from me to them!

From check in it was off to my secret MCO hideout- which shall remain nameless [:D] for fear of the masses finding out and to save me a grilling from other V-Flyers who know about it [:p]. Had a fantastic meal in realtive calm, how the place makes any money I will never know. With about an hour to go I made my way other to the Delta/Virgin/Airtran satellite. Security at MCO can be an issue especially in the evening with a large number of transatlantic flights leaving. MCO has two security entrances into the two satellites on that side of the airport. What most Brits do is assume that the two entrances do not connect on the other side (as the signs say so) but they do. So I followed the security line for the Northwest satellite and was through security in around 3 minutes and avoided the shoe circus. A family who arrived in the VS satellite line at the same time as me- I saw getting off the monorail some 35minutes after me!

Picked up a bit of duty free and realised why sometimes I am ashamed to be British. It was chaos in the duty free shop and it all kicked off as the staff announced that no more Virgin passengers were allowed in the store. Passengers trying to get in started fing and blinding all over the place- calming that the flight wasn't leaving for another hour etc. The staff said it is Virgins policy not to allow duty free sales once boarding has begun. To be fair, some kind of notice should be up in the terminal saying this but then again the kind of attitude the passengers had was totally unreasonable and bang out of line.

No boarding announcements made in the main terminal part where I was sat so I took a stroll down to find boarding was almost over so 45minutes before push back. Walked straight on the plane (Ruby Tuesday so Odessy) and found my self on row 34. Plane was looking a bit tired- and made me realise how modern the ex LGW fleet is. Crew came across moody and fed up. Plane was very loud with lots of screaming babies etc. Crew announcements could not be heard at all. Pilot on to say that we could push early, 7hour 12minutes into Manchester. Had there not been one late family we would have been on the way out of gate at 8.15 as it was we closed up at 8.32pm and were airbourne at 8.44pm.

Smoothest take off ever with not one bump at all. Crew released from seats and the beverage service began. IFE was not switched on for about 35minutes and we were held in the seats for well over 25minutes. It has been a while since I experienced Odyseey (believe it was 2002 on way to IAD) and to be honest I thought it was poorer than Nova. The menu screens looked outdated and I began to wonder why they had them. The synopsis on movies was the same as in the IFE guide, tv channels finished too soon compared to movies and the gap between restart of movies was a painful 45minutes. [n] not very impressed at all.

Food service started and it was awful. Un-recognisable main course, standard salad, disgusting chocolate desert. Crew barked the offer of food and generally looked to be trying to get the service done as fast as possible, no second drink, only water or wine. About this time the seat belt sign pinged on and the crew announced that tea and coffee would not be served until breakfast. Captain on to inform us that we were re-routing to avoid the choppy air saying it was due to a large storm cell over Washington DC, Philly, Baltimore, New York area. He also informed everyone to look out of the left window at the 'amazing lightning show'. Of course the sky was being lit up bright white about every 2 seconds. Meal service ended and lights off. Seat belt sign off after 45 minutes.

The crew, sadly did their disappearing trick. One water run was done all night which is not very good at all. The standard breakfast was served around an hour out of Manchester. Pilot on to inform us of a quick landing but to be warned that 'Manchester has a habit of holding us on taxiway for a good 15 minutes then putting us on a remote stand needing buses, so please be patient'. Seat belt sign was on and as coming into landing the FSM thanked her crew for all their hard work, which I have never heard before. Hard landing and we arrived at 8.58pm some hour and 50 minutes early. 10minute wait on taxi way and onto a remote stand. Disembarked within 10minutes of doors opening and straight out into the rain.

Immigration was a 10minute wait and bags another 45 minutes. Was out within an hour of arriving and then began the long (and I mean long) and often confusing walk to terminal three. After this walk I will never curse the Terminal 3 gate 40 walk again! [:D] And then a nice little run in with poor Flybe check in staff and security over my non heat sealed duty free but thats another story.

So my thoughts:

Quality of flight depends on the crew. Mine were non-existent. Only the CSS for Y and a more senior regular cabin crew member seemed happy and concerned for the passengers.
Crew lacking the Virgin spirit, crew on Flybe domestic were better
Odysey is worse than Nova [:0]
Food was awful

All in all not an outstanding flight at all but I guess it got me to where I wanted to go so I shouldn't really complain.

Originally posted by willd
...coming into landing the FSM thanked her crew for all their hard work, which I have never heard before.

This happened on my return from JFK and was the first time I've heard it before as well. From the cabin crew I encountered on my flight it was totally justified, however, judging by your report, it certainly wasn't.

Again, it seems that consistency in operations is an issue and one only hopes that Virgin takes note and sorts this out (although whether they will...)

Jonathan

Thanks for the TRs on both legs of the trip. Both have kept me from my chores for far too long..

Originally posted by willd
All in all not an outstanding flight at all but I guess it got me to where I wanted to go so I shouldn't really complain.

Well, up to a point, maybe. Sure you can't demand UC service when paying for Economy, but after all VS do claim their meals are 'delicious'.[:w] You could turn it round and, given your experience on the outbound leg, say how much *better* it can be with the no added cost option of a crew with the right attitude.

I do sometimes wonder whether the flight can have a mood and an atmosphere from the off. You remark upon the crying babies, virtually everyone on the plane is coming home from holiday...I'm not looking to excuse poor service, just thinking about the level of effort it may take on the part of the crew to rise above a cabin in a bad mood.

Paul

Paul,
Whilst i understand where you are coming from regarding crying overtired babies on this flight, the question should be (and I am talking economy here) how come even the Charters give a better service now on this route than a scheduled carrier like Virgin?

If you read trip reports on other forums, the Virgin reports are very much like this one, whereas First choice, Monarch (sometimes!) Tui, even TCD and Flyglobespan get better ratings for crew interaction, food and IFE!!

Why should someone now fly economy with virgin at a premium price compared to other carriers??

What a sad indictment of the Current VS setup.

Alan I agree with you- it is interesting to see how FCA (and Thomsonfly, who of course will be the same airline this time next year) have snuck up behind VS and taken the lead.

Whilst babies may have been crying etc it doesn't take much to provide service with a smile- if two of the crew in Y can do it why can't they all.

My personal theory on it all is that its the dreaded red eye syndrom. Crews from all carriers, board a red eye and automaticaly revert to 'night flight=easy life for us' mode. It is not only VS, of the four transatlantic carriers I have flown in the last year it has happened.

Originally posted by willd

Whilst babies may have been crying etc it doesn't take much to provide service with a smile- if two of the crew in Y can do it why can't they all.

That was my point really, particularly given your positive outward experience. It's just that I can rarely see a fence without sitting on it.

Paul

Thanks for the TR -- only wish you'd used the rating dials so your comments would be reflected in the rolling averages.

Cheers!

GJ

Willd

Thanks for the TR covering the return leg[y][y]

I have to agree that the staff at MCO deserve credit for what they do each and every day[oo][oo]

It is a pity that certain crew (who handle exactly the same pax - only far fewer[:(!]) cannot always be guaranteed to give the same levels of service

buns