This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
The Virgin Atlantic check in area at T3 was also very quiet. We did not have to wait at all to be seen by a check in agent, who called us over to an empty UC desk. I had checked in the night before and the agent confirmed we had our requested seats, 63 H and K. I asked if we had clubhouse access (via the Matterbox offer) but the agent said nothing was on the booking. That was worrying as I had originally booked us on the VS025 but had to change the flight due to a BMI schedule change. We were told we could go to the Clubhouse and ask. We did that and no problem - both our names were on the computer, with the new flight booking noted. The Heathrow clubhouse lived up to its excellent reputation, and we were once again lucky that it was a quiet day, so we had a good explore of all areas. I did have a haircut booked, based on the earlier flght time so went to the Cowshed reception and cancelled it. We were offered treatments but decided to go shopping in T3 instead (why????) Anyway, we lasted all of 20 minutes in T3 before returning to the clubhouse for an early lunch. Wonderful.
The flight started boarding at 12.45pm and yet again we were lucky as the plane had a lot of spare seats down the back. Even more luck as we pushed back early and had (for Heathrow) a very quick take-off - meaning that we eventually arrived at JFK a whole hour early.
After take off Tom moved into the middle of row 63 so I had two seats to myself. We noticed that 63 H and K have about 3 more inches legroom than the middle row. There is also ample room between the seat and the windows - of which there are 3 you can see out of easily with no wing to obstruct the views. 63K must be about the best Y seat you can get on a 747.
Now the downside - the V-Port controls in 63H and K were both faulty. In 63H there was a loose connection so you could not play games. It was OK for the films where you can set something off and not change anything. In 63K the cursor control was damaged so you could not play Tetris with any accuracy at all. Nightmare. I mentioned this to the FA who suggested I could move to an empty seat as the only other option - a full reboot - could affect the other passengers. I decided to stay in the same row as the space was so nice, read and listened to the iPod instead. I had i-Map working on one screen which I enjoy checking throughout the flight.
Service from FA's - good I thought - very friendly as usual and efficient but not as 'special' as the crews on some previous flights to Japan, or those on the return journey who were almost 'heroic' IMHO (will explain why in that TR). One nice point - I asked for sweetners for my coffee and the FA's went all the way to UC to get some. They didn't come back with any but someone who looked pretty senior came to apologise, and about the V-Port.
Food - I had the beef which was just too salty; but I had been spoiled by the fish in the clubhouse so it wasn't going to spoil my day. Did like the cheese, crackers and wine. Gave my Gu pot to Tom who could not eat the 'rubber' chicken. I would say the food on my previous flights to and from Japan has been better, with more choices available to Y customers. Late in the flight we were given coffee and biscuits.
It was a very short flight - about 6 hours 10 mins - very clear conditions throughout the flight, very smooth in general and we had some beautiful sunshine approaching JFK. I got a good view of Manhattan on the approach, kind of in silhouette but unmistakable.
After disembarking the hour we had gained arriving early was eradicated in the immigration queues but the upside of that was that our luggage was off the carousel in a second and we on our way to meet our hotel transport.
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