V-Flyer

So, the big day approached. Readers will note how mildly excited *cough* I was about my first Virgin flight, and also slightly concerned about my nervous flyer (Matt) - because even as we approached the airport in our limo, (Streatham to LHR in 35 minutes!) there was a chance that we might not get off the ground.

Check-in was swift for me, as I had used online check-in, for Matt this wasn't available so we attempted to use the machines at the airport - these scan your passport and then find your booking and are very easy to use. The machine wouldn't print, so in the end we had the boarding pass printed at check-in. And here's where the Virgin experience really started...

We approached the bag drop and were immediately served by a gentleman who I think was a supervisor as his uniform was different from everyone else. 'Oh, we've got your life story here!' he joked as he read about Matt's concerns. He talked about them and advised us to ask at the gate to be boarded last (as this was Matt's main stress - boarding first and waiting and waiting). My curiosity about the 'Flight Closure Desk' was answered cheerfully and led to further conversation. This was totally what Matt needed as we were there for about five minutes just talking (there was no queue at 6.30am) and this really helped in talking the 'rush' out of the airport experience. Of course the early hour helped, but it was brilliant that someone took the time just to have a chat.

So, upstairs to Departures. We went through security reasonably quickly, I think it was about seven minutes total, and then we were in departures where we headed to Chez Gerard (thanks to recommendation from this forum.)

Chez Gerard was great. Cheerful waiters, tastey food and did I mention cheeful waiters?
Again, one stood out who chatted to us for ages about New York and then insisted that we get our Virgin 15% Discount (the manager said that breakfast wasn't a main meal) but quickly relented when two waiters explained that it was! We sat here for quite some time as it was quiet but before long we were off to Gate 36 for our plane.

This seemed to be right at the end of the airport, but there are great views of the planes coming and going and that's when we saw her: Sleeping Beauty. The staff here were lovely and had no problem with Matt boarding last, and I was able to distract him with the selection of newspapers and magazines to read. In the end, Matt didn't want to board totally last as a small dose of Bach's Rescue Remedy kicked in so before long we were in the queue to board.


Sorry about the quality...!


Boarding was quite slow (I'm always bemused by the rush to a plane where all the seats are pre-asigned, but that's just me). A tantalising glimpse of Upper Class and a walk through Premium Economy told me that for the next booking we would upgrade to one of them. I was quite surprised by the inside of the plane. Bright, clean and with blue and red seating in economy. Seats 32A & C were fine, although they did feel quite narrow. I was able to stretch my legs under the seat in front, and even when it reclined I didn't feel too cramped, but of course, on the first flight of a holiday these things don't seem quite as bad. But I could see how someone with longer legs would struggle.

A few minutes after sitting down, a stewardess came over as she was knew that Matt was a nervous flyer, and kneeled down and asked how he was feeling. At this point he was fine but the reassurance was a nice touch.

Take Off!

Exciting and uneventful, and of course Matt has his list of things to listen for from his call to Virgin Atlantic before, so the lights flickering was the engines starting, a clunk during proceedings he confidently told me that that was the landing gear retracting etc.

And on to the inflight service.

The V:Port seemed to take a while to start, and I hated the adverts before, but overall it was great. It took me a while to get a hang of it, and I managed to make the system reboot twice, while all the sets went boink! halfway through the flight but restarted quickly afterwards, and there was a great selection of stuff to watch. I was introduced to the fabulous 30Rock, which I'd seen advertised but hadn't watched (it's brilliant) and some old episodes of Frasier (one of which I had never seen before but I really had to stifle my laughter it was so funny) and Matt liked the Audio Selection too, actually finding that very relaxing, and found the range of options there a great distraction from the thought of being 36000 feet up in metal pipe. [;)]

I can barely remember the order things arrived in (the seven night holiday feels like it lasted a month [:)] ) - I have a feeling it was drinks first and then lunch, which was chicken & mash or beef cobbler. Now, I have never had a problem with airline meals, and I can be quite fussy. This was fine. You could taste the beef and the vegetables, there was bread rolls, cheese & crackers, wine poured from the bottle (this might be an economising measure, but doesn't it look so much better than those mini bottles?) and hooray! A Fru pudding! I tried a bit of Matt's chicken & mash and it was nice too.

More drinks, another visit from the stewardess just to check we were OK, and a few walks up and down the aisle, then a Choc Ice (with a fun Pearl & Dean style name) and before long we were starting our descent into New York.

JFK was a revelation. I was expecting delays, rudeness, and a tired building, but it was the opposite. Immigration was cleared in about ten minutes, in a bright spacious building with lots of daylight and even though we were quite early off the plane the subsequent queues were gone by the time our luggage came off the carousel (this took about 20 minutes and my case was one of the last to arrive!), and polite staff.

So out into JFK Arrivals, where our hotel limo was waiting where we had a nice journey with a frankly bizarre commentary from the driver; but all with a great sense of wellbeing because of the caring and fun style of service from Virgin.

I can't stress how fantastic they were.

Thank you for the TR. I ma glad you had a good first VS flight. It brings back memories of my first VS flight back in 1992 from LHR - LAX in Y.

many thanks for the TR read with pleasure ahh yes just recalling my first VS flight

I'm glad that Matt made it through his first flight.

Mrs Scrooge was a horrible flyer when she first ran into me, being able to tell her what all the strange noises ,lights blinking on and off etc helped settle her down some, so I must give a solid [y] to VS for providing this info.

UPDATE!

Matt sent an email to Virgin to thank them for all their help with his and his flying.

We got the reply yesterday, and it was just a lovely - I read it and just know that the letter has been read by a real person who actually cared - we now have a warm fuzzy Ovaltiney glow when we think of Virgin. Have been recommending them to EVERYONE - it's the least we can do.

Wonderful company.

Great trip report!

Can I ask what the 15% Virgin offer is exactly?

Jonathan

When you use online check in they email you vouchers for 15% off various outlets in Terminal 3. Including free massages at Origin, apparently. But we didn't try that.

Thanks for putting together the excellent TR. Your enjoyment of the experience shines through and it sounds like the personal touch from VS won the day.

I too vote for a CG breakfast as a way of passing the time away from the general bustle of the terminal.

Paul

Now you both know why we are devotees of VA[y]
So will it be PE or UC next time[:w]

Well done on the great TR
Its so good thinking about how exciting it used to be travelling on VS, and you know it still feels that way everytime we travel, see you in PE next time.

cheers
alex

Booked my next flights, at bargaintastic PE fares!