This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Check-in
OLCI was down and had been for a few days so we decided to head off to DTD to check in there, we arrived at about 9.30am. My word was it busy, we have previously always arrived here after 12.00pm just to drop off the bags really to give us more time at home and it had always been really quiet. Anyway, we were met with are you travelling in PE this evening - no UC I replied, to say the security man looked surprised would be an understatement. He quickly recovered however and asked how many of us were travelling, I explained 5 and told him that my husband would be here shortly as he had gone to park the car. He checked all our passports and went to find someone to weigh our case and take it to the desk, by this time Scott had arrived and his passport had the sticker treatment.
Within seconds we had been called forward and were being dealt with by a lovely lady - she didn't however appear to know how to deal UC passengers. We very clearly heard the supervisor say to her that she needed to change the boarding cards to purple ones as we were in UC. She wasn't paying any attention though as we were originally issued red ones, not a huge problem, but the purple ones carry a lot of weight as boarding time as we were due to find out [:D]
Anyway we asked to have an extra person added to our lounge invite and we had to repeat this 3 times before she understood, finally Brown +6 was written on the invite and just as she was handing everything over the supervisor came over and told her she would have to re-do the boarding cards [:I]
Now to say this check in was slow would be an understatement, again wouldn't normally concern us, we aren't in a rush to get to any parks but we do have an appointment with AMC cinemas to see Madagascar 2 that started at 10am and we were getting twitchy. At this point we asked if there were any delays and were told no - oh sorry hang on yes there is an hour delay, you will be boarding around 6.30pm. Finally we were in possession of our boarding cards, lounge invite and had our passports returned to us. Scott had been sent to ensure the case went into the correct van and we were off to the cinema [:D]We had received our reserved seats of 6AK, 7AK and 8K, we do like these seats as we feel Jess is less visible just in case she plays up.
Lounge
We arrived quite late at the airport as our driver for some reason took us a really longwinded route to the airport that took 45 minutes, it usually takes no more than 20 [:?]
Anyway security was the usual long lines with people milling around not knowing where they are going or what to do. The usual shoes off and laptops out routine and we were through within 20 minutes and heading off to the lounge. The lounge was busy, but not as bad as Manchester, we found a seat directly in front of the bar and settled down to wait for boarding. The girls were again good and played or read quite happily. We wondered around a few times, got Jess changed ready for bed and had a few drinks. One thing I hadn't realised from previous visits was the fact that there was a family type area with childrens TV playing, next time we will head over there so that the girls can watch tv and play with some of the games that were out.
The call came from our flight so we packed up and headed off the brave MCO airport.
Boarding and pre-flight
By the time we arrived at the gate boarding was in process so we joined the priority line and waited in turn. Within a few seconds we were asked to come this way please, i must have looked horrified as the lady smiled and said UC passengers get priority, it was then i noticed that my purple boarding card was very visible [:D]. We were through and on board within 2 minutes, we did however get the looks from other passengers as there about 20 people in front of us [:I]
Once at the doors our cards were checked and we were directed to the front. There were quite a few UC passengers already settled in when arrived so as quickly and quietly as you can when you have 3 girls with you we sorted ourselves and settled down. Drinks and sleepsuits were being offered out, but i missed out on being asked about the sleepsuit and got mine after take off. A quick scan of the films, again no mamma mia, so a peaceful flight, a look through the menu to see what was on offer and to advise the girls of the choices, Jess this time would be having a children's meal, the first time in UC so i was looking forward to seeing what was on offer. Just in case though we had called at burger king and picked her up nuggets and fries to eat whilst we took off in the hope that she may sleep straight after seatbelts off, no chance [;)]
We did our usual trick of scaring the CC, the CSS supervisor approached me and asked how many children's meals we had ordered, when i replied one, he looked relieved and said he would bring it out as soon as he could. He also asked if I wanted to delay mine whilst the children ate, he assured me it wasn't a problem and i said yes please.
One thing i will note here is that there was an empty seat in UC - this is the first seat I have seen empty in UC and Scott mentioned it as well that he couldn't remember any seats being empty when he has flown UC alone. Not important just an observation.
The crew were all very good offering refills and making sure the girls were sorted and happy. I will never tire of saying how great i think the crew are with children on these flights.
Before long we were up and the seatbelt sign was off.
Seats
Before joining V-Flyer i never used to look at the seats, but these days i find myself inspecting the seat as soon as i sit down. They were ok and more importantly clean, the usual pen marks and scuffs but i don't think there is much they can do about that. All seats converted to beds with no problems and our tables all seemed to work fine. Jess's seat was converted straight away so that she could sleep as soon as dinner was over.
Meal
The menu on this flight was better than the outbound flight and we all had the steak which was lovely and not too dry. Hannah and Lauren ate most of theirs and declared it nice, Scott gave it the thumbs up and i did as well.
Jessica's childrens meal was mac and cheese with carrots and i think nuggets. This was presented beautifully on china plates and there was lots of it. She managed most of the mac and cheese, all the carrots but left the nuggets, she had just eaten a burger king though [;)] The only complaint i have is that they delivered all the goodies that came with the meal before the meal itself, luckily i managed to hide them away in trunkie and she was none the wiser until we were in the taxi the morning after. Like most children her age - she is 4 - given the option of a meal or crisps and sweets she is going to choose crisps and sweets and i really didn't fancy a tantrum in a plane.
Breakfast orders were taken not long after take off and delivered quite early as they were expecting severe turbulence. This didn't occur and Lauren was left right until the last before being served her bacon buttie. Hannah went for the fruit option and enjoyed hers whilst watching tv, happily laughing away to herself. Scott had the bacon buttie and ate most of it, he was tired though and not feeling too well. I had the full breakfast which was ok, i thought the cheese omlette was too cheesy, but that's more down to personal choice.
Jess had a banana delivered to me which she ate in the taxi on the way home.
All the meal services were carried out professionally, I always find the inbound flight to be a little more rushed, but with a 7 hour flight time i think they wanted the lights out so people coiuld get as much sleep as possible. Drinks were topped up throughout the meal and i was asked a few times if i needed or wanted anything else.
IFE
A lot better than the way out [:D] I enjoyed Journey to the centre of the Earth a few times, Hannah loved a comedy she was watching and laughed a lot, this doesn't bother me to much on day flights but i was conscious that she was quite loud at times - James i'm sorry if she disturbed you. We mostly slept though so i can't really coment anymore other than to say i love it when they leave the map on for landing, it gives Jess something to watch and takes the girls minds of landing.
Service
Wonderful as usual. The CC were fantastic with the girls, directing all questions to them, which Hannah particularly likes as it makes her feel more grown up. Each member of the crew commented on how well behaved and polite they all were, especially Jess for her age. On there outbound flight there had apparently been a couple of children in UC and downstairs PE who had run riot for a majority of the flight, which hadn't been appreciated for obvious reasons. They really came into their own though before landing, the crew had been advised that there may be severe turbulence close to Manchester and to have the cabins secured early, they constantly kept us informed about what was happening and didn't insist that we wake Jessica right until the last minute. At this point the CSS brought out Jessica's breakfast - a couple of banana's with a napkin and told me not to worry we could take it off the plane if she didn't feel like it just yet.
The landing was smooth and we were taken to an airbridge, for which we were very greatful, i really don't like that bus journey in a morning after a night flight. We were through immigration, had our bag and were sat in a taxi 20 minutes after leaving the plane and home 25 minutes after that.
Final thoughts
We have always been really lucky with the flights we have taken with virgin, especially from Manchester. We have always had fantastic crew, nice food and good entertainment and this is the reason we won't fly with anyone else.
I think if we didn't have children we could be a little more critical about things, but when travelling with children your priorities change and it becomes more about making the journey enjoyable for them and ensuring relative peace for fellow passengers. We have always managed, I hope, to do both these things and Virgin do make things easy if you have children. It's the little things like talking to them and asking them about their meals and drinks; giving them competitions to do onboard; offering paper and crayons to draw pictures on; asking if you want your meal saved for later so that the children can be sorted first and offering to take baby (Jess has been travelling since she 3 months old) for a walk and keep an eye on her whilst me and scott eat our meal - this doesn't happen now, but it is what sold us on travelling with Virgin when the children were little.
Anyway i've gone on enough now and most of you are probaly half asleep. I hope you enjoyed the TR and I promise that i won't wait as long to deliver the Christmas TR's.
Thanks for reading
Michelle
xx
