V-Flyer

This is my first TR so forgive me if I leave anything out!

There were 8 of us heading to Florida to celebrate a friends 40th. 6 of them were arriving from Belfast and thankfully they had already landed as we were arriving at the airport so no need to panic!

I checked our booking online only to find that our seats had been moved from what we had originally requested I know its only a request. We had requested 2 rows of 4 but we were all moved around the cabin. It didnt help that there were 6 different booking references. I tried calling FC but they werent really any help. I couldn't get it sorted at OLCI so tried to do so at the airport. It turned out that the plane was not full and they were balancing the load. The check-in agent seemed a bit unfriendly (particularly when I realised that, as the most obsessively organised out of all of us, I had forgotten to take the e-ticket out of my briefcase so it was sitting at home!). Luckily I had my laptop so was able to get the email us and show him. He soon warmed up and was quite chatty and friendly by the time we were all relieved of our bags and he had managed to move all our seats to pretty much the original request so top marks for check-in.

We passed quickly through security and had a quick bacon and eggs in Frankie and Bennys and then it was time to go to the gate. There was a bit of a queue to get into the gate but once in, it was straight onboard Barbarella where we were again told that we needed to stay in our allocated seats for take off and then were free to move around.

The plane taxied not too long after schedule (about 20 mins, I think). The bar service commenced quite quickly and then food soon after. Choices were Beef Stroganoff, Barbeque Chicken or Vegetarian Pasta. I opted for the pasta but it didn't look like pasta! It tasted good though. After dinner, everybody moved off to secure an empty row of 4 or 3 to try to get their heads down. I watched Burn After Reading then settled down to watch Skins on my ipod.

The cabin crew were great and FSM was around quite a bit and was chatting to people.

There were a couple of OJ and water runs and choc ices were handed out sometime later in the flight. With about 2 hours to land, we had rolls and a fruit and yoghurt bar thing.

We landed on schedule and got to immigration to find it empty!! My friend whose birthday it was decided to let me know (during the flight) that Orlando can be a nightmare but it seems, on this occasion, that the gods were smiling on us and we were through in no time to find the bags already on the carousel.

It took an age to get the van/bus thing but once that was sorted we got on our way to the villa and some well needed alcohol!

In summary, this was a brilliant flight with VS. There was nothing that wasnt great about it, apart from the change to the seating which was quickly sorted. I have flown UC with VS 3 times previously but if I knew that the Y cabin was going to be so quiet and everything else went this smoothly, I would happily save the money and blow it all in the shops here! Well done Virgin!

Off now to get all the rabble up and see what Disney is all about as its my 1st time! Thanks for reading.

S

Thanks for the TR, sounds like you had a great flight.

Enjoy Disney, we are flying out ourselves tomorrow.

Neil

Great TR, and glad that the Y flight went well for you all. Enjoy Florida.

Dominic

Thanks for the TR, I'm fast on your heels too. I don't fly economy very often but, like you say, if the cabin isn't full it definitely helps. Save some sunshine for me.

Jilly

There are many times that an empty Y cabin will beat a UC cabin, this was one of them, just don't bet on the Y cabin always being that empty, sounded like a good flight though, I guess we have lost the mystery meat and moved on to the mystery pasta now !

Thanks for taking the time for a top TR, glad it all went well in Y

cheers

alex

Thanks for the TR. [y]

Always good to read Y reports, especially positive ones.

Have a great holiday.

Nick

Good to hear you had a great flight, a great way to start the celebrations!

Thanks for the TR as said before its nice to get away on a high.

Jurgen and Sue

Thanks for the TR! Hope you enjoy Florida!

Did your pasta look like this... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaetzle

Don't forget that Virgin are catered by Lufthansa's LSG SkyChefs, so don't be surprised if you find a bit of a Germanic influence to some of the dishes.

Lightly loaded Y cabins are usually okay, especially on day flights. Sounds like the FSM took advantage of the light load to mix with the pax more - there seem to have been frequent reports of better FSM performance of late, which can only be a good thing!

Mike