V-Flyer

So it was time to leave the sun and high temperatures of good ol Florida for the rain-soaked, cold bustling metropolis that is Manchester. Well thats the way it usually works, only this time it had rained, hailed, thundered and lightninged (?) persistently on our last day in the Sunshine State. I really feel for anyone who has pitched up there recently for their holiday as the weather has been most unseasonal for the past few days [:#] and looks like being more of the same for a few days in the future. Still, at least the weather held off first thing in the morning to allow us to decant our bags at Downtown Disney which was a blessing. Anyway, thats enough of a digression.
Ruby Tuesday awaited us at MCO and we took off more or less on time. The old girl thats the aeroplane, not the present Mrs Treelo looked quite good, at least superficially. However, the crumbs, paper and general detritus on top of, as well as inside, the side storage bins was not the best advert in the world for aircraft cleaning teams[n] Amenity kits and headphones were on the seats (or in the case of my dear lady wife, on the floor behind the seat) and a choice of newspapers was in evidence and the Daily Mail[:o)]
Welcome aboard drink offered wish they would stop calling the fizz champagne and hot towels were in evidence, but no pretzels with the drinks run, which was interrupted while the crew had a confab in the middle of the aisle about another crew member. The Captain announced a (very) short flight time to London Gatwick [?] (thats what he said) of 6hrs 22mins. I guess he had TomTom or suchlike plugged in as we actually landed in Manchester (phew!) about 45 mins early.
Meal service was:
Cajun Chicken breast
Beef bourguignon
Vegetable stir-fry with noodles
Mrs T had the veggie option which she denounced as vile and, as they had run out of my preferred option of beef (one of the drawbacks of our preferred seats of 79A-C) a crew member volunteered to bring me a beef with potato gratin from down the back. Would that she hadnt. The beef was a grey mass of gloop and the potato gratin was the most disgusting mixture it has ever been my misfortune to view [:$]. Needless to say that the fruit bowl got a bit of a bashing later on. Fruit juice and water were also available from a tray at the rear of the cabin.
I find it very difficult to sleep on board and was kept amused for the vast majority of the flight by the gent in front who seemed to have some sort of problem keeping still. He was up and down like a whores drawers (oh can I say that here?) and at one stage had both legs resting on top of the seat in front of him.
Made landfall over Ireland waved to Honey Lamb on so on into Gatwick Manchester. Y pax held back and we were soon being warmly welcomed back into UK by a happy, chatty Customs operative (remove tongue from cheek).
RANT ON: why cant MAN get priority baggage sorted? Not only did ours take nearly 25 mins from the arrival of the first(economy) bag on the carousel but some friends who were travelling UC were still at the baggage belt when we had picked our luggage up and left. RANT OFF
A quick trot to the Radisson to pick up our car and we were on our way 10 mins later. Cant speak highly enough of the attitude and service provided by all Radisson staff we encountered. Will certainly stay there again.
So overall a good, solid VS flight spoiled only by the food on offer and, not VSs fault I know, the lack of priority baggage. Well done VS.

Thanks for the TR, shame about the food.

quote: Made landfall over Ireland waved to Honey Lamb
I'm afraid my response was to grunt, turn over and go back to sleep! [|)]

Glad you ended up in Manchester and not in LGW!!!

DMB

Thanks for the great TR![y]

Thanks for the TR - you enjoyed the same weather as me in Florida. I flew home the day before you and priority baggage did not work at MAN then either. One of my bags was out very fast, but the other took a good 15mins to appear. Not the first time this has happened to me at MAN either.

James

I quote 'Ruby Tuesday awaited us at MCO and we took off more or less on time. The old girl thats the aeroplane, not the present Mrs Treelo looked quite good, at least superficially. However, the crumbs, paper and general detritus on top of, as well as inside, the side storage bins was not the best advert in the world for aircraft cleaning teams Amenity kits and headphones were on the seats (or in the case of my dear lady wife, on the floor behind the seat) and a choice of newspapers was in evidence and the Daily Mail'

Is the current occupant of the Mrs Treelo title aware of her temporary status?

PS enjoyed the TR, pity about the cleanliness and food, cut backs are one thing, standards another.

quote:Originally posted by HWVlover

Is the current occupant of the Mrs Treelo title aware of her temporary status?


Oh yes, she knows, and has done for the past 38 years.[:o)]

the food sounds awful :O I shall warn my friend who's going with vs to buy his own food!
also, you may have seen me, I met that flight in!

Treelo

Your TR made me chuckle[:D][:D] except the account of the food[:0]

As you say, one of the drawbacks of the excellent 79A&C seats is that you are last in the queue for your first choice of food[n]

Take Care

buns

With the priority bags, this sounds like either a) a misloading of bags into cans (i.e. priority bags into a non-priority can), or b) misloading of the cans into the aircraft (i.e. priority cans being buried in deep the hold, rather than near the door), at the MCO end.

I was regularly on the end of problem (a) when flying ex-SFO for a while a few years ago, but eventually they got to the bottom of it, with a bit of effort and persistence.

Food sounds pretty nasty to me too. I don't really understand why the food is so hit and miss (and usually more miss than hit) on VS, and it we seem to bang on about it a lot on V-Flyer.

I guess those within VS who do care about the food and drink on board have their hands tied by process or budget, and those who do set budgets don't care or can't care. Whichever way, it's disappointing.

Thanks for the TR, anyway. We seem to be getting lots of MAN TRs at the moment.

Mike