VS076 MCO-MAN 4 Jul 09 (PE)
Posted: 16 Jul 2009, 20:52This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
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We arrived at MCO to weather wed arrived in a few weeks earlier, absolutely lashing it down. We entered airside A by the VS desks and were horrified to see the queue to check in at Y. Thankfully, wed checked in online, we just needed to print our boarding passes out. We headed to bag drop where the security stickers were applied to the passports etc and moved to the desk to be greeted by an un-helpful guy who blatantly lied to us. Before the process had even started I asked if there were any upgrades available and how much they would be, he shook his head so I took that was no there werent, fair enough you win some you lose some. He weighed our bags, confirmed our seats as 29A and B and off we went to drop our bags off to security. As we left the desk we heard a couple a few desks down ask for an upgrade and to my dismay, be told there were quite a few and theyd be 229. I turned around but the guy who had checked us in now had his next customers in front of us. I was prepared to pay that to end the holiday a bit better than to be stuck in Y. I went to the ticketing desk where they confirmed the price and I produced the credit card. Just like that we were in 74 H & K. I dont know why the guy at check in said no to us and I still can't think of a reason why you'd try and stop someone paying extra? Baffling!
Dropped the bags off and headed straight through security, nice and easy took the train to airside 4. A stroll round the shops, a bite to eat and a nice stroll down to the gate. Out came my geek side at this point as I went around taking photos of all four Virgin Atlantic planes that were on stand.
Upper, AU and PE were called to board Jersey Girl at 5:30, and this was done much better than at MAN. Although one family took it upon themselves to try and board first on a Y ticket only to be told that they hadnt been called to board yet and could they please go to the waiting area until there row was called. I was glad to see that happen, it was only one family and its only boarding first but it makes a difference and if other pax see it happen it could get messy. Its fair to say they werent happy about having to trudge back past us all, but if you want to board first, buy the relevant ticket!
We were the first upstairs and wed only just sat down and put the bags in the overhead lockers when champagne was served. We managed to get another glass before we pushed back at 6:14. A quick taxi to 17R, a short wait for a US A320 to depart and then off we were into the Floridian sky at around 6:25. To Stephs dismay we through straight into a storm, now I love flying and I wish I could fly more often, hell I wish I was a pilot, but there was a point in the storm where the plane just seemed to keep dropping and even I was a little worried. It obviously stopped free falling, (or else I wouldnt be here right now!) drinks came round within 20minutes after take off and was quickly followed by the evening meal. I chose the beef stroganoff and Steph chose the braised teriyaki chicken. The other option was pasta and veg. It must have been another good meal as it was gone within 5minutes, washed down with a glass of red and a Baileys. The Vanilla bean cake was marvellous aswell, dare I say it, better than the GU pot on the way out
The couple in front decided theyd be pains in the arses at this point. Opening and slamming shut the side bins every 5minutes and then complaining about the IFE. Wed already had the IFE restarted once as they were still showing Junes outbound choices. The problem now was that they were now showing Junes inbound choices, not what was advertised in the mag. Fair enough, you can ask why I suppose and then youd get on with. Not Mr and Mrs Arse in front, oh no! The poor CC explained again, that unfortunately they havent been changed yet and they dont have control of what is shown. She was very polite and offered to go through the channels and write what was on each of them for him. He then got rather rude, raised his voice and said that wasnt good enough and wanted to speak to the FSM. The CC turned around and I gave her a look of sympathy as she went and fetched her. FSM arrived explained the situation again and he still wasnt happy, demanding a piece of paper to write a letter of complaint! Ok, it might be slightly annoying but does it warrant rudeness and a letter of complaint?
After being disturbed by The Arses in front I was struggling to get to sleep so off I went for a walk, a quick chat with the two CCs at the galley who were both fantastic throughout the flight, especially the one who had to deal with Mr and Mrs Pillock in front, she was quite attractive too, I did think about complaining about the IFE just to get another chat with her but thought against it..!
I eventually dropped off watching Race to Witch Mountain (nothing bad against the film, was quite good before I started to zzz), and before I knew it we were over Ireland and preparing to descend. Id obviously missed brekkie by this point so cant comment on that, sorry!
We landed 10minutes early on 23R and we were off the plane in no time, through immigration and to collect the bags. Ive read a few TRs about MAN arrivals and the fact priority bags rarely arrive first. Today was no different; half of Y seemed to have gone before our last bag came. VS need to get this sorted!
Another good flight all in all, check-in let it down with the agent who lied. Was it worth the extra 230? Yes, just for the fact I could stretch out and sleep!