This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin
Ground Staff
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It was time for the yearly trip to vegas with mrs Baza and this year our 17 year old daughter and her boyfriend tagged along.
We had decided to stay overnight at gatwick to make it less hassle on the day.
As my wife is disabled we had spoken to special assistace 6 months before the flight to request a bulkhed seat just as we had on previous flights.
Tried checking in the day before and the seat map now showed us as being in seats 21D,E and 22D,E for daughter and boyfriend. happy days i thought. [:?]
Online checkin would not allow us to do it online and said to do it at the airport.
After a night in the hotel we arrive at checkin and are directed to use the self service terminals.
Self service again refused to work and directed us to a check in desk so with silver cards clutched in our hands went to the PE desk.
Greeted with a lovely smile and handed over the flight details explaining that the kiosk would not allow us to do it.
After a few taps of the keyboard we were told 'computer says NO' and that my daughters BF had not completed the ESTA, i explained that i had done all 4 of us at the same time and had confirmation for each of us but i hadnt thought to bring a copy of the ref number. my mistake.
We were soon reassured that she would be able to enter the details manually and she promptly dissapeard through the back to arrange it. After a couple of minutes she returned to say all was now ok. Phew...
Now, when she hands us the boarding card she says she had tried to seat us together but was not able to.
My daughter and boyfriend were still in 22D,E but my wife and i had been moved.... My wife was now in 23H and i had been pushed back the cabin to 28K.
I queried this straight away saying we had spoken to special asst months ago and that sitting with the wife was important to help in and out of the seat etc. A few more taps later and we were told there was no record of of any request being made and that seats cannot be gauranteed blah blah.
Boarded the plane to find the oldest IFE as i had guessed but to make matters worse my wifes row was not working (same on VS44 coming home too) so she was given a dvd player. Unfortunalely the menu of films they had was quite limited and the wife had seen all of the films that she would have liked to watch (not virgins fault) so sat there doing basically nothing for 10 hours.
On to the flight.
I think this flight must have been full to capacity as i dont recall seeing any empty seats.
Boarding was painless enough as we waited untill the queue had allmost ended before joining it and were soon crammed into our seats and the cabin secured for take off.
We were a wee bit late taking off but were soon in the air with an announcement from up front with weather and trip details.
Soon after the drinks came round and after drinking a vodka tonic decided to get up to see how Mrs B was. At this point i found out her IFE wasnt working and the look on her face said it all. [V]
Lunch was a choice of beef stew and rice or chicken and green stuff. I opted for the chicken and allthough for looks it got 2/10 it was suprisingly tasty and no sooner had the foil lid come off it had all gone.[y]
The flight was very uneventfull which is the best kind apart from the severe turbulance i experienced everytime i went to check on the missus.[:?]
Ice creams were handed out mid flight but i opted for a stella instead.
Prior the descent we were offered either a ham and something or cheese and coleslaw sandwich and i opted for the cheese.
The sandwich was very small and virgin must have their own extra small loaves of bread made specially for them. Imagine making a sandwich then cutting it into 3 pieces and only eating 2... That said, it again was very good and i enjoyed this more than aything ive eaten on a flight before as it tasted just like it should have and was clearly fresh. (yes how sad am
After another drink the time passed and were soon landing to the usual ooh's and ahh's of the hotels and then the economy cabin landing clap swiftly followed and the cabin tension turned to excitement.
After re grouping we joined the immigration queue and soon had our bags on a trolley and headed for the ashtray outside the terminal.
While there the cabin crew were boarding the crew coach and i heard our pilot speaking with another pilot while they had a smoke. The other pilot asked how many he had flown in and was suprised whe he was told how may pax he had.
On the whole the flight was just as i expected it to be and the crew did themselves proud.[y]
It was a shame we had the old IFE but on a vegas flight is kinda the norm.
Its a shame we had problems checking in and with the seats alocated as its did put a massive downer to the start of the hols as Mrs B was very uncomfortable at times and ended up waiting for the loo several times as i felt bad disturbing the other couple sat beside me as they slept through most of the flight. Her seat was actualy next to the toilet too.[:(]
return trip on VS44 to follow
