V-Flyer

Apologies for waiting for the return trip report. Been a bit busy starting a new job.

Will try my best to remember the more important details!!

Well we did the check in and chill out and the hotel on the morning of departure. Which was suprisingly swift and efficient. The check in agent made sure all our bags were marked as PE (hadnt taken them off since flying out to be honest with you!) and gave us our boarding cards. The whole thing took about 5 mins... then back to the pool!


After a day sat by the pool we got ready for our helicopter transfer back to the airport. I dont know if i mentioned on the previous report, but this is most definately worth the money! Not only do you get an hour and a half or so longer at the hotel, not have to take the 2 hour bus back and get to see some amazing sights.... by the time we arrived everyone else on the flight had passed through security so that took 30 seconds too! Altogether a very calming experience.

We just about had time to pick up the duty free we had bought and UC, PE and gold were called to board. Though to be honest they were a little premature as we werent ready to board yet, so we waited next to the plane for a few minutes until they called us up. All in all though a very smooth begining to our journey.

However that is where it all went a lil bit downhill. Nothing major, but enough for me to be less than happy!

We took off pretty swiftly, actually about 10 minutes early, which is a bonus. However this flight was going back via barbados and obviously they were unable to serve food 20 mins or so after takeoff like they normally do. Bare in mind the flight left at 18.10. Though it was at this point I did learn something about 747's that I never knew.... the taxiway at st lucia joins the runway in the middle, so the plane had to taxi down the runway and I assumed there would be a lil tug truck to aid in the turn around process at the other end. Evidently not! Who knew such a big plane was so agile on the ground!

Anyway, moving on! So landing in barbados ahead of time we are told we should be on the ground too long, just picking up passengers and refuelling and we'll be off.... About an hour and 15 minutes later I was bored beyond all reason as they couldn't turn the entertainment on, and also pretty hungry! I mentioned this to the cabin crew who said there was nothing she could give me and that food would be served as soon as we took off from barbados. 15 minutes later i gave up and asked to buy some chocolate from the duty free book.... I VERY nearly got told no because they hadn't opened the float for it yet.... but I think she saw the evil look appear on my face and went to see what she could do.

Me and the Mr managed to get through the bag of minstrels and re-read the Daily Mail (for some reason the only paper on board) before we took off, just shy of 2 hours after we landed.

With respect to the cabin crew dinner got served pretty quickly. It was alright, can't actually remember what I had but I don't remember hating it, so it cant have been that bad. Though desert was a drier than dry brownie which had one bite out of it and got left!

Had a few issues with the entertainment (Oddessy) where the tape for one film hadn't been loaded so they put a film from the way out on again, and another film had some glitches so they tried it on a few diff channels before it worked. Good selection of films though. The flight is long enough to watch 3 films in full pretty much.

I didn't sleep, I have a real issue sleeping sitting up (bring on the point where I can afford UC) and I discovered the biggest downside of PE seats on the upper deck.... they are just not wide enough to cuddle up in. Well not for me anyway, and I am only 5'7'!! This is more of a personal thing, if I am sleeping sitting up then i need somehting to rest my feet against, and it it just bad form to rest them on the seat in front of you!

Breakfast was a major dissapointment. Now i understand a fully plated meal isn't gonna happen in PE, the poor excuse of a look-a-like sausage/egg McMuffin was not what I expected. Extremely dissapointed with that.

Flight landed about half an hour late, and sitting at the back of PE we made a break for it as soon as we could. I didn't particularly notice the flight staff holding the E passengers back as we darted past, but he might have been!

On the plus side, even though it took a while to come through the UC and PE bags were deff going round the baggage claim first. So thumbs up for that.

Overall the flight was ok, not brilliant but not awful either. Sorting out what they are going to do with passengers who have boarded in St Lucia when they stop in barbados would have gone a long way to make this flight better. To be sat on the plane for the best part of 3 hours with nothing to eat and no entertainment is just not acceptable.

Thanks for a great TR. I've done the Barbados stop off and can remember it being a real pain but 3 hours without any sensible service is too long. Love the idea of the helicoptor transfer.

Thanks for the TR[y][y]

That Check In and Chill Out Service combined with the Helicopter transfer sounds a really fantastic way to end a holiday on a Caribbean island[:D][:D]

Having not done this route before, I do not know if 2 hours is the norm for the stop over - if it is then there should be something in pace to keep passengers informed and as you rightly say, some form of light refreshment.

If it was a one-off scenario, then keeping everyone informed and managers making sensible decisions regarding looking after passengers during an extended stay would have worked wonders and left everyone praising VS

Thanks once again

buns

From memory I believe they schedual 1.5 hours on the ground at barbados. Obviously this will sometimes be more, sometimes less, depending on pax issues in barbados.

My point is only that combined with UC / PE boarding usually about half an hour before take off, then 20 (ish) minute flight, you are looking at a significant time sat in your seat bored and hungry (ok, the hungry bit might just have been me... but it was dinner time!)

Our scuba diving instructor out there was a brit and flies back regularly on VS, and he says that the barbados stop over is becoming a lot more common. So it really is something VS are going to have to think about, because an infrequent flier that has booked with VH might reconsider doing so next time!

I've done the Barbados stop over once before but I can't remember it being that long but that was a while ago so maybe it has changed

Thanks for the TR, shame about the long stop in BGI.

Dominic

After having done the bus transfer so many times in St Lucia, I can see why people take advantage of the helicopter transfer.

Thank you for the TR. Shame about the delay.

quote:Originally posted by Tinkerbelle
After having done the bus transfer so many times in St Lucia, I can see why people take advantage of the helicopter transfer.


Seconded ! it's absolute torture[n] We had no choice on our trip to St Lucia however as the Helicopter transfers service only operate during daylight hours (or so we were told!)

NOC