V-Flyer

The return journey....

It was a lot less eventful getting to the airport than the outbound leg. We got to the airport around 3pm to find the check-in desks open and a surprisingly large number of people in the economy queue, not a problem for us, but it was an indicator of things to come.

We were very quickly seen by the check-in agent who again moved us up a row to 18C and 18F.

We made our way to the Clubhouse to be met by the most polite and lovely lady who made us feel welcomed immediately and made it that bit easier to settle in.

The service generally was a little slower than London, and there couldn't have been more than 15 people in the clubhouse over the 3 hours we were there.

The food in the Washington Clubhouse wasn't as nice as London, again I made the wrong food choice of the samosas and pakoras which were too dry, but my girlfriend has the butternut squash soup which was lovely [:)].

The time as always passed quickly and soon it was time for boarding. Upon boarding we found the plane was packed. Economy was full, PE was full and UC had about 10 empty seats - not what we were expecting from the ExpertFlyer info. It turned out that BA has cancelled an earlier flight and put all their passengers on our flight. It's not really an issue, but the service was noticeably (and understandably) less attentive because the flight was full.

The seat had a couple of faults, nothing worth complaining about, just that it had about 2 inches of slop in the movement when fully upright and the TV part of the fold out arm had no resistance to it flopped around, I was intending to sleep so wasn't bothered but I would have got annoyed had it been an outbound flight.

The soft footrests were a godsend making it a far better seating position and I grabbed 20 mins of sleep (a record for me sitting upright) near the start of the flight.

The rest of the flight was uneventful, yet again I picked the wrong meal, opting for the barbeque chicken [:$]. My girlfriend chose the lamb curry was lovely - Doh! [xx(] Next time, I'm following her lead.

As usual, upon return it took longer to get back into my own country than to get into someone elses. Why can't we get organised and put more staff in those cubicles I don't know. I would have used IRIS but my girlfriend wasn't registered and I'd no doubt get a slap if left her in the queue [B)]

Next flight is Australia in March in Economy, oh am I not looking forward to the numb bum that's gonna give me. [:D]

Oh, Australia in Y, that won't be much fun!

Thanks, for another good TR.
Neil

Thank you for the great return TR. I don't envy you, Y to Australia!

Thank you so much for your informative TRs.

Australia in J is tough enough for me - in W or Y . . . . . well lets just say I do hope you survive to post a TR !