V-Flyer

Well, after 2 gorgeous weeks, mostly at Fort Myers Beach, but final few nights in Orlando, it was time to depart. OLCI completed the day before. We had arranged the complimentary ground transfer and the car turned up bang on time. A lincoln town car, nice and clean with a very courteous driver.During the drive, we heard him make a phone call. At first I thought this was to his control, but when he said "they've got four cases, be with you in 15 minutes" I realised he must be ringing somebody at the airport.
At the airport, we were whisked down to the executive pick up/ drop off, and there we were met by a Virgin agent. This we were not expecting! The guy gave us a warm welcome and then proceeded to check us in there and then. Within five minutes, job done and we waved him and our cases goodbye and joined the lines at security. There was a member of staff there, waving her arms around and saying something, but what I do not know. I don't think anybody else did either, because she kept running after people and re-directing them.
Right in front of us was a guy who seemed to take FOREVER to get his stuff into the trays for scanning, and then of course attempted to repeat the performance at t'other end. He didn't because I suggested he might wish to move along. You see, I've seen "Up in the Air" and though I say so myself there is a dash of George Clooney about me........(sorry, I just get carried away sometimes)
The delta lounge was ok; quite full, and the bar stuff seemed very short (not vertically) and brusque. Since we are not big drinkers (on the instructions of Mrs H) we had a couple of soft drinks and wandered down to gate 81, where our old friend English Rose awaited. We hadn't been there five minutes before UC passengers were invited aboard. How nice to amble along! And then to turn right! At this point - a bit of bad customer service. As we were walking though p/e immediately before UC a member of CC simply barged past us. She certainly saw us coming, but just pushed on through. Rude no matter what seat you are in.
The UC cabin was clean, with a few signs of wear and tear but nothing to worry about. I do think a deeper clean might be in order, because in our seats, 6a and 6k there was quite a collection of crumbs in the various nooks and crannies. Does anybody else get the urge to whip out a duster and tidy things up? I do.
The cabin crew were courteous and efficient, although they did make it plain that because it was a night flight they wanted to get dinner served asap.
Food was ok - I had the pork and Mrs H the chicken. The shiraz wine was nothing special, but a large JD on ice was a good recompense. The cheesecake was very nice (Mrs H). The creme caramel not so; not unpleasant but not very cremey or caramelly. We were not offered cheese and bics. Are these in lieu of a sweet? No matter, I was sated by that point.
Lights off about 2.5 hours into the flight. The bed was fine; I didn't sleep, but there again I didn't spend 5 hours squirming either.
A couple of pax near the bar decided to have a loud chat for an hour of so, with some cabin crew joining in. You can't shut folk up, but you don't have to encourage them either.
Bfast served with about hour and a half to go. Bacon bap not very tasty, and the brown sauce was brown. About it's only claim to fame.

Unfortunately, a little guy (who had been well behaved - with parents who were looking after him well) was sick all over his dad, so the last hour or so of the flight had a somewhat fruity aroma.
The flight came in a half hour early. Yippee!! But of course, Manchester then kept us parked for 45 minutes (apparently they are doing apron repairs, so it's kind of one in - one out. And if a big un don't come out - a big un can't go in.)

We were off first (save for the pe/econ pax between UC and the door).

The border control agent suggested we use the automatic machines in future (which we might have done if another agent who had been standing in front of them hadn't been barking at us to move on).
Bags emerged quite quickly and with the first batch.

So a pleasant flight. Now we went out p/e and liked that a lot. We will not fly econ again. Do we like UC better? Yes, but of course you would get more of the experience on a day flight. Do we think UC is worth paying more for over p/e? Not sure. Perhaps next year we'll go out uc and back p/e. That why we have a full set of data on which to make a decision.

We were lucky to nip out on the 14th before things seized up. We met a few people at MCO who were had been stuck in florida, and for the most part they were complimentary about how things had been handled. Several theme parks gave free admission to folks who were stuck.

BTW, Fort Myers Beach is beautiful! Do go there. The Best Western Beach resort is first rate.

Thanks for the trip report Steve. Pleased to see that you rated the experience.

Steve

Thanks for the TR

Whilst you may say "We will not fly econ again", (something many a V-flyer has come to live to regret ) the on-board service you report did not seem stellar to me.

That said, the Kerbside Side Check in is a new feature for me and that only goes to show what an excellent Ground Crew Team VS have at MCO

Thanks once again

buns

Sounds like you had a good time, it's certainly nice in the Fort Myers area, I much prefer the west coast to the east coast (Miami area).

I really feel for you having to smell the fruity aroma of puke wafting around the cabin i cant think of anything worse. Kerbside checkin sounds top notch.

cheers

alex

Thank you for the great TR.

"We will not fly econ again" is something that Mrs DA and I will live to regret from last VS flight, as our PE and fortuitous UC experiences means that our bank balances are going to get lighter on our next trip.

Yes. I am definitely a PE person from now on, but I do have some reservations on the value of UC.

We upgraded to PE in 1999 as a 'one off'. We have not flown econ. since! So we have endured 11 years of suffering bank balances flying PE with the occassional UC slung in for good measure. I would agree that daytime UC is better than night-time. Sleeping upstairs in PE is usually no problem - particularly if we are in our favourite PE seats upstairs - 79 A&C, but daytime UC is good especially the afternoon tea!