V-Flyer

So our early summer break was at an end and after a lazy morning at the Portofino we packed up the car and headed to the Turnpike for the drive back to Miami.

Anyone that has done this route will know that it's a fairly boring drive as there isn't much change in landscape and you have to be relatively careful of not speeding because of the sneaky FHP waiting on the other side of bridges, we saw 1 on the way up and 2 on the way down, that's more than I'll see in a month on the M4 these days.

Anyway we arrived in Miami at about 3.45 and with the help of Neverlost we arrived back at the Hertz depot just before 4.00. Car checked in we jumped on the bus and 15 minutes later we were at the terminal. Check in was empty so we checked in to find our original seats had been reallocated. No explanation was available so we accepted our new seats, dropped off our bags, collected the lounge passes and made our way through security.

Arriving at the lounge there were a few people in front of us and the only person free was a lady in a BA uniform and after asking us who we were flying with said she said that she would deal with us if we promised to consider flying with then in the future. We laughed and agreed after which she directed us into the lounge.

Well this is not a CH but for somewhere to sit quietly and have a sandwich and a drink it was OK, just. I decided to write the TR for our outbound flight on my new iPad which filled the time while Mrs M went to look around the few shops in the terminal. The BA flight was called after about 30 minutes and shortly after that the lounge was quite empty for a while until some more fellow VS passengers arrived and it filled up a little more.

Around 6.30 we were called to the gate and so we packed up our things and made our way down to the gate. As we got on board we were offered the customary drink and we changed into our sleep suits and made ourselves comfortable.

We pushed back pretty much on time and after a short taxi we were in the air and on our way home. Now for some reason, probably age, I can't for the life of me remember what I had to eat but I watched Up in the Air which was fairly good if a little predictable.

On one trip to the loo I decided to check who had our original seats and it turned out to be a group of ladies who I think were staff judging by the conversation they were having with 2 of the crew. How does that work, if they were staff, where they get to nick the seats paying passengers have selected and no explanation offered?

After this I decided to try and get some rest so I made up my bed, plugged in my iPod and snuggled down for the rest of the flight. Eventually I came around listening to the morning announcement that we were about 30 minutes from landing. So I had to quickly get up and get changed after which I was told it was too late to get anything to eat so had a quick glass of orange juice which was something at least.

At this point it's worth mentioning that I've marked the crew down as average on the basis that throughout the flight service was a little slow and the fact my breakfast never arrived in the morning.

After an extended period of flying around Berkshire we turned towards LHR and made our way to a fairly smooth landing in a very grey Heathrow. Another short taxi to T3 and we were off the plane and on our way to immigration which was a breeze and on collect our bags which wasn't. 15 minutes until the carousel started and another 10 until our bags decided to put in an appearance.

After the lack of breakfast on the plane we decided to stop off in arrivals and have something to eat there before the short hike down the M4 home and that was that, another fun packed trip over until the next one the next one in September which I'm really looking forward to, a road trip to Italy. Can't wait.

Miopyk

Breakfast never arrived? Crew potentially taking your seats. Doesn't sound like the best of flights MIpoyk. Letter to Crawley asking for answers must be on it way by now?

I would agree, nothing against staff travel you understand, but this should never be to the detriment of fare paying pax

Thanks for the TR

buns

Thank you for the TR. Shame to hear about the lack of breakfast and your original seats being reallocated to staff.

Had you done OLCI? If not then the reallocation of your seats may not have had anything to do with staff travel. The VS website states you must do OLCI within 13 hours of the flight for this request to be honoured.

Thank you for your TR. You have been left with the impression that your seat had been re-allocated to staff, enhanced by the lack of explanation. I would write to VS and point out your concerns, but as HL says there may be other reasons for the re-allocation.

honey lamb wrote:Had you done OLCI? If not then the reallocation of your seats may not have had anything to do with staff travel. The VS website states you must do OLCI within 13 hours of the flight for this request to be honoured.

Sorry, forgot to put that in the TR, we checked in online the night before on my new iPad , which is why we thought it was strange they has changed when we got to MIA.

I remember that there were several seats showing as available when we checked in but they were all over the place so I'm guessing that this group of ladies wanted to sit together and we were moved to allow that to happen.

To be honest it's not a big deal I was more annoyed about breakfast but an email will be sent to CS shortly probably followed by a 5K mile gesture in 30 days or so. This seems to be VSs SOP in our experience.

Miopyk

Not the best flight by any stretch of the imagination too bad, No breakfast in the morning is really annoying as you know full well that the cc just forgot you and no other reason than that!
Atleast you had time to stop into revivals.

cheers

alex