V-Flyer

After 2 weeks Chilling on the beach and by the pool it was time to head home, having not done 'Check in, Chill out' at the Hotel, as from past experiance it was more 'agro' than 'Chill' we arrived at the Airport at 14:15 to find a massive queue for Check in of which we joined.

On first apperiance it looked like we would be in the queue for quite some time however after 10 minutes we were served, although this process did seem to take quite a while. We then walked off to pay the departure taxes and go through security, The line for security is down a small corridor however at this time i wasn't very busy in there, I can only imagine what it's like at peak time!

After about 15 minute having all the passport checks done and going through security we were into the departure lounge, which for people who have never been through ANU before was about the same size as one of the gate areas at LGW, although we then found some seating upstairs which had big windows and views of the Airfield.

After looking around the few shops we went and sat back down, with a boarding time of 15:35 given we sat and waited for this, during this time we had been at the airport for about 50 minutes and in this period of time seen a Continental flight board, have the steps taken away, then half and hour later see the steps being put back on, I wondered if the ground staff had been busy with this problem and that being the reason why at 16:00 we hadn't began boarding yet.

Having taken another walk around the shops at about 16:15 I noticed people asking the ground staff why we hadn't begun boarding yet to which they didn't know the answer and said we would be on our way shortly, returning back to our seats upstairs, it neared 16:30 the time the flight was due to depart when it was announced over the speakers that we would have a further hours delay, to be fair I could see it wasn't their fault but a little bit more information would have been nice.

Sitting back down again we now realised that the Continental flight was being off loaded and presumably the passengers being over nighted so it then became apparent that this was likely for the reason of being delayed.

Between 16:30 and 17:30 no further information was given an I noticed that people were continuing to ask the ground staff when we were going to which they still didn't have a reply.

17:30 soon came around when it was then announced that we would have a further 30 minute delay, fair enough if there's a problem nothing can be done as it's not their fault so we continued to sit tight, at around 18:15 it was apparent that something was wrong with rumours going around that there was a problem with the wheel and that if we were here for much longer we would be held overnight and taken to a hotel, the children and their freinds warmed to this idea of having an extra nights holiday however we told them it wouldn't be so simple.

At just after 18:00 we were told that the problem had been fixed and that we would be on our way shortly much to everybodys relief but however there would be 'No hot catering on tonights flight as it had gone to waste during the delay and that cold food was being brought in'. At this point the called Upper Class and Premium Economy passengers to board however no-one paid any attention what so ever to this and everybody seemed to swarm the gate, which by the way is in the strangist location where you have to go through a gift shop!

During this period of time we were told that if the aircraft didn't leave soon the Crew would be out of hours and the flight would be cancelled, once onboard at around 19:10 they oppologized for the delay and the no hot catering being avaliable onboard tongihts flight and that we would be on our way shortly in around 10-20 minutes. 19:30 came and went an we waited, and waited, and waited...Myself and a number of other people were waiting for them to turn around and say we would have to be offloaded however at around 20:00 we set off and were airborn at 20:03, the captain then announced that the problem was due to a problem with the brakes, to be honest i'm pretty glad that they fixed this!

As soon as the food onboard came around it was apparent that infact no cold food had been brought on and that the food on offer had just been salvaged from what was previously on offer. Although it must have been a struggle for Virgin to get this flight under way I do think that telling a 'white lie' about the catering wasn't a great move as we were told tey were putting more food on and they clearly didn't.

The rest of the flight went smoothly, watched a few TV show and got a couple of hours of sleep. I found the Oddessey entertainment supprisingly good onboard G-VAST 'Ladybird' however the movie selection wasn't great!

'Breakfast' was served about and hour and a half before landing which consisted of a cup of tea and a muffin which fell appart! We left ANU 3 hours 33 minutes late and were told the flight time would be 7 hours 30 minutes instead of 8 hours, getting us in 30 minutes 'early'

We eventually landed at 08:26am, just 2 hours 56 miutes late where Virgin Atlantic oppoligized for the delay however nothing was said about the food or for anyone with onward connecting flights.

Immigration was slow, which always makes me laugh at Gatwick how they have about 9 immigration officers on duty when a 747 full of people and a number of other flights has come in!

Bags were out within about 35 minutes of landing, a record for Gatwick?

All in all it was an OK flight, would have been much better if we had have been given any information at ANU about our delay, but we had a great holiday in Antigua!

Thank you for the great TR.

Sorry to hear about the delay. I don't think I would be too happy to told that cold food was being loaded and to find out it was recycled food that was originally loaded.