VS012 BOS-LHR 18 SEPT (Economy)
Posted: 06 Oct 2010, 03:13We were SO deadset about enjoying this trip. Originally booked 4 days later in PE to attend a wedding, one of us "won" a RT Y ticket as a member of the ROW Virgin Flyers' Swingers' golf team. We would have been happy to have changed our tickets and foregone the "free" tik, but discovered very unhappily that booking with the much publicized and hard sell Virgin US AmEx card for our PE tix booked months and months ago meant the restrictions were about the same as booking with say, Low Fares.com.
The curious thing was that no one in the Plastic Fantastic agency could keep themselves from saying we had booked with Virgin (which is what we'd thought), despite the sad reality that we had booked apparently with a Canadian Agency (sorry you can't speak with them) named K Walsh who were restriction city. When we talked to Virgin FC they said we had to deal with our travel agents. 'Aren't you our travel agent?' No.
So there we were, PE tix on hold and me booked a last minute Y and only seats way down back in middle--until 24 online check in when up popped two delightful pieces of information. 1: We were on a an oh joy 747. 2: The bubble was totally open. Nimbly hopping into window and mid seats in a three row over the wing we did the usual Logan routine sans CH and swung up the stairs on boarding.
I know there is a lot of controversy over the quality of Y seats in the bubble but totally don't know why. I mean do the math--it is a small area. We got excellent service, nice meals, wine top ups and NO BABIES. Our third time with the very able Oz pilot we were airborne reasonably on time for a 5 plus hour flight. I ate, drank and fell happily asleep until the lights came on and the Australian voice from the cockpit announced we were landing.
Rubbing my eyes I was amazed, wow what a fast trip--but why is it still dark? Answers came quickly. A passenger had 'become ill' and we had landed in St. John's either Newfoundland (that's what it looked like on Skymap) or Nova Scotia (that's what the FSM said). Paramedics were due on board to assess the situation.
I wandered downstairs after a bit to reconnoitre (and V Port was off, off, off). One ninja suited UC passenger was requesting a beer which apparently is not allowable on ground but had he asked for a Bucks Fizz...that was ok, and a FA told me that the elderly dim -sighted woman anxiously checking in beside us at Logan had suffered a profound stroke. She had no family, was on her own and there had been no question of paramedics assessing the situation--she had been off within moments upon landing. It was the paperwork that kept us there another two hours. we watched the sleepy airport blink on to accommodate the mound of paper until finally gaining air and uneventfully arriving LHR two and a half hours late.
I have walked from the back of beyond on VS flights landing at LHR to reach immigration but this flight was new wrinkle. We circled lazily for 30 minutes, landed, taxied very, very near to the terminal, disembarked at the "remote" stand with the terminal door within yards of us, were bussed around THREE terminals to arrive back where we'd begun but within bus lanes, and finally off loaded.
VS staff were excellent, no 'post-Boston' larking around the galley. Our seats were I felt, nearly as good as PE and well worth the substantially reduced cost. I did have to ask the traveller in front of me to louver up so I could eat but the staff actually ASKED people to do so at breakfast--a great advancement.
No one made me close my window.
End response? Having become enormously spoiled with turning left the past number of years except for the odd Y emergency trips or PE short weekends, Y was pleasantly okay up in the bubble. I would not hesitate to select it ahead of PE on a 747 in future and I simply cannot believe I have just said that.
