V-Flyer

Checked in the day before and secured seats 6a and k without any problem but couldn't check in my niece and friend for some reason in ecomony.

Following a night at the Crowne Plaza and a very long drive from the Midlands on a Fri on the M1 (M40 closed in part due to an accident), we caught the early bus to the terminal.

Met up with my niece who had stayed at the Premier Inn and tried to check them in the Upper desk where we were doing bag drop. There was a problem with payment of taxes for their upgrade ticket on the return so this had to be paid before check in could be completed. Returning again to the same upper desk, the lady checked them into the bulkhead seats in the mini economy cabin just behind the lower deck PE seats. There was an issue saying these seats couldn't be issued this early on check in as they may need to be used for babies and they liked to retain 3 seats for families rather than allocating just 2 of those seats. This is the first time I had heard this and requested that a phone call be made to check if infants were booked and to have the seats released. Begrudgingly, this was done and the 2 seats allocated. She was not that happy about doing this but I said I'm sure someone would be happy about being allocated an aisle bulkhead seat if they checked in late. This seat was in fact left empty for the whole flight anyway and the middle row of 4 only had 2 people sitting there enabling the couple occupying those seats to stretch out.

We went to the Clubhouse after purchasing a little duty free and promptly had a full English breakfast with Bellini. Hubby and niece had a RedHead to accompany their breakfasts. There was only 1 therapist on duty (the other had called in sick) so treatments were sparse, but 2 of us managed to get a shortened version of the back/shoulder massage which actually caused us to be the last to board the flight.

On boarding, I was surprised to see a full cabin as I had checked before and thought there were only 5 seats taken. The guy next to me had a red boarding pass so I assumed there were a few upgrades. We got chatting later in the flight and disocvered the remainder of the cabin had been filled by staff from American Express travel.

Pre-boarding drinks were offered and happily taken. Following take off, a further drink and nibbles offered and the meal order taken. The staff were lovely throughout the flight and coped well with a very lively cabin due to the Amex people on board. I had spoken to the FSM on boarding and she allowed my niece and her friend to sit with us for a drink on the buddy seats on 6a/k to have a chat which was really nice and an opportunity for them to have a JD and coke as this isn't served in economy.

After lunch, the cabin quietened down and everyone had a little snooze. We missed the little burgers offered throughout the flight but woke for afternoon tea. I tried one of the sandwiches but found them too sloppy with mayo to eat but hubby was happy to partake instead so not a problem.

This was a really good flight, if not a little rowdy at the outset, and the crew were excellent throughout.

Landing wasn't a problem but due to the Econ and PE cabins behind upper, we were actually off later than my niece who whizzed through immigration at record pace.

Bags were off quickly after immigration so no issues there.

Amazingly the crew recognised us while we were in the Wynn buffet the next day and came up to ask how things were going and we also chatted to the FSM in the fashion show mall.

Overall, a really good experience with a very friendly crew.

Thank you for the great TR.