V-Flyer

Had done OLCI from the hotel to save some time, and arrived at the airport 2 1/2 hrs before the flight, no queues at check in so straight to the UC desk, to be met by Mr boring, sat with his head down as I put the passports on the desk and said good morning which eldude no verbal response from him. Still head down he began typing away, I asked if there were two seats together in PE as we had been given sests one behind each other (we booked only a few days before the flight so most seats were already preallocated) No response, so I asked again , he looked up and said “no” head back down and carried on typing, what a difference to the agent at LHR on the OB leg.

He handed us our boarding cards and got up to leave his seat with no words, as he did I asked for the UC lounge invitation, last year we had gone to enter using our AU cards but had been told we needed the official invite as well. He looked at us and begrudgingly sat back down and wrote out the invite. Put it on the desk and again got uop and walked off,all without saying a word.
If anyone from VS reads this you need to have serious words with your handling agents at DXB ! I wouldn’t have expected this at any counter least of all the UC one where premier staff are supposed to work.

Anyway the long trek through security and off to the lounge. We had breakfast which was very nice a mixture of continental and cooked.

Flight was called and we walked the few feet to the gate, secondary security which took forever and off to the gate, priority boarding had been announced and a sign was present indicationg two lines, but there were no staff enforcing it, and so it was a scrum at the air bridge so we had to work our way through the crowd with several “excuse me’s”

Boarded and welcomed on board and shown our seats which were aisle seats one behind the other in the middle 3. Not too much of a problem as Mrs Chumba could at least reach forward and slap me on the head every time she wanted to interrupt me watching a film etc.

Boarding seemed to take forever and as the OB leg we left almost an hour late, this was due to us losing our slot and then being 16th in the queue the pilot told us in a jovial voice. Although the CC kept us supplied with drinks whilst we waited

As soon as we were airborne drinks service was done, and the meal followed soon after, I don’t usually eat on board so again didn’t bother although again I did have the pudding J. One thing that did strike me was that the crew seemed very much on top of their game in the PE cabin, eveythign done quickly, second round of drinks straight after the first, meals served quickly and efficiently with a top up of the wine glasses during the meal, trays cleared away almost as soon as you finished and tea and coffee as they cleared awy. The crew seemed very much on the ball.

Settled down to watch the films I’d missed on the OB leg due to sleepimg, and realsied the flight wouldn’t be long enough to watch them all so had to choose. Can deifinantly recommend Salt with Angelina Jolie.

CC came round quite regulary with drinks and to check all was ok to the point where if you needed anything you knew one of them would be round within a few seconds, almost as if they knew. So a plus point there. Although never saw the FSM at all throught the flight although he did make a couple of announcements.

As we approached London we eneded up in a hold for about 30 mins but eventually could see the Houses of Parliament and Buck House as we came in from the east, also got a glimpse of the olympic building site.

After landing there was some issue stopping us exiting the plane which took about 10mins to sort out, but soon we were off and into the immigration hall. As most of you will know this is being modernised and so space was limited, and as usual there were more UKBA staff than passengers at the non EU desks, and at the EU desks there were 4 UKBA staff there processing several hundred PAX. So it took us about 30 mins to get through (IRIS registration next time we fly me thinks).

Anyway by the time we got through I thought at least our bags would be there, WRONG! Priority baggage hadn’t worked, Y bags were going round and after 10 more minutes ours appeared.

No arrivals lounge as obviously it was shut so off to the car and home.


On another note a few days after getting back I noticed that both myself and Mrs Chumbas FC accounts had been visited my the M+M fairy who had left us a little present !

Great TR, thanks!! That ground staff guy sounded awful!!!! You are right something needs to be done with him!

Luke

Nice TR thanks for that. Does seem off not even checking for seats for you.

Thank you for your trip report. We will be checking in at DXB Upper Class desk next Sunday although we are only travelling in economy. I will report back if the service has improved or not. Thanks for the reminder about picking up a lounge invite before we set off for the lounge. We are also hoping to meet up with Sunshine who is on the same flight.

Thanks for the TR Chumba

I struggle to work out how exactly people seemingly lacking any interpersonal skills end up in customer facing roles. I know that we all have bad days but there is simply no excuse for rudeness.

chumba wrote:Not too much of a problem as Mrs Chumba could at least reach forward and slap me on the head every time she wanted to interrupt me watching a film etc.

I have the name of a VERY good solicitor, if required!!

I have the name of a VERY good solicitor, if required!!

Thanks but i don't think she will let me