V-Flyer

a fairly routine trip back to blighty. OLCI the night before confirmed seat choice of 80F and Seq 1 again

a reasonable drive to the airport saw me arrive to a small q. check in was ok pleasant but not spectacular. on enquiry UC was full so no chance of buying and upgrade and also row 75 was 'taken ' (later turned out 3 out of 4 were so perhaps a little fib).
baording was straight forward ,nice and early though some people still think UC and Gold mean 'pile on even if you are y'

on board and into the bubble, the seat next door remained empty , bubbly a bit slow but did arrive. Captain announced as 'all 133' pax were on board early we would be away well on schedule. turned out 14 were in UC 27 in PE (they shut the downstairs section) so 92 lucky EC pax had a lot of spare seats.

service started promptly (i had already spoken to the CC and asked if i could be saved a beef as i am not a chilli person, she was impressed i knew the menu in advance and was assured no proble. lo and behold a beef was hand delivered 'off trolley' whislt service was still going on -nice touch. glass of red and 3 top ups later I was ahappy camper.

settled down to watch Unstoppable with denzel washington, my report on the flight then stops as i slept on and off for the next 4 hours. this is very unusual for me and to wake up near the end of the flight was great. the new breakfast arrived and having been a vociferous critic of the old crap muffin I have to say this was a huge improvement. landed at LGW 5 mins ahead of schedule, 5th off and first at an empty immi hall. my bag was in the first few to arrive so i was out and in my sons car in less than an hour form touchdown.

all in all a good flight -nothing to complai about this time .

Now for NY on Friday

Another great TR, thanks Flabound. Looking forward to my first bubble experience next Jan.

A very quiet flight, as others have said before - clearly the recession is not affecting all with UC full and PE busy.

Luke

flabound wrote: lo and behold a beef was hand delivered 'off trolley' whislt service was still going on -nice touch.

Was it like this perchance?

Great TR and a good chilli free flight!

Glad to see the new breakfast is being appreciated in TRs.

Thank you for the TR.

Great TR

Pleased that you were able to get some shut eye.

R-P

Sounds as if you had a good flight.

We're due to fly out to MCO from LGW on 16th May and are booked into the downstairs section of PE - would LOVE to get up into the bubble! I think we're currently booked into the worst PE seats on the aircraft, and not just the outbound journey but inbound as well! We've got the bulkhead behind us and apparently the seats don't recline fully - having checked this with Virgin they agree! Has anyone else sat in these seats? If so, are they really that bad? All the reviews I've read are very uncomplimentary about the downstairs PE section. Many thanks. J

DoddsyJ1 wrote:Sounds as if you had a good flight.

We're due to fly out to MCO from LGW on 16th May and are booked into the downstairs section of PE - would LOVE to get up into the bubble! I think we're currently booked into the worst PE seats on the aircraft, and not just the outbound journey but inbound as well! We've got the bulkhead behind us and apparently the seats don't recline fully - having checked this with Virgin they agree! Has anyone else sat in these seats? If so, are they really that bad? All the reviews I've read are very uncomplimentary about the downstairs PE section. Many thanks. J

Remember that only 60% of seats in each cabin is available for pre-requesting and the rest, apart from exit rows and bulkheads become available when OLCI opens. In addition the front half of the upstairs cabin is held for VH customers and seats there can also become free. It is well worth checking on the Manage My Booking page a couple of hours before OLCI opens and also do OLCI the minute it opens to get better seats

DoddsyJ1 wrote:Sounds as if you had a good flight.

We're due to fly out to MCO from LGW on 16th May and are booked into the downstairs section of PE - would LOVE to get up into the bubble! I think we're currently booked into the worst PE seats on the aircraft, and not just the outbound journey but inbound as well! We've got the bulkhead behind us and apparently the seats don't recline fully - having checked this with Virgin they agree! Has anyone else sat in these seats? If so, are they really that bad? All the reviews I've read are very uncomplimentary about the downstairs PE section. Many thanks. J

Will tell you on Wednesday, thats the row I'm booked into on the way back, if I can't get upstairs, or upgraded

David

they are not good.exit row in EC are better !!!

David, Thanks for the reply - looking forward to hearing how it goes. J

flabound wrote:they are not good.exit row in EC are better !!!

Hi Flabound, Thanks for your comment. I am assuming that you've had the pleasure of sitting in these seats, or know others who have? It makes me really annoyed that we've paid £3,000 to sit in sub-standard PE seats, sub-standard that is compared to those upstairs. I'd appreciate knowing what we're letting ourselves in for (unless we get lucky and seats are available in the bubble! - I'm thinking positive at the moment!!!!!!!). J

Flabound, thank you for another good TR.

DoddsyJ1 wrote:It makes me really annoyed that we've paid £3,000 to sit in sub-standard PE seats, sub-standard that is compared to those upstairs. I'd appreciate knowing what we're letting ourselves in for (unless we get lucky and seats are available in the bubble! - I'm thinking positive at the moment!!!!!!!). J

Doddsy

My later post in here explains the VH/VS seat allocation uncoordinated system!

I suggest you start and keep checking seat availability via the Manage Your Flight section of the VS site from at least 72 hours before your flight departure.

We did LAS to LGW in November sitting in PE. I started to check the seat availability about half an hour before OLCI started and it had opened up a lot more seats in the upper deck, so fingers crossed, you will be able to change. I do know someone who has sat in that section downstairs and its not the best. Good luck.

My thanks to everyone who responded regarding the PE seats in the downstairs section of the 747. I will certainly keep checking in the Manage Your Bookings section and OLCI prior to travelling. Have a good weekend all. Best regards. J.