V-Flyer

I have seen hell ----and lived.

apologies for a long spiel but this will be more of a TR than a flight report.

due to a lack of reward seats direct to MCO i decided to return via JFK. however my plan of hopping straight down was disrupted by only son who decided to come with me and begged for a couple of days in NY as he had never seen the Big Apple. also as he only wanted to pay for EC and i wasnt evil enough to leave him solo I also booked an EC albeit stumping up for exit row for us. and thank god i did. after being used to the space of PE it came as a bit of a shock to wedge into (and i am no lardy )a very small feeling seat, although of course the leg room was good. no way 7-8 hours in a regular EC seat for me.
backing up, check in was pretty good -no huge wait and a very pleasant ground staffer. we used the Servisair lounge which to be honest isnt worth it. the food (read crisps,nuts croissants) offering was poor and it had nothing to make it spectacular.
we wandered down to the gate and boarding was soon announced. As PE was called I had this urge to run forward screaming 'take me please its all a mistake'. However manfully I waited and entered the purgatory known as cattle.

to be fair the CC were very good working their socks off on a full flight, the seat however was just plain uncomfotable. Food ok (cottage pie meal, and a cookie for 'tea') BUT the wine was sparce , sparkling water denied and HORROR no Baileys.
By now I was virtually ready to kiss the FSMs feet and offer a kidney to go back home upstairs.

the good thing was flight time was 7.05 which passed fairly quickly until about 90 mins out. it started to bump, seatbelt sign. It bumped a bit more, tea service suspended. it bumped harder, CC seated. It bumped more, CC buckled lap belt. It REALLY bumped, CC went pale and put on shoulder straps. Lucky turbulence doesnt bother me but it was rather unpleasant.

eventually we landed at JFK around 20 minutes late. we deplaned at 5.20 and then came the nightmare. As mentioned in Tigger and enyces previous 2 days TRs on 45 the qs are horrendous. we seemed to arrive along with half of Egypt,Kuwait and Mexico. we stood, and stood and stood.then around 7 to our amazement most of the IOs decided to go home


.we eventually got to one of the FOUR remaining desks and finally exited JFK at 7.55 !!!!

air train to Jamaica (the station not the country) and then LIRR into Penn Station followed by a classic NY cab ride and just before 9 we arrived at the Milford Plaza on 8th at Times Square.Bags dumped and it was out onto Broadway for food (and alcohol ). then to bed absolutely shot.

the next day we were up and running for a hearty brekkie in a nice little diner opposite the Empire State and by 9 we were up 86 floors freezing our nuts off. the wind chill was rather er chilly .
we ended up walking from 52nd Street all the way down to the southern tip,round battery park and back up to South Street Seaport having lunch in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge. on the way we did, Grand Central, St patricks, the Chrysler Building, Chinatown, Ground Zero, Statue of Liberty, Union Square and a load more things that have slipped my aching mind (and feet).
we really 'did' Ny and again the evening was spent feeding ourselves on Times Square.

Sunday and it was up for the reverse trip back to JFK and a Jet Blue down to Fort Myers. arrived 'home' in Florida mid afternoon to a beer and barbie of steaks and a chance to rest and reflect.

Never again will I fly into JFK (unless its late at night) and it will be a cold day in hell before I stray from my beloved PE.

anyway now i have 8 weeks before its back to blighty and the forecast for milads stay is high 80s and sunny every day

Thanks for the TR - much like you, I won't consider another flight into JFK unless I know immigration will be quiet, it's shocking that they closed some of the desks when the queue was huge!

Well done for making it in Y - although atleast you have PE to look forward to now for all future flights.

Can't wait for my NY trip in 7 weeks!!

Luke

Well I've not heard or witnessed such long waits even after the VS45 - poor you. The 45 is now definitely off my list (the VS3 was always known as the best in terms of shortest immigration waits).

Brave you for sticking to Y. How was the Jet Blue flight?

Thank you for the TR, hope you enjoy the sun.

The jet Blue flight was excellent TR to follow

slinky09 wrote:Well I've not heard or witnessed such long waits even after the VS45 - poor you. The 45 is now definitely off my list (the VS3 was always known as the best in terms of shortest immigration waits).

thanks for that slinky. i am flying on the 3 in January and was starting to wonder how long immigration would take

Thanks for the TR.

I'm on the VS45 next month, chose that one because one wanted to be on a 747 and on the upper deck. I've read a number of reports about the long queues at JFK immigration. Not looking forward to the long wait, but hey ho, not much one can do about it.

totallylost wrote:Thanks for the TR.

I'm on the VS45 next month, chose that one because one wanted to be on a 747 and on the upper deck. I've read a number of reports about the long queues at JFK immigration. Not looking forward to the long wait, but hey ho, not much one can do about it.

You could try saying you have a connecting flight and the VS ground crew might give you a speedy pass through immigration! Not sure if it will work without an actual booking but they weren't checking on my flight ( the actual CC gave me ours!)

If not, atleast you get to relax in UC on the way!

Luke