V-Flyer

This was the final flight of our trip to Vegas. In my previous TR you may have read about the nightmare journey from LAS with AA.

Finally arrived in JFK terminal 8 and picked our bags up from the baggage claim. Took the lift down to the Airtrain and along the moving walkway for the transfer to terminal 4. I must say the Airtrain is excellent and very impressed by the service, a lady was on hand to offer any help and advise and asked each and every passenger if they needed assistance - I'd say this would be very useful if you were using the AT to get into the city, as we were just using the loop to another terminal no assistance was needed.

Arrived at T4 and located the check-in desks. An EL-Al flight to Tel Aviv had an open checkin for their flight and it was like going back in time!!

VS checkin was empty - 5 or 6 waiting for Y, no one at W or J - Invited forward straight away. Miserable check in agent, no smile, almost no words either - it doesn't take much to say hello does it! (rating made up later by GC at gate, see below).

I had already checked in online the night before and secure 21 A and C, was going to ask for row 18 but just decided to stay put - dumped bags at the number 2 scanner. Got a glimpse of the JFK CH from across the way to the check in area - it looks very open and you can see the CH area from outside. Headed downstairs for security.

Security was busy but moving fast - the lady who checked my passport was the first person who noticed the date and said "happy birthday luke" - a nice touch and very unexpected from a TSA agent.

Once through security it was around 5:30, boarding was due to start around 6:40pm so some time to have a wonder round the shops, grab a drink and decided to relax by the gate. I also got to see the boarding for the VS3 - Very funny watching a guy miss his flight - they did around 5 final call messages and 3 personal messages to him - he was simply strolling along, in no hurry at all - he could definitely run but just thought the flight would wait. It didn’t. The staff told him to run and shouted to him but he refused with arrogance, they shut the door and told him he missed the flight. Why should they hold up all passengers because of 1 person - who was in no hurry and actually tried to stop and buy something from the shop!! Anyway, he was less than pleased.

At 6:35 an announcement was made that there would be a delay for boarding due to the late arrival of the VS45 - boarding would start in 10 minutes. Less than a minute later, another announcement by the same lady advising that the plane for today would be XX (I forgot the name!!) - she said a number of funny things to keep everyone entertained and less than another minute later invited forward UC, AU and PE passengers to board. The ground crew were really pleasant and very efficient at getting everyone on board - around 8 staff on hand to get people on!

On the flight turned right  - it is so much harder turning right once you know what there is when you turn left! Found seats and a bottle of cold water waiting as normal, sparking wine and OJ offered and settled into the seat. Having spent a lot of time on the AA flight, the PE seat felt amazing! Only 1 CC operating within PE at the start of the flight, very lovely and a true representation of the perfect CC - smiles, enthusiastic and humour! FSM spent a short while in the cabin speaking with another CC from Y then returned to J.

A very pleasant captain on this flight - best I have ever experienced. He welcomed everyone to the flight, gave details of our trip - a speedy 5 hrs 54 minutes announced, advised everyone to sit back and relax and enjoy the service from the crew. The captain also confirmed we were awaiting confirmation of our taxi slot and it was granted during his announcement, he did advised of likely JFK delays waiting to take off but would update us later.

Fortunately we weren’t at the furthest runway, the captain made us aware that we weren’t going to have to deal with a really long taxi miles away, however, there were a number of flights in front of us - you could see the huge queue out the window a nice Lufthansa A380 and a BA 747 in front. This was the first time I’d see the A380 that close - magnificent thing and HUGE.

After about 40 minutes taxing, we finally took off at around 8:15.

It was bumpy very early on due to the storms systems within the vicinity of JFK, the captain made us aware that due to the quick flight time we should expect some turbulence. Wasn’t aware it would be quite as bad as it was.

Still only 1 CC operating in PE, no drinks service prior to dinner. Menu’s handed out and I’d decided on the chilli chicken and my partner on the beef bourgignon. A 2nd CC joined PE to assist with the trolley - 2 trolleys used down the aisles. The new CC member dealing with our aisle served 18 A and C, then we experienced some bad turbulence and she managed to knock the wine glasses and it shattered everywhere - all over the lady in 18 D!! It took some time to get all the glass off of her lap and the floor, the meal service continued.

I managed to get a few bites of the food because the turbulence got really bad - it was impossible not to spill food, my rice was falling off the fork and my drink was almost spilling - I had started to feel quite unwell and a number of people in the cabin were not able to eat their food - what we did taste was good - I really liked the dessert.

The crew were keen to clean tables away, which I was happy with as I really wanted to try and asleep - I’m not always good when the turbulence is really bad. The crew were superb in clearning everything away quickly - offered tea and coffee, then offered baileys - I opted for a small glass of baileys to help me sleep!! LOL.

About 20 minutes after dinner service was cleared, the turbulence got really bad - after a few big bumps and drops, plus a few gasps from the cabin - the captain asked the crew to take their seats - this made me very nervous!! To be honest it didn’t last too long, after 15 minutes the crew were released, but the seatbelt signs remains on for ages - the crew were permitting people to use the toilets but carefully.

A few hours sleep when the cabin lights were dimmed, then breakfast! I was excited to try the new full English! Actually found it to be very nice, 1 sausage, a few mushrooms, bacon, tomatoes (no gravy slinky!), egg and a hash brown type thing! LOL Very nice actually with a nice cup of tea.

No delay getting into LHR and on the ground by 7:15am.

Very impressed, the best service I’ve had in PE. However, having experienced UC I now compare everything to this - must save the pennies!

Luke

Many thanks for the TR.

I was astounded by the sheer arrogance of the pax from the VS3. Presumably they had also offloaded his bag so he must have been mega-late

Still only 1 CC operating in PE, no drinks service prior to dinner.

There is no drinks service prior to dinner on any flight departing after 7pm.

I've only been on a couple of flights where the turbulence has been so bad that the crew have had to sit down and it's not nice. It's even worse when you are trying to eat. I wonder if passengers found broken glass in that area on the plane's next rotation?

Well, it wouldn't surprise me Luke that the VS catering mavens would add gravy to your breakfast. But I was very pleased to hear that .

Boo to turbulence and it did sound like they were one crew down, but sounds like a good flight .

I suppose after your experience that morning just gettong on the plane would be a relief !

10/10 for NOT spilling your drink! You are now a true V-flyer !

tontybear wrote:I suppose after your experience that morning just gettong on the plane would be a relief !

10/10 for NOT spilling your drink! You are now a true V-flyer !

Very true! The CC were great at filling the glasses half way and returning to refill - really impressed by that!

Just to let you know that there are always two crew working in PE - during boarding one offers drinks whilst the other stands at the boarding door. And HL is correct, there is no separate drinks service on departures after 7pm.

I'll agree though that the turbulence recently leaving the East Coast has been pretty bad but at least you had a nice quick flight time.

Ooh and your aircraft was G-VATL Miss Kitty.

Luke

Thanks for the TR....

honey lamb wrote:I was astounded by the sheer arrogance of the pax from the VS3. Presumably they had also offloaded his bag so he must have been mega-late

Is that a completely lost fare even if travelling on a fully flexible ticket?

Tinkerbelle wrote:
Ooh and your aircraft was G-VATL Miss Kitty.

Thanks you Tinks, that's the one! She had the 100th flight sticker by her name on the outside of the aircraft!

Luke

Thank you for the great TR, good to hear it was a far better experience than your AA flights.

As for the pax who missed his flight, ha,ha!

DarkAuror wrote:As for the pax who missed his flight, ha,ha!

There was a class A jerk ahead of me going through security in the UC Wing just now, you know the type, gets to the scanner while still on his mobile, has three ('3') big carry ons, refuses to get his liquids out, shouting "they're packed in the bottom, I'll have to repack everything", and generally a tw*t. I said to the security person that they should strip search him - hope he missed his flight too .

slinky09 wrote:

DarkAuror wrote:As for the pax who missed his flight, ha,ha!

There was a class A jerk ahead of me going through security in the UC Wing just now, you know the type, gets to the scanner while still on his mobile, has three ('3') big carry ons, refuses to get his liquids out, shouting "they're packed in the bottom, I'll have to repack everything", and generally a tw*t. I said to the security person that they should strip search him - hope he missed his flight too .

Evil, pure evil...but I like!

Nice TR Luke, thanks for sharing.

That guy who missed VS3 sounds like a toal pratt, what the hell makes people behave liek that. I probably shouldn't say it, but I'm glad he missed the flight, that must have been priceless to witness!

Sounds like you had a good flight though, aside from the turbulance, that's just the way the cooky crumbles I guess.

Now, the reason there was no gravy on those tomatoses, was clearly becasue they were not cherry tomatoes - the gravy simpoy doesn't go with anything other than cherry tomatoes - don't you know anything????:d :d :d

slinky09 wrote:

DarkAuror wrote:As for the pax who missed his flight, ha,ha!

There was a class A jerk ahead of me going through security in the UC Wing just now, you know the type, gets to the scanner while still on his mobile, has three ('3') big carry ons, refuses to get his liquids out, shouting "they're packed in the bottom, I'll have to repack everything", and generally a tw*t. I said to the security person that they should strip search him - hope he missed his flight too .

love it!