V-Flyer

We had been looking forward to this trip for several months. The direct Manchester service now means we can travel one of our favourite routes without travelling down to Gatwick. Check in was done online and bag drop at the airport was painless. There were no queues and reasonably quick through security.
The daughter of a work colleague is a cabin crew member for VS but was not on this flight...nonetheless she had kindly mentioned it to one of her friends who was. At the gate, my name was called out and as I walked over to the agent, I saw the beloved purple boarding card. My excitement was short lived....there was another passenger with the same name on the same flight and the card was for him! There was a good deal of trading taking place at the gate, with numerous seat changes and several purple cards handed out....but not to me
Boarding was efficient and the flight left just a few minutes later than scheduled. The cabin crew were really excellent, especially given that their usual numbers were slightly down. The FSM explained that the the arrival of the new Airbus at Manchester had left VS short of crew trained on the new aircraft - so some of the crew scheduled for LAS were taken off and moved over to the MCO flight.
We were treated to some champagne and chocolate, together with some UC fare, supplied by my colleagues contact....very welcome and much appreciated.
Otherwise, an uneventful flight. The time passed quite quickly, helped by an IFE that actually worked without problem this time. The aircraft interior looked 'tired' but it did the job perfectly well.
The real bonus was arriving in LAS just 2 mins before the Gatwick flight. This meant we could all get off the aircraft and through immigration pretty quickly. We made it through within 20 mins! No such luck for our friends arriving on the 21st who landed 10 mins after the Gatwick flight. It took them over 2 hours!
All in all, a good experience.

Thanks for the trip report. So close with the purple boarding pass, how dare that other passenger have the same name! Lol

Glad the flight was good.

Thank you for the TR.

Thank you for taking the time to post the TR. Enjoy Las Vegas.

hi , what does the purple boarding pass get you, never heard of it.

ucxh20 wrote:hi , what does the purple boarding pass get you, never heard of it.

It gets you into Upper Class. It's the colour of the edging on the UC boarding pass

Quick Hits 1c wrote: At the gate, my name was called out and as I walked over to the agent, I saw the beloved purple boarding card. My excitement was short lived....there was another passenger with the same name on the same flight and the card was for him!

What are the chances of that they should of offered one each given the circumstances

Thanks for the TR

NH

A good point. I'll remember it for next time!