VS039 LHR-ORD 1 JUL 11 (Economy)
Posted: 02 Jul 2011, 00:06This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Virgin Atlantic Airways
VS039 Service
London Heathrow (LHR) to Chicago O'Hare (ORD)
Estimated Take-off: 11:00am (local time)
Actual Take-off: 11:37am (local time)
I originally thought I was going to have another bad flight after encountering ground services. NAME REMOVED decided that my luggage in transit from Amman should not be allowed unless I paid for the extra two pieces, since "BD should have given you proper warning that we will NOT accept these pieces due to our baggage rules." NAME REMOVED then decided that she will not give us our boarding passes until we've paid her 80 quid. Quite frankly, who the hell is she to tell me that I can't fly cause of excess baggage?! I decided to take this up with bmi. We went off to bmi back in T1 and I got a "What do you want me to do?" I spoke with the 'master', who then told me that their code share with VS has no baggage rules and that the amount of baggage VS wants to charge us for is "their prerogative." I then trotted my self down to VS and paid 80 quid for "excess baggage."
Boarding wasn't too organized, but since the gate was pretty empty, Virgin boarded everyone at once, with UC clearly first or at their leisure. ***** announced that all Economy passengers may now commence boarding, so me and my mom headed off to door 'B' and moved through the Air-Gate and boarded. Our seats were 34A/C and we got situated nice and fast. It seemed like everyone was in their seats, but the captain made an announcement that a passenger chose not to board and his luggage was being removed, for that we would encounter a slight delay, along with a few passengers that had not completed proper VISA formalities, so they were also cause for delay. Once everyone was situated, without warning the plane began push-back and we were taxing at a pretty fast pace. we then lined up alongside a few BA A320s and took off after them with three BA 744s behind us. I sort of felt so small with our little A346 around all those heavies. No worries, take off was smooth and gears were up.
As soon as we were airborne Cabin Crew began to hand out Penn State Sour Cream and Chive Pretzels along with juices, no wines for this round. I ate the pretzels and drank my classic tomato juice with one ice cube. about ten minutes later, ******** collected "rubbish" she was quite gorgeous and seemed to be Thai who has been living in the UK for quite some time, as she has a REALLY heavy English accent. Soon after, the crew made an announcement that V:Port was having some trouble starting up, but should be on within the next hour. Within 10 minutes my screen was up and running. V:Port on this craft was FAR better than on Lady Luck (G-VWIN)! I actually enjoyed V:Port this time! Meal service came around, and there were three options, Chicken Cassarole, Meat, or (Vegetarian) Macaroni and Cheese. I chose the Macaroni and Cheese and finished it all, it was VERY good! One thing VS tops all other airlines with is their wide variety of foods in Economy. The meal also came with a desert from Gü which I didn't quite like, but I ate. Also, a mini loaf of bread, water, and a salad that I didn't like. It took the crew a pretty long time to clear the meal trays, at least 40 minutes between service and collection, followed by tea and coffee.
Duty Free rounds then began and I chose to buy the Maddam Butterfly (G-VSHY) A346 model. ********* was doing the rounds, and was very efficient. after this, there was a drinks round, which I got tomato juice. I then tuned into Diary of a Wimpy Kid which was really quite good. during this they came around with water and juice, I took water. I visted the lavatory and took a nice nap for a few hours and then woke up. My V:Port decided to shut off, so they had to reset it, and I then watched Hall Pass which was a 'meh.' movie. ********* came around to us with breakfast, (Egg and Mayo sandwhich or Tuna and Mayo Sanwhich) I decided to pass, but took the cookie, which was rather good, she came back and gave me another saying, "I had extras." Which I thought was really quite kind. After this, another crew member came around and took all of the garbage, and then the announcement was made that landing was only 40 minutes away. I decided to put all of our pillows and blankets in the overhead locker to help make things easier for *********. Low and behold, she passed us after checks and gave us a nice and genuine smile. Captain made the announcement of seat belt signs and so on. Before we knew it, we were landing, and docking at the gate.
Estimated Landing Time: 1:55pm (local time)
Actual Landing Time: 1:19pm (local time)
Total Flight Time: 7:42
A VERY good Virgin Atlantic experience!
Cannot wait for my next flight!
