V-Flyer

Departure: Manchester International
Arrival: Orlando International
Date: 29th July 2011
Time: 11:00
Arrival: 14:50
Flight Time: 8 hours around
Seat: 65D
A/C: G-VSXY Beauty Queen


DSC00074 by scott.willis.voyager, on Flickr

It was soon time for my journey to Orlando, we had stayed in the Radisson Blu hotel with a room overlooking the airport giving excellent views.


DSC00061 by scott.willis.voyager, on Flickr

I had previously checked in online to try and get a row of 3 seats row 65 for us. This worked out well and we got the seats. I would choose them again but for everyones reference the seats are an inch narrower than others on the plane the legroom is regulation 31" exactly, but they do have full recline which is nice.


photo (1) by scott.willis.voyager, on Flickr

The flight was on time and there were 317 onboard given this is peak season, there is also the later flight which was the B747 but i was very keen to try the new A330, and also didnt like the idea of the now "tatty" 747's before refurbishment.

The first thing to notice is the mood lighting, which you would imagine would change or do something interesting but it seems to have only one setting which is on/off, and of course it was on for the entire flight.

Secondly the overly cold air conditioning, one of our party had 2 blankets on, i had one and was still very very cold, i would estimate temperature around 18c, walking down the a/c later on would reveal everyone wearing blankets, covering arms, shoulders and every exposed body part.

As is customary "stupidly" for a UK flight the IFE was not active for nearly 2 hours after take off, but once it was activated it was fantastic and hopefully a precedent for the 747 refurbishment.


photo by scott.willis.voyager, on Flickr

There seemed to be no problems with the system, no lags and it was very efficient at loading different items, sky maps sky news, games etc.

Whilst this was activated the first and of course last official bar service passed through the cabin with pretzels.
No cider unfortunately so Pepsi it was.

This was followed by an excellent meal service which is the best i have tasted in years, i choose sausage and mash but all options were available.

This was followed by me watching a film and enjoying the flight. Arrival was an estimated 40 minutes early which hopefully should bring our arrival before the LGW VS and LGW BA flight, which no doubt would mean a speedy us immigration.

I did get extra drinks from the galley at the rear which was no problem, the toilet location at row 65 also presented no problem.

Cruising altitude over the atlantic was 35000ft climbing to 40000ft when out of the NAT track.

45 minutes before landing a extremely tasty sandwich was served but because the drink service followed slowly behind it was 25 mins to landing before i got a drink and had to rush this, perhaps they should start the service earlier, and we also missed out on the customary sweets.

Landing ahead of the LGW flights we breezed through immigration and were on our way.

Thanks for the great TR.

2 hours to get the IFE on seems very long and disappointing, especially on an MCO flight and with JAM, was any explanation given?

Glad to hear positive reports from Y regarding food, have heard lots of negative but good to hear some positive.

Thanks for your TR - staying over the night before at the Radisson Blu is part and parcel of the holiday for me especially with the rooms that overlook the entire airport, so pleased that worked for you all too.

I was on this flight earlier in July and had no issues with the IFE it was started soonish after take-off and certainly not 2hrs into the flight - not standard practice from my experience on this route.

I am pleased you had a good flight across with good service. The A330 has received mixed reviews in both PE and economy so nice to have another TR so we can see how these first few months are settling down.

Thanks

Jon

Thanks for the TR. Interesting comments about the new A330 service from MAN (especially the air-con - surely they can sort this?)

I also agree with your (& Horburyflyers') comments about the Radisson Blu at MAN - it's a must for us for the night before a MAN departure to MCO. High-floor room (normally on floor 8) with airport view. We're on the later VS73 in February so don't actually need the Radisson for the night before - but will probably book it anyway so we are at the airport the night before in case the weather throws any snow at us.

Scott

Thanks for the TR. Its intersting to hear more about the 330.

One question that arises from your pictures. Do these new 330s have no central overhead storage in the economy section? I have read here that there is none in PE, but I did not know that extended to the whole aircraft.

I would imagine that creates a lot of chaos on boarding with the folks in the 4 middle seats having to put their carry on bags into the side bins.

Martin wrote:Scott

Thanks for the TR. Its intersting to hear more about the 330.

One question that arises from your pictures. Do these new 330s have no central overhead storage in the economy section? I have read here that there is none in PE, but I did not know that extended to the whole aircraft.

I would imagine that creates a lot of chaos on boarding with the folks in the 4 middle seats having to put their carry on bags into the side bins.

Look at the photo in the larger resolution and you can see centre overhead lockers. It is only in the PE section where there are no overheads in the centre.

Tinkerbelle wrote:
Look at the photo in the larger resolution and you can see centre overhead lockers. It is only in the PE section where there are no overheads in the centre.

Thanks Tinks. On your suggestion, I looked harder and was able to make out the handles on the central O/H lockers. I think the angle of the photo and the fact that PE don't have them made me think 2 + 2 = 5

Do the A333s have air vents about the seats?

Thank you for the great TR and pics.

Nice TR why did you not turn off the cold air blow above your head, as this blows very cold into the cabin. We did and it got a lot warmer. We got Jam as soon as we had taken off. Flight crew must have diffarent times to switch on entertainment and serve drinks etc.

Thanks for your comments people.

The A/C issue - the air vents were off for the entire flight but looking back there are bigger vents in the roof at row 65 which would blow cold air constantly (apart from engine start up and take off) straight down onto the middle row so that was the problem.

Shame about our flight with entertainment seems like its not the norm.