V-Flyer

My second flight to LA this year, sadly this time in PE and not UC.

Check-in was a breeze, what was strange was that both myself and my colleague had checked-in online and had printed out our boarding cards. I got a new one but he didnt. On to security and quickly noticed the "only one bag" queue, so was thru very quickly.

From checking to the pub (sadly not the CH this time) in 10 minutes - not too shabby.

flight was called, priority boarding was in operation and from what i saw, UC and PE was pretty much full, only one free seat in PE, which was 22E, so could spread out a bit.

Econ was empty. Only 204 passengers, and when I went for a walk down the back, many had taken advantage of the empty middle rows.

Back to the flight. Welcome drink was nice, the two CC were efficient and friendly though not too chatty while doing service.

Drinks round, then food. The mains (chilli) was better than the Chicken I had in UC in July. the rest was ok, but not as good.

Another drinks run, then brandy and baileys. a few hours later some inc-cream, then few hours later a pastie and then a few hours later a chicken sandwich. There was some fruit at some point too.

After dinner the CC sat a young lad (about 12) in seat 22E as his IFE had stopped working. not an issue apart from he had ants in his pants and would not stop fidgeting so trying to kip when you get slight nudges got a bit tedious. His parents were in UC, so they kept popping over every 30 mins or so to make sure their kids we all ok.

At some point, we went to the galley for a beer and ended up stood with the crew while drinking it. casting envious eyes at the empty UC bar, but we knew our place and stayed on the PE side. Even though we were under their feet, the CC were more than happy for us to be there and chatted to us

So, a replica in terms of CC as to my flight out in July. Hope the return on Sunday wont be a replica of my return.

One thing really annoyed me though. After dinner the person infront of me did full recline. Now in PE, that isnt a space related problem as there was still plenty of leg room etc, but with the full recline, you cannot adjust the screen to get a decent viewing angle, so you have to recline yourself and sort of scooch down in your seat. I dont like reclining too much as I don't find it comfortable. managed to find a decent position to finish watching the film then switched to the ipad.

The screen was pretty clear, none of the usual scratches.

The highlight (strange as it will seem) of the flight was the way our 2 CC handled am assisted passenger sat close to us. They were always checking if they were ok, then an hour to landing, they got a nose bleed and the 2 girls were with them for almost the whole hour, helping them stem it, giving clean towels, ice etc. A few crew working UC came too to check, one wearing a red cardy and a chap in a grey shirt. Very concerned crew and it was very nice to see them really caring about a passenger.

I will be dropping a note off to pay my compliments.

Wow. What started off as a short "straight forward" flight report has gone on quite long... and the story is not yet complete.

Landed at 7pm, finally got out of the aircraft at 7:30 to be met by a queue at immigration which was 5 rows in. Then followed a very very slow 2 hours before we finally got thru. They had about 7 staff there. 4 doing US, 3 doing Visitors. And it seems that most of the visitors could not get to grips with 4 fingers, 1 thumb, 4 fingers, 1 thumb etc. aargh.

finally got out at about 9:45. Our cab was waiting and we then had a further 2 and half hour drive to go.

+ points - CC - they were excellent
- points - IFE visibility when seat fully reclined
- LAX Immigration

Great TR A super read and encouraging to read a positive CC experience! PE does seem to be a good journey if they can iron out the real small niggles, such as the IFE screen position on recline.
Good job VS

Thanks for sharing, sounds like a great experience in PE. Big thumbs down to LAX immigration

I thought that the VS23 was one of the better flights for immigration lines?

Thanks for the TR vji.

Good to hear the CC were attentive and caring for the poorly passenger. That's how it should be. Sadly in contrast to Cloudscudder's experience in his TR. Its the repeated VS inconsistency that seems to be a common thread.

Thanks for the great TR!

I know exactly what you mean about the angle of the IFE when someone is reclined. It is a design flaw.

2 hours for immigration at LAX is poor -- sounds like a long day.

Thank you for the TR.

Heard back from Virgin. They have passed the crew details to the "hero" programme. I do hope these 2 ladies get the formal reward and recognition they deserve.