V-Flyer

This is an unedited version of the TR, please excuse any grammatical or spelling errors! I will add pictures when I get home.......

Arrived a T3 3 hours prior to take off as traffic to LHR was ridiculously clear for late afternoon/early evening!
The terminal was very quiet and we were pleasantly greeted prior to dropping our bags off 
2 minute queue to drop bags off with a very friendly desk agent who used the baggage belt of the desk next door to make our check in quicker! Great start!
Then off for a little shopping and food before going to Gate 17 where the A346 of Lady Luck was waiting for us.
Greeted by name on boarding (in economy!!) which I thought was awesome!
VPort entertainment system all in working order with no problems.
Seats 42hk, bulk head to left with small child! Annoying seat pocket that pushed into knees but maybe that's the weight it's holding!
Seat condition - couple of wear and tear rips on armrest other than that, all good! ******** our FSM was relaxed and professional but also did comedic announcements including "if you have a mobile phone we are all impressed but you need to finish ur conversation and switch it to flight safe mode"
296 passengers, 14 crew,3 pilots & poppy the cat & daisy the dog. Flight Time 11hrs 46 mins
Pushed away on time with a 20 min taxi, 
another one of ****'s announcements "smoking is prohibited but if you are found smoking you will be put on the wing and good luck with lighting up out there"
Wife said "it seems a Bit cramped, even more so than normal". I then reminded her that this was the first time that we had flown in the economy cabin for a while!!!
Can't remember having the CC, then cabin Supervisor and then FSM coming around to check seatbelts in all cabins prior to take off...or maybe I've never noticed!
New economy dining, starting with menu handed out!
Menu =
cocktail,
starter-tomato & cucumber salad (urgh!), 
Main course choice - beef cobbler, penne pasta Mediterranean veg, chicken stir fry
"a pause to digest then something sweet" Dessert-GU choc/orange mousse with tea or coffee
Before we land - muffin or omelette or sausage, egg & bacon or chicken congee
All sounds good, my choice will be pasta for main & sausage etc for breakfast. Diner came round fairly fast with the pasta still available :-)
Sadly pasta was pretty bland with vegetables but no flavour from the sauce at all, disappointing as I have had some good pasta dishes on board....not today! Red wine with meal that was ok. Decided against the dessert when it came round some 20 mins or so later and had coffee.
Dinner served on new trays and was presented very nicely.
CC very pleasant and frequently through cabin checking and offering water or juice
Watched Inbetweeners movie - predictable and outrageous in places but brilliant!
1-2 hour naps at a time only 4.5 hours to go!
Just woken up again with 2 hrs to go and the smell of breakfast
Breakfast arrived with only chicken congee or cheese omelette left so I opted for the latter. It was accompanied with very salty mushrooms, beans and potatoes. Egg was watery and tasteless - I am not a chef but when are airlines going to realise that egg and planes don't work! Best cup of tea ever,though! Was I grateful for that!
Pilot announced that we have a slot @17.25 to land but may be able to sneak in 10 mins earlier if that slot becomes available.
So we landed at 17.23, taxied for about 4 minutes to our gate. 
Immigration & customs took approx 45 mins without any verbal contact with anyone!
So in summary, a good flight, with an attentive & friendly crew and a mad but funny FSM! Only disappointment for me was the new style food....nice presentation but poor taste/interest.

Catch you on the inbound TR!

Petmadness wrote:I will add pictures when I get home.......

Excellent, looking forward to them already.

Fully agree about the combination of eggs and aircraft (though I wonder if a sausage and egg mcmuffin combo would work...)

Great TR, thank you for posting!

Look forward to pictures and the return TR!

Fab TR!

How great is it to have brill FSM's & a good cup of tea.

R-P

Thanks for the TR - a great read and looking forward to the photos.

Thank you for the great TR. I'm flying with VS to Hong Kong at the end of the month, we were very lucky to get G rewards. I just hope our cabin crew will be as attentive as yours.

Thank you for the great TR, look forward to the pics.

So at last I have worked out how to attach photo's (Thanks HL ) Only a few but enough for a flavour

Thanks for the TR and for posting the pictures. Pleased you had a good flight.

Despite the new menu, it still looks like airline food! I think the harsh reality is that its hard to innovate with economy food.

Cheers for the report, it certainly sounds like a typical hong kong economy flight . The food still looks umimpressive though. However I would just like to say I was on the Kenya flight yesterday and I asked if I could have a taste of the petite afternoon tea box from the economy cabin.

The lovely crew went and fetched me one, and it was surprisingly tasty... The cream tea finger sandwiches we're refreshing, and the blueberry cake was really good too... Massively impressed;-)