VS035 LGW-ANU 21 DEC 11 (Economy)
Posted: 02 Jan 2012, 15:35This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
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Cabin Crew
My family and I got off at BGI!
I had booked this trip back in July, but even so, the prices for the flights Y outbound, W inbound were more than my all inclusive accommodation for 10 nights.
Having paid up, I proceeded to right off how much this holiday had cost, and concentrated on looking forward to Barbados, xmas on the beach and everything!
Finally, 21st December had arrived…
Our local taxi man arrived on time, the M25 etc were free running and we duly arrived at checkin at 07:25.
Check in staff were very friendly and efficient, the lady dealing with us was going to be working on xmas day, when VS apparently had 7 flights departing from LGW!
All done, boarding cards in hand for my requested seats 32A,B,C and off we went through security.
Security was swift, surprisingly, LGW was extremely busy and the staff were less grumpy than normal, so nothing significant at this, my most dreaded, part of the whole flying experience was over!
Contacted a fellow V-Flyer who had very kindly offered CH invites to us, but as our flight was on time (departing at 09:30), it wasn’t really going to be worth going as we’d have arrived, said hello, then needed to turn straight around and head for the gate!
I later texted when on board, and was told he could see our plane (Pretty Woman) at gate 18 from the CH!
So, back on track, we headed to gate 18, and joined the queue for boarding.
I should break off here, to say that it’s been 4 years or more since flying in Y, and had therefore forgotten many of these things like queueing to get on board, the narrowness of the seats etc. Given that our flights out in Y ad back in W had cost nearly as much as Z returns, I did not look at any upgrades!
So, there we were, on board Pretty Woman – oh, incidentally, this was our 3rd time on board this plane in 2 months as our trip to MCO in late October/November had been on this very plane for both legs!
Now, overall, I wasn’t too disappointed with the Y seats. There’s ample leg room, the biggest issue I had was the width of the seat. I’m fairly broad, and was constantly bumping shoulders with my wife, and being bumped by passers by in the isle as ; that said, I was just thrilled to be going to Barbados again, so didn’t mind one little bit!
399 passengers on board and an on time takeoff with a projected flight time of 8 hours 20 minutes.
Soon after take off, the meal run began, and this was to be the new Y meal offering!
Firstly, a drink was offered (and accepted). Plus, pretzels!!! Now, you might remember that I’m addicted to these things – but these were smokey bacon and mustard flavoured….oh no! But, I’m addicted to this flavour as well now!
The starter plus bread and a main were served next, with another drink being offered at the same time – this seems to work well, as you get your drink when you want it (with your meal), and the tray table is definitely less cluttered.
(Ok, ok, you (and I) want drinks as soon as you sit down, but this was Y don’t forget!).
I had the chicken dish, which was actually really nice, and my wife and daughter reported that the sausages and mash were also very good.
This was followed by a further run, where desserts (than choc gunge thing they used to give out in PE) plus coffee/tea and/or more drinks if you wanted them.
Overall, the meal experience was pretty good, the quality average to good, the service….ah, wait a minute…
Time to introduce M (I was going to ask permission to name her on here, but forgot!!!).
M was one of the CC ladies assigned to our part of the cabin, and was absolutely, without question, no arguments allowed – brilliant! She was a total credit to the airline, and an email to this affect has already been sent to VS customer services.
The meal was served with a smile, a few chats, top ups – nothing was too much for this lady, and I don’t think she sat down for the entire flight. Well, maybe she had a few minutes mid-flight, but honestly, she worked her little socks off and was fantastic.
A little later, I chatted to M and asked what she thought of the new Y meal service. She said she thought it worked much better, there seemed to be less spillages and things getting knocked off the tables as they were less cluttered, and seemed to speed up each part of the meal service so passengers weren’t waiting so long. She did say though, that it made more work for the CC, although she very reasonably pointed out that everything new takes a while to bed in, so maybe the work load will reduce once everyone is used to the new “way of doing things”. She felt it was a positive move overall.
And so, I settled down with my Ipod……mid-flight, the icecreams came round! These were on sticks, with a sort of thin chocolate coating – I think I preferred the choc-ices although these were quite nice all the same!
M told me that there’s a bit of an issue running on the Delhi route as some CC were objecting to the icecream carriers. It seems that it had possible implications of street selling of icecream and was perceived as lowering the status of the crew – folks will make an issue out of anything, won’t they? I suspect it’s a rouse for more money or something….
Immigration papers handed out, followed by the snack boxes about 1.5 hours out.
These snack boxes were quite good, couple of small sandwiches and a scone -.
I also noticed throughout, that everything was wrapped in paper, rather than plastic. With themain meal, the (plastic) cutlery and napkin were paper wrapped, in the snack box, the sandwiches etc wee all paper wrapped.
This is good, in my book, for two main reasons. Firstly, it kept the sandwiches from getting “sweaty”, but also means more recycle-ability…..as a fanatical recycler, I was really pleased to see this little improvement.
And so, there we were, cruising round the west and south coasts of Barbados, turquoise seas and white beaches and all, for a smooth and 10 minutes early landing in BGI.
CC sprayd the cabin (as required to kill insects before opening the doors), and instructed those continuing to ANU to remain seated.
Off the plane for us and – bang – there was the heat!!! Down the old metal steps on to the concrete and a walk into immigration.
Bags were off quickly and ours were off soon after UC and PE, so very quick.
We were in the taxi on the way to Turtle Beach resort (3rd stay!) within 20 minutes of leaving our seats.
Oh yes! Whilst waiting for our bags, in turned out that my HR director and family were on the same flight! She had “retired”, “been beamed up”, “transformed” – whatever word you want to use, she left the company suddenly. This was weirder still, when I bumped into someone else on the return flight, who had also left the company recently and suddenly with a bunch of other people. It seems that they got a good leaving package anyway!!!
And, there you have it….for those that say “I couldn’t possibly do economy anymore”, -- rubbish, it’s fine!!! Especially on the outbound leg of a holiday where the flight is less than 10 hours.
The whole experience was made by M though, an absolute treasure. And never has the phrase “it’s the CC that make the difference”been more true – and it’s further proved by our return trip, a miserable experience in PE…watch out for that TR coming soon.
Thanks for reading!
