V-Flyer

Aircraft: G-VFIZ (Bubbles)
Seats: 22A&C
Flight time: 7h 33m
Take off time & Runway: 8.26pm, 9R
Landing time & Runway: 11.06pm, 22L

This TR covers the first leg of our trip to Anna Maria, Florida. We travelled via NYC because rewards to Florida in the school holidays aren't exactly plentiful! The joys of being with a teacher!

We expected to hit the Friday M25 car park for a couple of hours en route to Heathrow. Instead we breezed around to junction 15. Such was our pessimism at the M25 traffic, we hadn't booked meet & greet until 6! We met our re-arranged pick up at 4.30ish.

We'd checked in online but asked at a PE desk about upgrades to UC, to be told that 1 seat was available but to check again soon. The agent asked if we were "hand luggage only" and when we replied "yes", she asked to weigh the items. At 10kg we were apparently over the 6kg hand luggage limit. I hadn't actually checked that this existed as we've travelled hand luggage only on VS numerous times before, but hadn't been near a check in desk equipped with scales Onboard we saw many passengers with bags that looked much heavier than ours. Rules is rules and it was our bad luck I guess .

After a coffee land-side we again checked on UC availability, to be told 2 seats were now available and to head to the ticket desk for processing. Excited, we made our way to the desk, and after a lengthy wait we were told that it was actually only 1 seat with miles as the other one was upgradeable cash only . I was annoyed/disappointed but the agent said 'no can do' and to try again airside to see if anything had changed. I've marked the ground staff as 3* because of this mess up, which really put us on a downer.

Once through security we grabbed some food, checked again on upgrades 'no seats at all now, sorry' and waited for boarding in the T3 zoo. At this point I was wishing the M25 had delayed us as we'd have had less time to wait in the terminal!

Boarding was on time and efficient, and the flight was full in PE. I noticed that the seat adjustment controls for 22C were held together by a 4 inch strip of gaffer tape, which didn't present a good image, particularly as the aircraft was at its home base Everything else in the cabin was fine.

The cabin crew were friendly enough, although we did have an FSM (assuming he makes the PA's) who fancied himself as a bit of a comedian. He made a few one liners about yoga at the back of the aircraft, his ex-Wife and so on which didn't raise much of a laugh. Perhaps his approach would have been better suited to an Orlando flight full of relaxed families, rather than an NYC flight mainly full of single travellers who looked like they were on business.

The flight itself was mainly smooth, I watched 'The Inbetweeners' film and caught about 3 hours sleep in the comfy seats. The beauty of row 22 is guilt free recline, and the toilet door is far enough behind not to be a nuisance.

The main meal (I had Ravioli) was perfectly acceptable. Before landing we were served some rather odd cheese and onion sarnies (not sure who decided on these as flavours) and a cold scone which was OK.

We made a smooth landing about 20 minutes early, very little waiting at immigration and then the UC/PE luggage was out promptly. Then it was a short walk in the cold to the Marriot hotel for some sleep before our early flight down to Tampa.

In summary, the upgrade issue did leave a bit of a sour taste, and we'll know the score if travelling hand-luggage only next time. Otherwise it was a solid PE flight. The food could have been better and the gaffer tape was an unwelcome sight. However I believe that Virgin's PE remains the best choice against its rivals across the pond, with the possible exception of NZ on the LA route.

Thanks for the TR. That's a pity about the upgrade -- I would be pretty crushed if I queued up again at the ticket desk, only to be told no.

Thank you for the great TR.

so did they make you check one of the bags ?? you are right about the bags some people 'carry-on' they are bigger than suitcases

flabound wrote:so did they make you check one of the bags ?? you are right about the bags some people 'carry-on' they are bigger than suitcases

We had 1 wheelie cabin suitcase and 1 'personal item' (a hand bag and a man bag ) each.

They made us check in the wheelie cabin bags as they were 10kgs each, and the limit is 6kgs each.

To be honest, I hadn't checked for cabin baggage restrictions because of past experience of non-enforcement of anything, and also I associate cabin baggage limits with easyJet and Ryanair. I can, however appreciate that there are safety reasons behind this.

I can't help but feel that if you go to a check in desk you'll get weighed etc, but if you go straight to the gate nothing will happen.

clarkeysntfc wrote:[
I can't help but feel that if you go to a check in desk you'll get weighed etc, but if you go straight to the gate nothing will happen.

exactly right..I always do and have never been stopped.

Out of interest, how much was the quoted price for the cash upgrade to UC?

How was your stay at the Marriott? Was it easy to get to from the airport? I understand it's opposite, just concerned about frequency of hotel buses at that time of night.

Thinking of booking this flight for a trip in May, means using less holiday.

Thanks in advance.

One detail I left out of my TR which I thought was slightly odd at the time.

On landing, the FSM made the usual announcement, then said something like "thanks to the crew for their dedication, we only get 14 hours here in NY before doing it all over again".

The tone of the second part came across as a bit of a moan, and I couldn't help but not feel very sympathetic as tiredness/jetlag and short layovers are part of the job, a job which 1000's of people would do at the drop of a hat.

clarkeysntfc wrote:One detail I left out of my TR which I thought was slightly odd at the time.

On landing, the FSM made the usual announcement, then said something like "thanks to the crew for their dedication, we only get 14 hours here in NY before doing it all over again".

The tone of the second part came across as a bit of a moan, and I couldn't help but not feel very sympathetic as tiredness/jetlag and short layovers are part of the job, a job which 1000's of people would do at the drop of a hat.

I don't know you know....

The days of the cabin crew job being glamorous/exciting etc are long gone. CC used to get a day, even up-to 3 or 4 days layover, used to deal with a different clientelle, and when the airline industry was "special".

Not much of that exists anymore, and I think the CC work damn hard, don't get paid all that well, get limited layovers, get put up in the cheapest accommodation, get treated badly by security/TSA etc (about that same as you and I).......

That said, it is a customer facing role, so there's part of the job that means they shouldn't really say such things - certainly not on a PA!

at240 wrote:Out of interest, how much was the quoted price for the cash upgrade to UC?

We didn't ask as frankly we knew it would be out of our price range.

clarkeysntfc wrote:The tone of the second part came across as a bit of a moan, and I couldn't help but not feel very sympathetic as tiredness/jetlag and short layovers are part of the job, a job which 1000's of people would do at the drop of a hat.

I agree that I don't want to hear crew 'moans' or otherwise about their job, and I've had it sometimes when supping ale (OK champagne) at 38,000 feet, I recall one SFO flight when a CC couldn't talk about anything else while I was sat at the bar, until I had to say shut up, your choice! I've always believed that whatever moans I might have (and I could win Olympic gold currently), my job is my choice and I can choose to move.

That said I think when crew come off the VS17 they then work the VS10 ... might be wrong, but I do sympathise. I've done 24 hr New York trips with a full day of work at either end and its hard - but just don't tell everyone unless asked!

clarkeysntfc wrote:We didn't ask as frankly we knew it would be out of our price range.

Ah OK -- thanks. Yeah, some of the quoted airport upgrade prices are very high.