V-Flyer

3 weeks in the Land of Mouse come to a close and we attempt OLCI.

No good - some investigation later (including on here) we discover that VSXY has gone tech and that a lovely LHR based A346 VMEG had been drafted in to do the VS071/072 shuttle for the weekend.

Now, 59 PE on VSXY, 38 PE seats on VMEG quickly works out at possible upgrade to one of the 45 UC seats on VMEG.

Downtown Disney check in bright & early on Sunday morning gets us 4 lovely beds in UC (8G&K, 9G&K) which worked out great as 8G is behind the mini bulkhead in UC where the 1-1-1 seating layout swaps to have the centre row facing right.

So, everyone in jovial mood as all 45 seats in UC were obviously upgrades from PE with PE having some upgrades from EC. UC seats, but PE service - no problems.

In fact this aircraft is so comfy, put the refurbed 747s on the LHR route, sell the 2 cabin A330 (please!) and put these A346 super quiet ladies on the MCO route. Remember "4 engines 4 long haul"??

So 313 pax, 13 crew (more on that later) and the 2 high heid 'uns up front, shoot off out of cloudy Orlando at 17.10 - 45 minutes late due to late incoming (repeated delays from VSXY going tech on the Saturday).

So, we get up, seatbelts off, and set up VPort for my 2 sons - easy. So I thought. This is worse than Nova. it is garbage. The most difficult system I have ever used on any aircraft. Press a button, and an AVERAGE of 8 seconds later, your entry is sometimes registered.

Meal service arrives in the middle of this - having twice asked for help to get things moving. Kids meal basically sludge, and adult some sort of beef & potato.

40 minutes to get Disney on the kids tvs, my food stone cold, then my tv goes into meltdown and Chinese as well as the whole handset & holder coming out. Eventually, 2 hours into flight manage to navigate to language change and get a movie on.

Couple of movies, kids sleep, breakfast arrives - 2 kids meals - full english (eh?) and adult - an alternative full english. Listen Virgin, we would not have made it past 1066 eating this cr@p. Comedy rubber sausage, egg (maybe) and some form of ham / bacon stuff. And yes, MORE MUSHROOMS!!!!!!!! Has Branson boght a mushroom farm or something - outbound every main option had them, and now they get into the breakfasts on the way home.

To be serious for a moment, Virgin have been told about the inadequate servicing provided for them at MCO (and MIA). The cleaning is not up to scratch (empty pretzel packets from outbound stuffed behind water bottle, napkins under footstools etc.) and the food is just not acceptable. Americans would not accept this food in a cafe, so why are Virgin accepting it on a plane?

Luckily, knowing from previous years that the homeward leg of our holidays is usually marred by food, we went to the Outback Steakhouse in the departure lounge for a good feed. Just as well. Add that to the snacks we took on board.

But for the money we pay for PE, we deserve a whole lot better. Food outbound is good - fresh, tasty, even actually looks like what it claims to be, and child meals are suitable for children.

Return - not acceptable.

A little PS on the TSA at Orlando. Much has been written on the supposed thefts from bags at MIA in particular. We had 8 bags between the 4 of us on the way home, all home safe. No stickers on the outside saying the TSA had been in. ALL our bags have either TSA padlocks or TSA belts. SO why was one bag opened by prising off the padlock (bending it) to get into the bag, then putting the broken padlock inside the bag with the infamous TSA note??

And as we bag everything in our holdalls lest the Orlando weather soak them at some point between Downtown Disney check in & Glasgow, we know none of the poly bags containing the contents of the holdall had been opened - so why bother at all?

EDIT - "more on the crew" - unfortunately, one of the crew fell ill during the flight. We followed her off (now dressed in civvies) and through passport control (she was confused as had never got on a flight as crew and come off as regular passenger) - but she seemed ok by then.

Thanks for the TR, upgrade to UC a bonus , think I'd take an UC upgrade and a bad meal any day over staying in PE with a nice meal!

That being said you wouldn't think it would be too difficult to improve the catering!

The annoying thing is, the meal would have been the same inedible garbage even if we had not got the UC upgrade - it was a PE meal.

SO yes, the UC seat made up for it slightly, but as it was due to an aircraft going tech, still no excuse for the consistently poor service on UK bound flights from MCO & MIA

I was looking forward to a GLA TR as there's not that many (probably due the silly prices to fly ex Glasgow) but apart from the seat it didn't read that well.

Have got to say that I have never been that impressed with the food out of MCO in any class but that seems to be really bad.

It's a shame because the ground staff at Orlando are tremendous especially with the amount of traffic they deal with daily, I just don't understand why the food on the return journey is consistently under par ?

David

Thanks for the TR, good to get some TR's for Glasgow flights Result on the upgrade to UC - even with the (poor) PE food, I would take this over PE seat with good food any day. Being able to lie down and sleep while on an overnight flight back to the UK is priceless. However, you are right to be annoyed with the food, there is no excuse for something so inedible. LOL at your mushroom comments - no idea what's going on there, but if it's not sorted VS might have a mushroom revolt on their hands!

I agree that UC in a bed is the way to finish a holiday. We had a TSA lock removed last October but no note to say that TSA had been in the case & nothing seemed to be missing apart from a small leather purse - which was empty.

Katie

great result on the Upgrade,sorry the rest wasen't so great

My TSA padlock was opened at MCO on my way back home. Had a TSA note inside my case but they nicely relock the case with my TSA padlock.

However I have just returned from SFO and upon getting my case at LHR, my TSA padlock was nowhere to be seen with no note inside. Rather than being cynical, I presume the lock was knocked off whilst being transported between the airports.

How much was the upgrade. We came back from Vegas on an lhr. 747. In pe. Asked to upgrade to uc. And was told £1200. PP. .. Check uc cabin after take off only 11 people there all night . Gutted?