V-Flyer

After 4 nights at the One & Only resort with glorious weather, good food/drinks and great company including meeting a retired English footballer and his family on most days it was time to head back to the cold and damp of the UK for a long winter ahead

With the transfers back to the airport organised by the hotel we were up early and left the hotel at 0700 - we were checking in just before 0730 and the smiling check in staff member was a pleasure - she asked about our trip and was super friendly. The best check in experience with VS for quite some time....

The long walk under the apron to the gate area passing through passport control and two security searches we made our way to the Dubai Airport business lounge which is not a Clubhouse but offered a wide range of drinks, newspapers and magazines, free wifi and a selection of food including Curry....a little bit of duty free shopping and it was time to head across to the gate for a final security check before boarding commenced at 0925.

"Soul Sister" was waiting in the morning sunshine. Boarded through L1 with priority boarding in operation we were greeted by the FSM who was not overly friendly....

Amenity kit on the ottoman and bottle of water in place. A glass of champagne was quickly offered. With everyone settled including our new footballer friend who was on the flight home too- we pushed back at 0956 just ahead of the BA flight sat next to us.....(though they would have the last laugh!!)

A total of 176 passengers on board with UC and PE full so it must have been very quiet in Y....

Departing at 1015 we headed South and then turned North passing over the Palm on one side and the QE2 on the other and turned and headed towards Qatar.

Hot towels quickly offered followed by drink orders which were quickly provided with crisps. Refills were offered and more crisps for those that asked..... The FSM brought around the menus but did not use (or did not have a manifest) so no names used.... and then lunch orders were taken. At 1145 tables were laid for lunch which consisted of:

Carrot and coriander soup with sour cream
Crab, avocado and tomato tian

Braised lamb with chive potato mash, steamed carrots and beans
Marinated chicken kebabs with zerach rice
Vegetable cannelloni

I enjoyed the soup but it could have done to have been a tad warmer followed by the chicken kebabs which were tasty and warming.

Wine, water and warm bread rolls were offered thoughout lunch as on the outbound the USA white had been replaced by a white from Chile....

I also enjoyed the Chocolate molten cake which came warm with raspberry compote, the other choice was baked cheesecake.

The cheese trolley put in an appearance and I enjoyed the cheese with a nice glass of port. The CSS and indeed the crew member looking after the K side were both friendly and the CSS who I did chat to later was actually very positive about the A330 which was good to hear for a change The FSM though visible did not play any part in any aspect in the service other than help push the cheese trolley around but did not seem overly friendly.

I had a problem with my headphone socket - three pairs of headphones later and it all worked fine but I had to make do with the headphones that are used with the DVD players but it was fine and the CSS apologised and promised to report the problem.

I put my bed down for a couple of hours sleep and made a couple of trips to the bar for water and to grab some chocolate and rice crackers....the graze basket was well used on this flight as nearly everything was gone.

Graze options were also available on this flight and included an Olive Salad, Chicken moussaka and a Cheese and pickle roll.

At 1215 (UK time) the afternoon tea trolley came through offering Chicken with salsa, cheddar with pickle and beef pastrami sandwiches along with warm scones, cloted cream and jam and mini cakes (eclair, glazed strawberry tart and shortbread) on this flight.

I really like this service and everyone in UC had something or another so it proved really popular. Tea and coffee were offered and refills too for those that asked....

With hot towels offered before landing we made our final approach at 1345 only to perform a "go-around" at the last moment due to a very late exiting aircraft....as we climbed out to perform the "go-around" the cabin was quiet and the CSS made an announcement that the captain had found it necessary to climb again and would update us as soon as he could.....It was probably only a couple of minutes later when he did and explained we would simply go around and approach again which we did.

We touched down at 1404 behind the BA flight we had left behind in Dubai.....

Immigration was rather busy with only two desks open so it did take about 15mins to get through though our bags were going around on the belt when we reached it and then out into the cold wet London air to catch the shuttle bus to pick up the car and head back up the M1.......

Overall a great time in Dubai, highly recommended and a good flight home.

Sounds like you had a good couple of flights. Did you get any feeling of the recently reported cutbacks?

Thx

Paul