V-Flyer

After an amazing few days in Dubai it was, sadly, time to head back to the UK, where the temperatures are about 30C lower than what we have enjoyed in Dubai.

Our car [not arranged by VS] was waiting for us at the appointed pickup time. Had one of the calmer drives we’ve had in Dubai to the airport (if you’ve seen Dubai driving standards, you’ll know what I mean). Dropped off at T1 at about 7:30am and made our way to the VS check-in area, which was empty. Had done OLCI the day before and bagged SEQ1 & 2 ☺. Bags dropped in no time & lounge passes issued.

Straight through security – only comment here is that the screeners seemed to be paying scant attention to anything. As it was quiet, the screeners from 3 adjacent lanes (both metal detector & x-ray) seemed to be in group conversation mode.

Picked up the obligatory duty free then onto the Business Class lounge. Nothing special in here, but a cooked breakfast was available [pork free, obviously] which was welcome as we’d left our hotel 5mins before they started serving breakfast.

The inbound flight was slightly late arriving, so boarding did not start until just before 10am. Onboard quickly and into 3A/4A. We’ve got an inbound flight time of about 6h30m, so should be able to make up the missed time. All 149 pax – a very light load - are onboard so we were off. Upper has 1 empty seat, PE looks pretty full, so there are some lucky people down the back with plenty of extra space to use. Had a delay of about 15mins on pushback due to airport congestion – pushed back ahead of the BA flight at the next gate, which was also ready to push.

Took off after a 20min taxi / queue and got a final look at the Burj & The Palm (wish I was still on The Palm). The service started and drinks were delivered, then everything ground to a halt due to turbulence. The call went out for all carts & service items to be stowed & the crew to take their seats. The expected turbulence appeared, in part, and about 20mins later the service resumed.

Had the prawns with apple celery salad to start (excellent). Followed this with the beef with vegetable ratatouille & mustard mash (also excellent). The chocalate & strawberry roulade finished the meal off. It has to be said, IMO, Virgin use a good catering company in Dubai. I was stuffed full after 3 courses – no way I could have managed cheese, much as I like it.

Two passes through the cabin were done mid-afternoon [Dubai time] with Mars ice creams & Haagen Dazs. Then about 90mins out of LHR, afternoon tea was offered. We had the shrimp cocktail and chicken mayo sandwiches – and very nice they were too. We left that flight absolutely well fed – 6hrs later as I am typing this we’re still not hungry (OK – body clock partly to blame there, as we sort of think it’s midnight now, which it is in Dubai).

The crew on todays flight were very good. The FSM was very present in the Upper cabin throughout the flight. The crew member serving the A/D side of the Upper Cabin was excellent. Told her I was doing a review of the flight as she had clocked my v-flyer baggage tags… forgot to ask permission to use her name, so won’t, obviously. A letter will go to Crawley Towers though, as she was a credit to Virgin Atlantic. When she noticed that I had relieved Virgin of Orville & Wilbur – told her people at work want them for the tops of their TFT screens, which is true – she asked me how many more sets I’d like. Let’s just say my carry-on bag flew off the plane.

Had a pretty good approach into LHR – only one lap in a holding stack. Landed early at just after 2pm and a pretty short taxi to stand. They docked 2 jet-bridges to the aircraft, but door L1 did not want to open, so they stopped the PE / Economy pax from disembarking and sent us off via L2.

I know Heathrow gets a fair bit of stick at times [often deserved]. However T3 was quiet this afternoon and within 2mins of us arriving in the baggage hall our bags were on the belt (had walked pretty fast too).

All in all, a good inbound flight – that we did not want to take! A bit longer in Dubai would have gone down very well!

Kraken

Thanks for a fine brace of TRs

I found them particulary interesting as Mrs Buns and I have booked to go out there in the New Year (something about re-qualifying or similar ) and so to see how the journey has changed since we last flew the route some year back was of great interest

I could not agree more about the Dream Suite - getting the measuring tape out might infer they are just as large as before, but I too found it all too easy to knock items on the lettle shelf and rersorted to putting drinks in the IFE recess.

I am sure VS will not make the same mistake when the 787's turn up

Thanks once again

buns

Thank you for your TR. We recently flew back from Dubai in PE which was full with economy having lots of empty seats. The food was also very good in PE. DXB is one of my favourite routes.

Thanks for the TR This flight seemed pretty perfect:
1. Made it to the airport in one piece
2. Decent airport experience
3. Fantastic Crew, service and food
4. Early arrival

Marvellous