V-Flyer

Used twilight check-in and surprised to find at queue at 17:00; stayed at Courtyard by Marriott Airport hotel, very good and walkable to terminal although the route is dark at night so not advisable for single groups of ladies.

Used #1 Lounge at I'm a member, very good and quiet as normal.

Went to Gate 33 as requested and 40 mins before flight and found huge queues. "Excuse #1" was announced to inform passengers of the delay, "late arrival of incoming aircraft". It was a shame that I knew that this was "not quite the truth" having looked at the aircraft movement of G-VLIP; It had landed over 24 hours earlier!

Anyway normal slow boarding chaos and went to my seat in the bubble where a stewardess saw my wife struggle to put a small bag in the smaller overhead locker and just stood by watching her! As per my other 3 LGW-MBJ flights in previous years, the flight was left the gate late as they announced they had a passenger count issue, this took 30 minutes to resolve. Unfortunately this ended up being on the ground circa 45 minutes late in MBJ.

The net result was that we got to the hotel in Negril just a few minutes before the restaurant closed! We were staving after the minuscule proportions given to us on the flight . Our bags took ages to appear at MBJ, I thought they might have not been loaded but they appeared right at the end. Is this a case of first on, last off after the Twilight check-in?

Cabin Crew seemed "grumpy" and closed down the cabin for landing far too early for my liking, They obviously don't fly on Little Red on LHR-MAN!

Thanks for the TR. Not a great start to your holiday...

Thank you for the TR - hopefully the return flight is better for you.

I know what you mean about the main line crews preparing for landing too early. Yesterday flying in to edinburgh the crew started the cabin checks as the wheels locked in to place!!

In all fairness, securing an A320 after a 45-60min domestic flight and securing a 747-400 after a night or long flight where people have been sleeping/got comfortable/watching IFE etc are very different.

Gpik, that may be true, but the cabin crew then sat in their crew seats by doors for ages and had a load chat across the upper deck cabin for ages about their private lives. Unprofessional in my opinion.