This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Got to MCO at about 15:40 and the security “Fast-track” lane was of no use, as due to the way the TSA were managing the queue, it put you in the zig-zag line behind people from the other 9 or so normal lanes. I’m no fan of the TSA, but know that you shut up and do what you are told [or else]. Some passengers were making their views known, and using expletives to highlight what they thought. This prompted the queue “guards” to make frequent announcements saying that any expletives would not be tolerated & people using them would be sent to the back of the line. I should add that the people using the expletives were Americans – doubtless pleased at how their taxes are being spent on Homeland Security.
Took the train over to the airside terminal, did the T10 re-stock & up to the Delta Sky Lounge, which was surprisingly quiet. There were many vacant tables & you could take your pick where you wanted to sit. By contrast, on some previous visits I’ve struggled to find two seats together anywhere. Passed an hour and a bit away in the lounge then wandered down to gate 85 where Ladybird was waiting. Priority boarding call went out about 5mins after we arrived at the gate (we left the lounge ahead of the call).
Onboard and into 9K/10K. Drinks were immediately offered and accepted. The Upper Class cabin filled up – including a couple with a young baby. I’ll admit, I thought “oh no” to myself when I saw them – but I could not have been more wrong, you did not hear a sound from the baby all through the flight. Credit to the parents for doing all they could to keep baby occupied and quiet. The father was helping baby walk round the cabin and we joked with him that he was getting her used to expensive tastes [Upper Class] at a very young age – he agreed, but as she was well under 2, she travels for free at the moment.
There were 3 FSM’s on the flight today – all working in Upper. I assume the most senior FSM took the FSM role & the other two [both of whom I have flown with before] worked a CSS role. Either way, the service was excellent throughout the flight. One thing I did notice was that one of the FSM’s had a name badge with a completely different name on to that on her crew ID. Say her photo crew ID said Sarah Jones, her name badge said Amy [these names are invented so as not to name any actual crew].
The flight time to Manchester was 7h39m. Takeoff was on the Northerly runway 35L and we had a very short takeoff roll – we were airbourne and climbing as we passed the Airside 4 terminal we had left from. Looking on Google Earth, we only used about half of the runway length.
Drinks were delivered very soon after the seatbelt sign pinged, followed by a refill if you wanted it, but the crew were clearly keen to get dinner served to maximize sleep time.
Food-wise, I had the Seared sesame-crusted tuna, which was rather small, but very nice nonetheless. Followed this up with the herb infused fillet of beef, which was very good – much nicer than the beef on the outbound flight. Passed on pudding and went straight for the cheese, which was also good. Feeling nicely fed & watered, it was time to change into the sleep suit, put the seat into bed mode and have a few hours sleep. Managed about 3hours – thanks to the Bose QC 20i’s that got rid of all the ambient noise.
Was awake just before the crew were waking people for breakfast. Had cornflakes then a bacon roll & a couple of coffees.
The cabin was secured for landing about 15mins out of Manchester & we landed a few minutes early and were on a stand at T2 about 5mins later. Through immigration quickly and within a minute or two of arriving in the baggage hall, the Upper Class bags were starting to come through. Our 5 bags were amongst the first 20 or so to appear on the belt, so absolutely no complaints there. Bags retrieved and through the green channel (honest, we did spend under £390 each on stuff to bring back home
). To summarize, another good VS flight. The crew were excellent (maybe helped by all the ones in Upper being FSM’s). Food was good, flight was very smooth and arrived on time. The only thing we did note – not a single hot towel was offered on the inbound flight. (Think we got offered them twice on the outbound).
Time to start planning the next trip… Diagon Alley opens at Universal in a few weeks time, so that is a pretty good excuse I guess
.
