This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
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Time flies when you're having fun! After over 2 weeks in Florida taking in Miami, the Keys, a few days relaxing in Treasure Island and a few days in Orlando shopping and visiting the Universal parks, the time had come to fly home.
After what had been a good flight coming out despite the late departure and enjoying the PE experience, I was looking forward to the return flight and hoping the same standards would be met at the very least.
Upon arriving at MCO at about 3.30pm local time, we were greeted with the news that our flight was delayed and would now be leaving at 8pm. Not music to our ears and frustrating at it would mean having to spend 4 1/2 hours at the airport. When I queried the reason for the delay, the check-in agent explained that the inbound aircraft was late. I found this hard to believe at first because I noticed that the inbound VS075 was on time and had assumed they would just use the same aircraft, although I am aware that VS use MCO to swap aircraft.
After checking in, we spent some time landside perusing the various shops, having a coffee and spending time on the iPad. Any grumbles about wasting the final (extended) few hours in the airport were eradicated when the weather turned wet outside. I sensed this coming as I had spent the morning and early-afternoon at Universal Studios and it was overcast all day, so I was hoping that there would be no thunderstorms that would trigger an extended delay. In any case, even if I knew of the delays beforehand, the weather would have influenced what we could and couldn't do.
I browsed the arrivals and departure boards and noticed that as well as our VS076 to Manchester, there were the VS016 and VS028 flights to LGW as well as the GLA flight. I then noticed that the inbound Glasgow and one of the LGW flights were delayed - the GLA by nearly 2 hours and the LGW by about an hour. Whether they were swapping aircraft round in order to get the GLA flight out on time or it was always planned to swap I don't know, but the end result was delays. At about 5.30pm we decided to migrate to airside and as we were hungry, we elected to have an early dinner at Outback Steakhouse. Probably just as well in hindsight, as would be revealed later.
After dinner, we made our way to the gate. Our original boarding time was 7.05pm, however an announcement was made saying that this would be delayed by about 30 minutes. This was infuriating because not only did it mean any hopes of a swift departure were dashed, it also made the likelihood of an even later departure more possible, especially if my experience at MAN just 2 weeks prior was anything to go by and especially as the flight was fully booked.
When boarding eventually commenced, the usual announcements were made about boarding those with special needs first, followed by UC passengers, PE and Economy, with FC Au (plus DL and SQ equivalent FFers) permitted to board at their convenience. When the time came to board PE, I was convinced that this was not being adhered to by the ground staff because a large crowd had gathered around the gate and I noticed 2 passengers in front of me who had seats in Economy. If they were PE Au then fair game, however what made me more suspicious was that the staff were simply saying "Hello", scanning our boarding cards and waving us through. Maybe the staff had decided to exercise discrepancy in light of the delays, but not good when you consider that PE gets priority boarding and, on the face of it, had turned into a bit of a free for all.
I settled into my seat upon boarding which contained the same array as the outbound (water, pillow, blanket, headsets) along with the Snooze Kit. Shortly afterwards the crew came round offering sparkling wine or orange juice followed by the 'i'.
As suspected, the 8pm departure time came and went and it was about 8.25pm before we pushed back from the stand and started taxiing to the runway, just ahead of the BA 777 that was operating their second LGW flight of the day.
After take-off it was slightly turbulent for the first 2 hours so the flight crew left the seat belt light on. It was only after the light had gone out when the crew started the evening meal service. As well as the chicken and beef options, there was an aubergine masala on offer which I opted for instead as I was still full from the Outback burger I had at MCO.
Once the meal had been consumed, the tray was cleared and I decided to settle down to try and get some sleep. The recline and footrest (plus noise-cancelling headphones) helped, but it was a shallow sleep for over 4 hours. The headphones helped as further down the same row as me were a large group with 2 babies who cried at times. There was also another round of turbulence during my nap which necessitated the seat belts to be fastened, however this didn't last for long and I'm convinced the minor turbulence helped me to sleep!
I woke up to a fairly impressive sunrise about 90mins from Manchester just in time for breakfast. I went for the American Breakfast option which was good except for the beans. Over Ireland, the captain made an announcement saying that we had made good progress and that we would soon begin our descent along with advice to use the toilets soon as the light would be going on again. Somewhere over the Irish Sea we began our descent and we was straight into MAN (no holding in a stack like I often see the VS076 doing living underneath one of the stacks/approach paths if runway 23L/R are in use) and landed straight onto runway 05R as a Jet2 737 began its take-off roll on 05L.
As we arrived during a lull in the morning peak, it was straight onto the stand and disembarkation begam quickly. Being one of the first off combined with the lack of other flights arriving into T2 at this time meant I was through immigration very quickly. Based on my experience of using MAN, I reckon that it was probably the fastest I've ever cleared immigration. Our cases took about 25 minutes to come through which, once collected, we went back to the Meet & Greet car park to collect our car and head home.
After getting home and started to unpack, I was angry to see that my suitcase was wet and some of the clothes inside were also wet. So wet, the colours on one of my clothes had ran onto other items, therefore staining and ruining them.
I wonder if it had been left out in the rain for an extended period at MCO. Overall, the PE experience had been ruined somewhat by the wet luggage, delays and the chaotic boarding. The seat and service was once again excellent and I will certainly consider forking out for PE again, but the shine has been well and truly rubbed off due to the aforementioned issues - so much so I have already sent off a complaint to VS about these issues. It will be interesting to see what they have to say about it.
Thanks for your time to read this TR. I hope you enjoyed it.
