VS045 LHR-JFK 8 OCT 14 (Economy)

This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin

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Time for our annual business jaunt to NYC for the comic con that takes place. We live in Yorkshire, but as we generally prefer direct flights we drive down to LHR for most of our travel. It's a long way, but my OH is a trooper and never (well, rarely!) complains. The traffic wasn't too bad and we arrived at the airport just over 3 hours prior to departure. We parked at short stay in T3 as we've found it the most convenient location. As we'd checked in online we just went straight to the bag drop and everything was very swift and efficient. The line for security was pretty short and we were through in under 10 minutes, I think in general T3 seems to be less busy at that time of day.

No CH for us as we're lowly Ag members flying economy on this leg! T3 was relatively pleasant and we whiled away the wait chatting and enjoying snacks from Pret.

When called for boarding the gate was very empty, and everyone was allowed to board at the same time, which was quite confusing. Upon boarding the aircraft we realised Y was less than half full. We'd selected two seats at the side of the plane (aisle and middle, 40H and 40J) and ended up with a gentleman sitting in the window seat next to us. Everyone else started to spread out due to the excess space and we decided we'd ask if we could, too. One guy moved from his seat to an exit row seat in front of us (without asking) sitting in front of the very tall guy next to me. When our neighbour asked if he could also sit in an exit row seat with more room, he was rebuffed by CC and told he'd have to pay. We did not point out that the person in front had not paid for his seat. By this point everyone else had spread out without asking, leaving the three of us cramped together as we were too English and all thought it best to enquire politely first, rather than just move ourselves. Lesson learned! To add insult to injury, the guy who'd moved to the exit row seat in front of the gentleman sitting next to me was a very inconsiderate recliner (please note, I have no issue with reclining, but do think it good manners and good safety practice to be upright at least when it is required, i.e. during take off and landing). He reclined fully just as we were about to taxi and was told to put his seat back upright by CC. As soon as the CC had taken a seat, he reclined fully all the way again and stayed like that throughout taxi, take off and up until the first meal was served, when CC asked him to put his seat up for the meal service (he again reclined as soon as CC moved on). I felt so bad for the guy next to us as he was very tall and had long legs. Fortunately I don't take up too much room in a seat, so he was able to sort of encroach on my seat space a bit (not a problem, I am fairly easy going as long as whoever is sitting by me is polite and friendly!) in order to sit somewhat comfortably. I did wonder why he didn't move to a seat without someone sitting in front of him (as it would have been much easier for him, as a single traveller, to find a more comfortable seat, than for us, travelling as a couple, to do so), but perhaps he was worried about offending us!

The food was ordinary; my OH opted for the beef and I got the vegetarian option, a rather pungent mushroom pasta which was edible but I've definitely had better meals in Y! The dessert was a little mango and passion fruit flavoured Gu pot (I think), which was quite tasty. I drank a lot of water and slept intermittently. OH was not so lucky and hardly slept at all. We arrived in good time at JFK and were off the plane relatively quickly as we'd selected seats close to the front. A member of CC complimented my coat while we were waiting to disembark and we had a nice chat about fashion! Overall CC were exceptionally friendly, the lady who looked after us for much of the flight always presented with a smile.

As usual, immigration at JFK was a bit of a rigmarole. We followed signs for visitors with returning ESTAs, which ended up in a queue for US citizens, which they then split into other queues. We finally ended up using the electronic devices, OH got through without a problem, but I now look so wildly different from my 2008 passport photo (I'll be renewing my passport soon because of this) that we were then directed to wait to see an immigration officer. This was by far the longest wait and took about 25 minutes despite the line being short. The officer was very friendly but concerned me as she look at my passport photo for a long, long time and told me the differences between the photo and my face were "worrying", which is never good to hear! Usually immigration officers raise an eyebrow at my photo but have a bit of a joke with me about it, but not this lady! She eventually let me through stating that she was "satisfied" that it was me in the photo. Heart rate returning to normal, we went through, got our bags straight away and joined the long line for a cab into NYC.

Wow, this flight was not one to give a thumbs up to

It's a shame that someone in authority did not deal with the ignorant, arrogant and selfish passenger who moved into those exit row seats - he sounded like a real ba****d

We noticed a real scrum occurring on our BA economy flight back from Boston in April this year. The cabin crew said once takeoff is over, then passengers can move around the cabin into any empty seats. Needless to say, as soon as she was out of sight, my so called civilised fellow passenger were literally standing up arguing about who got to the empty seat row first! The aircraft was in the process of taxiing the time

I think the US Immigration officers have got a bit better over the years but I am always relieved once my passport is stamped and I'm waved through.

Yes, we were a bit disappointed with what happened with the passenger who moved into the exit row seat, too. Just goes to show that being brazen sadly gets you better results than quietly waiting to request something. With that said, I do think it's tough for CC to know who has moved when a flight is so empty and about 50% of the PAX on board have shuffled seats. We didn't want to start any sort of argument so didn't mention anything. The scenario on your flight from BOS sounds really unpleasant; I just don't understand that mentality

Yes, over the last year we've found US immigration officers to be much improved. Going into Chicago earlier this year we had a guy who was positively chatty and talked to us about music for a while. Equally, going into SFO in May we got a guy who was initially stern but ended up being quite fun. I get that they do a tough job so we always try to be as polite and helpful as possible, but they do still scare me a little!

Oh no thats not cool.
Some people hey! I would have "grassed him up" to the CC by telling them in the galley.
that kind of thing really annoys me grrrr

What an inconsiderate passenger! I've noticed people moving to extra legroom seats without CC's permission on my recent BA flight as soon as the cabin door closed and whilst it didn't cause any arguments, it wasn't far off and the CC had to intervene. It's difficult - I'd like to think that most pax are polite and civilised enough, but some odd ones can really ruin other's journeys quite easily...it sounded like you were model citizens though - I would have told on this rude passenger!

gfonk, perhaps if it happened again, I might. But I wasn't sure if us complaining about it would be taken badly or not. It did seem very unfair on the guy next to us.

mrsw, indeed! The only thing that made me feel slightly better was that the CC seemed equally irritated by him, so at least it wasn't just us!

Nice to have a tr from the other end of the plane.
Did they do the announcement about moving around freely but expect to be charged if you sit in the extra leg room seats?
Flying from Abu Dhabi to bangkok in March we had the same issue...empty plane, guy next to me was to slow to move and we ended up the only row with 3 ppl in!
D