Collected by minibus at 3.30pm after a leisurely lunch/swim and off for the 110 minute drive to the airport. We had tried to get the helicopter transfer (which I highly recommend) but it was fully booked. It appears everbody is booking the copter shuttle when booking their holiday so another lesson learned for the future.
Arrived at the airport on time to find our flight delayed by 60 minutes which wasn't a problem.
St Lucia is a typical Caribbean style airport very similar to Antigua, However, I would suggest Virgin send their London gate agents over there for training in the art of priority boarding, what a smooth operation with the agent keeping all the pax informed as to which class was boarding at which desk.
A short walk across the tarmac and up into our pre-assigned seats 79 J/K and 80 J/K on the top deck, chosen from the seat reveiw forum on this site. Highly recommended. Up until now I had only had 1 return trip in PE class to Washington with VA and I found the seats to be hard and uncomfortable, these seats were completely different. I confess to not knowing too much about seats on planes but I have a sneaking suspicion that these are the old style seats which they are phasing out. I stand to be corrected, but if I am right, keep the old ones and throw out the new ones. On my previous report on the premium cabin on F.C.A. I stated that the seats were better than PE, well I now take that back.
One interesting point was the cabin crew member who greeted us as we entered the plane was adamant that our seats were downstairs in the main cabin. She blocked our way from turning immediately right to the staircase and made us go through to the other side of the plane and walk towards the back to the small PE section. The downside of this was when we then turned around to get upstairs we were struggling against the flow of pax. Oh well!
As previously stated the seats were great and we really enjoyed the exclusivity of this section of the plane. The food was appalling with all 4 of us leaving a fair part of it. I am not a foodie and to be honest I will eat most things, The very small salad was warm and the main course tasted like it had been cooking for days, it was a gooey mess. That said that was the only downside of the flight. The Fa's were brilliant running up and down all night with water, orange and alcoholic drinks for those that wanted them. This team of Attendants certainly didn't hide at all, well done to them.
None of us partook of the breakfast other than tea and coffee. Upon looking at the trays I feel they should invite Jamie Oliver to help them provide a less sugery and more nutricianal offering.
One other point worth mentioning is that the aisle is substantionally wider upstairs, to the point where you can stand up and the trolley can easily get by you. Exercising/stretching your legs is not inconvenient to other pax or staff.
All in all other than the food a great flight.[y]
