Outbound flight
Good check-in time at EDI, being a small airport there wasn't a huge queue either.. I think we checked in at 7 for the flight at 09.10. Check-In agent was nice, wished us a good holiday and laughed when we asked how much it would be to stump up for J on this leg... 4000 for both of us, and thats not a typo!!!
Did some duty-free, just bought Armani City Glam for men (recommended) and sat in the departure lounge. Nothing special at EDI anyway. The flight was called on time, and we got seated in the second row from the front of Y, I took the Window seat, mum in the middle and as usual - a lonely business man next to her (who was very nice, but had bad breath [:$]).
The seats on the 757 were tight, if not plain uncomfortable and the recline wasn't very good either. The IFE was utter rubbish, I can't recall what was on but the screen was just above the seat infront, so one would have had to crane ones neck and end up seeing a chiropractor on landing!!!
I slept for a good 2 hours on the flight, and that took up a lot of the time (6 hours [:)]). The food was disgusting, I ended up resorting to the bag of M&Ms in my ruck-sack which really, really filled me up [:p]. As I have found with all American carriers, the crew were very business like and didn't stray for their formalities to have a conversation. They did however tell me to look out the window on my side to see NYC while landing, which was nice of them.
The flight was overall Ok, being brought up from rubbish due to the short-flight time and no connections. On arrival, immigration was the fastest I have ever seen at a US airport, I suppose that was due to the small plane and a seat near the exit... [ii].
Our holiday was fantastic, we stayed with friends in Matawan which is a good hour from NYC but far enough out to be nice and peaceful. I will deffinetly (Sp?!) return, hopefully in September, but with Virgin Hols.
The return flight
Check-In was very fast using a self-service terminal with the help of the CO guy and Terminal C is very nice IMHO, through security in a flash and then a long..long wait at the gate (hehe it rhymes). We were told that we did not have guaranteed seats on the flight, and their upgrades had been given to the card-holders. They told us that if there was no room, they would put us on the next flight to the UK with BA... No luck, A 777 would have been a dream by this stage.
So we got seats right at the back of the aircraft and once again, the petite monitor was very close, and the next one was too far [:#]. I did not expect good service, and I didn't get it... because I took 2 strong sleeping pills and slept from take-off to the coast of Ireland, where I was woken by extremely strong turbulence, so strong the FAs had to stop coffee service, the seat belt signs were on and the plane was shaking vigorously, there must have been at least 4 people being sick, my mum being one of them.. Nice!
Nice landing at EDI and a swift trip through immigration, och aye jimmy!
All things considered, for the flight price, journey times and service, I would recommend the direct service, although I would personally travel via London to get a better plane and IFE and ofcourse those nice VS FA's!!
Thanks
