This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Couple of minor (false) fire alarm evacuations in T3 helped pass the time once we were airside. I found it quite amusing to see just how many PAX would not budge from their seats even when the fire brigade arrived in the terminal and started trying to herd them out. These would probably be the same people who would trample over others had it led to an actual emergency.
Despite the above we were called to the gate on time and boarding was the usual mess. It wouldn't take much to section off a small area by the gate for the UC and PE PAX, as it was you had the usual scrum forming. Once they called rows 50 to 64 we made our way through to the gate, passing the PAX who had been forming the (dis)orderly queue and boarded Mustang Sally. Once seated we had a chat with the crew member at the back who I have to say was an absolute star throughout the whole flight - a credit to VS.
Unfortunately boarding took an eternity and we missed the slot which led to us sitting there for nearly an hour before we pushed back.
Have to say no issues with legroom from 'right down the back' in 64 A&C. The only downside to these seats are that they mean you are last off at the other end and invariably at the back of the US immigration queue which is always slow even at the best of times. We were booked into the Renaissance at LAX for the first night so this was not a huge issue though.
Wheels finally up at 12:50 and the drinks run followed swiftly. Lunch was the usual Beef, chicken or mushroom option. I had the beef which was surprisingly good. V:Port worked from the off and certainly helped to pass the time during the flight which the captain informed us would be a little over 10 1/2 hours due to strong headwinds. Our friendly member of cabin crew ensured that the kids had plenty of drinks during the flight and took the time to chat to them which was a nice touch [y]
After a very smooth flight we finally landed at LAX just after 3:00pm. Made a special point of thanking the crew especially the one who had looked after us so well and made our way into the immigration hall. Luckily we were ahead of a KLM 747 so there was only the entire plane full of PAX from our flight in front of us [:w].
Took just over 45 minutes to clear immigration and the luggage had already been stacked to the side of the baggage reclaim by the time we got through. Met the Virgin Rep who saw us onto the hotel bus and just over an hour and a half after touching down we were sat by the pool enjoying a long island iced tea - the first of many!. Found this a far better option than last year when we opted to get the car the same day and fight our way through LA traffic at rush hour to our hotel in Anaheim.
Next day we had breakfast and then picked the car up at Dollar, negotiated a good deal on an upgrade and headed off to our first stop which was the Renaissance Hollywood hotel - Would recommend this hotel to anyone wishing to stay in the Hollywood area - check out Trip advisor where it gets rave reviews
All in all a very good flight and a superb crew (at the back at least) [y]
Jon B
