This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
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Unfortunately Virgin have brought the departure time forward by an hour to 4.25 p.m. (two hours earlier than a winter departure of 6.25 p.m.) This does rather negate the benefits of Check-In, Chill-Out as we had to leave our hotel at 1.30 p.m. The security and customs lines were very short and we were soon looking for space in a fairly full terminal, as two US flights depart before VS032. The inbound flight had arrived 45 minutes late and we were delayed being called to the gate, with long delays while childrens strollers were bagged up. Even when we did get through the gate there was a further delay after leaving the terminal, as the crew apparently werent ready for us.
We settled into our seats 79 H & K and this time there was a selection of English and US papers at the top of the stairs. The crew on this flight were Manchester based, having come in from there the previous day. The pre-flight drinks were brought around and we were ready for departure approximately 20 minutes late. Of course there are no delays on the taxiway in St Lucia and we were quickly heading towards the setting sun and our return to a somewhat chillier England. The jetstream, which had delayed the in-bound flight now sped us across the Atlantic, with a flight time of just 7 hours 30 minutes.
The IFE system on Ruby Tuesday is Odyssey, a major improvement on the Nova system outbound. However I didnt make too much use of it, other than to catch the end of Dave Gormans America Unchained and to watch the Sky Map. On the overnight flights I prefer to try to catch some sleep assisted by my iPod.
The meal was probably the best that I have had with Virgin. I had jerk chicken with rice and peppers and my wife had beef, both were very good and plentiful, a vast improvement on outbound. An apple crumble and cheese and biscuits followed, with wine offered with the meal, then Baileys.
During the night a fruit basket was available, while orange juice and water were left out for passengers to help themselves.
As we approached England a warm muffin and an oatmeal cookie were brought around with tea and coffee. Although better than some breakfasts Ive had, I do hanker for something more akin to breakfast items, which have been served in the (distant) past.
The seats were comfortable and I managed some sleep, despite the efforts of one of the passengers. I left the flight convinced that Virgin is missing a trick, since they could charge some of us a large extra premium to guarantee an adult-only cabin!!
The cabin crew were very good, I looked at them in a new light having read You FCoffee Sir while away, however the first-officer had a couple of lengthy attempts at humour, which some people appreciated and others didnt.
We touched down at the hideous time of 05.20 a.m. to a beautiful sunrise at Gatwick, having flown over our home town (albeit at about 20000 ft) and passed through customs in a reasonable amount of time. However priority baggage didnt seem to work very well, as we had an extended wait for our luggage to appear.
Now it was off to get the car and then just the 100 mile journey down to the south coast.
However at least we had brought the warm weather with us, as it turned out to be only a couple of degrees Celsius cooler.
Graham
(Reposted after site problems)
