Got the full laptop, jacket, shoe & belt circus in the security fastlane, but was through fast enough. Checked and G-VROM was on stand, quick trip to duty free then into the Escape Lounge. As I said last year [& others have said] its no Clubhouse, but its a haven of tranquillity when compared to the main lounge area downstairs. [End of bit written in the Escape Lounge].
Boarding time [as per the boarding pass 9:10am] came and went. Boarding time [as per the check-in agent - 9:30am] came and went. The ground staff were wandering round the gate area looking for passengers in need of special assistance and boarding them on the quiet. There was a priority boarding sign for UC / PE / FC Gold, but when the announcement went out for boarding it was a complete scrum[V]. Zero marks to the MAN ground staff for managing the boarding process, a headless chicken would have done a better job.
Got on board without too much of a delay and turned left for the UC cabin which was in pretty good condition, it has to be said. Had not been on board too long before the champers was offered, and duly accepted. The suite (8A) was in good condition with only a few pen marks that the hot towel would not remove. No drink refills offered before takeoff though[V], which is a shame as they took a fair while to board the aircraft. Pushed back not more than 5mins late & the flight time to MCO was to be 8h40m.
Drink & lunch orders were taken as we taxied out to the runway why do the crew have to [or choose to] use an [empty!] sick-bag to write the orders down on?[:0] Have the bean counters at VS cut back on pads of paper? Following take-off the ordered drinks were duly delivered, and consumed, followed by a refill [well, they did offer!][:w]. Lunch followed about an hour out of MAN had the smoked haddock pate to start, followed by the roast chicken. It was interesting to note that out of 10 occupied UC seats, only one person had the spiced butternut squash soup to start cannot think why! The lunch was more than acceptable. Passed on a proper dessert and just had the cheese, which was also good.
Having eaten, I asked for the laptop power ports to be turned on in the seats, so am now typing this on aircraft power. So far, the flight has been incredibly smooth no turbulence of any kind and the seatbelt sign has been off from the 10k feet mark out of MAN. The FSM has also been completely absent from the UC cabin so far on the flight. The friend I am travelling with came over and sat on the ottoman for a while to chat during this time my seat acquired a mind of its own. It would recline / move forward of its own accord even though I was nowhere near the controls. 7K opposite also managed to go from reclined to fully upright by itself when its occupier was using the toilet. Spooky stuff.
Another drink or two followed, followed in turn by use of the laptop to play DVDs as I did not fancy any of the films on offer on Nova. I believe that one of the massages VS offer in the Clubhouse / IFBT is called away in the clouds [or something similar] well, I was away in the clouds watching Andrea Corr live at Landsdowne Road on DVD the perfect way to pass two hours of the flight. I had better not say too much more about Andrea Corr, as my girlfriend will read this [potential [B)]] Some sleep then followed, dreaming about anything but Andrea, naturally. [End of bit written during the flight].
The remainder of the flight was fairly uneventful. Afternoon tea was served & this saw the FSM finally set foot in the UC cabin with the cake stand. Interesting to note that the afternoon tea offering seems to have improved since my last UC flight last year there were sandwiches, cakes and scones with cream & jam (the scones were absent last year).
We did a very southerly course on this flight, heading for Dublin, then south over Cork then turned to do the Atlantic crossing. Approaching Florida we flew over Bermuda, then got a great view of Cape Canaveral on the start of the approach into MCO.
On landing at MCO almost an hour early, we were the first long haul flight in from the UK, ahead of the other VS flights & the BA one. The crew held back the main Y cabin so we were off pretty quick to an empty immigration hall. Priority bags worked fine ours were out right behind the Crew bags on the dedicated Upper / Premium belt. We were in our hire car driving out of the parking garage in little over half an hour from landing, so you cannot fault the MCO experience today.
To summarise, all in all another great UC flight. The two crew working the UC cabin were very good and attentive. The cabin was in reasonable nick and some aspects of the service seem to have improved from last year [afternoon tea & the slightly improved amenity kit]. Clearly, as others have said on here, if you get a good crew, you get a good flight.
10 days in Florida now beckons I think its 1:30am at the moment, but dont feel tired yet! Return TR to follow when Im back in the UK.
James
