This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
OLCI- worked on this journey but since then has been playing up a lot!!!! We managed to secure our seats of 7AK, 8AK and 9K. Our ideal seats in 6AK had already been taken by a member of the DIBB who was flying out his 40th Birthday - so I forgave him for that. They had a great time and seemed awed by the UC cabin. The CC were great with them and allowd his family to visit at various points throughout the flight and thet too were all impressed with the cabin.
At the airport
We had another quick journey from home to the airport - 15 minutes which is begining to be the usual trip time which suits us fine. Once at the airport we were met with are you travelling economy or premium today - now i'm begining to understand why people get upset with this, we had made our way to UC check in, so we are either flying in UC or we are GC holders, surely it would be better to ask are you travelling UC today - you have the choice of the same yes or no answer. We confirmed that we were in UC and directed to wait in line.
Check in was heaving - first day of the half term and it was busy. We stood in line for about 5 minutes while the couple in front were dealt with and passed the time by informing Jess that no she couldn't open trunkie at least 25 times - this wasn't boding well for a pleasant flight so far.
We were dealt with quickly, BC given out, immigration forms handed over (I have about 3 sets of these at home now, I find it easier to fill them out at home, seems less stressful than on the plane) and Lounge invites issued. All done very professionally, we were wished a happy flight - no delays, and we were on our way.
The new security is a breeze and we were in the lounge within 5 minutes of leaving check in, we had given duty free and WHSmith a miss this time as the airport was fit for bursting and there was no way we were queuing up for anything.
Lounge
We made our way through the thousands of people who had descended on MAN airport and arrived reasonably unscathed to find that it was - yep you guessed it busy. We were told to go right as it there was more chance of finding a seat on that side, the lady on reception was lovely and did inform us that it was extrememly busy this morning. So on her advise we headed right and within 2 minutes were walking back towards the left as there were no spare seats at all and people were packed in like sardines. We finally managed to find a seat, got ourselves settled with some drinks and pastries and read and played for a little while.
Now with it being half term, there were a few more children in the lounge than we have seen before and my word could you hear them, see them and feel them. Now before anyone jumps down my throat and attacks me for my extremely uncharitable thoughts towards these children and the lessons I wanted to give the parents on controlling said children, we were travelling with 3 children of our own. Three girls aged 10, 9 and 4, who had no problem is sitting themselves down and behaving for the duration of our stay by reading, colouring or playing on dad's iphone and stressing him out (for some reason having Lauren play on the iphone whilst drinking a coffee and eating a pastry wasn't really acceptable [}:)]) It kept her quiet though and no harm came to the phone. Now I know it can be a nightmare trying to occupy children in an airport, but these weren't small children running around they were around my eldest 2 daughters ages and this annoyed me even more.
After a few 'Don't these children know how to sit quietly' and 'Where the hell are the parents' it was thankfully time to leave and once more brave the masses downstairs. So off we went to gate 300 - remote stand again, but hopefully for the last time.
Gate and boarding
One word - busy.
We (or rather I) had a plan. I was fed up of being stopped for secondary screening and had become convincd that this was because we were a family of 5 and meant less groups of people to stop. So... we spilt up the group, I was to be travelling with H and L and Scott was travelling with Jess.
Within 10 minutes the priority boarding call was made and we made our way towards the doors, as did the entire plane. All credit to the ground staff they were checking boarding cards and sending them back. Once through we were asked how many in your group and I replied 3, we were then waved onto the bus and waited for Scott to arrive with Jess seconds later.
It wasn't long before we were off to meet our home for the next 9 or so hours. We declined the offer of 3 childrens packs, we have 15 of the things already, and to be honest there isn't much in them these days especially for the little ones, and we headed off up the stairs.
At the top the CC looked at our boarding cards, looked at us and looked at our boarding cards again, honestly we didn't look that bad - hubby was in a shirt and trousers and I was smart casual and the girls in jeans and tops, but looked smart enough. Anyway she advised us to turn left and make our way to the front which we did with pleasure and before long we were entering the UC cabin and settling ourselves in.
Drinks were offered quickly and topped up twice before take off, we were asked if we had flown UC before and Jess was made a right fuss of. For all the faults you could find with Virgin, the CC attitude to children has never ceased to amaze me - they have always been great with my girls and nothing has ever been too much trouble, even when travelling in economy and this is one of the reasons we continue to use virgin as opposed to anyone else.
It took a while to board everyone and i think it was a full flight, when we took our walk around the plane with Jess I couldn't see any spare seats at all.
Before long though the cabin was secured, safety briefing over and we were off, the holiday was begining.
Seats
I can't remember the name of the plane sorry, but i do remember the seats looking worn and tired on this flight. However all tables seemed to pop out on request and the seats converted to beds no problem so all in all things were fine.
IFE
The choice of films were very good, and I can only thank the flying gods that mamma mia wasn't showing on the flight otherwise the UC cabin ould have been subjected to 9 hours of singing and dancing courtesy of all my 3 girls who adore this film to the point of obsession. Every time we went out in the car on holiday the soundtrack to mamma mia and HSM3 were played constantly - I did begin to feel quite sorry for Scott by the end of the 2 weeks [;)]
BUT - the IFE wouldn't load correctly and crashed quite a few times. When it was working the picture was fuzzy and the sound hit and miss. This is one of the first times I have had a complaint about the IFE, but I was really disappointed, we had a very long 9 hour flight and rely on the IFE to help entertain the girls especially Jess. Now Jess wasn't naughty on the flight, but she didn't sit for as long as she usually does because she couldn't see or hear her film. Now I have a back-up for situations such as these and it comes in the form of trunkie - filled with exciting goodies that she can do and make, colouring, dot to dot, stickers, cards, books, toys....but nothing was keeping her attention. By this point Scott had pretended we didn't belong to him and was doing his best to ignore Jess and I was getting more and more stressed. I was constantly aware that Jess was up and down talking to her sisters, me, the CC and being ignored by dad. Finally Hannah pipes up why don't you let her watch a film on the iphone, I had completely forgotten that i had downloaded 2 childrens films onto the iphone in July, just in case [:#]
Armed with that bit of knowledge we settled Jess down to watch her films and relative peace took over the UC cabin. If you were on that flight, i'm sorry Jess was a pain and even more sorry that it took as long as it did to remember we had films she could watch [:I]
Meals
We hadn't ordered any childrens meals for this flight as the girls tend to prefer the adult offerings. We do however get a very nervous member of the CC who approaches us to ask if we had pre-ordered any childrens meals, to which I reply no. The look of relief on her face was a picture. I had opted to wait until Jess, H and L had eaten so I could eat in peace. We all had the soup and enjoyed it, Lauren even asked for more which was brought out with no problem. Everyone but H had ordered beef, she ordered the chicken and declared it ok but a little dry, when I asked about her dessert, treacle tart and custard, she just grinned and showed me her plate, there was nothing left so I think that went down quite well [:D]
The beef pie and the trimmings were very nice I thought, the only complaint we all had was that the pastry was awful and none of us touched it. Scott, Jess and Lauren all had cheese and biscuits - must have been good as there was nothing left at the end, and I opted for the treacle tart and custard, Hannah was right it was delicious [:D]
Afternoon tea was a very strange assortment of sandwiches which included smoked salmon, a spicy egg mayonnaise and a chicken and chutney (I think). None of the girls touched the sandwiches at all and I was greatful to the CC for finding a dairylee dunkers for Lauren, Jess and Hannah had a bag of crisps and a banana. Myself and Scott found the sandwiches ok and the scone perfect.
Drinks were topped up throughout dinner and afternoon tea and the service from the CC was excellent throughout both meal services [:D]
Service
I would have to say on this flight second to none. From the minute we stepped foot into the UC cabin to getting off the plane the crew were very visible within the cabin and nothing was too much trouble.
The FSM came around with the basket of extras just after take off and was seen on a few occassions throughout the flight topping up drinks and ensuring everyone was ok. Everyone of them was polite, friendly and very professional [oo]
Final thoughts
This was a long flight at 9 hours 5 minutes, the longest it has taken before that for us is 8 hours 40. Those extra 25-30 minutes made a long flight seem a very long flight, especially with the IFE problems.
Saying that though we enjoyed ourselves and as usual got off the plane feeling far more refreshed than we ever have in economy or PE, so the extra money to sit in UC is well worth it in that respect alone.
We have had some great CC in the past, but this crew went above and beyond the call of duty, I don't think anyone in UC that day wanted for anything at all. When they saw the girls hadn't eaten their sandwiches they went out of their way to find them something else and it was done without it seeming to be a problem to them.
We love to fly from MAN, it's close to home and we always have great flights. The standard of service is always high and in this case exceptional.
Thanks for reading what again turned out to be a very long TR. I will post the return journey later today. I was going to do it straight away, but apparently the girls are hungry and are going to starve to death if I don't feed them now [;)]
