This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Id decided at MAN that I would not check my bags all the way though to JFK as that way I could get land-side at LHR before my trans-Atlantic flight which wasn't an issue. Also managed to get into the BD lounge at MAN using my DC AG card [y]
Once i arrived at LHR and after collecting my luggage I headed to T3 and zone A. I had been a bit concerned about VS sharing check-I with SQ after recent reports but the SQ desks are at the far left hand side and so dont spill over into VS operations at all.
Being FC AG I headed to the PE check-in which wasnt very busy, although there where a couple of rather large baggage trolleys blocking most of the PE desks. After a few seconds I was actually called across by an Upper check-in desk agent .
Straight forward check-in, although my seat had been changed to something like 56K which I wasnt impressed with. Not to worry, I was heading to the CH and would change my seat there.
It only them dawned on my that I would have to use the standard security line (for the first time in several years). It wasnt actually that bad. Less than a 10 minute wait with all the lanes open and seemed to be working quite efficiently.
No shoe carnival any more as previously mentioned on here. The departure area seemed quite busy as I headed straight to the CH. I was using my BMI DC Ag card to gain entry. No issues what so ever in doing so.
Found a spot near the bar and the service was generally good whilst I was there,
I visited concierge to change my seat. No explanation was given as to why my seat had changed but another one further forward (42H) in the cabin was allocated and a new BC printed out.
Now here is the only let down for the CH concierge. 90 mins or so before my flight, I had been checking Expert Flyer and noticed that there where still 2 un-allocated bulk-head row seats in the Y cabin so I popped back to the desk and asked if it was possible to move. After the agent took my boarding card, the flat answer was a No, youll have to do that at the gate. No effort had really been put into my request at all [:(!]
Now Id done this very same thing in January at a similar time before the flight and it was done without any problems what so ever. All I can think of is that last time I was FC Ag, this time I wasnt as the agent had looked at my boarding card before saying no and giving it back to me.
The VS045 was called at about 13:15 and after a few minutes I made my way to the gate. We where departing from gate 21 today. Not my favourite gate area in T3. Whilst its getting better (and still under going renovation), its still not good.
Oh good grief, another queue.and quite a long one at that. Usual VS chaos at the gates as several VS uniformed staff checking peoples passports/boarding cards multiple times. By the time I got onboard the A/C it was 13:45 and there where still pax queuing behind me. Saying that we did manage to push back on time at 14:00.
A/C was an A346 (G-VWEB) so had the newest Y seats, which are actually much better than other VS Y seats and certainly better than the older style V:Port seats.
The on board service was actually very good through out the entire flight which was good especially considering that all cabins where full except for 2 empty Y seats. I even go as far as to say the on-board service was better than the ground service offered by VS today.
Dinner was served about an hour after take-off and yes, you do notice the missing items off the tray. Will be even worse if or when the desert goes. Theres now only a very small pasta dish, hot main meal, bread roll + butter and the Gu desert.
I had no major issues with V:Port. I did mange to crash it once though when I was in the Sky News bit. A quick re-boot and I was back up and running though in under 10 mins. Ice creams havent been cut and they are still offered mid-flight. The snack service was also offered about an hour before landing which was the usual drinks and cereal bar .
Landed at JFK again on time. Immigration was very busy, so much so, they where even letting foreign pax use the US lanes. Just over an hour later I was finally at the baggage carousel by which time all the VS bags had all come off. I must have done quite well actually as there where still a lot of VS bags going round.
After a quick stop outside the terminal, I made my way back to the air train and then the subway. First time Id used these to get from JFK to Manhattan and its actually very easy, only costing about $7.00 in total and I was at my hotel in the Times Square area about 45 mins later.
All in all a good VS flight, much much better than previous VS economy flights. The service offered by the cabin crew was far better than the service offered by the VS ground staff at LHR. The only real thing letting down the ground staff was the CH concierge staff (hence the reason why I marked down check-in).
Staying at the Hotel Mela, which is excellent BTW. Great location right next to Times Square on West 44th street, reasonable prices offering nice boutique style rooms and free fast WiFi too [y]. They have even upgraded my room too [:D]
Regards
Regards
James Mitchell
James Mitchell
