This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
We arrived at the bag drop - having checked in online. We were allocated our reserved seats in rows 31 and 32 - the system would allow no seat changes at check-in, the flight being completely full. The bag drop queue was fairly short, unlike the counter check-in queue which stretched back all the way to the entrance to terminal 2. Thank goodness we checked in online. The usual trek through security was painless enough but it was difficult getting any seats at Gate 4 because it was so busy. We waited at Gate 5 moving down to Gate 4 about half an hour before the scheduled departure time. Priority boarding was properly followed (it always seems to be done better in LAS than LGW) and we settled into our seats, not looking forward to the 10 hour flight ahead. Taxi (for what seemed like an eternity) and take off - we were on our way.A quick meal/drink service followed soon after departure. The meal was ok and the cabin crew were efficient and friendly. There were no IFE problems and a movie later with cabin lights dimmed we tried, with no avail, to get some shut eye.
We had no difficulty getting drinks from the nearby galley - the crew were helpful and always willing to assist.
The drama began about an hour from touchdown. I had noticed on Skymap that we were following a rather different route home than the usual - but thought nothing of it.
Mrs Quick visited the toilets and whilst she was in there, a waiting passenger collapsed and began to fit. Mrs Q was trapped in the loo for sometime while the crew tended to the unfortunate passenger. She said the crew were really excellent - reassuring the passenger and his relatives. Oxygen was administered and the passenger came round about 10 minutes later. Not sure what happened after that - Mrs Q was released from the loo and returned to her seat.
We landed at LGW at 11.16am - a little behind schedule to discover that the airport was just closing down. We must have been one of the very last flights allowed back into Gatwick before its 12 noon closure. Another wonderful stroke of luck! The BA flight that was scheduled to depart LAS a couple of hours behind us was refused permission to take off!
Our connecting flights were cancelled, so we hastily arranged for car hire and made it back to Manchester at 0530 the following morning. Since then, of course, LAS has seen no VS flights and the logistics of trying to get all those stranded people back home must be a major problem. Still, if you're going to get stranded, there are worse places I am sure.
All in all, a decent economy flight with, yet again, a very good crew. Our next trip, just me and Mrs Q, will be in Upper. Relatively expensive, but our way of rewarding ourselves and giving us something to really look forward to.
