VS030 BGI-LGW 12 AUG 10 (Economy)

This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

Where do I start?
I've always enjoyed VS flights before now and trusted them travelling with our toddler on a long haul for the first time.
That trust has gone!
Thankfully the flight was on time.
We saw G-VFAB landing from the beach at our resort having chosen to check in and chill out.
We boarded early and were given water by the crew as the a/c had been on the ground for some time and was very hot.
That was where the good service ended.
The children's meal I had ordered, since confirmed on the VS website, was not onboard.
That meant my daughter was served at the same time as us with an adult meal.
There was no apology from the c/c member, who tried to blame me for not ordering the meal.
My daughter's meal was extremely hot (no warning from c/c despite placing it in front of a 2-year-old) and with meals on our tables it was difficult to supervise.
As a result, she grabbed a piece of very hot chicken, burning her mouth.
If that wasn't bad enough, the (one and only)drinks service came after we had finished the meal and the lights were left on well into the night, only dimmed for less than three hours.
Our hungry toddler (she refused to eat her meal or breakfast, not trusting what was served by the crew) was very tired and became sick, vomiting in the aisle.
Despite repeated use of the call button no crew member attended and we ended up cleaning the plane and our daughter ourselves.
Our daughter was distressed by this incident and we asked if her mother could have a seatbelt extension for landing, so she could confort her.
The c/c member flatly refused with only a mumbled explanation, the only word of which I caught was "captain".
I don't mind if it is regulations, but please inform me properly.
The whole thing stank of not wanting to know and just wanting to get landed and off the plane.
At least the whole sorry incident took my mind off the fact the volume down on the V-Port controller was broken so I had the choice of loud or extremely loud for my IFE.
On time departure, early arrival, but a miserable seven and a half hours in between.
It's made me think twice about flying VS in the future, despite some fantastic experiences in the past!

Sorry to hear your flight was so bad - I've experienced the same "can't wait to get home" attitude on a recent SFO->LHR flight, and it made for a miserable flight then - but at least I didn't have a toddler in tow....

What a sad story and a miserable flight. Write to VS, tell them.

[honey lamb]

Definitely write to VS and tell them.

We had a vomiting incident on our last flight. The crew told us that they had no cleaning kit on board and then rolled out the catch all health and safety line. I complained and got a very perfunctory " we are sorry to hear about this" answer.

SO question to any cc. I know vomit is not nice but is there an official line on cleaning mess up? Presumably a slippy floor is a major concern?

Surely having no kit on board is a breach of H&S in the first place? What if it was a substance more risky than vomit?

Plus trotting out the 'we cant do this because of H&S' sort of contradits the 'the CC are here to ensure your safety' line given out on many airlines.

Why would you want someone else to clean up your child's sick?

[mitchja]

Sounds like a shocking VS flight.

Did you speak to the FSM? I would have had stern words with the FSM if I where in your position.

I know it's easy to say now, but always raise any issues with the FSM whilst you are still on the flight.

Defiantly write to VS and don't accept the first boiler-plate response.

Why would you want someone else to clean up your child's sick?

Most parents would and I don't think the OP was trying NOT to clean up.

The issue is that the proper cleaning materials wern't on board and that the CC didn't offer any help at all.

I'm sorry to hear that you had a bad flight. Your child is your responsibility and expecting a member of crew to clean your child sick is unacceptable. You really should have asked to speak with an FSM if you were not happy about this . As for your child's food being too hot - again your responsibility to to make sure the food was at the right temperature for your child not the crew's. I can understand you not being impressed that a child's meal was not arranged but again this was not the crews fault, there is always two sides to every story. Believe me I know as I was once crew it seems when people fly they loose all responsibility for themselves and expect to be waited on hand and foot and don't seem to realise that there are hundreds of other passengers to assist!

The crew certainly should have explained things beter to you, and it does no harm just to apologise if your child's meal is not onboard.
Regarding the sick clean up kits - On my last flight we used all the kits on the outbound sector due to so many children being sick (mainly due to their parents allowing them to have about 10 pepsis each!) So there would have been no kits for the inbound - they are only replenished in the UK, so this may have been the case on your flight too.
With regards to extension seatbelt. They can only be used for children under 2 years old. There is a strict CAA policy that children 2 and over have to sit in their own seat for take-off and landing and crew can get in serious trouble for not adhering to this. But again this should have been explained to you.
Sounds about right that the lights were dimmed for about 3 hours - On a 7 hour flight you need about 2 and a half hours until the service is over, then breakfast is about an hour and a half before landing so three hours with the lights off inbetween.
Sorry you had such a bad flight, again the crew seemed to follow procedures but didn't explain or apologise to you.

Our hungry toddler (she refused to eat her meal or breakfast, not trusting what was served by the crew) was very tired and became sick, vomiting in the aisle.
Despite repeated use of the call button no crew member attended and we ended up cleaning the plane and our daughter ourselves.

Its all the other pax that sat nearby i feel sorry for!
I find it selfish that you bring a toddler (baby) onboard for a long haul flight when most other people might reason that its too much for a baby to:
A. feel comfortable for that long
B. Becoming dehydrated just like adults on a long haul flight
C. Expect cc to clean up your vomit

Believe me it was everyone else who had the miserable flight.

Alex

My daughter is not a baby and I am an experienced traveller, well aware of the potential problems.
Thanks for the posts.
I thought it was probably regulations for her to be in her seat, but better explanation should have been given.
VS should have provided the correct meal.
We did supervise Harriet during her meal, not eating ours until she had finished, but it is difficult to stop a young child grabbing food off the plate.
A warning about the heat from the crew would not have gone amiss or at least a proper apology.
I did not expect the crew to clean up the sick, but I would like to have known they were at least aware of the situation and able to give any assistance they could.
Finally, to the final poster.
Do you suggest those of us with children stick to the costas to keep you happy?
My daughter was brilliantly behaved on both the outbound flight and up to the last 30 minutes of the inbound.
We took our own water onboard and kept her fluids up.
She was perfectly comfortable and slept in her seat.
Don't make judgements before you know the facts

Thanks for the TR and I know from experience how it doesn't take much to turn a great flight with children into an ordeal. Virginboy747 as always has given a useful insight into the reasons for some of the things you experienced on board, and identified that the CC should have communicated better. We lived between London and New York for a few years when the children were very small and the family were regular VS travellers. During that time the really miserable experiences were nearly always caused by rude, arrogant, opinionated and/or intoxicated adult pax.

I cannot believe the attitude in response to this trip report. The OP hasn't expected anything out of the ordinary or something that VS do not market. I hope the guy suggesting it is selfish to bring children on planes is having a sarcastic 15minutes! I doubt VS would be here today without it's family holiday market.

I would even stick my neck out and say that it is within cabin crew responsibility to assist with the cleaning and maintenance of the cabin throughout the flight. I have travelled on many flights where passengers, including adults, have been unwell and cabin crew have sprayed, mopped and disinfected the cabin whilst constantly reassuring the person. Only once on a substandard US carrier have I seen a crew member completely ignore the vomit covered interior - to me this is a serious health and safety risk.

When I was crew I did assist with cleaning up vomit. Good crew can sometimes anticipate if a pax is going to be unwell and assist where ever possible. I did this numerous times! 30 minutes to landing I thought the crew would have much more important things to be doing than cleaning up a child's vomit. Like securing the cabin for landing.

And as Dubaiification has pointed out vomit is a serious health risk and it would be extremely bad not to clean it up however if a child is with its parents they should be the ones responsible for cleaning up their child's vomit while being assisted by the crew! They are not general dogs bodies.

And while we are on the subject of what crew should and should not do I would rather travel with VS over any other airline. Whilst flying back from Cape Town this year a fellow pax was very unwell and the crew were amazing with this gentleman, I feel that if it had not been the swift actions of the crew on board the situation would have been a lot worse.

I do feel that in general Virgin cabin crew are exemplary with regard to the service they provide.

[honey lamb]

OK, folks, can we all calm down.

Alex, with respect, many parents on V-Flyer have brought their children and babies on VS flights, which are all long-haul, with success. Occasionally things go wrong as happened in this case but equally things can go wrong with adults. I still cringe with embarrassment when I remember becoming violently sick on a flight when on descent into an airport. I couldn't head for the loos as the seat belt sign was on and, well, you don't want to know the rest....... I too felt sorry for the passengers around me and I'm sure that the OP felt the same in this instance

Virginboy 747 has given a balanced view of what might have gone wrong from a crew's perspective especially with regard to the lack of equipment to clear up but also did not exonerate the crew in their lack of communication

The OP has stated his/her attempts to contain the situation but feels badly let down by the crew's attitude and it is for this that we are advising that they contact VS

Our hungry toddler (she refused to eat her meal or breakfast, not trusting what was served by the crew) was very tired and became sick, vomiting in the aisle.
Despite repeated use of the call button no crew member attended and we ended up cleaning the plane and our daughter ourselves.

Its all the other pax that sat nearby i feel sorry for!
I find it selfish that you bring a toddler (baby) onboard for a long haul flight when most other people might reason that its too much for a baby to:
A. feel comfortable for that long
B. Becoming dehydrated just like adults on a long haul flight
C. Expect cc to clean up your vomit

Believe me it was everyone else who had the miserable flight.

Alex

whoa whoa whoa,

take it easy mate!!! i have taken an 18 month old on a plane (long haul as well) and paid for her to have her own seat. Usually they are no problem and, yes it is unfortunate that this pax has had such a rotten experiance. But what you have said is way too strong. If an adult becomes unwell, you would expect assistance, so should a child. My canadian aunt was unwell between Barbados and Toronto and Air Canada assesed the situation, checked on her every so often and had paramedic meet her on arrival, maybe she shouldn't travel??

I tell you what, why don't you stand in check in and see who is worthy of the right to travel based on your narrow and discriminatory rationale!!

It's a tricky one isn't it?

Assessing other people's behaviour against what you may or may not deem acceptable.

Right now, I'm sat in the CH alongside the windows directly behind the bar.

In front of me are three children playing in the hanging seats - pushing it round and singing.

Behind me are two women who are discussing quite loudly how one of there flat sales are going, who they were looking at on facebook last night and how long it took to get from Brighton to LHR.

And, on reflection I'm finding the women behind me more annoying. There sitting right next to each other - so why so loud?

the children - well they look pretty young to me (maybe 3 or 4 years old) and they're just being children - excited etc.

However, either way, are either group really annoying me? Not particularly. I think people need to be a bit more live and let live. None of us are perfect - maybe my constant tapping on my laptop is annoying the man near me who is reading his book?

Thank you for the TR, sorry to hear about the problems that you had.

Our hungry toddler (she refused to eat her meal or breakfast, not trusting what was served by the crew) was very tired and became sick, vomiting in the aisle.
Despite repeated use of the call button no crew member attended and we ended up cleaning the plane and our daughter ourselves.

Its all the other pax that sat nearby i feel sorry for!
I find it selfish that you bring a toddler (baby) onboard for a long haul flight when most other people might reason that its too much for a baby to:
A. feel comfortable for that long
B. Becoming dehydrated just like adults on a long haul flight
C. Expect cc to clean up your vomit

Believe me it was everyone else who had the miserable flight.

Alex

Alex,

The points that you given, can easily be applied to adult pax as well.

It's a tricky one isn't it?

Assessing other people's behaviour against what you may or may not deem acceptable.

Right now, I'm sat in the CH alongside the windows directly behind the bar.

In front of me are three children playing in the hanging seats - pushing it round and singing.

Behind me are two women who are discussing quite loudly how one of there flat sales are going, who they were looking at on facebook last night and how long it took to get from Brighton to LHR.

And, on reflection I'm finding the women behind me more annoying. There sitting right next to each other - so why so loud?

the children - well they look pretty young to me (maybe 3 or 4 years old) and they're just being children - excited etc.

However, either way, are either group really annoying me? Not particularly. I think people need to be a bit more live and let live. None of us are perfect - maybe my constant tapping on my laptop is annoying the man near me who is reading his book?

People are generally very annoying but it's normally those with the lowest tolerance level that are the peak! I've sat on planes, trains and transfer buses only to put up with people moaning loudly about children, queues, security, weather, the age of the aircraft .... the list goes on but they are much more tedious than the source of their dissatisfaction. I quite like the hustle and bustle of travel.

Perhaps the private jet or owning a plane would be the pinnacle of acceptability for these people, although it might be too lonely then.

Its all the other pax that sat nearby i feel sorry for!
I find it selfish that you bring a toddler (baby) onboard for a long haul flight when most other people might reason that its too much for a baby to:
A. feel comfortable for that long
B. Becoming dehydrated just like adults on a long haul flight
C. Expect cc to clean up your vomit

Believe me it was everyone else who had the miserable flight.

Alex

Oh dear. How to make friends and influence people - V-Flyer style.

It's barely worth trawling over the old debate of 'Kids On A Plane' (coming soon to a cinema near you), and I sincerely doubt that you genuinely stand by these comments.

As for the OP, sorry to hear you had such a poor flight, but thanks for posting all the same.

Don't make judgements before you know the facts

I stand corrected I never intended to offend but clearly i was caught offguard whilst at work and replied in haste without reading my post. worded my reply in a way that was not needed and deemed inflamatory for this apologise.

Please accept my humble apology rstocks my comments were not needed and came over too strong .

Oh yeah and welcome to V-flyer

Don't make judgements before you know the facts

I stand corrected I never intended to offend but clearly i was caught offguard whilst at work and replied in haste without reading my post. I worded my reply in a way that was not needed and deemed inflamatory and for this apologise.

Please accept my humble apology rstocks my comments were not needed and came over too strong .

Oh yeah and welcome to V-flyer

Don't make judgements before you know the facts

I stand corrected I never intended to offend but clearly i was caught offguard whilst at work and replied in haste without reading my post. I worded my reply in a way that was not needed and deemed inflamatory and for this apologise.

Please accept my humble apology rstocks my comments were not needed and came over too strong .

Oh yeah and welcome to V-flyer

cheers

alex