VS075 MAN-MCO 15 APR 11 (Premium Economy)

This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

We flew out last Friday on G-VKSS and thought you might be interested in some more detail about the new planes. particularly the IFE so I snapped a few pics during the flight.

Check in at MAN was very efficient, only one family in front of us in the PE line and we were done in less than five minutes. I did OLCI but the system wouldn't let me print boarding passes but the good news was we kept our pre requested seats of 24HK and 25HK.

I had booked fast track security which worked great, we bypassed the main line and were done and dusted in a couple of minutes and on our way to the Escape Lounge for a light snack.

We went to gate at 10am and were called to board after the special assistance passengers.



The new aircraft are nice and clean and the new seats look and feel great. I thought the leg room was the same as the 744 but it quickly became clear it's not the same quiet more intimate cabin like the bubble.

The IFE was in pre take off mode :



This is the socket layout for connecting your own devices, you can play content from your iphone only if you have a special video cable which fits in the round multi pin socket shown here :



They are supposed to be offered for sale on board but there are none available yet. a cabin crew member recommended a trip to the FMall apple store if I wanted to try it out on the return leg.

These screen shots show what media you can play through each socket :







The IFE came alive 20 minutes after take off with a good choice of TV, Movies and Games











The touch screen and the menus on it are really easy to use.

This is the handset in it's dock :



and out :



There is also a news service :



and the skymap





Last bit of the technical stuff is the inseat power located at ankle level between seats - note no adaptor required - just plug straight in !



The food as usual was average, this is the beef hotpot



and the kids pasta



Top marks go to the very friendly, chatty and very helpful crew members in PE who after our 9hr 10min flight made sure PE were given priority disembarkation enabling us to cut through the galley and be second family into the deserted immigration hall at MCO.

Can't fault the immigration staff, baggage handlers and budget rental car either, we were exactly 1 hour from wheels touching runway to leaving the carpark.

Our good luck has continued as well, after three nights at the GF we moved to the Contemporary Resort to be greeted with an out of this world complimentary upgrade to a two bedroom, three bathroom & massive lounge area ( inc bar ) suite. I'm typing this from one of my four balconies overlooking MK.

TTFN

What a good report. Its nice to see more information on the in flight system. Thanks for taking the time to report back to us.

Wow fantastic TR - Thank you for posting.

The pictures are great and it's great to see the new IFE in such detail.

For those who have only really used the LGW/MAN route and have been used to odyssey/Nova, this is a massive upgrade!

Well done on the upgraded hotel room - not jealous at all!

Luke

Great photos - nice to see some detailed shots of the IFE!.

Thank you for the great TR and the great pics of the IFE.

Now I'm wondering if the iPod AV cable that I already own would work with the new IFE?

Great report with excellent pics, Thank you Alec - your hotel upgrade was richly deserved

[mitchja]

Thanks for the TR

Now I'm wondering if the iPod AV cable that I already own would work with the new IFE?

I think it should, if it's the same one I have which has a white, yellow and red plug on it (along with a USB charging plug). The other black circular socket on the IFE looks to be s-video which I don't think Apple devices support do they?

There are 2 Apple AV cable kits though (composite and component), I think it's the composite one you want as the plugs on this cable match those socket colours. This is what I have anyway.

The other circular socket looks to be s-video which I don't think Apple devices support?

And yet it is labelled ipod - oh dear - that will be the first thing to get broken then.

[mitchja]

Very strange. Unless it's an IFE specific cable you need, there's appears to be no iPod/iPhone/iPad AV cable kits available from the online Apple store which looks anything like s-video or whatever that black circular socket is?

Edit - After a bit of Googling and reading FT, the socket is actually a specific airline IFE 9 pin mini-DIN socket and you do need a special iPod/iPhone to IFE cable, which is available from Apple but I can't find this in the UK Apple online store.

Great TR - much appreciated.

Many thanks for a great TR - the info. is much appreciated.

We're booked in 25HK as well - how did you find those particular seats & is the recline restricted being at the back? Was the storage wardrobe useful for hand luggage and was there much of a scrap with no centre overhead bins?

DW was sat in 25 with DD1, she said there was no problem with the recline at all, footrest much improved. There were two wardrobes right behind us. The people in the middle three used one and the other one remained empty, our overhead locker was half empty all the flight.

hey thanks for the TR - great to hear some positive comments about the 330

Many thanks for a great TR - the info. is much appreciated.

We're booked in 25HK as well - how did you find those particular seats & is the recline restricted being at the back? Was the storage wardrobe useful for hand luggage and was there much of a scrap with no centre overhead bins?

Like your thinking here Bill - trying to avoid annoyance from the touch screen?

Given the above info I think we will go for row 25 as well.

Many thanks for a great TR - the info. is much appreciated.

We're booked in 25HK as well - how did you find those particular seats & is the recline restricted being at the back? Was the storage wardrobe useful for hand luggage and was there much of a scrap with no centre overhead bins?

Like your thinking here Bill - trying to avoid annoyance from the touch screen?

Given the above info I think we will go for row 25 as well.

No touch screen behind.
First out the door.
Wardrobes right behind.
Drinks nearby.

I suppose we should keep quiet.....

It has amazed me to see that the 25AC/25HK are often left unreserved - the disadvantage will be noise from the "galley"/exit/wc area if it is used as an exercise room - depends where the screens are,

Here's some more pics that DD took :

25HK



24 DEF





Low Salt main meal



Low Salt Sandwich

Thanks for posting the extra pics Alec!

Luke

Nice one - thank you.

What a result on the hotel upgrade - lady luck was with you that day!

Great TR and thanks for all the pics - IFE looks really good.

Great pics, that IFE looks superb

Can you watch videos from a usb stick? or just music? we are flying from gatwick at the end of june!

Hi
Great TR and Photo's. Couple of questions before we go out in Sept if you don't mind.
Did the seat divider fold in or away between the seats? and could you get a cold beer on board instead of wine? ( I don't drink wine) freak I know!

Thanks

[Neil]

Yes, you can get (cold) beer, but during meal service they serve wine so you would have to ask the crew if they would be able to get you one for your meal.

The divider between the seats doesn't lift if I remember correctly.

So these new planes... I know LGW/MAN flights are the older ones, but how comes you got one on a MAN flight? Is that just a random change?

As for the IFE is it better or same than the LHR one, or better?

As for those connections, that isn't a S-VHS one, I've looked at a couple I have and it doesn't match. It wouldn't suprise me if apple have done another proprietary socket. From the markings it has usb power/ and video/stereo phone plug ins for non apple, and just one connector for apple devices. Not a fan of apple so can't comment any further...