This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
A VERY quiet (for MCO) security queue quickly disgorged us for the short monorail ride to departures. Arriving at the gate with Beauty Queen, Mademoiselle Rouge and Ruby Tuesday lined up wing tip to wing tip at Gates 81, 83 and 85 respectively with a solitary BA flight to LGW boarding. Once again managed to snag Seq 1 and 2 (first time doing so for outbound and inbound flights) which left the present Mrs Treelo completely underwhelmed. I did try to explain the significance of said snag but I might as well have been speaking Martian 
And so, onto Beauty Queen into a half empty PE cabin (although it was full down the back) and offered some sparkling fizz or juice. Shortly before takeoff, a few more pax made their way to some of the empty PE seats. Among this group was an infant - hereinafter referred to as Mummy’s Little Darling or MLD for short - who seemed to be attempting to break the Guinness World Record for the length and ferocity of a screaming session. But more of this later!
A fairly long taxi followed by an on time departure with a short (8 hr) flight time announced by the Captain. Neither of us sampled the food this time around having already eaten in the terminal,(hence the 'average' marking) but the choices seemed to hold out during the dinner.
Permission not requested, so names not used, but, to hark back to a subject mentioned in more than one previous TR, the FSM and the CC serving dinner gave yet another reason for the forward toilets not being in use. On our flight out, the reason was that the forward toilet was ‘broken’. On Neil’s (I think) TR, he was advised that the forward toilet was ‘reserved for crew use only’. But on this flight, the reason for non-use was that because of a design fault (?) the toilet was too near the flight deck and could present a security problem
. Yes, I know, there is nothing in the contract pax have with VS to give them toilet rights and this sounds like so much bleating but, put the boot on UC pax collective foot 
......Now, before I drag you dear reader back to MLD, let me say that I am a parent ( and a grandfather) who has undertaken a number of flights with my family, and in company of other children in the cabin. But, bearing in mind that this was a night flight, if any pax in the cabin on this flight got more than 10 or so mins kip at any given time, they must have been deaf or drunk or both. MLD had been quite for the first hour or so but from then on, continued to scream regularly with all the strength and volume she could muster. At one stage the noise was so bad that the 2 pax in the row immediately behind MLD tried to move to one of the empty rows in the middle of the cabin but instantly waved away by a crew member. He informed the couple that the row (and the one in front) had been reserved as a crew rest area. Shortly after the Brandy & Baileys run was over and the cabin lights were dimmed, these 2 rows were occupied by six members of crew, complete with pillows and blankets. Perhaps a VS staffer could explain the crew rest policy, while remembering that this flight was only less than halfway through the 8 hr advised flight time, and how this rest period would managed if the flight was full.
Neither of us took breakfast but were content with some fruit and a cup of coffee. However the pax who accepted the breakfast offering of spinach omelette seemed happy enough.
Arrived at the gate at MAN a couple a minutes early and, thanks to 25A-C were first off the plane and had only a short wait at immigration behind the remnants of another incoming flight. For once at MAN, priority luggage seemed to be working and within 10 minutes we were away from the luggage carousel and off to the Radisson to pick up the car, accompanied by a final volley from MLD which was reverberating through the baggage hall.
All in all, and MLD apart, this flight did exactly what it says on the tin. Well done, VS
Thanks,
John.
John.
