This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
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VS016
Orlando International Airport (MCO)- London Gatwick (LGW)
Departure Gate: 85
Arrival Gate: One on the Satalite
747-443 G-VLIP ‘Hot Lips’ Built 2001
Seat 73A Premium Economy
4th Flight on this aircraft, 45th 747 flight
Sch Dep 19.30 Sch Arr 15:45
Act Dep 08.45+1 Act Arr 08.31+1
After two weeks catching up with the parents and family friends it was time to return back to work. The weather had been fantastic, only one afternoon of rain and the tan was looking rather good after numerous hours on the golf course.
Lunch on the day of departure was had at my parents golf club in their clubhouse, as always I had my usual off the menu and very quickly it was time to say my goodbyes to the staff before heading home to do a last bit of packing (read: actually start packing).
As we drove into MCO it became apparent that MIA must be closed as I was greated by the sight of seeing the whole VS fleet on the ground at MCO, as a 346 was also parked up at the terminal, alongside its LGW/MAN sisters. An IB 346 and Air Pulmanteur 744 where also around and about.
Mother deposited at Terminal B at 5.30 and I made the quick walk across the large atrium to the Terminal A side of the building to check in. The economy check in line was pretty empty but their was a couple of families checking in at the J and W desks plus two waiting in line at the bag drop area. I was admitted entry into the W area and waited about five minutes for an agent to become free. As it was quiter it seemed that the agents where just trying to reduce the lines rather than call people to the desk in travel class priority. So I had to stand by and watch four Y families plus the two bag drop families all be called forward to a desk before me. Things where not helped as a large family of six who where traveling UC where checking in at the PE desks and seemed to be taking everything plus the kitchen sink with them!!! Clearly their is now a trend for those with young families to take those whopping huge car seats on holiday with them! Anyway after about five minutes the PE desks became free and I was called forward.
As some of you maybe aware, the IT department at VS (god bless them) had made a right balls up of the seat request system, late last month, which resulted in everyones request being lost! The good news for me was that it meant my poor request (read only seat available) of downstairs in the middle of the row of 4 had been lost! The agent quickly said she had assigned me 73A upstairs. I asked if I could have an aisle as I always have an issue with ‘breaking the seal too early’, sadly none where available so it looked like the flight would be one where I would be crossing the legs and praying! Bags where checked and shockingly not one security question was asked! Boarding pass in hand, this time with SEQ401 (!) as OLCI hadnt been working at T-24. The check in dragon, as I wandered passed me wished me a wonderful flight which I thought was a nice touch!
It was then off to the unofficial MCO Clubhouse for a bowl of their Chowder plus my last two pints of Yuengling for this trip. As I sat in the bar eating, I decided to turn on the Blackberry for the first time in two weeks and check my emails. To my delight my wonderful secretary had already cleared my inbox of all the rubbish, so I only had a small 1,321 emails to read! Boarding was due to start at 6.40 so I wandered downstairs and through security at 6.30. I didn’t bank on the majority of LH passengers to be clearing security at the same time but within 10 minutes I was boarding the monorail over to Airside 4. I arrived and did a quick lap of the duty free before walking down to Gate 85 in time for the boarding announcement for PE and UC so I went straight on board. I was stood at the door of the plane some 13 minutes after leaving the unofficial MCO Clubhouse- not bad!
As I approached the door of the aircraft I was filled with dread. You all know the dread, one where all your excitement turns to sheer fear and disappointment. Why I may hear you ask, no it was not the sight of a shell suit wearing Scouse family (and before you PC bunch jump on me, I can say that without cause of offending my own), it was the sight of a crew member who I recognised from a previous flight and immediately remembered that I had classed him as “the worst flight attendant in the history of flight attendants”. On that flight in particular he wandered around playing on his iPhone, using his iPhone as a torch and even decided to take his tie off this coupled with his awful mood made me feel with the aforementioned dread. He welcomed me onboard and was all pleasant and nice! For a moment I wondered if I had been to harsh to judge him on his previous performances? However I breathed a sigh of relief as I climbed the stairs and firstly realised he was not going to be serving us upstairs and secondly was greeted by possibly the most attractive VS crew member I had ever seen complete with Swedish style plates in her hair and the best bit was...there was no ring on her finger (yes, I have found myself now looking as everyone my age seems to be getting hitched!).
I made my way forward in the cabin and found my seat mate already sat in her seat. A lovely 80 something British/American from Jupiter who was going back to the UK to spend a couple of months with family. I was quickly offered the sparkling wine or orange juice, sparkling wine was selected and this was washed down very quickly as I sat chatting to my new friend. Being back on Hot Lips meant it was to to be the Vauxhall entertainment system this evening and a quick look through the IFE guide showed nothing of interest was showing except for an episode of ‘Junior Doctors’ the BBC Three drama which, claim to fame, features a friend of mine! Her picture was in the IFE guide so being rather sad I took a picture of it and tweeted her stating that now not only was she a BBC3 star but also a star on VS and wondered if that meant she got free flights! Before the doors where sealed she tweeted back (whilst on nights) to inform me that it was the first news she had had of her featuring on VS!
The FSM came on to inform us of a 7 hour 55 minute flight time and of the chilly weather back at LGW. The captain gave his usual announcement and informed us that tonight was looking like being a rather bumpy crossing so reminded everyone to keep the seat belts fastened.
Push back from Gate 85 happened ahead of time as the glasses from the pre departure drink where taken in and a JJ 330 taxied in, looking very beautiful, along side the new AF 77W service to CDG, which had only started a couple of days before hand. A quick taxi saw us line up as number two for 17R at MCO (the first time I had departed from this runway). As an aside does anyone know why TATL arrivals always use 17L/35R at MCO despite this being the shortest of the four runways?! I watched a company (well sort of) a320 of VX depart off to SFO and we where next in line. My seat mate was still trying to chat to me despite me peering out of the window for some spotting. A fairly long roll and we lifted off into the Central Florida sky making a fairly shallow left turn to head for LGW.
As soon as the seat belt sign was off, hot towels where offered which was great. As is usual on these evening services the bar and meal service where combined. This always presents me with a problem as I cannot have my pre dinner G+T as I feel obliged with the meal to have wine. I cannot remember the other options for supper but I ended up with the chicken and the red wine. The meal was clearly catered for in the US and it tasted as such. I tend to find that VS meals ex USA are awful and this was no different. The chicken tasted typically airplane like and lacked any real flavour. The desert, an apricot crumble type thing (or maybe it was peach) was bad as was the salad. I really just picked at it, the warm bread being the only decent thing. I finished off the meal with two cups of tea and was then offered another bottle of wine and a third! On these evening services the wine is served in plastic miniature bottles! I decided to skip the Brandy service but did partake in a little apple from the fruit bowl. The meal service was over pronto and my seat mate and I decided to have a chat about everything. Topics ranged from the UK education system, to the ins and outs of CGT, to American sport and of course a lot of chat about Florida. I have never really understood the attraction of the UC bar, having never been lucky enough to experience, but tonight was the first time on a flight when I wished I had had the use of it. It would have been perfect for the two of us to go and sit at the bar rather than attempt to talk in hushed tones (and fail no doubt!) at our seats whilst everyone around us was nodding off. It was only when I checked my watch to see it was now 11pm US time that I realised how long we had been chatting and drinking for. At this time I did a quick lap of downstairs, stocked up on water and then attempted to get some sleep.
I was woken half way through my sleep by a lot of shouting and activity across the aisle from me. It seemed to be that an English couple had taken exception to the American couple behind them....all hell broke loss with lots of swearing and fist waving. The crew member upstairs reacted very quickly and managed to calm the situation. To an observer all it required was a polite request from the English to the Americans to ask them to stop fidgeting in their seats, sadly this didn’t happen. However, I was not a party to the full events but I must say the crew member did a great job in diffusing the situation. It is not nice to be in a metal tube and have a huge argument happening across the aisle.
Sleep was reasonable dosing. As we homed in on the West Country the new enhanced PE breakfast service was offered. I will say this from the outset this was the best breakfast I have had on an airline in a good ten years. Breakfast was a choice of two hot meals, I ended up plumping for the full English- scrambled egg, hash browns, suasage, mushrooms and bacon. It was really top notch watched down with two cups of tea. The only disappointment was that it was served in an Economy style plastic plate thing and with plastic cutlery. I do not understand this. With VS placing the emphasis on the main meal service and how great it is to have proper china, surely the second meal service, in particular when it is a cooked meal can be presented in a similar china plate/bowl thing with proper cutlery?
We came in over Exeter and as we reached Bournemouth and were offered an amazing view of Bournemouth and the New Forest (including being able to spot work and my home--third time at three different homes this has happened!) the captain came on to advise that we would be on the ground in thirty minutes. A quick freshen up in the loo and the cabin was secured for our arrival. ATC decided to switch runway direction at LGW as we flew downwind of the airport so we did two quick laps of the hold point above Hickstead Showground and Burgess Hill before back tracking and turning over Dunsfold for a westerly landing.
As we landed the FSM came on with the corniest ‘welcome’ I have ever heard....it went something like this.... ‘Well Ladies and Gentlemen as another Virgin Atlantic plane safely glides down into its home base at Gatwick after another successful Atlantic crossing its my pleasure to welcome you to London Gatwick....”!!!! After this the usual announcements were done and within five minutes we were on stand with the pilot thanking the crew for all their hard work. A quick wizz off the plane and into the mess of a construction site that UK Border is currently at the South Terminal. I know they are making it all look very lovely and sexy but it is a crying shame that for the moment it is some peoples first impression of the UK. Border patrol lady was as moody as ever and I made my way up to baggage reclaim where it became evident that priority baggage was not working at all. A twenty minute wait and finally the J and W bags appeared. A quick call to the people at Manor Parking to collect my sisters car and I was on the m25 by 9.50.
So the flight. As with the outbound, despite the continual negative comments about the aircraft, Hot Lips did the job well, she looked clean, the seat was perfect and I had no call for the IFE so not really bothered about that. The crew were fantastic, despite my initial dread on boarding the plane (!), they handled the air rage incident well, did frequent water runs and it was all done with a smile. The PE breakfast service was fantastic and made up for the awful first meal service. So all in all a most enjoyable flight. The only issue I now have, and I blame you lot for this, is that I don’t want to fly Y anymore....I dread to think what its like after the first UC experience!
the change must have happened during my outbound and inbound!
