VS006 MIA-LHR 30 JUL 11 (Economy)

This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

Thought I must do a trip report for my recent Virgin flight, its only fair after reading about all of your interesting travel experiences, so sorry in advance if its slightly long-winded, I do have a habit of going into a lot of detail (waffle)

This trip was done in economy, after last years 'premium' economy trip it just seemed better value to travel economy which in the end worked out fine

Checked in online the night before but our requested seats had been changed and we were moved to the back, as the seat map wouldn't load so were unable to move from these, oh well we'll see what we can do at the airport tomorrow.

Got to Miami airport in reasonable time for the flight, about 18:30 for the 20:45 departure, made our way to check-in and quickly checked in by pleasent & effcient staff however they informed us the flight was full and that we couldn't move seats - oh well

Time to go through to departures, and security, well this was a shock. Had heard before from several people that tsa staff weren't regarded as being the best but I was shocked by how rude they were! Shouting, pointing and grunting at people, not even bothering to look at us or make eye contact when speaking to us - well all I can say is their reputation was still intact

Quick look around the, lets face it not very extensive range of shops at MIA before we were called for boarding, just after Upper Class, Premium economy & special assistance which was fine, didn't have to queue for too long. At this point they made an announcement for passenger "David Beckham"! which raised a few eyebrows of the passengers around, obviously the ground staff grasped this as shortly afterwards they made another announcement for passenger "Simon Cowell" to which there were a few laughs around

On to Mustang Sally, as I understand Virgins youngest 747 in the fleet, and she was looking brilliant in her new livery and also inside as there didn't seem to be much 'wear & tear' as reported on some of the LGW fleet, as noticed by myself last month... Appeared to be full right down the back, and very very hot! - one of the announcements made was that of an apology for the hot temperatures reported around the aircraft and that the air conditioning would kick in soon, however as we took of I was still feel rather warm

Flight deck came over the speakers to tell us out flight time of 7 hours & 40 minutes and that doors would be closed shortly - took off just after 20:45 with some great views of below all lit up, then over the sea, following the eastern seaboard up over Newfoundland

This is where V:Port began to play up with my screen and a number of other peoples straight away playing a movie which wouldn't change but just continued to play, whilst most other peoples screens stayed blank. Crew informed us there was a problem and that a re-boot was necessary - after this, took about 40 minutes V:Port began to work for most people but kept freezing, after playing a movie and going back into the menu it seemed fine, well for me anyway

No drinks service before dinner but once dinner was served there was a drinks round after the meals were handed out, choose the beef & vegtables options and it was lovely - tasted really good actually! After this one round of tea and coffee was served but there was no second round which in the past there has been?

Once trays were cleared up the crew seemed to dissapear and only saw one crew member during the 4 hour absense Which was slightly awkward as I would have liked a drink from the galley but felt it would be rude if I was to pinch something whilst there were no crew in there

Don't get me wrong the crew were good but just didn't have the 'buzz' about them that the outbound crew seemed to have

Didn't get a lot of but watched several movies, tv shows and listened to some music on V:Port then it was cabin lights on and time for breakfast which was to be; dun dun dun, a bread roll Not to worry at least I could have a good cup of tea... WRONG!

No tea of coffee was available in the breakfast service because of "safety regulations with the cups supplied" - not heard of this one before, although the crew were apologetic about this I did find it a very strange reason as we'd had hot drinks during the dinner service. The only thing I could think of was that either an insufficient number of cups had been supplied or the cups provided were inadequate because of their size?... In the back of my mind was also the fact that we were just over an hour out of Heathrow and that maybe the crew just didn't have time for this as the aircraft would have to be prepared for landing shortly

Flew in over South Wales, Somerset, Wiltshire, Surrey and then turned in over south-east London, over central London and down into a very sunny and pleasent Heathrow at 09:38

Onto stand shortly, surrounded by Lady Penelope to the right and Tinker Belle on the left - we were back in the family fairly long walk to immigration with a very small queue and into the baggage hall with a small wait for our bags. Then it was straight out into the arrivals hall, so to buses to the car park & off we were on our way home!

Overall an average/good/OK flight but just let down by a few small issue but looking forward to the next trip!

Sorry to waffle on, only my second trip report so hope I didn't bore you to death

After this one round of tea and coffee was served but there was no second round which in the past there has been?

Yes I put a note about this in my TR to PVG - the amount of tea and coffee offered is suddenly stingy in the extreme.

Thx for the TR. !

Thanks for the TR

'Nice' to see the TSA being on their best behaviour though my experience has been that they are generally not too abusive but a session as charm school would not go amis! I find most Americans to be friendly but putting on a pair of blue latex gloves seams to have an effect !

On flights departing after 7.00PM there is no seperate pre dinner drinks service.

Thanks for the TR - I had a bad experience with the TSA at MCO last month (they were so rude) after promoting them for months at how friendly and helpful they have been on my trips to the US over the last couple of years.

Not sure about the breakfast, sounds disappointing especially with a bread roll and no hot drinks

Jon

I really empathise with you having no tea or coffee with your breakfast. Not the way to start the day !
Thanks for the TR.
regards hiljil

Great TR, thanks for posting.

Really not a fan of MIA, TSA being one of the reasons.

agree with Luke MIA is a cesspit and the TSA are the lead bottom feeders

thanks

Thanks for the TR.

The TSA training is clearly very good and they seem to keep to a very consistent level of rudeness. My happy-go-lucky team at LAX recently were just the same.

Thank you for the TR. Shame about the lack of tea and coffee.

I too have experienced the same TSA behaviour at MIA, as you go to security, I've seen and heard them yelling, pushing and generally being obnoxious.

Well VS can't control that - but I do wish they'd move to FLA. VS can control the tea and coffee though, not having any with a bread roll for breakfast is shocking, I'd write and complain!