VS015 LGW-MCO 15 SEP 11 (Economy)

This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

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Cabin Crew

Twilight check in on 25th was a doddle and the V-ROOM pre flight was well worth the money i paid,started the holiday all relaxed as LGW departure lounge is awful in my opinion.
Flight left on time from LGW despite the high winds on back end of hurricane katiya,made flight somewhat bumpy crossing atlantic but that adds to the fun for me.
Sitting in row 60 had seats H,J,K no real issues just the normal IFE and seat problems of the LGW fleet (refit cannot come soon enough) aircraft was G-VROS english rose.
arrived in to MCO about 20 late assume weather related??
MCO was the usual pain picking up bags after immigration then dropping off and picking up again,pick up of rental car nice and simple i suppose an hour from plane door to getting in car was all it took just felt longer due to heat.

Return on 26/9 i had a look at flight status on my phone in morning before checking in at downtown,LGW boards were showing vs15 as 4 hour delay to departure and vs49 1.5 hour delay.I was fully expecting a big delay but when checking in was told vs49 would be returning as vs16,i asked why they were switching aircraft and was told the aircraft on vs15 was on maintenance following day but aircraft on vs49 was required for service. no idea if this is true or not just what i was told???
Anyway arrived at MCO about 1800 to drop off car and watched one of the a333 depart gate 81 for MAN (G-VKSS) just as my aircraft arrived G-VLIP at 81,plane was turned around and we were on the way at 21.30.Again the usual LGW fleet IFE and worn seats but aircraft clean and staff friendly and helpful.
Nice pleasent flight on way home nice and smooth fantastic lightening storm approaching the coast by Kennedy space centre.
A bit of a delay getting in to LGW due to congestion landed around 10.30.Disemarking the aircraft was fine only problem was passport control where we all had to use the smart queue so took time especially as the vegas flight arrived shortly after us.
I was not expecting a great deal from VS after the awful flights last year but i was surprised at how different it was,still quite evident of the cost cutting that has taken place but glad to say the crew were far better than last year.

Apparently the reason for the delays of LGW-MCO flights on 26 was due to aircraft over weekend getting diverted because of bad weather threw schedules out.Anyone able to offer anymore info about what happened??

Forgot to say the IFE was nova both ways,going out headphone socket did not work.
Coming back screen was dim and blurred.

MCO was the usual pain picking up bags after immigration then dropping off and picking up again

Do you know you don't have to do the "double bag drop" at MCO anymore. You can take your cases up the new escalator and straight onto the little train to the terminal.

I still think the DTDC is great, being able to get rid of your bags and get your boarding pass early in the morning giving you the whole of your last day free

thanks

David

I did not know you could now take bags with you,after getting them back we walked towards the train thing and they were just taken and dumped on the belt did not seem like we had an option.Had i known it would have speeded things up slightly as we had to wait for them to return again.

Downtown check in is indeed brilliant saves a lot of hassle on last day,just as good as the twilight check in at LGW.
VS have some good ideas that really help PAX out.

Return on 26/9 i had a look at flight status on my phone in morning before checking in at downtown,LGW boards were showing vs15 as 4 hour delay to departure and vs49 1.5 hour delay.I was fully expecting a big delay but when checking in was told vs49 would be returning as vs16,i asked why they were switching aircraft and was told the aircraft on vs15 was on maintenance following day but aircraft on vs49 was required for service. no idea if this is true or not just what i was told???


Apparently the reason for the delays of LGW-MCO flights on 26 was due to aircraft over weekend getting diverted because of bad weather threw schedules out.Anyone able to offer anymore info about what happened??

There is a plane switch from the normal in and out process that allows for a plane to go for maintenance. It is standard practice for VS even though it might look weird to us normal folk.

Tropical storm Ophelia was in the area at the time and that would explain diversions / delays