This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
OLCI done at T-24 but a pathetic Seq 5 - I had to retype in my email address which wasted valuable seconds! Oh well at least I had my seat request confirmed of 79C. Having never been in the bubble before, I was excited to see what this was like.
I had booked the night before at the new Premier Inn at North Terminal. This was ridiculously cheap and a perfectly nice place to stay. The next morning I only needed to walk straight out the front of the hotel and up a travelator to find myself at the terminal shuttle. The whole transfer from my room on the 9th floor to Virgin Check-in area took less than 15min.
Bag drop was nice and efficient and I was in and through security very quickly.
Boarding was called from Gate 17 at 1140 and I made my way over soon after. I was very excited to be going upstairs on a 747 (I have never even had the nerve to peek up there before!). I chose seat 79C because no one was behind me and I thought it would be a good choice for disembarking at the other end.
The seat itself was very good. There was plenty of room to store stuff overhead as the window seat had use of a side bin. I would say this seat didn't have as much room under the seat in front as there seemed to be a block of metal in the way. This had no impact on leg room but made putting my bag there a little awkward. I love the spacious feel of the bubble (it must have been even better when it was all PE). It is like flying on your own small aircraft.
After a slightly early push back we were taking off with an estimated flight time of 8 hours 40min. There were quite a few empty seats so people were welcome to move around after take off (DON'T sit in the extra legroom seats!)
Soon after take off the drinks came round. This was when I realised the only slight problem with this particuar seat. It is prone to being crashed in to by the trolleys. This happened to be almost every time the CC came round - and I only got an apology once. Have to say I wasn't particulary bothered by this but some people might be!
The newly refurbished IFE continues to be excellent. I did see some evidence of the previously mentioned prodding. I noticed a few rows in front some one playing a game on their screen was really annoying the person in front. After a while something was said but no fisticuffs which was good! I do question the sense in putting games on a touch screen with no removeable remote...
Dinner was pretty good (better than I have had for while in Y). I asked for pasta but I think the CC misheard as bangers and mash were put in front of me. No matter, I wasn't particularly enthused by the sound of the pasta anyway so I just ate the mashed potato and carrots which were lovely (don't really eat meat). Perhaps the CC secretly knew that I would prefer this
! I noticed that we don't get the pot of water with dinner in Y anymore. Dinner really does seem to get smaller every time.Pudding followed with tea and coffee. I like the serving of pudding after dinner. I do not like the Gu pots though - far too sweet! Bring back cheese and biscuits!!
I think there were a couple of juice/water runs in the afternoon with the ice cream following.
Afternoon tea was served around 2 hours out. I like the cheese and onion sandwiches as I love cheese and onion sandwich spread. I do appreciate not everyone feels the same though as I did notice a few portions arond me went un eaten.
We landed and were at the gate around 30min earlier than planned after our shortish flight time. Being at the back of the bubble, I was off the plane after the front section (PE and Upper) so arrived with the first few people to an empty immigration hall - woohoo! Having cleared immigration in about 5 min it was slightly longer wait for the baggage, but no more than about 25min. Then off on the shuttle to enjoy a couple of weeks in the sun!
All in all a very impressive economy flight. I would definitely recommend trying to get the upsatirs economy seats if possible!
