VS400 LHR-DXB 26 OCT 13 (Economy)

This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

First time in VS Y and I was dreading it to be honest even though this is a relatively short flight. We are usually lucky enough to fly PE but at over £2k for the three of us to upgrade from our VH Y tickets it was out of our reach this time.

We paid for the extra leg room seats which was an absolute must - there is no way I could have managed in the standard seats.

This is a 10pm departure so we travelled up from the West Country in the afternoon and used the valet parking at terminal 3. After missing the drop off point initially and joining the back of the very slow moving queue for a second time we finally managed to navigate our way into the parking space and dropped off the keys, this was a very quick and painless experience and one I would repeat.

We completed check in and headed through security where my husband's hand luggage was searched....... Again, he must be on some sort of watch list. Every single time he is pulled to one side. Due to the amount of bags they checked we waited here for 30 minutes which was frustrating, still it must be done and I'm all for lots of security checks if it stops me being blown out of the air.

We had booked the No 1 lounge which was very busy and very, very hot. However the lounge itself was very well appointed, it has a spa and bedrooms and a rather nice snug where my family and I relaxed pre flight. The food was good, the a la carte portions were snack size but there was plenty of salads, snacks and extras to constitute a reasonable pre flight meal.

During boarding (African Queen) we walked through the UC cabin and I must say I wouldn't pay to sit up front! what a difference between the feeling you get on the 747!

Having looked at the aircraft database and figuring we may well be stuck with the old style entertainment system we had preloaded our iPads, which was lucky as my screen didn't work at all and it was necessary for the crew to do two full system reboots. During which time my individual light was stuck on whilst the guy in front had fully reclined to sleep so the light shone down on his head. I felt bad until the meals arrived and I had to practically hold my in the air to be able to eat it due to him being asleep.

The food was really bad, so bad I only picked at it. I saved the menu in case anyone is interested:

Fruity Waldorf salad

Steak and mushroom cobbler, diced potatoes, carrots
Butter chicken with peas pulao
Vegetable and herb pasta in a creamy herb sauce

Gu dessert (Banana and caramel).

Anyway, I did try to sleep which I am really bad at on planes, luckily the two men in my life slept for the entire flight as did most others.

Overall a good flight, nice crew. Made it to DXB in 6.5 hours. Then onwards to Le Meridien Al Aqah in Fujariah for one week soaking up the sun. What a fantastic hotel it was, highly recommend although a bit of a jaunt from Dubai.

Thank for the TR. We also did this flight in September but Mr D has a Flying Club Gold card so we were lucky to be able to use the CH lounge to eat before the flight. The FSM on board the flight moved us to the extra leg room seats, give us a glass of sparkling wine from PE and we had an excellent cabin crew taking good care of all the passengers on board. We stayed at the new Waldorf Astoria in Ras Al Khaimah. Fabulous hotel but very expensive for food and drink.

Thank you for posting. Packed with information.

Shame the flight wasn't great (bad TV and broken lights etc) but hope the holiday made up for it!

Thanks for the TR, food in Y particularly does seem to be an ongoing disappointment

Thanks for the TR Rachel, sorry to hear about the probs with the screen and light... as for the gent reclining during meal service If sat in front of me, he might have had some cobbler accidentally spilt down his back.

Never be afraid to ask the crew to get him to sit up for dinner.... if that fails, angle the overhead air vent to the back of the seat in front and open it about a quarter so they recline into a slow but consistent stream of cold air

Hope you enjoy your vacation

Thank you for the TR.

Great TR

I did out & back UC in June & I agree there doesn't seem to be as much space. I was able to rest even though I was by the galley, as the cabin crew tried to carry out their activities as quietly as possible which was appreciated.

Stayed at the Grosvenor House.

Thanks

R P