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#874911 by Smid
07 Jun 2014, 22:49
I tend not to do trip reports, but things of interest here to do with UC and Cancun.

1) IFE in UC, refurbed. I know the touchscreen is new, but its screen is smaller now, right? It did used to be larger, didn't it? Are they all the same size now, in Y, PE and UC? Is the touch screen resistive rather than capacative. That might not be a good idea, I've found resistive screens break after a while.

2) Broken IFE. Both on the way over and the way back, my IFE was broken, different seats (well, same number, different sides). The screen wouldn't pull out in way out, and the whole system was broken in many ways on way back. After two reboots, it was stuck at first, then the menu system worked (handset had funny characters in both cases) but the films just didn't play. Someone else was complaining on the way back too, so theirs was broken. 40 quid of vouchers on way out, 4000 points on the way back. It strikes me as a bit soon for this to be getting into quite such a state, less than 2 years since refurbs started...

3) Cancun flight late both ways, 30 minutes on way out, 2 hours on the way back. Also they denied us the lounge on the 2 hour delay because the crappy little PP lounge had a three hour limit, had to wait an hour to get in (we always get to airport three hours before a flight). Nice, delayed and denied.... Still only a PP lounge and no other planes were delayed in Cancun.

4) Cancun immigration. We had a plane in front of us, but barely fifty people, and we were front of the plane out. But it stalled. Completely. Never seen this in an airport before. They just didn't process anyone for an hour. Then they started processing it. It was if they were getting all the bags off the plane, doing whatever to them, and holding us back as they did (couldn't see though). My brother in law said he'd not fly long haul again, because stood 2 hours at immigration in Cancun, I thought it was cos it was behind some planes and back of economy. I'd give serious consideration to the destination if that was regular. Anyone gone to Cancun and seen this?

Still, service was wonderful on way out and way back. Clubhouse still damned good. The retail vouchers didn't get spent cos there's bugger all to buy. Tequila was half the price in Mexico's walmart than at duty free at the airport...
#874923 by pjh
08 Jun 2014, 09:09
Thanks. I think the IFE should be a simple as possible, particularly as people tend not to read the instructions (if they are present) and substitute brute force where the designer saw a series of ergonomicaly optimal interactions between human and mechanical object.

Remember that the the ratings at the top of the VS TR get logged into the 'V-Flyer Rating' section in 'The Toolbox'.
#874938 by Daffodil
08 Jun 2014, 10:56
Smid wrote:-

Cancun immigration. We had a plane in front of us, but barely fifty people, and we were front of the plane out. But it stalled. Completely. Never seen this in an airport before. They just didn't process anyone for an hour. Then they started processing it. It was if they were getting all the bags off the plane, doing whatever to them, and holding us back as they did (couldn't see though). My brother in law said he'd not fly long haul again, because stood 2 hours at immigration in Cancun, I thought it was cos it was behind some planes and back of economy. I'd give serious consideration to the destination if that was regular. Anyone gone to Cancun and seen this?


We were in Cancun last December and December 2012 but didn't experience this problem with immigration. There were quite a few people in the line in front of us ( we were traveling in PE ) but we were through in under half an hour.

The dreadful lounge there is a stickler for their rules, the first time check in didn't give us the invite and they refused us entry until we gave up arguing with them and gave them our PP cards. Also they will not allow a gold card holder to take a guest into the lounge with them. The lounge is so awful its not really worth the hassle of getting in.
#874939 by Smid
08 Jun 2014, 11:42
Daffodil wrote:The dreadful lounge there is a stickler for their rules, the first time check in didn't give us the invite and they refused us entry until we gave up arguing with them and gave them our PP cards. Also they will not allow a gold card holder to take a guest into the lounge with them. The lounge is so awful its not really worth the hassle of getting in.


I've plenty of experience of PP lounges in europe, and my limited experience of US/Caribbean PP lounges (Vegas, Montego Bay) seems to be consistently bar service, rather than the self service too (and prone to meaness of spirits as well).

But yes, Cancuns was pretty damned crappy (I don't think it was air conditioned too, I remember thinking how damned hot it was on many occasions). Its the only one, and not very big at all, so I can imagine it gets hellish.

But thanks for the info on immigration. I've got the impression that it was definitely deliberate, but perhaps procedural, ie: done one per n flights and unlucky, or a shift change and unlucky cos 30 minutes late...
#874940 by PaulS
08 Jun 2014, 11:49
A accurate trip report for this route. I did Cancun last year and agree about the immigration although we were behind another 747 so it was woeful. Lounge is awful. We had similar delays and had the same experience with the unresponsive touch screens. I used the remote control and had no problems and at least I had 6A in both directions
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