This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
We took a Mears transport bus from the Lowes Royal Pacific Hotel in Universal - one of the nicest hotels I have stayed at in a long time. Customer service is the key word here, and if anyone is looking this is well worth the extra money! Get a club room as the lounge does breakfast, lunch, evening snacks (to 9pm) and wine in the evening where you can take the rip if you are that way inclined, and some guests are!
Arriving at MCO it dawned on us - this was to be a busy flight, there was also no lounge access. The flight was overnight and had a lot of families with very upset looking kids - not a good mix..!
Check in was surprisingly fast - however I did ask about upgrades to be told this cant be done at the airport any more and has to be done over the phone. I didn't mention miles or codes having discussed this on the flight out. Now, I know this is not the policy - at JFK they often offer this and other TR show this to be untrue. However, I didn't have any hopes of this after the first leg. I will highlight this to VS along with other issues on the flight... But again shows the ground staff to be well below par. They could have at least humoured me, but if you are too busy or don't care why bother eh.
MCO is a really bare airport - compared to LHR, JFK and even LGW there really isn't a lot to get on with. A pretty poor Outback that looks tired and is heaving accompanied by a a 'fast food' area leaves little to do with a lot of time to pass. Still, a wine later and a quick visit to the shop for the collocate demands of the office and it was time to be called over to the gate.
This is not the fault of VS, but a lounge here would be a godsend..! Even a V-Room with pay on the day access would command a lot of respect - and no doubt drive sales to VS...
Checkin was a bit of a bun fight and people were clearly not paying attention to priority boarding or the standard call order - I saw a few sent back and look mightily pissed off about this, however I am pleased the staff at the gate held their nerve. Well done and they score points here, I wish all the gate staff were like this!
Once on the flight we took our seats - we did book seat plus for this with VS and this is really good. I didn't think it would be and the inability to select seats during OLCI did nark me a touch (I like all the stuff!). But the extra room allowed me to stretch my legs across the middle and Mrs Armstrong to take 2 seats and relax as if on a sofa or small bed. For £50 I would advise this if ECO is the only way you are on this flight and upgrades (I was quoted the week before at over £2,000 each to UC and £2,000 to PE!).
The flight pushed back on time and boarding seemed very orderly once on the plane... The captain told us it would be a long flight and that we had a 'strange' route up the eastern seaboard before we hit the Atlantic. Looking at the flight map we almost hit New York - im not sure on the normal route, but this seemed strange to me. Alas, they would have had their reasons...
Dinner was again served very quickly post take off - which is nice. I must however say the level of service in ECO vs PE is noticeable. It reminds me of the comedy sketch by Michael Mcintyre (on currency and the queen - if you want to see the real me earn some bloody money!)... I can understand this, especially as the UC crew of 2 look after 12 people to the 4 CC looking after 300. Still, should there be such a big difference?
Mrs Armstrong's meal was served separately (without a drink) to mine or anyone else's as it was the vegan option. She only got a drink 40 mins later when the served me a meal - with absolutely nothing mentioned by the crew. They saw the empty plate and offered a wine (a very shoddy Merlot that was sipped and returned full - again with no mention of anything or question of why it was full, or offer or a replacement). A week earlier we were served together with wine at the same time, so I cant understand why this was not replicated? The only difference is PE to ECO so I will assume that this is the reason? They also refused to take away the empty tray so Mrs Armstrong had this with her for the thick end of 1 and a half hours. To be honest this was a bit poor - and I very much doubt any other cabin would get this treatment.
Post the meal we did manager to get a few hours sleep - only woken by turbulence or the PAX ahead of me who kicked off a few times with the CC and got rewarded for this with a free round of Champaign, then at least 4 bottles were given when the kicked off again! Again, this was a bit of a joke and I overheard the CC talking about this in a with a very unflattering assessment of the situation.
Inflight entertainment was good - however Vera touch without the controls is a nightmare. You either have to take the pot luck gamble on choices or tap away resolute to get the programme of movie you want. This annoyed me two fold, firstly the person behind beating up my seat and me getting annoyed to the point I gave up trying to choose a movie and tried to get some sleep.
We were not woken for any drinks - and pleased about this. But I do wonder how many times they come down and offer this in ECO?
For breakfast we were again served at separate times. Mrs Armstrong was offered her vegan meal - almost tossed over to her. This was a delightful meal of Yoghurt and a bread roll with no spread. Now, to those that know, Yoghurt is made from milk - so a dry bread roll was all that remained to your friendly vegan customer. When we found a member of the crew (we did look!) they were coming down the isles and serving breakfast and said they would come back in 5. Another 30 mins later they came to see what the issue was - we explained and were told it was a problem with the catering company and they were always making mistakes - apparently the week prior it was a total disaster on a flight. This has been a 2 week issue and is ongoing - which whilst I appreciate, this is not a reason or indeed an excuse. If its a problem for 2 weeks then they need to have built in a contingency for this, not just take it and pass it on to the PAX. I hate it when people pass the buck and refuse to take responsibility. Man up, take the feedback and pass it on to your boss and explain how this is impacting your job and the company, don't blame a supplier and bad mouth them to the customer. The CC took away the meal and returned with a Banana and an Apple - again, not really a meal and told us this is all they could do and it was from the crew selection of fruit (I doubt this and believe that it was taken from UC, but what can you do).
If I was offered this in a hotel or restaurant I would have gone ballistic, if they think this is acceptable then they have a lot to relearn. We took this, smiled and left it at that, waiting 10 min's for an accompanying drink to arrive. Just really poor service and I am temped to write to VS about this (any advise here would help!) - is it worth complaining about?
All in all a bit of a let down from VS - I have tried to keep to the facts and not too emotional here. It seemed from a CC perspective to be a challenging flight with catering issues and some very narky PAX. I could have taken a leaf from there book and ask for the FSM then the 'real' FSM and carried on until I got something. However, after the issues I had on check in at LGW and the issues on this I will now be looking a bit further than VS for my up coming holidays and work flights - when ever they are.
A real shame, as I now feel let down by the brand, staff and their processes.
