This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
It’s that time again when I post a horrendously long trip report onto V-Flyer. Apologies in advance but it’s to help those flying with kids who have lots of questions. I have tried to cut it back this time.
In our previous Florida adventure we flew with British Airways GLA-LGW-MCO but it didn’t really work out. It felt like a long journey on the way out and on the way back BA delivered us home 8 hours late with an unscheduled stop in London City. It saved a lot of money but never again, at least not with the wee ones being so wee.
So the day after we returned we booked up again this time with Virgin Holidays as a package including car hire. It was cheaper to book as a package with minimal car minimal insurance than it was direct with VS, I assumed this was to do with fare buckets. However VH were more expensive when we wanted to book with the car we actually wanted. Thus we ended up with the bizarre situation where we booked a Chevy Spark with the flights with no intention of using it, and then separately booked a SUV. We did try to explain this but VH refused to price match against themselves.
While I’m on having a moan it is another annoyance of mine that so far I’ve paid for 18 transatlantic flights for my kids yet I haven’t earned any FC miles as Virgin, unlike BA, don’t operate family accounts. And another moan – I tried to pre-book some duty free but it had to be done 10 (TEN!) days in advance for Glasgow flights. I can’t understand the logistics of that. [/moan]
I made a tentative enquiry about an upgrade to PE but the price was stratospheric as I’d have to pay to change fare buckets first to get it out of V into an upgradable bucket. Instead I used my money to pay for 5x seat requests in the Bubble, 79JK and 80 HJK there and back, this was also part-funded by money returned thanks to the cut in air passenger duty. I did consider the option of booking a Seat Plus but wasn’t sure if this was compatible with seat requests in The Bubble so I just left it.
The morning of the flight we woke the kids at 6.45am for the 10am flight, in the taxi by 7am and at the airport 5 minutes later (I live closer to the airport than some of the airport hotels!) We had already online checked-in the previous day a disappointing SEQ 006, sadly Glasgow doesn’t have a twilight check-in otherwise I would have nipped over with the bags the night before. The check-in is now back in the fairly busy main terminal and was brisk, only a 10 minute wait. Ground crew polite and smiley enough, dropped off our 3 suitcases with the pram/buggy and my golf clubs going down to oversize. We have previously taken the full Group 1 car seat bagged and bubble wrapped in the hold, thankfully my youngest is now on a booster seat which can fit inside the suitcase. Pram and golf clubs both carried for free on VS (not that we were short on luggage allowance). We have a large holdall folded up inside one of the cases for the way back!
It was now 7.40am so made our way through a quiet security, ignored the duty free, picked up some pre-booked Dollars from the currency place and off to the Sky Lounge where we had reservations. The lounge had just been refurbished so was much nicer than our last visit. They’ve now removed the dividing wall between the “family” and “business” wings so everybody is in together in a much larger space. The windows overlooking the car park is now a long soft play area for the kids, there was an iMac/Xbox area still being finished, and great views of the runway and apron from the full length windows. Standard cold breakfast offerings, unfortunately due to the layout people were getting in the way of each other in the kitchen area, it wasn’t until the Thomas Cook flight to Cancun departed that it got reasonably quiet and comfortable. I’d put it at the same level as an Aspire lounge, not as nice as a No.1 and I would book again.
By 9.15am we decided it was time to head down to the gate, I didn’t want to be too early as I had a feeling the gate would be rammed and indeed it was. We sat down for 15 minutes and viewed G-VXLG Ruby Tuesday while the boarding calls for UC and PE were made and when it was our turn there appeared to be 150 people already in the queue for upstairs? Gate staff really needs to start turning away people if their seat number has not yet been called. On the way in we remembered to ask about the kids packs at the airbridge but none had been loaded. Newspapers at the gate appear to be a thing of the past too, and I’ve got out of the habit of buying one.
We proceeded upstairs, got the kids settled, sadly a random stranger was in seat 79H but to be expected on a full flight. Then as we waited on the remaining 300 people to load downstairs a crew member asked if my kids would like to go and meet the captain. Hang on, what? Do they still do that? Turns out after all the paperwork has been done pilots are quite board during loading, they were incredibly hospitable, I kept asking if we were getting in the way and making the plane late. The pilots answered the kids questions and gave them a quick once through of the controls. Returned to my seat 5 minutes later utterly staggered!
Flight was due off at 10.05 but due to fuelling and baggage (and not people getting in the way in the cockpit) we weren’t ready until 10.30 then a further delay as due to the unusual position of the North Atlantic Tracks today transoceanic clearance was required before push back. Taxied down to the end of Runway 23. I’ve never been upstairs on a 747 before, or indeed on a 747 from my home airport where I’m more used to a A320 or Dash-8. It seemed very high up and rather cumbersome! Very graceful once up in the air though. Finally lifted off 10.55.
The drinks were fairly standard. Bottle of water waiting on our seat (nice touch), one round after takeoff, drinks with meal, a service later on then a round with the sandwich before landing. I was on the soft drinks, per the norm as I was doing the driving after we landed, Mrs Fuzzy having a couple of wines. Again, in the hope that somebody from Crawley Towers reads these, how about some orange squash or Robinsons Fruit Shoots for the kids? Caffeinated fizzy soft drinks aren’t the best idea in an enclosed volume.
Menus were handed out for dinner swiftly followed by an announcement that the wrong menus were handed out and they didn’t actually have menus for what they were loaded with. Kids were served first with burnt chicken nuggets, Mrs Fuzzy had a Thai chicken curry with favourable reports, I have utterly no recollection of what I ate. Possibly something with beef. I just can’t remember, which means it was average.
This was our first time on a LGW spec 747 and also my first time upstairs on a 747, the so-called Bubble, having previously always flown on the A330 from GLA. I preferred the seats on the 747, the adjustable headrest is particularly good for head support when sleeping. The lack of a handset for the IFE annoyed me in particular for volume control but the system is otherwise identical to the A330. I didn’t really have time to watch anything, an episode of Family Guy and a documentary on Chicago blues by Foo Fighter’s Dave Grohl which was overly narcissistic. The boys were happy playing games (head to head Battleships always the favourite) or watching movies (Madagascar Penguins, Big Hero 6, Shaun The Sheep, Star Wars Rebels) otherwise they were on their iPads. The wee one was a bit more difficult, there were a few things he’d watch but he didn’t really have the attention span. He’s happy on his iPad but lack of internet restricted him. Most of the flight was spent just making sure he was happy, the seat location next to the stairs was again ideal for giving him extra room and nobody next to us to annoy. We found it to be very spacious and the boys liked having the side pockets for iPads and toys. I’m now very happy that I didn’t pay the extra money for PE, Bubble EC was perfect for us and very much looking forward to the flight home (same seats requested.)
If Virgin could somehow set up an inflight wifi router (not connected to the internet) that allowed iPads to hook up and play mass participation Minecraft you would not hear from kids for the entire flight. Or put a couple of Stampy and Squid videos on the inflight entertainment system. It would be an enormous and unique selling point for VS, forget the Dreamliner kids would pester their parents to go on the Minecraft jet! I’m serious about this!
(Laughing to myself about dropping in that Stampy reference, most of you will have no idea what I’m talking about, but those who do have just spat out their coffee).
For parents with nappies to change, the arrangements on the 747 are the same as the A330, it’s a board behind the toilet seat that folds down but not all of the toilets have them. 18 months is the biggest it will comfortably take. Thankfully my youngest is now fully trained, indeed he’s better than me at times, and he was quite excited about getting to use the toilet on the plane... Again another benefit of upstairs is the superior toilet to passenger ratio.
Cabin Crew were excellent and I really mean that, one in particular really couldn’t do any more for us. He addressed us by name, spoke to the kids every time he passed, was utterly charming. One advantage of the Bubble is the better service, we walked off feeling like Upper passengers.
It was a pretty quick 8.5 hours and soon we started our descent over Jacksonville, flying over Sanford and past Orlando Executive on the way in. Then at about 800ft the nose came noticeably up but it took a good 20 seconds for the positive climb rate, in 80 flights and 30 years this was my first go around, Disney think of everything! It soon became apparent why, there had been a particularly nasty squally rain shower over the airport and we flew through it on the go around, pretty bumpy (very smooth flight apart from that). When we landed 15 minutes later it was sunny but the runways and airport were sodden with standing water it must have been a utter deluge and completely the correct decision to go around.
Landed at 7.15pm/2.15pm so slightly late but given the late departure and go around still a marked improvement on advertised duration. I was worried this meant the Manchester or Gatwick flights would have beat us but we were still the first to arrive. We were the first from the upper deck off the flight and one of the first off the plane and into a deserted immigration hall. We couldn’t use the automatic booths due to the kids so spoke to a rather pleasant TSA agent. We were so quick through immigration that we had to wait 10 minutes for our bags, another short queue to get through customs, we used the bag transfer service rather than lug our stuff up the escalator. At the other side of the monorail a quick ‘comfort stop’ to get the kids sorted before off to find our bags again, into the parking lot where we’d already did online check-in with Alamo. Picked a suitable car (Toyota 4runner – excellent) and was off down Boggy Creek Road. 40 minutes from plane to car this was a record for us, and off to Disney’s Old Key West for a beer, pizza and jump in the pool.
To explain my star ratings
Ground 4* Pretty functional but Glasgow Airport have to improve the gate area
Crew 5* Great service in the Bubble, couldn’t ask for more
Food 4* Average-to-good. Kids meals seem to be lower quality.
Seats 5* Great seats, PE for EC prices
Entertainment 5* If only the flight was longer
