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#961757 by Kraken
13 Jun 2023, 20:20
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After far too long an absence it was time to return to Orlando (thanks Covid). Awoke to an email from Virgin advising of a delay to the VS73 – a quick look on FlightRadar24 shows that G-VTEA left MCO for the inbound flight over 80mins late last night.

An uneventful drive to Manchester was had – but why oh why is the M6 between Stoke on Trent & Knutsford always notorious for queues? There must have been a good 15miles of near stationary traffic heading South – with no obvious cause of the delay.

Got to MAN and was checked-in in no time. True to form the issues I’d had with online check-in yesterday were down to SSSS appearing on the boarding card. Security was very efficient in the new part of T2 – to be honest I was expecting this to look a bit like the inside of an IKEA store, having read reports of the T2 extension being done on the cheap. Whilst it wasn’t up to the standards of the likes of Changi or Dubai airports, it was better than expected.

The 1903 Lounge is no great improvement. The “lounge dragons” on the reception desk had clearly both been thrown out of charm-school, early on. The lounge itself was very busy & it was only possible to find a seat if you were travelling alone. And forget what MAN airports website says about the 1903 lounge & it’s dress-code – it is not enforced. There were “groups of lads” in sportswear (including shorts) clearly on a mission to get their moneys’ worth on the alcohol. Due to the lack of seating, some of the said “groups of lads” were congregating standing up & drinking. If you were near the bar area it was more like being in a pub / bar in central Manchester.

Gate 204 flashed up on the screens so headed down that way. Boarding was the usual shambles that only Swissport are capable of. I had my frisking from the G4S guy who was also as miserable as only G4S staff normally are. Then onboard to G-VTEA – very nice. Instant thoughts are I don’t like the A350 UC seat, but we’ll see how it grows on me over the next 8hrs 7mins. The seat is not well thought out – what is the point of having the two external cameras if your screen has to be stowed when it may actually be interesting to watch them, i.e. on the ground, takeoff & landing. Whilst I appreciate I am hard of hearing, initial thoughts are that the A350 is very quiet. According to FlightRadar24, VTEA is 2yrs old – the Upper Class seat was showing signs of wear – possible poor decisions made there over the quality of materials used.

I always enjoy watching the SkyMap (sad I know) but thought quality of the map on the new IFE system was impressive. But, if a 2yr old IFE system can’t be good then there is no hope.

Lunch was served a leisurely two hours out of Manchester & I was actually quite surprised – it wasn’t bad. Had the gravadlax salmon to start, then the Atlantic cod (which I had pre-ordered). Finished off with the Pimms o’clock summer pudding. I admit I did not know quite what to expect with the latter – but it was quite nice and refreshing.

The cabin then went into “quiet mode” & thankfully there was not a semi-enforced “window shades down please” – that really annoys me on a daytime flight. I availed myself to the WiFi which is pretty fast – have been able to stream some content off YouTube even though the VS website says the A350 Wifi is not suitable for streaming. We’re currently just over 3hrs out from MCO and are just about to cross the Canadian/US border.

The afternoon tea service followed about 90mins out of Orlando. Had the chicken slider which was OK, but the problem was it was 10:30pm at night & my body was telling me that I really didn’t want to be eating much at this time of the day.

About an hour out of Orlando we hit a good 10mins of turbulence & bounced around for a bit, then the seatbelt signs were turned off & the dash to the toilets followed for people to freshen up for landing.

Landed at about 6:48pm local time on 17R (which is not the normal arrivals runway on that side of the airport). We got on stand at about 7pm local time (so midnight for the passengers). We were allocated gate 97 which is a good long walk to the Immigration & Customs area). The Immigration hall was empty – I was through in about a minute with Global Entry, but passengers who did not have this could practically walk up to immigration desks. Clearly a combination of Virgin’s later flight times & BA + Aer Lingus moving to Terminal C have greatly improved the immigration experience. The baggage belt started within 5mins & my bag was first off. I was in my rental car within 30mins of the aircraft wheels touching down. You cannot complain at that.

The flight itself was fairly decent. Lovely quiet aircraft, fairly decent crew, but the jury is still out for me on that new Upper Class seat. The detractions from the entire experience was on the ground at MAN in the 1903 lounge & at the boarding gate.

Boy is Florida hot & humid. Did Universal this morning & Velocicoaster just rocks. Having a brief break out of the sun & are off to SeaWorld soon for a few hours.
#961761 by mitchja
13 Jun 2023, 21:26
Thanks for the TR. Living in Lancashire and a <1hr drive to MAN, l’d still rather fly from
LHR. VS still have a long way to go to convince me to fly from MAN.
#961762 by Murraymint
13 Jun 2023, 22:12
Thanks for the TR. We returned from Florida on 21st May but towards the end of our stay we thought it was getting quite humid a bit earlier than usual.
We flew from LHR and the clubhouse can’t be beaten but when you have to connect to a different terminal as we do to get home to Cyprus with 4 cases, it’s not brilliant - especially with BA not being particularly reliable just now. We’ll try MAN next year after giving up there 4 years ago. EDIs flight days don’t suit the twice weekly EZY connecting flights for us.
#961763 by David
14 Jun 2023, 09:55
Morning James. Sounds an ok flight. Just sitting in the clubhouse waiting on the VS 91 out. An A330-300 out and returning on the A350-1000. Will be interesting to see the comparison. I’ve preordered the crab and lobster tortellini, it’s not the most inspiring menu I’ve seen but sometimes they taste better than the descriptions.

Hope it’s not too humid across there

David.
#961765 by Claphambear
14 Jun 2023, 11:49
David wrote:Morning James. Sounds an ok flight. Just sitting in the clubhouse waiting on the VS 91 out. An A330-300 out and returning on the A350-1000. Will be interesting to see the comparison. I’ve preordered the crab and lobster tortellini, it’s not the most inspiring menu I’ve seen but sometimes they taste better than the descriptions.

Hope it’s not too humid across there

David.



The tortellini is actually very very nice indeed only down side it the portion is so small it should be an appetiser; I have had it a few times and have ordered it again for my flight in a few days as nothing else on the (advanced) menu excites me (I cant seem to load a photo to this reply but it is basically 3 small(ish) parcels of pasta in a sauce with some samphire over the top )

Have a wonderful flight but for now enjoy delights of LHR CH to the full
#961766 by buns
14 Jun 2023, 15:46
Kraken

Thanks for the TR

As VS continues to expand the flights from MAN it will have to do something about the Lounge provision for UC passengers. If there is a Clubhouse lurking behind hoardings or such like, it needs to be dusted off.

Mrs Buns and I have decided we cannot get on with the A350 seat (I am still debating whether I post TRs as the service both outbound and inbound bordered on shambolic)

Enjoy the pleasures Orlando had to offer and I hope you can cope with all the price hikes since you last travelled there.

buns
#961820 by VS075
22 Jun 2023, 21:10
Thanks for the TR. I must say, those flight times at the moment are less than ideal, but each to their own.

buns wrote:Kraken

Thanks for the TR

As VS continues to expand the flights from MAN it will have to do something about the Lounge provision for UC passengers. If there is a Clubhouse lurking behind hoardings or such like, it needs to be dusted off.

Mrs Buns and I have decided we cannot get on with the A350 seat (I am still debating whether I post TRs as the service both outbound and inbound bordered on shambolic)

Enjoy the pleasures Orlando had to offer and I hope you can cope with all the price hikes since you last travelled there.

buns


I'd be interested in seeing your TRs. As for the price rises, I must admit that and the exchange rate are the two things putting me off returning to the Sunshine State at the moment. Certainly a lot less bang for your buck than it was a decade ago, and that's on top of all the other issues closer to home cost of living-wise.

As for the Clubhouse, I do wonder if it will take one or two more new/returning routes to be announced in order to make it happen as it will then roughly be on a par with the amount of routes that were left at LGW at the point of pulling out due to COVID. Next year's reinstatement of LAS does give hope for the future.
#961824 by mitchja
23 Jun 2023, 15:10
VS075 wrote:As for the Clubhouse, I do wonder if it will take one or two more new/returning routes to be announced in order to make it happen as it will then roughly be on a par with the amount of routes that were left at LGW at the point of pulling out due to COVID. Next year's reinstatement of LAS does give hope for the future.


As we all know though, VS don't base Clubhouse locations on number of flights as look at SFO, BOS and IAD, all just 1 or 2 VS flights a day whilst MAN currently has 4.
#961840 by ColOrd
27 Jun 2023, 13:11
Kraken wrote: Instant thoughts are I don’t like the A350 UC seat, but we’ll see how it grows on me over the next 8hrs 7mins. The seat is not well thought out – what is the point of having the two external cameras if your screen has to be stowed when it may actually be interesting to watch them, i.e. on the ground, takeoff & landing.


Good, if varied trip report, your experiences at Manchester actually often put me off investing in trying a flight from there. I'm a northerner at heart, and I really want to see MAN succeed especially for VS, but the reality seems different.

Ref the IFE screens in Upper, unless the leisure configs are different to to the 44J config seats, the upper class screens are cleared for use gate to gate and you shouldnt need to stow your screen in Upper.
#961883 by dmc
03 Jul 2023, 13:59
ColOrd wrote:
Kraken wrote: Instant thoughts are I don’t like the A350 UC seat, but we’ll see how it grows on me over the next 8hrs 7mins. The seat is not well thought out – what is the point of having the two external cameras if your screen has to be stowed when it may actually be interesting to watch them, i.e. on the ground, takeoff & landing.


Ref the IFE screens in Upper, unless the leisure configs are different to to the 44J config seats, the upper class screens are cleared for use gate to gate and you shouldnt need to stow your screen in Upper.


What seat number were you in, Kraken?

I wonder whether the rule about screens being stowed on the A350 depends on whether you are in a window seat or middle seat.. when I flew to SFO on the A350 I was in 1K (window) and was allowed to have my screen open during takeoff and landing, while those in the middle seats were asked to stow theirs.

I presumed at the time it was due to the seat orientation, as the screens in the middle seats could potentially obstruct a quick exit from the seat in an emergency, while the screens in A and K are on the window side of the passenger and not in the way.
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