Outbound 25 December
Checked in on Christmas Eve at Manchester for the following days flight to Cancun. Id booked this service as I thought I might be able to influence our seating allocation as First Choice dont offer advanced seat reservation. At the time I booked I paid 5 each for the Daught and me but I understand this is now included in the premium upgrade price. In any event, all seating is pre-allocated and we were given 5 F & G which were fine (see later). It was good to think we only needed to have our carry on the following morning, and we didnt have to queue as there was a separate desk handling day-before check in. The airport was pretty quiet anyway at around lunchtime.
Picked up the next morning at 6.30 by a chauffeur driven car booked through Holiday Extras. Nice silver Merc, pleasant driver and punctual. Light traffic meant we were at the airport for just after 7. The place was heaving and there was quite a queue for check in, even thought there is a separate desk for premium. We just needed to pick up our boarding cards from the customer services desk which took 2 minutes.
No airport lounges open on Christmas day but most other facilities were open from 7. Flight was due to depart at 9.15 and we were called to the gate at 8.30. Priority boarding was operational for premium passengers and for a few people with mobility problems but they didnt do the small children/babies first thing if they had then there would have been quite a scrum.
Onto the plane and turned left ok so not quite the same as the UC feeling but still left! Had a quick peek at the economy cabin and it looked quite spacious and light. The plane is a Boeing 767 and is arranged in both cabins 2-3-2 as AB,CDE, FG. Legroom in economy is published as 33. In Star Premium its 36. The star premium cabin is rows 1 10. Row 1 consisted of seats CDE and was in front of the galley. Seats 2A&B and 2F&G are also bulkheads and the toilets are in front of 2A&B.
Offered cassis and champagne and a small dish of strawberries and grapes. Small amenity kit with toothbrush, toothpaste and lip balm on the seat together with a pretty good blanket and one of those shaped pillows. Seats are leather and have an inflatable bit so you can customise your seat tried doing this a couple of times, air in, air out but couldnt detect anything happening to the seat.
Took off around 15 minutes late for our 11-hour flight. IFE booted up pretty quickly and available for use within about 20 mins after take off. No compulsory trailers or news either. Premium passengers are given noise reducing headphones quite comfortable but I couldnt deduce much noise reduction. These are collected back in at the end of the flight. Economy passengers get an ordinary headset that they are told to keep for the return flight (and were reminded of this on the return when they were charged 2.50 for another one if they hadnt). System is AVOD and had 12 film channels (only 8 in economy but you could upgrade), 7 TV channels, 12 radio/audio and ten games (again only six in economy without upgrading). The premium games were Disney Classics (might entertain a 3 year old), Timon and Pumba (again pathetically easy), Kasparov Chess and Who wants to be a Millionaire. The other games were battleships, hangman, virtual bowling, solitaire, crosswords and Buzz the Busy Bee (dont ask!). Only WWTBAM kept me entertained for longer than 2 minutes. Screen size 9' in premium and 7' in economy.
Menus handed out about 20 minutes in and orders taken at about 40 mins, including for the first drinks service. As this flight was before 9.30 we got breakfast:
Cornflakes
Fruit platter
Full English with tomato concasse (the latter being undetectable) or
Veggie breakfast or
Cold blinis with smoked salmon, cr_me fraiche and dill sauce.
Bread, croissant and preserves.
First drinks served about an hour in, with drinks brought on a tray to your seat rather than a trolley service. They did make an attempt at presentation by using some china but basically everything arrived at once on the same tray, except they took the fruit platter dish away to serve the breakfast choice. I had the full English and it was just about OK.
There was another drinks order taken after breakfast but after that you needed to call someone, the response was always prompt and pleasant. There was a range of spirits including Jack Daniels and Baileys cant remember what beer but I think there was limited choice. The wines were Havana Hot Chenin Blanc (just about OK) and something Ive written down as Regenoak Shiraz Cab Sav (which was a long way from being OK). Ice cream served about 5 hours into the flight.
Afternoon tea was served about two hours before landing. Choice of either a chicken Caesar or a cheddar cheese, tomato and onion wrap (both OK) with a cheese and onion brioche wedge this was a completely unappealing little brown pastry thing that was unidentifiable from its description didnt risk it! There were also grapes and a fruit scone with clotted cream and preserves the Daught reported this was hard and tasteless.
Little else to report on whats a long flight over a lot of water. IFE behaved although a couple of people needed theirs rebooting. Staff were pleasant enough although stopped short of friendly. At least 4 people serving the premium cabin most of the time. There was no attempt whatsoever to be festive or to make this flight any different, thought this was a bit poor for Xmas day.
Used the front door to disembark so were almost first off the plane. Arrived into the madness that is Cancun airport, quite quick though immigration, bags off quick, not singled out at customs, avoid all exhortations from the official looking unofficials in the arrivals hall and managed to get on First Choice coach within about 20 mins after landing where we then sat for about the next hour and a half as someone else on the bus had had luggage problems. Just reinforced for me the reasons why I usually travel independently.
Return 9 January
Check in reasonably civil at the premium desk but huge queues everywhere else. Lots of people arguing about the requirement to pay departure taxes saying they didnt know about it. Payments only accepted in cash as well (peso or dollars) so lots of people had to queue 3 times, first at the desk, then the ATM, and then back at the desk. No priority baggage labels put on the cases. Left the melee grabbed a quick drink from the bar and went to settle down at the gate. Pleased to see plane was already on stand an hour and a half before departure at 15:35.
Priority boarding went out of the window as, due to using the front door the back of the bus was boarded first. Premium service only commenced when everyone in economy was boarded. Offered bucks fizz or orange, went for the bucks fizz (naturally!) but I think someone had forgotten to put the fizz in it. In the air more or less on time again.
Menu for the return was:
Beef tomato and buffalo mozzarella - good
Pasta salad (penne) with cracked black pepper and sun dried tomatoes very good
Chicken breast coated with a creamy veg sauce topped with two parsley dumplings OR
Tender (?) beef Dianne served with roasted potatoes, courgettes, green beams and peas OR
Sweet Potato, red kidney beans and Mediterranean veg encased in a lightly spiced sauce served with savoury rice
Selection of fresh warm breads and butter
A traditional blackberry and apple crumble with cream
Cream cheese (Philly) and crackers, tea or coffee and Lily OBrien chocolates
By the time orders for row 4 were being taken (i.e. after the first 17 orders), one of the stewardesses was getting worried because no one had ordered the veggie option so they started to ask people for a second choice not really that great for a service that promotes a choice of 4 meals (we only had 3). By about row 8 people were being asked if they would have the veggie option if their first choice wasnt available.
I had the beef and it tasted exactly the same way most airplane beef always does irrespective of what its called, you know that dark brown sludge with lumps in? Apparently the roast potatoes were good (snaffled by the Daught who left all of her beef).
Drinks menu the same but with the addition of Horlicks or hot chocolate with a chocolate brownie.
Breakfast (which we declined) was served about an hour and a half before landing, came in a cardboard box and was cereal, milk, orange juice, croissant, butter, cheese and preserves.
Again not much to remark on during the return flight. Havent mentioned the mood lighting that seemed to go into overdrive on the return. We had blue lights, orange ones, white ones and lilac ones. Made good progress due to strong tail winds getting back in eight and a half hours. Two warnings given about smoking and I think the crew were also getting some stick in economy from those passengers who hadnt ordered meals when the snacks ran out not long into the flight.
Disembarking at Manchester was from the second door but no priority given to premium passengers. One case off reasonably quickly and then 15 minutes until the other one. Driver already waiting for us so home in another half hour.
Comparision to Virgin PE
Price
The upgrade for this flight was 249 each which probably compares favourably to VS premium economy.
Check in
Similar both with day before and separate PE check in
Boarding/Disembarking
FCA good on the outbound, called out by row, no concession for young children. Fell apart after that. VS a bit inconsistent here too, generally better at disembarking.
Baggage
Both 30kg and both have priority systems but FCAs didnt work on the return
Food
Although Ive previously expressed disappointment with UC food I think Virgins PE (and therefore economy food) was much better than FCAs
Seat
FCA for me similar legroom but I dont like the fabric of VS PE seats and the way the leg rest works, better for me when its on the seat in front. Blanket and pillow better on FCA.
IFE
Due to AVOD, much better than anything else on the Virgin fleet except for VPORT. Headphones better on FCA (similar to UCS ones) but no better at noise reduction.
Cabin
Doesnt beat upstairs in the bubble on the 747s but is probably very similar to downstairs and I imagine in the 343/6s (although FCA cabin does have 2 dedicated loos)
Staff
VS hands down. The FCA crew were pleasant enough but seemed very distant and chatted between themselves a lot.
Convenience
Being able to fly directly from Manchester was a huge bonus both in terms of time and hassle.
{edited - preiffer : changed photo links from '}'s to ]'s.}
PJ - edited title
