VS064 HAV-LGW 19 Mar 06 (PE)

This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

Very Interesting...

Check in at Havana Airport was very good (online check is not available for this flight). The seats that we had pre booked were still there and boarding cards were printed - then off we went to immigration.

Note : Each passenger has to complete immigration checks seperately so make sure you both have what you need with you to complete this task as once the first person is through they cannot get back easily to help a partner.

Down to the gate - I am glad we did not leave the 'Duty Free' shopping until the airport as everything that I had bought at the hotel shops was half the price being charged in the airport. Specially important to note this as Virgin flights DO NOT carry duty free on the Havana run.

At the gate there were approx 10 people hovering around the check-in staff. I guessed that they were VS staff/partners on holiday looking for upgrades [;)]. They all seemed happy when new boarding cards were printed and I did note that a lot of them appeared in PE on the plane.

At the risk of being a party pooper..if they were indeed VS staff on holiday I do wonder if it might be more of a selling opportunity for VS to give upgrades to potential PE cutosmers from economy....?

We waited to close up and go when the captain started the announcements...good news we are all ready to go...bad news we have lost 70 meals somewhere (may not have been loaded in Gatwick..)[?] We could wait for more meals to be prepared...(yeah right!) or could stop on the way but both options would put the crew over hours so he had taken the decision to go without them. Lots of gasps, and 'how are they going to feed us all!'.

Crew fearing for thier lives were further distressed to hear that problems with the saftey video meant that they would have to do the saftey announcement manually. (Lots of laguhs from all crew on board.

Flight took off roughly on time. Entertainment was on for 10 mins before it had an extra reboot due to sound issues. (why does it take so long to re boot (15 mins)?)

Drinks service prompt. Having already snagged two champers before take off I opted for the G&T. Food came - interesting mix of menu, Chicken Vindaloo, Chicken Pasta or Veg Ravioli. Opted for the Vindaloo which raised an eyebrow from the Steward. Bless him he should not have worried it was great.

Settled down to sleep after watching a film (Good Night and Good Luck). Slept a bit only to wake up to a request for 'any one medically trained on board to provide assistance'. A nice man up with us on the top deck volunteered and was taken downstairs to assist. There was a lot of to and frowing during the night as people thundered past me in the aisle - quite a few of them were trips made to the cockpit but I did seem to drift off to sleep again as I did have a wierd dream about being on a plane! At least I think I was dreaming...

Landing fine, parking quick and as I had checked through to another fligth no bags to pick up. I did note that one lady in the 'know' made her journey a bit quicker by going down the ramp on the 'other passports' side in immigration and then joining the UK passports queue rather than going the full walk around to the UK side. Interesting - might use that one next time I am coming in on the south side. (She had waved at the flight crew before geting on the plane so I presume she was a spose or crew her self when not on holiday...

Well I hope this is not too long or boring as it is the first report I have made.

[HighFlyer]

Thank-you for the Trip Report! How did you find HAV? Still not decided on that one as a holiday destination so would be interesting to hear what you thought? Out of curiosity, did you get your passport stamped in HAV? Or did they stamp the visa that gets removed?

Chicken Vindaloo? My kind of dinner!!

Thanks again for the TR and insights on the HAV flight, great read!

Thanks,
Sarah

We stayed Havana for 5 nights and 5 nights at the beach. Havana is very very interesting lots to do and to find out about but note Cuba is not your average carribean island. Read up a bit beofre making your choice.

They do not stamp your passport. Check out tripadvisor.com forum for help on Cuba and the best hotels and those to avoid..

Duty free products ARE carried and sold on flights to and from HAV!

Hi

I thought that when asked about this the crew onboard said this was not the case. Both there and on the way back (to my knowledge)we were not offered this service.

If you have access to crew members perhaps you can ascertain why ?

hi jerseylily
which hotel did you stay at in havanna?
cheers
Jerseyboy

I never really understand the 'out of hours' thing because a flight to HKG is much longer than HAV. Is it to do with the overall hours worked per month or something?

JerseyBoy, I have sent you a private message with the information on the hotel.

Jamie, perhaps someone in the know can help us with the out of hours thing.

Originally posted by declansmith
Duty free products ARE carried and sold on flights to and from HAV!

Sorry to disagree but JerseyLily is correct. There is no Retail Therapy service on the VS063/064 flights for the time being.

Originally posted by jamie
I never really understand the 'out of hours' thing because a flight to HKG is much longer than HAV. Is it to do with the overall hours worked per month or something?

There are several factors which have to be taken into consideration when calculating crew hours, such as report time, length of flight and departure time. The whole subject takes up several pages of our Operations Manual!

BTW JerseyLily, many thanks for the trip report. Everyone did receive a meal after all [y]

Originally posted by Jetstreamer
There are several factors which have to be taken into consideration when calculating crew hours, such as report time, length of flight and departure time. The whole subject takes up several pages of our Operations Manual!

Is HAV a two or three person flight deck crew? I'm guessing this is one of the key out of hours issues for this flight, as HAV must be on the edge of what's doable with a two person crew.

HKG is probably a three person crew (like SFO, LAX, and others).

Cheers,
Mike

[mcmbenjamin]

Originally posted by JerseyLily

They do not stamp your passport.

You are making this seam too easy for me JL!

[mcmbenjamin]

Originally posted by Jetstreamer

Originally posted by jamie
I never really understand the 'out of hours' thing because a flight to HKG is much longer than HAV. Is it to do with the overall hours worked per month or something?

There are several factors which have to be taken into consideration when calculating crew hours, such as report time, length of flight and departure time. The whole subject takes up several pages of our Operations Manual!

BTW JerseyLily, many thanks for the trip report. Everyone did receive a meal after all [y]

My school has a whole major on crew scheduling. It is a being deal and does get confusing just with the CAA/FAA rules but then you have the union contract to deal with at unionized airlines. Funny times. See, flying the planes is the easy part.

Hi,

In answer to the meals - all of PE upstairs got meals - when someone in front of me asked the crew they said that the meals had now been found but there was no general announcement to that effect upstairs. I would like to know how economy got on.

In answer to the size of the flight crew. We had 2 first officers on the way out for sure but I do not know how many on the way back.

Is HAV a two or three person flight deck crew? I'm guessing this is one of the key out of hours issues for this flight, as HAV must be on the edge of what's doable with a two person crew.

HKG is probably a three person crew (like SFO, LAX, and others).

Cheers,
Mike

We have three Flight Deck Crew on the Havana route. HKG flights operate with a minimum of three, sometimes four.

Originally posted by JerseyLily
Hi,

In answer to the meals - all of PE upstairs got meals - when someone in front of me asked the crew they said that the meals had now been found but there was no general announcement to that effect upstairs. I would like to know how economy got on.

Everybody in Economy also got a meal [y][:D][^]

Hi Jet streamer - unbelievably yesterday I met someone that had travelled in economy on the same flight. They said that they had got a meal but it looked suspiciously like the outbound meal of roast chicken when they had asked for chicken pasta. But they were not complaining...