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#961771 by David
15 Jun 2023, 13:25
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I’ve posted this as an old Gatwick flight number but it is actually the VS91 out of Heathrow for 2 reasons, 1 - it was originally that flight that was booked in 2020 and 2 - the new Orlando flight numbers out of Heathrow aren’t loaded into the system yet.

This was a pre covid 50% off reward sale flight booked in Dec 2020 for travel in April 2021 which was cancelled by Virgin due to the covid issue. This of course meant that in the words of virgin “just find us a flight with spare seats on it and we will sort the rest” which in the end turned into “you need to fly from London to save you giving us the other 50% of miles and we don’t have any reward seats on that flight but we can find seats on these flights”

And so after paying for seats on the first Edinburgh departure last year, it meant we still had a “credit” to use this year but time was running out. I’m guessing if we hadn’t used them by year end, Virgin would have refunded the miles and money but who knows.

Long story short, it meant with a bit of juggling we’ve nearly got 3 weeks here in the sunshine state but it also meant a horrendously priced BA shuttle down to Heathrow followed by a very nice stay in the Sofitel at T5 before we reached the fabled Clubhouse.

After various issues with BA over the last 4 or 5 flights, coupled with the thunderstorms in London on Monday meant Tuesday was a little stressful to say the least. Many flights had been cancelled and planes were out of position so I had given us plenty of spare time for plan B if it all went wrong.

As an aside, the BA lounge is really showing its age with nearly all the seats showing severe wear and bits of the insides pocking out but the spicy beef pie and minestrone soup were good so it ended up fine.

The Sofitel is literally a 90 second walk from arrivals at T5 and would recommend it to anyone a little wary of traversing the behemoth known as London Heathrow. I debated about ordering a car to do the drive through checkin in the morning but settled for the Heathrow express which was probably just as quick but cost nothing, although lacked the pizazz of the DTC.

Check in was a little slow with only 4 desks being open for Upper which surprised me given the number of flights, but the security channel only took a matter of minutes with everything well signposted

Onwards through duty free to the lounge and quickly settled in to a rather busy clubhouse ( forgot to say Edinburgh was total madness as well, so air travel must be well on the way to post covid recover )

2 observations about the clubhouse. 1 - I really like the QR ordering thing, probably because you could get a little embarrassed ordering many dishes on your stay, which kinda feeds into 2 - my God, the portions are small. From the miniature champagne glasses to the small portions of food, I’m guessing this is a cost thing.

The garden was the place to be with sunshine, planes and jet a. What more do you want.

However it was soon time to go to the gate. Gate 36. That’s a trek and a bit of a mess. There was an AA flight next door boarding to Dallas and it made it very congested. It’s amazing how even with no announcements, 1 person starts to queue then all of a sudden there’s a huge line.

Anyways upper boarded with a shout rather than being called and I was soon into 10A which I found had some advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantages meant no real window(s) although there kinda was one at the back of 9A and last to be served with the advantage being you were literally first off the plane. No more premium passengers getting off first that used to happen on our beloved 747’s.

Service from the crew was great with many drinks rounds being done although as I said food was usually around last in the cabin. I had preordered the carb and lobster tortellini which was really nice and decided to try the goats cheese as a starter along with the pimms summer pudding for dessert. No cheese plate was offered. It has been previously discussed but the standard menu really should be put to bed. You’ve got to wonder who signed that off.

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A couple of films later ( A man called Otto is superb along with Puss in Boots) and it was time for afternoon tea. I skipped the chicken slider. Last time I had it it wasn’t good being very slimy and went for the sandwiches. Did these not used to be served with the “cream tea” option ? Probably more cost cuttings.

The bar seemed to be well used although there was nothing to stop premium passengers hanging about at it and other than that the flight seemed to be really long. I know the A330’s are slower than the old 747’s but the second half seemed to just drag.

Immigration was really quick due to global entry but the upper bags seemed to be the second or third cage that came out as by there had been a fare few out by the time they started to arrive. The use of phones at the reclaim area doesn’t seem to be as well policed as it once was, with many people tapping away while waiting on their bags.

A quick trip to the main terminal then onto Hertz to pick up an absolutely massive Ford Explorer ( it was on a deal) and before long we arrived at Disney Saratoga Springs for the next surprise. The original booking was 9 nights in a studio and 9 nights in a one bedroom but on opening the door, we were greeted to a lovely one bedroom so looks like the same room for the 18 nights. Disney magic at play.

The flight back is on an A350 in 1A which could be interesting in the wrong sense but will be good to compare. Oh and $120 at publics for some beer, water, soft drinks, bagels etc which used to be around the $50 mark doesn’t look great for the budget

Anyways, if you’ve got this far, thanks for reading. Any questions, fire away.

David

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