V-Flyer

Posted: **29 Oct 2004, 01:10**

Hello all

Here's my list of things which wouldn't cost very much (if anything) to put right but always annoy me when I'm on a VS flight.

[:(!] On night flights the cabin is always too hot! Perhaps some cabin crew can help out with this but it always seems to be at least 25C which is quite uncomfortable when you're trying to sleep. I for one don't crank my central heating up to full blast when I go to bed at home! Is the idea to save on blankets/sleep-suits?!

[:(!] Lack of drinks rounds. Some crews are good but on other flights I've been on no one has come through the cabin with water/juice after the meal/duty-free service. I always take a bottle of water with me now.

[:(!] I wish the Skymap could be kept on during departure/arrival as I do like to know where I'm going, plus it would be better than looking at a blank screen for an hour of each flight! Other airlines seem to manage it.

That's all I can think of for now. Please feel free to add your own gripes!

Cheers
Alan

Posted: **29 Oct 2004, 01:38**

I'll second you on the cabin heat, flew twice recently in UC and PE and both times the cabin was hot. Although in PE on the new 346's the air nozzels are fairly powerful, that made a difference.

Dean

Posted: **29 Oct 2004, 01:49**

Maybe if they can just turn the heat down in UC so that you can snuggle down under the duvet. Its just too hot to use it I found.

Foz

)

Posted: **29 Oct 2004, 09:27**

quote:Originally posted by airchabum
I wish the Skymap could be kept on during departure/arrival as I do like to know where I'm going, plus it would be better than looking at a blank screen for an hour of each flight! Other airlines seem to manage it.

I'd agree with this one. In fact I wish the entire entertainment system could be kept on, although I'm sure someone will tell me it interferes with navigation equipment. I'm sure BA used to keep their system up right through landing and virtually had to tear pax away from the system when they arrived at the gate. There just seems to be an assumption that pax don't need any entertainment for the last hour of a flight.

Phil (Buffy)

Posted: **29 Oct 2004, 09:50**

A simple request, a camera on the nosewheel so that we could watch the take off and approaches. Nervous flyers could switch off:D

Posted: **29 Oct 2004, 09:52**

i agree with the first two points and am tempted to agree to the third however I am sure VS would argue that it is a safety issue.

In an emergency every second counts and the last thing the crew needs is a lot of pax distracted by the IFE, be it Sky Map or progs. If the IFE is off you at least have the majority of pax alert during the crucial take off and landing satages which is when most emergencies occur.

Just my 2p.

Posted: **29 Oct 2004, 09:58**

I was so hot and uncomfortable on the flight back from LAX in Sept that I couldn't get to sleep.

I wandered back to the bar to talk to hubby and said I was too hot to sleep (I admit I probably looked extremely pitiful) and the FA immediately said, I'll go and turn the heating down, which she did and I was asleep within 1/2 an hour.

Has anyone ever asked to have the heating turned down before?

Agree about the IFE, just being able to watch skymap would be better than nothing at all.

Shaz

Posted: **29 Oct 2004, 10:28**

quote:Originally posted by Bazz
In an emergency every second counts and the last thing the crew needs is a lot of pax distracted by the IFE, be it Sky Map or progs. If the IFE is off you at least have the majority of pax alert during the crucial take off and landing satages which is when most emergencies occur.

Dead right - if there was an emergency I might be more tempted to watch the end of the film than assume the brace position [}:)].

Seriously though - with nothing to watch I often doze during take-off and landings, especially with the heat in the cabin

- think I'd be more alert if I had something to watch.

If the intention is to keep us alert maybe members of the crew could jump out and at random intervals and shout bang. I know - poor taste (hits himself audibly round face).

Phil (Buffy)

Posted: **29 Oct 2004, 10:45**

I've always fancied a glass floor.

Dean

Posted: **29 Oct 2004, 10:59**

quote:Originally posted by Wolves27
I've always fancied a glass floor.

Dean

Nah! Mirrored floor (narf, narf) [}:)]

Posted: **29 Oct 2004, 11:02**

Alan

I also agree with pont 1. I've mentioned it before. Turn the cabin temperature down on over night flights.

Regards

Posted: **29 Oct 2004, 11:27**

A cockpit channel would be nice (like United have)

Posted: **29 Oct 2004, 14:28**

quote:Things that annoy me on VS....

...something different every time, so probably inconsistency, or the fact that the absolute best service is not always available across every aspect of the airline.

Posted: **29 Oct 2004, 14:50**

quote:A cockpit channel would be nice (like United have)

Whats that?

Thx
Foz

)

Posted: **29 Oct 2004, 15:00**

United called it cockpit chatter I think? - its basically the communication between the Pilot/ ATC, its quite interesting actually!!

Posted: **29 Oct 2004, 15:10**

quote:Originally posted by fozzyo
quote:A cockpit channel would be nice (like United have)

Whats that?

The active COM box in the flight deck is patched through to an audio channel on the IFE system. You can listen into the air-to-ground radio comms that the pilots hear and use.

One of my friends who had a fear of flying ("Why are we turning? What's happening now? Aaagh! There's another plane right outside our window!") came with me on a United flight. I had her listen to "Channel 9" during the departure. It really helped her manage her fears, because it answered many of those questions for her. She likes to fly UA now because of this!

Note that UA usually don't provide Channel 9 over large expanses of water such as the North Atlantic, because voice communication is done using HF radios which are squeaky and noisy, and in any case, United are using a datalink system (known as CPDLC) for primary comms with the Oceanic controllers (but retaining the HF radio as a backup). However, you will usually get it at other times during the flight, at the Captain's discretion.

A lot of other airlines leave the IFE system on gate-to-gate, especially those which run the skymap or have nose/belly/tail mounted external cameras.

Cheers,
Mike

Posted: **29 Oct 2004, 15:20**

Thanks for that Mike - sounds cool! And I can see why someone who has a fear of flying would find that comforting. I imagine that, as you say, it answers a lot of the questions.

Thanks
Foz

)

Posted: **29 Oct 2004, 16:37**

We listened to the cockpit channel on United from LAS to LAX in September.

I am not nervous of flying at all, but when the captain told the person at the control that there was a problem with overheated brakes and he wanted to wait for them to cool before we took off, I did have a moment of slight jitter! However it was nice to listen to how it all works and also know the reason why we were sitting on the runway going nowhere:)

Shaz

Posted: **29 Oct 2004, 16:55**

Iain

quote:A simple request, a camera on the nosewheel so that we could watch the take off and approaches. Nervous flyers could switch off

We have cameras on the 346s for the flightdeck crew and it was an option to include the images in the IFE, but we didn't take it up. [:(] Emirates have them on all their a/c AFAIK and I thought seeing the approach from the pilot's point of view was the best bit if the flight. It's probably not for nervous flyers though - the nosecam points wherever the nose is pointing (obviously) so if there's a crosswind then it looks a bit odd until you get to the threshold. Going into HKG we were looking at a large mountain for most of the approach! [:0]

Bazz

quote:i agree with the first two points and am tempted to agree to the third however I am sure VS would argue that it is a safety issue.

I see your point but are people going to be any more alert if they're sleeping or reading a book? Most other airlines I've flown on that have a Skymap (or similar) keep it on for the whole flight.

Phil

quote:Dead right - if there was an emergency I might be more tempted to watch the end of the film than assume the brace position .

Seriously though - with nothing to watch I often doze during take-off and landings, especially with the heat in the cabin - think I'd be more alert if I had something to watch.

If the intention is to keep us alert maybe members of the crew could jump out and at random intervals and shout bang. I know - poor taste (hits himself audibly round face).

LOL

Or perhaps the crew could keep us alert by wandering up and down the aisles in tight fitting uniforms....oh wait, they do that anyway! [:p];)

Jonathan/Mike

I've not flown on United but I agree a cockpit channel would be good, although probably of most interest during t/o + landing when you wouldn't be allowed to listen to it anyway! [}:)] Do UA let you listen to it for the whole flight?

Cheers
Alan

Posted: **29 Oct 2004, 17:05**

quote:Originally posted by airchabum
I've not flown on United but I agree a cockpit channel would be good, although probably of most interest during t/o + landing when you wouldn't be allowed to listen to it anyway! [}:)] Do UA let you listen to it for the whole flight?

Yes. Gate to gate, along with any other audio channels on the system.

Skymap is also usually available on aircraft with PTVs, or projection screens/fixed LCDs. Folding screens must be stowed for takeoff and landing - which includes all of C and F classes, and Y bulk-heads on PTV aircraft - but UA let you keep the screens out until pretty late in the arrival anyway.

Cheers,
Mike

Posted: **29 Oct 2004, 20:36**

quote:We have cameras on the 346s for the flightdeck crew and it was an option to include the images in the IFE, but we didn't take it up

Posted: **29 Oct 2004, 22:38**

I recently flew on a BA747 and there were no individual air vents above the seats!.

A warm cabin makes passengers drowsy and sends them to sleep.

Sky Map is sometimes shown on LGW400 during taxi take off and landing.

You cant do it on V-Port or Arcadia.

If I work on flight I always put sky map on for laning and take off on Oydessy aircraft.

Posted: **30 Oct 2004, 00:18**

Hi - I've been lurking for a bit and just got back from LAX in Economy. Outbound flight on G-VROC with V:port was great; huge fun which distracted me from the seat pitch in 43D and crew better than I recall from my last trip 2 years ago in UC.

Return was on Odyssey G-VTOP. Disappointing IFE-wise but that's life. Seat pitch in 35D seemed better than on outbound - are the new seats fatter, worse-angled or just cramming more people in or is it that the cabin behind PE area is better pitch anyway? Can't find anything on a cursory search on the site here.

I digress. Now this seems petty but this annoyed me....

The return flight VS8 yesterday had probably the worst safety demo I've ever seen. If there's going to be one, it may as well be done properly...it can be made fun if necessary! Having the demo (Odyssey a/c so manual demo) performed from the front of Premium Economy to the whole Economy cabin behind was terrible. 1: the pax in 35EF and probably all the EFs couldn't even see the crew and 2: the volume was so low that we couldn't hear it either. I pointed this out immediately after as several people were muttering and the crew member I spoke to didn't seem to care at all. Hey ho. I was left thinking that they've done their legal reqt to perform a demo; the fact that many people couldn't see or hear it didn't matter. It just looked shoddy and more akin to 1970s Aeroflot.

'Cooking' the pax after the meal service - all airlines seem to do it so not VS-specific - is annoying as it seems to cause more restlessness than sleep!

Skymap seemed to work all the way to the gate today. And I see from the in-flight mag that radio receivers are ok when the seat belt sign is off, so next time I'll see whether there's any worth in listening in on an airband radio as we go...it won't be as good as UA's channel 9 but...

Posted: **30 Oct 2004, 00:36**

Thanks crewrest

That is an amazing photo of G-VATL

At least we now know what we are missing!!!

Regards

Posted: **30 Oct 2004, 06:50**

Hi,

I was on a domestic Japanese evening flight from Shin-Osaka to Tokyo a few years back, and they had a camera shot from the plane nose on a large screen in the cabin with the lights down - Tres Cool [8D] seeing the runway from far out.

Anyone else experienced that?

Cheers

TS