VS076 MCO-MAN 5 FEB 13 (Economy)

This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

This flight was a lot worse than the outbound VS75 flight I'd been on less than 2 weeks earlier. http://v-flyer.com/forum/index.php?f=6&t=278714&rb_v=viewtopic
Not all of it Virgin Atlantics fault.

In The Airport
So we arrived at the airport with 3.5hours before the flight time and went to check-in. I hadn't checked-in online before hand this time and regretted it as soon as we tried to check in at the desk. I had selected seats 43A and 43C for my girlfriend and I, yet the member of staff on the desk told us that the flight was very quiet but there weren't two seats together? Then went on to explain how on these quieter flights they were only able to sell certain seat locations?? While she left me wondering how on earth they could only sell certain seat locations on their own flight, she went to try find us two seats together. She came back and issued us with 51D and 51E in the middle of the plane. I wasn't happy about this as I really wanted a window seat to try help my nerves again, but it was apparently all she could offer us together unless we paid an upgrade for extra legroom seats. We weren't willing to pay for this as we didn't see the point after the outbound flight seats were comfy enough we just settled for it and went through to the shops to get some last minute gifts.

We went down to the flight gate about an hour early and sat around. This is where I got A LOT more worried than the outbound flight. I saw that we were retuning on G-VKSS, the plane which had collided with a flock of brids out of MCO just a few weeks before. I found it had barely flown much either since it's accident!! This didn't fill me with much faith!! I was also worried about the same accident reoccuring! Also not having a window seat either lead to me being a bit of a wreck before we took off.

Boarding started about 5:45pm and they called up certain seat numbers at a time which made it less of a rush than in MAN when they just call the whole flight up at once. Being nearer the back we were some of the last to board.

On board
We were geeted by friendly Virgin staff once again who showed us to our seats near to the rear of the plane. There were a LOT of empty seats, although almost all along the windows were full. Almost all the middle was empty. We had the row of 4 seats to ourselves and so were able to stretch out a bit after takeoff. The cabin crew member nearest us was very friendly, talking away to passengers during takeoff etc. Just listening to her actually made me feel calmer. Although she did mention she was on holiday after the flgiht for almost a month which may have helped her mood! lol.

As the flight taxied towards the runway a little early my nerves grew ever more. The sound of bumps etc was a LOT more noticable in this aircraft than the G-VSXY we came out in!



We took off a few minutes early though, into the dark night and luckily without coming into contact with any birds. I was not a fan of how all the lights go off during take-off though!! Why can't they leave the subtle mood lighting on?? Also not having a seat meant i was very anxious until we got up to altitude, the engines wound down a bit and the mood lighting came back on ready for cabin service to begin.

During the flight
Once the seat belt lights went out and the first service of drinks began we hit a bit of turbulence, which was a bit rough but even I wasn't too worried, yet I was surprised when the pilot turned the seatbelt sign on. So we all buckled up for 10mins or so before he turned them off again. The cabin crew service contined throughout though and I opted for a beer again as I had on the outbound flight.
My girlfriend once again opting for the same vodka and orange she'd had before as she'd liked it so much. We were then offered the evening meal which came with a ceaser salad, and a bread roll and tiramisu dessert. I chose the pasta and spinich which was awful. I didn't eat much of it. My girlfriend chose the beef with potatoes and peas. This was a little better but still between us we didn't finish the meals.
The bread roll was stale and came with an awful american spread.
The salad was ok, with bread cubes (like soft croutons) and lettuce and a ceaser sauce to put on yourself. It was ok, but nothing special. Finally I'm not a fan of tiramisu but my girlfriend tried it and again said it wasn't nice.

So we gave up on the food, claimed our last free drink then tried to get some sleep.
My girlfriend reclined her chair as she had nobody sat behind her but she then resorted to lying across the remaining 3 seats. She fell asleep in no time.

There were also people lying across all 4 seats in other areas of the plane having a sleep too which all looked rather comfy. I prefer to keep my seatbelt on though so tried to sleep upright at first. My girlfriend had reclined her chair as she had nobody sat behind her but I chose not to recline mine as I had a guy sat behind me and didn't want to restrict their legroom.

I tried to sleep upright to no avail, then just as I started noddng off about an hour later the guy behind me started singing!! So i turned up my IFE, then resorted to noise reducing in-ear headphones on my ipod, but could still hear him. Finally I tried the ear plugs offered by Virgin in their night pack. These were even more useless.
I couldn't believe the cabin crew didn't tell him to be quiet.
So I gave up being polite to him and reclined my chair as far back as it would go and tried to nod off. He finally shut up with about 2hours 45mins left to go on the flight. I don't know if he was drunk or what but they cabin crew continued to give him lager cans. I managed to get some sleep for an hour or so before we hit a little more turbulence coming into Ireland. Then the guy behind me started singing again so I gave up trying to sleep and concentrated on the breakfast being served.

The breakfast was very plain and boring and dull. A simple oats and honey bar and some apple muffin cake thing. Also a very slgihtly cooled orange juice tub. I didn't try the apple cake as it didn't look too tempting, the orange juice was OK at best and the oats bar was pretty poor so I gave up half way through that. A bit let down meal again.

I gave up on the breakfast though and watched one TV episode on the VERA system before we started our decent.

During the decent I did notice that the land gear on this aircraft was VERY noisy when being put into the landing position. I don't know if this was due to where we were sat or whether it was because of the havy landing the aircraft had taken a few weeks before while fully laiden?

Luckily the weather in England was again another clear winter morning so the landing was as smooth as possible. And we touched down no problem on runway 5R at MAN at around 7:10am.

In Flight Entertainment

As I mentioned in my previous Trip Report, I wasn't all impressed with the VERA hardware on the A330-300 planes at all. The screen I had in this seat was a lot clearer though. Whether this was due to the darker lighting being a night flight, I'm not sure, but I think even in the daylight this screen looked clearer than the one I'd had previously. The touchscreen was just as pathetic to respond though and so I again resorted to the controller to the right.

Conclusion
This flight wasn't as great as the outbound flight on VS75 a week or so before. Once on the plane Virgin service can't be faltered and their aircraft are excellent, I just hope that this one has been repaired properly since it's incident. The flight was ruined mainly by their unexplained seating methods and I guess I should have checked in online to secure the seats I'd wanted originally?
It was also ruined by the p***k behind me singing his lonley way back to England.
And finally the food was a much bigger let down flying Eastbound. I presume it's due to it being supplied by American food manufacturers, but that's my only guess as to the quality difference?

I'd still use Virgin for my Atlantic flights, althugh I may look into reviews of other companies heading Eastbound back to the UK to see if anyone offers a better service in this direction.

Scores
Ground staff - 4/10 - unsympathetic and unexplaining
Cabin Crew - 9/10 friendly, happy and helpful, just need to be more aware of noisy passengers.
The aircraft - 5/10 clean, comfortable, quiet and smooth. I just hope it's up to it after it's heavy landing a few weeks back.
IFE - 2/10 terrible system as on outbound flight VS75
Seats - 8/10 comfy and spacious enough for Economy.
Food/drink - 2/10 pretty awful on the Eastbound flights to be honest.
Overall - 5/10

Not all Vrigin Atlantics fault, just compared to the Westbound flight, this flight was awful.

Thanks for the TR.

It was G-VKSS that had the bird strike recently, not G-VINE. Either way, you are perfectly safe and the aircraft will have been checked before flying.

Shame about the guy singing, worth raising with th crew.

My bad, I got the Reg wrong! It was VKSS.

Yeah, with regards to the cats being strangled behind me, I wasn't sure if it was flight etiquette for me to say soemthing, or to tell a member of the cabin crew for them to have a word with him?

Cabin lights are extinguished on take off/landing when it's dark outside so that your eyes are tuned in to the darkness. This makes it easier to facilitate a quick evacuation if needed.

If the lights were left on, and then went out in an emergency, people take a few minutes to fully adjust their eyes, and this could cause delays in evacuating.

Ahhh I guess that makes sense! Thanks for clearing that one up clarkey!

I guess my last issue then would be about the seating arrangements. Did I not get the seats I'd asked for online prior to check-in because I didn't check in online? Plus why could we only sit in specific seats? :/ Why was it so hard to find seats together?

I guess my last issue then would be about the seating arrangements. Did I not get the seats I'd asked for online prior to check-in because I didn't check in online? Plus why could we only sit in specific seats? :/ Why was it so hard to find seats together?

Sometimes if a flight is particularly empty they tend to move everyone to the back of the plane in order to make the weight balence better for take off. Although I have only ever had this on a 747 not the airbus. If this is the case, you are free to move around once the seabelt signs have been switched off.

For some reason they seem intent to move the seat requests round at MCO (I only say this because I never seem to have the same problems at LGW!). In fact I have even checked in online, printed off a boarding card and still found my seat to have been moved prior to me getting on the plane!!

Ah, yeah people seemed to move regardless once the seatbelt sign was off. I wanted to move to a window seat but only window seats free were the extra legroom seats and I still refused to pay for them so I stayed put
It was annoying though as I'd really hoped to get the seats I'd asked for. I'd be even more annoyed if they moved them once I'd been given my boarding card!

Not such a great experience then this time .
Shame about the food being so bad and the bloke behind you.
Maybe you should have flicked some pasta at him
Blacky

Great TR's, whether it's good etiquette or not I'd have had to say something about the singing!

Just booked some flights for May so looking forward to writing my own TR's!

Generally on light lights they block rows 41 to 49 for weight and balance, after take off you could of moved forward to a window seat in those rows.

Seated in row 51 you would have been near the under carriage so would have heard it retracting so that's why it was noisier also nearer the wing so hearing the flaps and slats moving. Outbound you were nearer the back so would not have been affected by the noises as much,

Likewise you probably didn't notice the 'exit' lights going off near the door areas because it was a day flight outbound.

Thank you for the TR, sorry to read about the issues that you had on the flight.

Generally on light lights they block rows 41 to 49 for weight and balance, after take off you could of moved forward to a window seat in those rows.

Seated in row 51 you would have been near the under carriage so would have heard it retracting so that's why it was noisier also nearer the wing so hearing the flaps and slats moving. Outbound you were nearer the back so would not have been affected by the noises as much,

Likewise you probably didn't notice the 'exit' lights going off near the door areas because it was a day flight outbound.

I figured it was louder because we were sat further forward. I guess we could have moved forward during the flight but people were asked to move back to their seats for landing which would have meant moving back and forth a lot so we just stayed put in the end. Thanks for clearing it up a bit though!