This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
You could tell Virgin were expecting a light load at DTD check-in as there were next to no staff on duty there & only one van for both the Gatwick & Manchester flight luggage. Will be interesting to see how full the aircraft is.
Made our way out to MCO at about 4:30 and was at the airport by 5pm. In retrospect, we could have left this later as MCO is fairly quiet, but you just never know how long it is going to take to clear the TSA checkpoint. As it happens, we were through in little over 5mins. Oh well.
Once airside the BA flight from Gatwick was just arriving on stand. No Virgin planes in yet – a quick look on Flightradar24 shows they are both just over 40mins out & are due to arrive within 2mins of each other. Immigration should just have finished dealing with the BA flight when the Virgin ones arrive together – would not like to be sat at the back downstairs on the second plane to land.
Duty free shopping done & up to a very busy Delta Sky Club – there is literally nowhere to sit & some people are having to stand with their food / drinks. A quick look at the departures screen in the lounge does not show any delayed flights. There is clearly a capacity problem here – and it’s not BA / Virgin’s fault today, as BA only have one flight & Virgin only have 2, i.e. half the high-season number. Had a quick look at Virgins duty free prices online before I went into the duty free shop & things that were often cheaper onboard, i.e. cigarettes, seem to be about the same price now in Orlando duty free. (Well, £29 onboard for 200 Marlboro Gold / $43 in duty free – so literally the same price to the penny with the current exchange rate).
Wandered down to the gate ahead of the boarding call. Was met by a very friendly supervisor who clocked my UC boarding pass and advised there would be a delay to boarding & would I like to return to the Sky Club? (No Mr G4S like on the outbound trip – and Virgin will get feedback on this guy too. No idea if he is Virgin staff or outsourced, but he was a complete credit to Virgin). As the boarding delay was only expected to be 10mins, I just got the iPad out. About 10mins later the same supervisor returned to me to say “another 15mins I’m afraid”. Seems that it does not help when two aircraft arrive within minutes of each other as they only have so many cleaners / ground staff available for the turnaround.
We boarded about 20mins late, but the ground supervisor had already told me it was a light load (252 onboard) so should be able to make up some time on boarding & a short flight time of around 7h15m, so should be into Manchester early. Upper Class is full & the announcement has gone out that people further down the plane can move around only after takeoff & to avoid the extra legroom rows to avoid being charged.
Can’t remember how late we pushed back, but the flight home to MAN is going to be 7h13m and we’re expected in just ahead of the 9am schedule. Pre-takeoff bubbly was offered, accepted & refilled. Dinner & after takeoff drink orders were taken on the taxi out to the runway.
Once airbourne the seatbelt sign pinged at 10,000ft and the service began. The crew were keen to serve those who wanted a fast dinner first to maximize sleep time. I just asked to be served towards the end of the flow and this was not a problem. Had the smoked salmon starter – very good. Followed this up with the Ginger & Lemongrass prawns – also very nice, but very salty, which I guess is to be halfway expected from an Asian dish. Passed on dessert and went for the cheese, which was also good. I agree with others that the food is not as good on the ex-USA flights, but there was nothing wrong with it either.
After dinner a medicinal G&T or two, OK, three (not driving until Sat AM) followed, with the seat converted to bed mode for a few hours of sleep of sorts. Asked the crew if I needed to order breakfast & they said no – if you’re up, we’ll serve you whatever you want. No complaints there – am only likely to want cornflakes & a bacon roll at the most, washed down by a coffee.
As above, I was awake in time for breakfast, so partook the aforementioned cornflakes & a bacon roll. The cabin was secured for landing and we landed about 5mins early into a somewhat cool and grey Manchester. I wish I was still in Florida!
The UK Border was empty and I was through one of the e-gates in under 10 seconds – this is a record for me as it normally takes at least 30 seconds. My bag was on the belt within a couple of minutes of arriving in the baggage hall & then through the green channel. For once, I was actually returning from Florida with under the Customs allowance of £390 of shopping. (Will make up for it on the trip in May though!)
So all in all, another good flight from Virgin – it ticked all the boxes & you could not fault the service the crew delivered. It’s worth noting that we did not see the FSM at all in the Upper Class cabin, so well done to the CSS & her team for delivering a good flight service.
