This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Arrived at Terminal 3 around 14:45 for a scheduled 17:50 departure. Having completed OLCI the night before we managed to move our seats from 57 A&C to 51 A&C.
OLCI was very efficient as we just dropped off the bags, answered the usual security questions and picked up our boarding passes, looking back at the long queue at the check in desks this probably saved us 30 - 40 mins standing around [:D]
Off through security, which had a very short line and into the departure area. A brief stop at O'Neils for a pint of Guinness and a very tasty Irish stew. Finished the usual shopping and settled back with the first of many Starbucks to watch out for the gate.
Boarding was due to start at around 16:55 but with no sign on the boards at 17:15 it began to be obvious that there would be a delay of some sort. At 17:20 the dreaded 'delayed until 19:15' notification came up, so time to get another grande mocha from Starbucks and troll through a few more chapters of the book I was reading (Bill Hicks biography - great read about one of the best comedians ever - sadly no longer with us).
Finally called to the gate at 18:45 and boarding was pretty painless.
Aircraft was Maiden Tokyo (G-VAIR) Airbus 343. Had to pass through the UC cabin and PE cabin on the way to the 'cheap seats' down the back. UC looked a little tatty in places to be honest, which considering that the refit happened in Oct 05 is probably not a good thing!.
Seats 51 A & C are 1 row behind the emergency exit seats and the one thing I noticed straight away was that unlike the 747 seats we had back in economy in March, there was actually room for me to move my legs! [y][y][y] Seat pitch did seem a little more generous than the advertised 32'.
The Captain made an apology for the delayed departure but should have stopped there as that was all I needed to know!. Following up with 'We have had a technical issue which our engineers have managed to overcome' was a little bit too much information - Especially as there were still two guys out by one of the engines shining torches up at it [:?].
Pushed back at 19:35 and a slow taxi out to the runway. Wheels up and climbing at exactly 20:01 with a new ETA of 22:40 local time - circa two hours late. Neither my wife nor I were over bothered by the delay as we had just planned to crash out at the hotel the first night anyway.
Drinks run started pretty quickly, so the usual G&T's for us both, next the meals - usual choice of Beef, Chicken or Vegetarian.
I had the Beef, which had it actually been hot, would have been very good, my wife had the Mushroom Risotto, or as it should have been called, 'lukewarm stodge' which was barely edible [n]. Luckily the large portions of Irish stew back at O'Neils had taken away most of our hunger pangs.
I guess the 2 hour delay didn't help the temperatures, or consistancy of the meals so I'll let VS off on this one [;)]
CC were very good, even stopping to chat and give us a few tips about 'Black Friday' in NYC (B/Fri being the day after thanksgiving that all the major shops open their doors around 7am to make the most of the holiday weekend). IFE was Odyssey, the choice of films was good - Only given this an average mark however as the system needed re-booting twice.
Touched down at JFK at 22:57 local time and queues through immigration only took 20 minutes. Transfer into Manhattan was very quick and we were settling into our hotel room just before 00:45.
Next four days can be summed up as - Never eaten as much, drank as much, walked as much or shopped as much - What a great city! [y][y][y]
Highlights for food - From our point of view, forget the fancy restaurants try:
Grimaldi's Pizza - Over the Brooklyn Bridge (Then walk back over)
Katz Deli - Best Pastrami or Corned Beef on Rye around
Juniors at Grand Central - Cheesecake to die for
Couple of quick points about the 343 vs the 747 - Economy cabin cetainly seemed quieter than the 747, seats, as mentioned before, appeared to have a little more legroom, and the WC's were bigger.
I've always loved the 747, but have to say that I actually prefer the economy cabin on the Airbus - Looking forward to our next trip out west on what should be a 346 with V:Port next summer [:D].
All in all, despite the delays and 'iffy food' the flight out was still good - Hell I class any flight that gets down in one piece as good!
Will post the return leg when I get a moment VS010 JFK - LHR
