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#948688 by Kraken
13 Feb 2019, 19:16
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Did OLCI with no problems the evening before the flight, then headed out for a final proper dinner on I-Drive as the offering on the flight will be, well, in-flight food. Dropped bags at Disney Springs this morning and as we parked up we clocked two large groups unloading cases galore from their people-mover type vehicles, so our bags were out of the boot pronto and dropped ahead of what would have been a bit of a wait. They are clearly expecting a quiet day, as there are only two flights from MCO back to the UK and just one van for the Disney Springs luggage.

Had a very mixed last day, taking in SeaWorld, Premium Outlets and Mall at Milennia, then after a quick return to our hotel for me to shower and change, the short journey to MCO. The airport was pretty quiet and was through the TSA checkpoint (with TSA Pre) in no time, then onto the train to the airside terminal. Had a wander round and saw G-VROS in her new livery “Forever Young” which is to be our ride back to Manchester.

Was going to go into the Club MCO to use some of my Lounge Pass access, but decided against it when fellow v-flyer buns messaged me to say he & Mrs buns were in the Sky Club. Up to the Sky Club which was rammed – they have closed off the section that overlooked the apron [for refurbishment] and just squashed all the chairs and tables from that area into the remaining space. Thankfully there was a seat free next to Mr & Mrs buns, so I sat and had a chat + drink with them. Suffice it to say they were having “fun” with their return journey back to the UK… I’ll let buns put it into a TR that will make interesting reading. The Club MCO lounge would probably have been preferable, but without the good company of Mr & Mrs buns.

Boarding was called just under an hour before scheduled departure so off to gate 81. The new facial recognition departure boarding gates are also a bit scary – as long as the system recognises you from your arrival photo, a passport is not needed at the gate. Onboard G-VROS and into 9K (again). A full Upper Class cabin – as always – with one small child on a parents lap & another one, not much older, with their own seat. Champagne was offered & accepted – no top-ups proactively offered, but if you went to the bar they would happily top your glass up for you. The FSM introduced himself before takeoff & it seems we both like theme parks, so had a brief chat.

Pushback and takeoff were about 10mins late & the cabin was not correctly secured / dimmed for takeoff. Passengers still had their drinks trays out & the lights above the bar were left on full for taxi & takeoff, which defeated the point of turning off the main cabin lights in Upper Class. Flight time to Manchester is 7h24m with 312 pax onboard & a normal compliment of 14 cabin crew.

After takeoff the crew came round to take food orders / duty free orders / “wake me up for breakfast” etc, but not so much a mention of a drink of any kind. OK, I’ll correct that, now the food orders are all in & the drinks orders have been taken.

Dinner was served very soon afterwards to maximise sleep time for those who wanted it. Had the Hot smoked salmon to start, followed by the chicken, then the chocolate cake. We had a bit of cabaret from the small child on their parents lap on the A side of the cabin. He/She took a liking to the meal service tablecloth and attempted to remove it from the seat-table. Unfortunately due to their age and agility, they could not mastermind the trick where you whip the tablecloth away at high speed and everything stays in place on the table. You can guess the rest!

Once the meal service & smell of spilled wine was over / clearing from the cabin, it was time to put the seats into beds. Out of 14 seats, 10 had them flipped into beds – us included. Now here is where the weather was not kind, it was a very turbulent flight. As we passed Gander, or thereabouts, it all started and continued for most of the way across the Atlantic. The turbulence made sleep quite difficult, but did keep the small child / baby on the opposite side quiet. Sadly, when the turbulence did give us some respite, the small child / baby opposite chose to exercise their vocal cords. The parents did all they could, but a lot of the flight was a combination of bumping around a lot with turbulence / listening to a screaming child. As such, sleep was very limited.

The turbulence affected the breakfast service in that the crew had way less time to serve it. The seatbelt sign was quietly ignored in Upper so the crew could flip seats out of bed mode back to seats so passengers could eat breakfast. As a result, you got all your breakfast delivered in one go, i.e. cornflakes & hot food delivered all at once. Do you eat the cornflakes first as you would normally, whilst your hot food goes cold?

Breakfast was tidied away as we were over the Irish Sea [so quite late] and the seatbelt sign went on for final descent into Manchester. A very uneventful arrival then followed. The only annoying thing was that the nice people in the TSA had decided to cut off my checked luggage strap with a knife. Have been using this strap for 5 or 6yrs and had my bag opened by the TSA on a few occasions – they have always managed in the past to find the “M” shaped key to open & re-close it (it’s not an approved lock, but a very common one). Guess it all depends on the agent you get. Oh well, I have a spare.

So all in all, this was an OK VS flight. The crew were good, but nothing like on the outbound. Nothing the crew / VS can do about the turbulence or small child onboard. Time to write the letter to Crawley Towers for the outbound flight before I fall asleep.
#948695 by buns
14 Feb 2019, 06:44
Kraken

Thanks for a cracking TR and for the opportunity to pass some time with you in the Delta Lounge - Thanks for the support ;-)

Yes, we too had a bumpy ride back over the North East part of the American Continent, but fortunately no nearby passengers to keep us disturbed from a noise perspective

I think I know where that people carrier of folks ended up :-D

Thanks once again

buns

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