This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Check in at RSW was quick and with GE we were straight through the TSA precheck channel and at the gate a little too early but preferable to being late. RSW is a very pleasant airport but with limited facilities. Our flight arrived from ATL on time and we were away just a few minutes late.
The captain advised that there might be some bumping around ATL as there was some wet weather on the way. The flight was fine and we were into ATL a little early and in the rain.
We now had a 3.5 hour layover which we prefer as 2 years ago we were on the later flight, which was delayed, and we missed the MAN one. The Delta lounge was quite busy but we were able to find seats by the window and could see V-ROY our ride back to MAN. There were several hot dishes on offer and my wife had a spicy soup whilst I settled for mac & cheese which was fine. These were followed by the obligatory ‘cookie’.
We wandered down to the gate about 50 minutes before departure and they were staring to load the strollers and wheelchair passengers. We were soon on board and in our seats. Upper Class was full and there were only about half a dozen empty seats in the downstairs PE. Our load for the night was 339. I noticed that there was only 1 other couple in Upper and the rest seemed to be business people and, mainly, American.
We pushed back a couple of minutes late and commenced taxiing towards a queue of about 6 aircraft. We then came to a stand and sat for a while before the Captain announced there would be a delay as all take-offs were suspended due to the imminent arrival of a heavy rainstorm on the south side of the airport. It seems the north side was clear. The rain arrived and was pounding on the aircraft for about 10 minutes. We then moved forward but were delayed again by another rainstorm. Eventually we took off about 45 minutes late but the Captain announced that he had taken on extra fuel and could travel faster so we should be in MAN on time. As we turned northwards there was a beautiful sky.
The cabin crew was excellent and soon started the evening service. The menu was :-
Starters
Parsnip Soup, Smoked Salmon Blinis or Shimeji Mushroom salad
Mains
Seared Beef fillet, Chicken Breast linquine, Thai sweet potato stew or Vietnamese caramel salmon.
The latter 2 were by award winning Food Writer and TV personality Donal Skehan. I’m not sure how popular they were as by the time they got to me in 10A the beef had gone and my wife and I had the last 2 chicken.
Pudding
Chocolate butter pear crumble cake with cream or Lemon meringue cheesecake
The remainder of the flight was uneventful and we arrived in MAN as forecast on time.
We were soon off and in the Immigration Hall and I was straight through the machines whilst it refused to recognize my wife and she had to queue for an agent. I felt for the Americans on board as we had landed just behind the Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong so the queue for them was more like we face on entry to the US.
