Sorry it's taken a little while to post our flight reviews. It’s a shame Virgin (apart from the new Vancouver route later this year) don’t fly into Canada. We had a choice of Air Canada or BA and chose Air Canada based on previous experiences with them (and also previous experiences with BA) and the departure time from LHR. Although it is a real shame that Air Canada doesn’t offer a premium economy service on this route and in future we may have to choose BA.
Outbound – We had completed on-line check in the day before and secured the seats we had pre-requested. Got to LHR early (as we always like to) but couldn’t do our bag drop for another 45 mins – so a good excuse for a coffee! We tried to use the machine to print our baggage tags but after experiencing difficulties we were advised to proceed direct to the bag drop where it could be done for us. The lady on the check in desk was polite but not overly friendly and didn’t seem happy that we hadn’t printed off our bag tags! Oh well. The flight took off about half hour late but we only arrived 5 mins late so that was fine. Lunch was served pretty much straight after take-off – we both chose the chicken with rice which was nice along with a cookie for desert. In flight entertainment system worked well and there were plenty of “water runs”. We were also served a snack – pretzels and a drink (I did miss the ice-cream!) and then just before landing a choice of chicken or veggie wrap (not great) The flight was uneventful and the crew all very polite – I must say the landing deserved an 11 out of 10 – it was the smoothest landing I have ever experienced!
Inbound - We didn’t get to do on-line check in but when we completed the self check in at Montreal all was OK – again our pre-requested seats were still allocated to us and we got all the documentation printed successfully! There was quite a queue for bag drop though but we had plenty of time so no panic. Once through security we proceeded to our gate to find out that another flight was leaving from that gate around the same time as ours was scheduled – interesting! We managed to find out that the gate had been changed (and what the new gate number was!). We found that there was a real lack of TV screens showing departure information and we ended up asking the receptionist at the Air Canada lounge. Our flight took off late but with a flight time of 6 hours we made up time and landed at LHR 15 minutes early. We chose the chicken dish (which was pretty much the same as on the way out), served with a chocolate cake desert. The plane was quite warm and I think pretty much full. Sadly this combined with a short flight time didn’t allow for much sleeping. Just prior to landing drinks and a muffin was served. Again an uneventful flight although the crew weren’t quite as friendly as on the way out although all were polite.
Must say we’re looking forward to flying with Virgin again … seems like our next trip will be to Jamaica for a wedding next year – it will be interesting to see if we get to fly one of the “new” planes.
I hope you had a nice time in canada, it is on my list of countries to visit.
