VS601 LHR-JNB 9 MAR 15 (Economy)

This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

It wasn’t a good day……I am obviously a morning person, as this doesn’t happen when I fly in the mornings!
I left my passport at home and had to get the taxi driver to turn round (luckily not too far from home), I forgot to pick up my currency at the airport before going through security (luckily they had another desk airside) and then realised I had left my noise cancelling headphones at home (I won’t comment on how I resolved that one, but it was expensive!).
The flight was full up front but empty down the back with a total of 192 people onboard. A lovely member of ground crew at checkin had shown me the seat map and showed me that the 5 rows of middle seats in front of where I was sat were blocked out due to the empty cabin, along with some twos down the side of my seat, so I was pretty sure o some extra room.. Once onboard I shared the knowledge with fellow passengers and we all spread out, some with 4 seats and the rest with 2 seats each. It was a lovely comfortable flight with my 4-seat flatbed! The seats on the A346 are pretty uncomfortable when upright, but a bit better when reclined. The seat pockets are really annoying though as they seem very low and rub on your legs.
The crew were good, but one steward in particular was lovely and took my new headphones from me to charge them up for a while. He returned them after meal service and even brought me a USB plug that had been left over from a previous flight. I’ve sent a note to Crawley Towers and I hope it is recognised.
Service was quick due to the small number of passengers and the food was the usual beef, chicken or veggie (pasta). I went for the pasta and it was OK, nothing special. The salad started was as boring as ever, but the Gu chocolate and orange pud was lovely. The breakfast the next morning was better than you get on Caribbean flights – there was yogurt, pastry, orange juice and hot food (veggie or meat). Even the tea was good.
I managed to get a fair amount of sleep in my economy flatbed with my shiny new noise cancelling earphones, despite the armrests sticking in various places and one of the 4 seats insisting on going into its upright position without being asked. (I wasn’t inconsiderate by reclining all 4 seats, as there was a wall behind me where the stairs to the crew rest area were.) All in all I would recommend seats 41D-G.
As we were boarded ahead of schedule due to the lack of passengers, we managed to get a slot so landed 40 mins ahead of schedule at Johannesburg.
All in all a good flight due to the empty economy cabin and friendly crew.

Thank you for the TR.

What a relief that, after a worrying start, the journey got better and better !

Arrrgh! My worst nightmare, forgetting the passports! Glad it wasn't too late in the day when you remembered!

I had a nagging feeling all day I had forgotten something, so it was lucky I wasn't too far from home when I remembered it was my passport! I usually pack from a list but thought I could remember everything this time - I learned my lesson!

Phew - for a while there, I thought I was reading an HL TR!

Well, that must have put the stress levels up for you. If that had been me, I've have sat (ehem, laid) on that plane worrying about what else I had forgotten and not yet realised.

Anyway, thanks for posting.

Oh I did that as well Concorde RIP! Luckily I remembered all the work things and clothes I needed, just forgot the important things!

The upside is that I got a shiny new set of earphones, Bose QC20s, which I am really pleased with and they take up so much less space than the QC15s I used previously.

Thanks for posting , not a bad flight by the sounds of it although prob helped by the ability to stretch out I guess .

Thank you for the TR - a shaky start but glad it was all resolved and that you had a good flight