Afternoon Tea on Virgin

[act1980]

Originally Posted by ChrisS

I smiled at the irony, UC on the A350 has less width than PE on the, soon to be gone, 747's and A330. I'm a width lass thro and thro, come to think of it, so is hubs

Defoe wouldn't pay PE prices on the A350 so wouldn't aim to fly on that aircraft. It may be the first time some don't moan about the new aircraft not being at Man

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They will be flying to Orlando though won’t they? Or will you just use a different airline?

[act1980]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

I'm a lover of the 747 UC layout but sad to say they will soon be consigned to history. We wont see that much space again on a transatlantic flight.

I do agree with you the new UC cabin looks very nice.

We have caned VA UC for this year with Miles seats, Reward upgrade seats and totally free ones! I suspect we will be back in PE for a while whilst I build up our Miles again.

And how did this post go from tea, to M & S food and ChrisS liking wider things.

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I actually really like PE, but I do love being able to use the lounge at the airport before the flight. Takes the stress out of everything which makes life so much easier especially now with DD. Can also take the stroller in the cabin as they just chuck it in the cupboard for me. Plus I can actually get some sleep as she just sleeps in the bed with me rather than me trying to hold her in a seat. She’s not a great sleeper at the best of times. Although this time she’s going to have her own seat, that’s going to be fun on takeoff when she tries to get out of her seatbelt. Wish us luck 😂 That’s where the new layout will work better for us as I won’t have such a high wall between the 2 of us so I can keep an eye on her far easier.

It is a shame about the 747 but they’re still building them, just to be used as cargo though. Will definitely miss the space but I do like the look of the “lounge” on the A350. Far better than the bar which I’ve never used.

That did make me laugh

[scojos]

Ref everyones onions..

I have a v severe onion allergy. V severe. I wont do diagrams but u dont want to be anywhere nr me if i consume onions cooked raw or even onion powder as seasoning...

My gastroenterologist who diagnosed my allergies said onion allergies is singularly the most common allergy in the country. But people dismiss it as IBS etc as onions are in everything and the only way to be sure is to remove them thrn re add into diet...

**dropping an email to VA to inform of allergies***

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Originally Posted by act1980

I actually really like PE, but I do love being able to use the lounge at the airport before the flight. Takes the stress out of everything which makes life so much easier especially now with DD. Can also take the stroller in the cabin as they just chuck it in the cupboard for me. Plus I can actually get some sleep as she just sleeps in the bed with me rather than me trying to hold her in a seat. She’s not a great sleeper at the best of times. Although this time she’s going to have her own seat, that’s going to be fun on takeoff when she tries to get out of her seatbelt. Wish us luck 😂 That’s where the new layout will work better for us as I won’t have such a high wall between the 2 of us so I can keep an eye on her far easier.

It is a shame about the 747 but they’re still building them, just to be used as cargo though. Will definitely miss the space but I do like the look of the “lounge” on the A350. Far better than the bar which I’ve never used.

That did make me laugh

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I so agree with you ref the lounge. The LGW one is lovely. Plus the food is excellent. I know the Delta Lounge at MCO gets a lot of criticism but we find it to be fine. OK not a lot in the way of food but the soup and salad is very nice.
Plus a nice tranquil place to chill out.
Very good with a young one as you say.

Our Granddaughter likes UC as well!

[act1980]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

I so agree with you ref the lounge. The LGW one is lovely. Plus the food is excellent. I know the Delta Lounge at MCO gets a lot of criticism but we find it to be fine. OK not a lot in the way of food but the soup and salad is very nice.
Plus a nice tranquil place to chill out.
Very good with a young one as you say.

Our Granddaughter likes UC as well!

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I have to admit, I’ll be glad once they’ve finished refurbishing the Delta lounge. It was like a building site when we were last there, certainly didn’t scream upper class 😂

Your granddaughter looks right at home in that pic 👍🏼

[ChrisS]

Originally Posted by act1980

They will be flying to Orlando though won’t they? Or will you just use a different airline?

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Hi act1980, if push came to shove re VA reducing PE pitch/width we'd check out business class flights from Dublin.

Apparently the A350's will, initially, service LHR whilst the A330's service LGW/Man routes. SeatGuru show VA's former Air Berlin A330-200's, since refurb, with 36" of pitch and seat width as economy at 17.7", that's an insult, not a PE cabin. We prefer Man to Atl to RSW, but I'll have to monitor aircraft type on this route. I'm monitoring UC reward seats for this winter, the sticking point is it has to be into MCO - any advise re completion of MCO building works?

[ChrisS]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

I so agree with you ref the lounge. The LGW one is lovely. Plus the food is excellent. I know the Delta Lounge at MCO gets a lot of criticism but we find it to be fine. OK not a lot in the way of food but the soup and salad is very nice.
Plus a nice tranquil place to chill out.
Very good with a young one as you say.

Our Granddaughter likes UC as well!

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Tom, perhaps our May 2017 UC to Man was outset doomed, after check-in we made our way to the Delta lounge, it was stowed out, not a seat to had, nowt, we, along with others, stood looking around for seats, Reception weren't interested, *shrug*, 'that's it'. Long lines for food, perhaps that's where our meal on VA came from

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Originally Posted by ChrisS

Tom, perhaps our May 2017 UC to Man was outset doomed, after check-in we made our way to the Delta lounge, it was stowed out, not a seat to had, nowt, we, along with others, stood looking around for seats, Reception weren't interested, *shrug*, 'that's it'. Long lines for food, perhaps that's where our meal on VA came from

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Chris. It does happen and we have struggled to get 2 seats together. But what we have found is that give it 10 or 15 mins and seats soon free up with the constant Delta departures.
The harder bit is finding a seat with a power outlet right by it!

How have you found the Florida winter this year compared to others?

[ChrisS]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

Chris. It does happen and we have struggled to get 2 seats together. But what we have found is that give it 10 or 15 mins and seats soon free up with the constant Delta departures. The harder bit is finding a seat with a power outlet right by it!

How have you found the Florida winter this year compared to others?

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Once I got well after my brief hospital stay we're having a superb winter, a few more cool spells than usual, but still warm/hot. Weather stonking now, low 90's some days. Had some good boating trips out, no red tide, altho it is, apparently, sitting out there.

The red tide/cyanobacteria battered this fishing island massively last summer Tom. Sadly Pine Island Fisheries (Bokeelia), been in business for decades, decided enough was enough and shut up shop, couldn't get the fish so paying staff to stand around was difficult. This was a major tick off for Freddie the Freeloader, the dolphin who turned up very ill a few years ago after losing his right fin. The fisheries saved his life by feeding him (FWC - Fish and Wildlife Conservation - kindly turned a blind eye), Freddie's still coming around and showing off his smile and belly begging for fish, he also brings his mates in and shows them around too! He's now spending longer and longer away as the dime drops there's no more fish to be had.

Fishing is very bad. A friend in SJC (St James City), an expert fisherman who loves to fish has caught (no joke) 6 fish in 3 month whilst in the waters off SJC. He's had to beg, borrow and steal fish to feed the adult baldies their sunset treat whilst raising their eaglets. SJC Fisheries have hung on by the skin of their teeth, they were reliant on mullet at one stage but other fish and shrimp were nigh on impossible to acquire. I believe they're still struggling and if we see another bad summer it will undoubtedly finish them off. Bokeelia (our end) faired slightly better for fishing, but still a long way from the norm.

Unfortunately the powers that be have already begun talking about Lake O discharges this summer, locals are not happy. Apparently Lake O has fermented cyanobacteria since the final release last summer and there's a thick layer of that filth lying on top. Once ACE (Army Corp of Engineers) begin the summer releases they may see a situation similar to last year, but we so hope not, it's a waiting game but whilst Lake O continues to take in all the muck, phosphates, sewerage, garden chemicals, every run off you can envisage from north Fl, which is then pumped out into the Caloosahatchee River to make it's way East it's a guess as to how this summer will be. Fl lost over 10% of it's manatee population last year, over 700 died, millions of tons of marine life lost. ACE were releasing both East and West before cutting back on releases to the East, but wait, who has a mansion (Mar a Lago) off the East coast? Indeed! Supposedly the new Fl Gov, Ron DeSantis, has earmarked millions to help once releases begin. The money is canny, but it doesn't help marine life once that crap is out there.

[act1980]

Originally Posted by ChrisS

Hi act1980, if push came to shove re VA reducing PE pitch/width we'd check out business class flights from Dublin.

Apparently the A350's will, initially, service LHR whilst the A330's service LGW/Man routes. SeatGuru show VA's former Air Berlin A330-200's, since refurb, with 36" of pitch and seat width as economy at 17.7", that's an insult, not a PE cabin. We prefer Man to Atl to RSW, but I'll have to monitor aircraft type on this route. I'm monitoring UC reward seats for this winter, the sticking point is it has to be into MCO - any advise re completion of MCO building works?

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Ah ok! Wonder when they’ll start the Orlando route then? The A330 is my least favourite plane, been on a couple when we flew to Barbados and it’s pretty small by comparison. Thought it was odd that the crew were sitting in passenger seats. Reason being is there’s no crew rest area, terrible I think. They need somewhere to take a break, they just get hassled by customers still when sitting in normal seats.

Like the idea of flying from Dublin as you can clear immigration before landing in the US. Just don’t like the idea of having to change.