Live from the Sunshine State - the bad beginning

[Wendy]

Hi everyone

Well we finally made it, after everything that has happened I never thought we would, I will certainly be glad when 2009 is over

As you already know it didn't start that well with the stay at the Radisson but we thought it could only get better...........................how wrong could we have been

On Thursday, we had breakfast at the Radisson, which was OK and then set off to Terminal 2 at Manchester. I had managed to check in online the night before, so we had to go and get our boarding passes and drop off our bags.

This flight was to be a first for us in two ways, we had never flown from Manchester before and it would be our first venture in Upper Class We were both looking forward to his, I was a little bit worried because I don't fly very well, I am a very nervous passenger

So as Keith suggested, we made our way to the Escape Lounge for relax and wait until our flight was called. I was impressed with the Escape Lounge, we just had sparkling water and a pastry - well we had to have something to eat We sat and people watched and was amazed at how many people were grabbing bottles of water, juice and packets of food and putting them in their luggage to take with them

Our flight was called and off we went We were on the plane within 15 mins of being called and offered drinks, yet again we had sparkling water as Chris was driving the other side and I don't drink

The flight was on time and we were on our way The food was very nice, we had salad starter, beef olives which was delicious and I had spotted dick and Chris had cheese and crackers. It was after dinner that things started to go downhill

There were two men on our flight, who we had seen in the Escape Lounge, and they had been drinking then, well they never stopped from the moment they got on the plane One of them went to the bar and sat on a stool then another passenger joined him and they were talking (very loudly!) to a lady and her husband who were in the seats behind Chris. The original passenger then went behind the bar and started helping himself to drinks and was giving then them to the others he was talking to. He then went down to the wife of the man he was talking to and took a bottle of champagne to her It got worse and worse from there on He opened another bottle of champagne and thought it would be funny to shake it up first, so as you can imagine when he opened it, it sprayed everywhere and all over an elderly lady sat behind me

One of the cabin crew came back in and told them to stop being so noisy but even though they were obviously very drunk, did not stop them from drinking The next thing we knew a glass was dropped and smashed on the floor, still the cabin crew did nothing and the passengers did nothing to stop them drinking.

I wasn't happy, I felt really uncomfortable and was beginning to get anxious (they were dancing in the aisle now as well) I kept looking at Chris across from me and he came over to sit with me because he could see I was getting upset.

We had a couple of passengers come forward to have a look I assume, but they were offered drinks and said yes!!!!!!! It was just as he was going to get them on that the supervisor came forward and stopped him and sent the others back.

Eventually the supervisor came round to speak to the other passengers and I said that they had a duty of care to stop him drinking as the man had openly said he was driving when he got to MCO She said she would do something but the next thing we knew they were selling him a bottle of champagne because they had drunk all the champagne on board!!

It finally stopped when we were 1 1/2 hours out of Orlando, basically the man was sick in the aisle and then the toilet, which was out of action afterwards because of the state of it.

I was so upset and disappointed, and to be honest if I had paid for those flights I would have been very angry. I just had to keep telling myself that I'd used miles and it was only costing me £500, but as Chris said, it still wasn't acceptable.

I have never been happier to get off a flight than I was to get on that one

We went through to customs and were greeted by a very miserable man Oh and we had to fill out the green visa waiver forms on the plane, they want both at the moment

I can hear you saying that things can only get better ummmm no

We went to collect the car and were told that the SUV categories had changed so what was a standard SUV was now a Liberty not a Cherokee. To cut a long story short, we ended up having to upgrade to a huge Ford Expedition with an extra charge of $700!! We were both so tired and I was a wreck that we were just glad to get away.

As we were driving to the house, we were talking and I said I had booked the correct category and Chris said he would look into it later.

We found the house and it looked very nice from the outside - when we got in I was disappointed maybe I am too fussy, but I spent Friday morning cleaning it, the fridge was dirty with food from previous guests, the cupboards had old food crumbs in them and the cups were all stained, there were dead bugs against all of the skirting boards where it obviously hadn't been vacuumed properly. The master bathroom has rugs in it and they were covered in dust and other stuff, so I have put towels down over them.

I was really surprised because the house looked lovely online it's in Formosa Gardens which is a nice estate and it isn't cheap.

We can't use the pool at the moment because there are red ants everywhere, Chris has had a look and said there must be at least 3 ants nests in the cracks around the pool. We have called the management company and they are sending someone round to have a look.

So what a start to the holiday

[Keith]

Argh Wendy I hope it gets better for you both, it must do really it can't go down from there can it

You'd already booked Manchester upper by the time we spoke but I'm not impressed with Virgin from Manchester at the moment I only fly with them because Manchester is so close and Virgin fly direct.

When you look at the extras upper class get with virgin "down south" and compare that to Manchester :/

I really hoped that upper would get you away from the noise and hassle of economy but as I think I mentioned, the upper class pods really don't allow you to feel like you're flying alongside your partner and we don't much like it for that reason.

To me, the best compromise is premium economy at the moment. Preferably in the upstairs compartment (although rumour is that they'll turn those into upper class at some point).

Anyway, fingers crossed for you both! Looking forward to more on the spot reports and hoping it gets a LOT better from here

[Vixynne]

You have been through the wringer, haven't you! I hope the management can take care of the ant issue so that you can enjoy the pool and relax a bit. What a nervewracking start to your trip. I'm stunned that nobody did anything at all about drunk passengers on an overseas flight--what if they had turned angry and aggressive?! And 90 minutes in a plane with the smell of sickness, ugh. That's more than I could stomach (no pun intended)!
May it be MUCH better for you from here on out!

[daveann]

oh dear not a good start hope things improve

[Wendy]

We normally travel PE Keith as you know, but Chris would only agree to going if we could use our miles and go UC, he was worried about my knee The only way we could go was to use Manchester for the outbound, we always go from Gatwick because it's easier for us In all honestly I wouldn't fly from Manchester again, I'd rather wait until there was something available from Gatwick or go at a completely different time.

Luckily we are flying back into Gatwick, so hopefully it will be better

I doubt we will ever fly again, we couldn't afford to I have enough miles that we could once more, I think but I don't know that I would bother again.

Vixyenne, I was so surprised that the cabin crew didn't stop them drinking, I was going to write to VA but in all honesty they won't be interested so I don't think it's worth it

[Keith]

In all honestly I wouldn't fly from Manchester again, I'd rather wait until there was something available from Gatwick or go at a completely different time.

yep I know what you mean. Sometimes I think we should go down to Gatwick rather than Manchester but then I wouldn't enjoy the trip back from Gatwick on the way home :/

Vixyenne, I was so surprised that the cabin crew didn't stop them drinking, I was going to write to VA but in all honesty they won't be interested so I don't think it's worth it

You may get a miles refund or something. I've found that they don't answer any of my complaints seriously BUT they tend to refund miles as a "oh go away" type of thing.

[Wendy]

yep I know what you mean. Sometimes I think we should go down to Gatwick rather than Manchester but then I wouldn't enjoy the trip back from Gatwick on the way home :/

The drive home would be terrible, we fly back to Plymouth now, we have to wait a while for the flight when we get in but it is so much better

Poor Chris used to drive home afterwards and we had to keep stopping for cups of coffee.

You may get a miles refund or something. I've found that they don't answer any of my complaints seriously BUT they tend to refund miles as a "oh go away" type of thing.

I might write to them, I did take notes and the seat numbers of the offending passengers

[foreverducky]

Oh geez! Definitely not the way any vacation, let alone any day should start off. I think I would have been crying in the corner somewhere by now.

[Claire]

Oh bless Wendy! Not a good experience so far. I would take the time to write to someone regarding the drunk passengers and the lack of concern from the cabin crew. It's possible you won't be the only one to complain and it will add weight to any other letter they get. I'd like to think there are guidelines in place regarding the treatment of passengers who have had a touch too much alcohol!

[Britchick]

totally unacceptable and to be honest i would be complaining to Virgin and the civil aviation authority/police. That kind of behaviour is not acceptable on planes anymore. I made a small complaint to BA in 2007 about my tv- we were in the bulk head seats of WTplus and my tv stalk kept moving. They gave Jon and i 40,000 miles as compensation. That's nearly enough for a reward transatlantic flight.

So sorry you had that start to your holiday