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“Good In Parts, Not So Good Elsewhere”

written by tonymccl on 30/08/2015

We booked two flights for this August - outward on Manchester to Toronto in Economy, returning Vancouver - Manchester in their premium cabin.

Despite the many negative reviews, we were quite impressed with our outbound journey. It was on board the A310 which meant there were no seatback TVs, only large screens, but entertainment was available via wireless devices. The other downside was the seeting being configured 3-3-3 and being very narrow.

On the plus side, the legroom was excellent - I am of average height (approx 170cm) and had plenty of leg rroom, even with the seat in front reclined. Food was an airline meal - enough said - but the service was very good. The cabin crew made numerous journeys through the cabin with drinks or offering water, and we felt for a "charter" style operation the flight was very good.

Our return flight started promisingly - wide seats (6 across instead of 9 in economy), and we had seats 1A/C/D so no-one in front of us. Welcomed on board with wine or juice and a bottle of water, and complimentary blanket, eye mask, earphones and ear plugs. Drinks were served shortly after take off,followed by a decent meal served on proper plates and with steel cutlery, although despite pre-ordering our meals our daughter did not get what she had ordered, and I got the final beef dish (also pre-ordered).

However, once the meal was finished and I was attempting to get some sleep, I found that as the seats tended to slide forward rather than the backs reclining, it meant that I couldn't stretch out fully without having my feet at an odd angle against the bulkhead (and as previously noted, I'm not particularly tall).

Although the crew asked window passengers to close their blinds to allow others to sleep, around 45 minutes later they woke everyone up with an announcement for duty free service.

And throughout the few hours I was attempting to sleep, I was constantly disturbed by the clattering and slamming of doors and latching gear on the food and drink containers, plus the cabin seemed to service part of economy and my seat was constantly being hit by the trollies from the galley area. The crew also decided during a lull in service to have a very loud conversation, which again foiled any attempts at getting any sleep.

About 90 minutes before we landed, breakfast was served. The website seems to indicate that on flights to Europe, a hot breakfast is available, but it transpired not to be the case - a plate of fruit, carton of yoghurt and cinnammon roll constituted our premum breakfast.

So it was disappointing, especially as we had high hopes of a good flight following our outbound economy experience - unfortunately, not yet the premium product if claims to be.