Well, now been here 48 hours .... but what an eventful journey!!!!!
It all started with online checkin ........ Had prebooked seats 61 and 62 a and c 11 months earlier but on 2 different e-tickets (didnt have enough miles on my account to do miles plus money for the 4 of us) checked regularly to see they were still there, no problem.
had absolutely no need to do online checkin as we were going to do twilight but I was bored so gave it a go anyway ....... disaster strikes - VA.com automatically seperated us and put me and the kids to the front of the plane with my husband at the back! Call centre could do nothing, online wouldn't let me change seats - so in sheer panic had to travel 3 hours to Gatwick to see if we could get them changed. Couldn't believe our luck that our 3 original seats were still vacant and so everything at this point was fantastic ......... until ............
DH's mate, who travels regularly all over the World and flew in from Oman last Friday without a problem appeared to be having a problem checking in next to us. Talk about an "Airline" moment, because his passport was slightly dog eared and I do mean slightly (no separation of the picture or anything) the Virgin rep would not let him checkin or load his bags. He was told that because there was no supervisor on duty he would have to report back at 6am to find out whether or not they would let him fly. We all had a dreadful nights sleep at the Hilton wondering whether they would let him and his kids fly.
As it was, 6 am on flight day they said yes but couldn't promise they would let him in the Stages. Arrived very tense, went through customs and all the customs guy said was "Sir please don't swim with your passport again please and laughed"
Morals of this story .....
A) we all know seats are not guaranteed, however be warned if you're on 2 seperate e tickets - avoid on line checkin!
B) Make sure your passports immaculate if you're flying with VA!
C) Don't expect a decision of any kind at Twilight Checkin - cause Supervisors don't appear to work evenings!
Having said that flight was brilliant, food great ... in fact after our intial hiccup it was probably the best VA flight so far.
PS Orlando's fantastic as usual ........... Vistana Villages even better than I remember, did Typoon Lagoon yesterday and Seaworld today .... weather glorious.
Any questions, fire away.
Sharon
let the magic begin
)
