Orlando - The Flight – Virgin Atlantic London Gatwick to Orlando

Virgin has quite a lot of hype to live up to (and a hefty price tag) but it was still the cheapest direct flight from the UK. (Life is too short for 48 hour layovers in Atlanta.)

On the upside when online check-in stuck me in the only seat labelled red (i.e. bad) on Seatguru I was a bit miffed; so they upgraded me for free to an emergency exit seat with oodles of legroom. Food was excellent, as was choice of movies and service overall. And the ice cream on the way out was a nice touch, as was the afternoon tea, yum.

On the return journey the best thing was the luggage allowance – 23 kgs (and they won't kick up a stink unless you go up to around 25 kgs, plus 10kg hand luggage allowance). My suitcase weighed 23.45, the hand luggage (after much rearranging 10.05. Score. (They didn't weigh my handbag.) Stupidly on the way back I somehow switched to their top choice movies so was disturbed when wandering round the plane I wondered why everyone had better films than me? Also I was so tired I said I didn't mind which meal I had – the veggie pasta is to be avoided – bland, bland, band, bland. Bland. With no ice cream, a guy next to me who thought hogging the arm rest gave him licence to lean on my shoulder when he slept and a really dull breakfast and the return journey was less magical.

Virgin - pretty planes

£1,031.47 return flight from London Gatwick to Orlando International, as at August 2013

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