LHR-IAD-CLT-DFW (2nd half of trip report)

This morning, May 31st:

Virgin Atlantic #021, LHR-IAD
Scheduled: 11:30 - 14:40
Actual: 11:40 - 14:40
Aircraft: A340-600 ("Miss Kitty" - 'Airborne October, 2003')

Arrived at Heathrow at 9:00am; mob scene at the ticket counters (today is
Bank Holiday in the U.K., and Memorial Day in the U.S. Bottom line: with
holidays in both countries, everybody is flying. Premium Economy had its
own check in counter, much faster than regular steerage; Upper Class
(Virgin's Business Class) counters were pretty vacant. Check in process was
very smooth - about 15 minutes, including standing in line. Seats had been
pre-assigned as 21HK (I was with my son).

Premium Economy on the Airbus is 28 seats immediately behind Upper Class
arranged 2-3-2 (as opposed to 2-4-2 in Economy and 2-2-2 in Upper (Business)
Class. Pitch is 38" - Very nice.

This plane had video on demand which is computerized and pretty nifty, but
it took me a couple of hours to figure it out - I guess I'm about 20 years
too old.

Virgin still provides free booze and free headphones in economy. Food was
decent - 3 choices - chicken, beef stew, and vegetarian curry. Later on,
ice cream bars, and then a snack before arrival of either a cheese sandwich
or a tuna wrap. All in all, quite good.

As on my flight over, the FA's were very young, and seemed to really enjoy
their work. Virgin's boarding music was rock-n-roll, and the lighting on
the airplane was blue neon. This airline is not like any other :-)

US Airways flight 37, IAD-CLT
Scheduled: 16:00-17:17
Actual: 16:00-17:05
Aircraft: A319

The plane arrived late; when I cleared customs and arrived at Gate B47 at
Dulles, they were just unloading, at 15:30. But they got everybody off, and
about a half plane load boarded, and off we went. The cabin was not clean -
probably because they didn't have time to clean it due to the late arrival.
But on a 50 minute air-time trip, service was decent, with the usual
pretzels and soft drinks.

US Airways flight 871, CLT-DFW
Scheduled: 17:55 - 19:43
Actual: 17:55 - 19:35
Aircraft: 733

Plane was packed. No pillows and the type of economy seating US has on
their 737's isn't too comfortable. This plane was also filthy inside, with
dirty napkins and gum wrappers stuffed into the seat pockets. They offered
meals for sale (chicken sandwich and salad - $10; vegetable wrap and chips -
$10; snack pack including a pastrami sandwich - $5) and about half the
passengers bought them. I bought the chicken sandwich and thought it
disappointing - I've done better on Delta. After serving drinks, the FA's
disappeared into the back of the plane never to be seen again. But at least
we arrived on time.

Jeff