Legroom was very decent compared to my previous flight – it must have been a good 36 inches or so. Perhaps they make it more painful in the back, but for a short flight like this, the seat was adequate. I do know, however, that this sort of seat would annoy me on a much longer flight in Business Class.
We pulled away 5 minutes before schedule and I managed to stay awake all the way during taxiing and takeoff which I also caught on the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOdQEyCdroM
Taking off on an MD82 is very strange and deceptive in the front of the aircraft, as there is very little noise even during take-off due to the placement of the engines right at the back of the aircraft. The engine noise is hellish for those at the very rear of the aircraft since the engine is attached to the fuselage, but at the front, the aircraft seemingly moves without any effort. A sensation that you don’t experience even in the nose of the 747.
After takeoff, I fell asleep again and, frankly, wanted to stay asleep until landing in order to catch up more on sleep. However, it wasn’t quite meant to be, as I found myself awake with roughly 50 minutes of the flight remaining. The other passengers were eating but I wanted to save my appetite for the Virgin Clubhouse so I declined the offer of my meal by the very charming male flight attendant. He was very different from my previous experience on SAS – he seemed almost concerned that I was declining the food (like the way Asian FAs always want to feed you till you burst) and he was also very proactive in offering me drinks and coffee, and even brought me a chocolate dessert from the meal without me asking. I hate marzipan which seemed to be one of the ingredients but I felt I should eat it just to avoid disappointing him. Anyway, it was a pleasant surprise to see such a charming and energetic flight attendant.
My in-flight coffee which – I must admit – was not bad at all
View of the other side of the Business Class cabin, which were only 2 rows today
After filling in the landing card for London it was soon time to buckle up and prepare for landing. It was very sunny over London which gave some rather nice views of London.
The Olympic village site in Stratford
And, as ever, the video of the landing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d49I9j7c59Y
We pulled into the gate at 13:05 so it was another on-time flight. Although I slept through the meal service and it was only a short flight, I was pleasantly surprised by the flight attendant serving the C cabin and wished more were like him at SAS. Overall it was a pleasant short hop. Now, the juicy bit in the middle…