From Possums to Sea and a Rainy day parade! Sep/Oct 2014

[Pinkocto]

Last day already? This trip had so many fabulous parts! Look at those cute ducks going right up to Jo. That was sad indeed to say goodbye at TL. Thank you so much for coming to find me

I like the look of that rice crispy brick

 

[franandaj]

So sad that you hit your last day. And that Joe had to jump back into work so quickly. I suppose you will be telling us in another update about the problem with the seats...

that is a good idea to see the doctor sooner OOP $100 I would pay also to start the meds sooner. Mind if I ask what it is? My liver problems turned out to be autoimmune hepatitis. So now I decided it was a good idea to attack my own liver! I hope the new med works for Fran.

We do have Hamburgers but they aren't anywhere as nice. The quality of your beef is much better than ours. Plus yours are much better cost than ours for a better patty. Ours tend to be processed and we don't quite trust the meat!

They said that she didn't have Hepatitis, but they did check for it. We go in tomorrow. If she gets approved the new med is called Xelgans. She had me leave a message with the doctor today that if she can't get the Xelgans, she would take anything else she tried before, she just can't take the pain of no meds.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Last day already? This trip had so many fabulous parts! Look at those cute ducks going right up to Jo. That was sad indeed to say goodbye at TL. Thank you so much for coming to find me I like the look of that rice crispy brick

yes it was sad. Until next time! I wish I had got that crispy brick to use against the ground staff later in the day!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

So sad that you hit your last day. And that Joe had to jump back into work so quickly. I suppose you will be telling us in another update about the problem with the seats... They said that she didn't have Hepatitis, but they did check for it. We go in tomorrow. If she gets approved the new med is called Xelgans. She had me leave a message with the doctor today that if she can't get the Xelgans, she would take anything else she tried before, she just can't take the pain of no meds.

good luck tomorrow with the med. Good idea to try anything to get rid of the pain. I know the feeling but hopefully you will get the xelgans. Yes will do an update re the plane situation!

 

[dolphingirl47]

What a shame that your trip and the trip report is coming to an end. Ice cream for breakfast sounds good to me. I still have not made it to Earl of Sandwich even though I had two vouchers for a free sandwich.

Corinna

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

What a shame that your trip and the trip report is coming to an end. Ice cream for breakfast sounds good to me. I still have not made it to Earl of Sandwich even though I had two vouchers for a free sandwich. Corinna

thanks Corinna there is always a next time!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Warning not for the faint hearted!

It was now time to board flight VS15 home to Gatwick London. People with special needs first so soon we were boarding the flight. We found our allocated three seats. But wait Jo immediately spotted a vital show stopping mistake. The arm rests on our seats did not move up. That would mean I could not get out my seat the entire 9 hour flight as I can't move past them due to my mobility. This is actually illegal anyway to allocate such a seat to a disabled passenger.

Jo pointed out the problem to the flight attended. She immediately agreed this was not right , could not understand how this could occur and went to speak to her supervisor. The supervisor apologised said no problem they will swap us with seats that do have a moving arm rest but it is law now that the ground staff at Orlando airport have to make the change and update the plane manifest so that everybody is in their allocated seat on take off.

We stayed standing not ideal for me whilst the plane boarded and then a member of the ground staff came on. He came up and said sorry flight full you will have to put up with these seats. Jo protested but she can't get up! He said then she will have to be lifted into the seat and remain seated for the entire flight. We were beyond shocked. Several passengers around gasped at his rudeness and suggestion. In addition he did not speak to me direct and kept saying 'she' like I was 5 years old. He just kept saying it was a full flight. Then other folks around started offering to swap seats. But no he still would not swap us. He then we to leave the flight.

Jo followed him. She asked him nicely to change his mind. There were passengers willing to change. It was then that he told her 'get back in your seat or I will remove you from this plane' Jo was shocked. Meanwhile my legs were giving way so a lady gave me her seat and told me to be careful with this guy. He was the one that removed her from an America Airlines plane because she wanted a toy for her crying daughter which they accidentally left in the buggy in sight by the door. It was in reach! He said no so she tried to get it and he removed her from the flight and her daughter leaving the husband and son on the flight wondering what went wrong! It cost her 1500 pounds to get home!

Jo asked him again to be reasonable. She told him my partner needs to go to the bathroom on a 9 hour flight! She has a medical condition! He then much to her shock radioed to ground control to remove our bags from the flight and told her to leave the aircraft! The shock! I was getting very upset.

The flight attendant was beyond annoyed with this man. She and her fellow flight attendant waited for him to leave to plane for something and closed the cabin door! Then she came apologised and swapped us out with one of the kind people that offered a seat exchange. He was banging on the cabin door! The captain decided to taxi to the runway...

To be continued..

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Continued..

Our flight attendant was so shocked she decided to file a complaint herself. She gave us a form to complain ourselves. We would surely be doing that on our return!

Since our complaint Virgin Atlantic have refunded our seat plus money, given a full apology and given us both enough flying miles to have a return flight to Orlando! We were pleased with that. They have issues a full investigation into the ground staff member at Orlando airport. I hope he saw his locker being cleared to be honest and I would never wish anyone to lose their jobs but he was out of control!

I want to end on a happy note though. We will return next year with our free flights! I will do another TR and we have since got married

Thank you for reading! It was apart from the last part a wonderful trip!

 

[dolphingirl47]

That is just awful on so many levels. The ground handling staff was bang out of order, but I cannot understand either how the captain could decide to taxi away after the ground handler had ordered your luggage to be offloaded. This could have put lives at risk as it was quite possible that somebody had responded to the radio call. I am glad that your issue got resolved though and that you got a free flight out of this. Congratulations on your wedding.

Corinna

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

That is just awful on so many levels. The ground handling staff was bang out of order, but I cannot understand either how the captain could decide to taxi away after the ground handler had ordered your luggage to be offloaded. This could have put lives at risk as it was quite possible that somebody had responded to the radio call. I am glad that your issue got resolved though and that you got a free flight out of this. Congratulations on your wedding. Corinna

the pilot made sure that nobody was removing our luggage. Nobody responded to his request! I think he has done it too many times. I really hope he is gone now. Thank you re wedding.

 

[dolphingirl47]

the pilot made sure that nobody was removing our luggage. Nobody responded to his request! I think he has done it too many times. I really hope he is gone now. Thank you re wedding.

Yes, I agree that he should not be anywhere near a role where he is responsible for people. Quite apart from what he put you through, power struggles like this in an airport environment can be dangerous. I am glad that nobody had responded to him in those circumstances.

Corinna

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Yes, I agree that he should not be anywhere near a role where he is responsible for people. Quite apart from what he put you through, power struggles like this in an airport environment can be dangerous. I am glad that nobody had responded to him in those circumstances. Corinna

I was interested in what your input would be. I knew you worked in an airport but didn't know what role you had. I think the power had gone to this head. He was the rudest person I ever had the misfortune of meeting. He pointed his finger at me all the time and the way he said lift her into the seat made me feel like I was cattle.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I don't work at the airport. I am at the reservations side of things. Part of my job is to make sure that situations like this do not happen before people even get to the airport. This may well meant to advise customers that a certain product will not work for them. I have to say my heart sunk when you mentioned in the earlier instalment that you had Seat Plus. We do not have this product, but I know that the way it works with Virgin Atlantic is that they assign seats at the airport. This is not going to work if somebody is disabled and most people have paid to reserve seats in advance or done online check in by the time you get to the airport. There should be something in place that disabled people can assign their seats as soon as this is booked.

Corinna

 

[Disneymadhouse]

Oh my word Paula, that is awful! I don't know how Jo managed to keep her cool, I'm not sure I would have been able to! You definitely deserve the compensation you received.

Lovely photo of your wedding


Looking forward to the next TR


Claire

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

I don't work at the airport. I am at the reservations side of things. Part of my job is to make sure that situations like this do not happen before people even get to the airport. This may well meant to advise customers that a certain product will not work for them. I have to say my heart sunk when you mentioned in the earlier instalment that you had Seat Plus. We do not have this product, but I know that the way it works with Virgin Atlantic is that they assign seats at the airport. This is not going to work if somebody is disabled and most people have paid to reserve seats in advance or done online check in by the time you get to the airport. There should be something in place that disabled people can assign their seats as soon as this is booked. Corinna

yes in future we will book seats through the disabilities team which have always been great. Never had an issue. Thanks for your input.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Oh my word Paula, that is awful! I don't know how Jo managed to keep her cool, I'm not sure I would have been able to! You definitely deserve the compensation you received. Lovely photo of your wedding Looking forward to the next TR Claire

Thanks Claire. It was stressful but least we got free flights out of it! Thank you for reading

 

[Pinkocto]

This even had info you hadn't told me yet. I am back to being beyond upset about that man! Ordering your bags to be removed? I am appalled! thank goodness for that flight attendant being a decent human being and standing up for you.


That is a beautiful picture of you and Jo


Thank you for sharing your trip with us and thank you for sharing some of your precious vacation time with me

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

This even had info you hadn't told me yet. I am back to being beyond upset about that man! Ordering your bags to be removed? I am appalled! thank goodness for that flight attendant being a decent human being and standing up for you. That is a beautiful picture of you and Jo Thank you for sharing your trip with us and thank you for sharing some of your precious vacation time with me

I think I had blanked the horror until I revisited my journal when doing the update. Thank you

 

[Pinkocto]

I think I had blanked the horror until I revisited my journal when doing the update. Thank you

Quite understandable to try and forget some of that nastiness.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Quite understandable to try and forget some of that nastiness.

indeed! Least we got free flights!