suebar,

I'll try not to be too technical here!! The aircraft will be assigned a track from NATS (National Air Traffic Service) who look after air traffic across the atlantic from this side of the pond. The position of the track is based on the jetsteams, ie you want a minimal headwind component westbound and as much as possible eastbound, they vary daily. Generally, your flight will depart from MAN and head out over Ireland to cross the Atlantic, heading towards Newfoundland then following the eastern coast of America down to Orlando. If the jetstreams are stong on this track, they can be further north routing as far north as Greenland. It's nothing to worry about though, all perfectly normal.

As for what heppens if the there is a problem with the aircraft, it depends on the nature of the problem. The flight crew will do entensive checks before accepting the aircraft for a flight. Unless they are 100% happy the aircraft is servicable, then you won't be going anywhere. If something does happen, the flight crew are trained to handle pretty much any scenario so will make an operational decision on the best course of action. You are in safe hands and Boeing make very good aircraft so I wouldn't worry about anything. If the problem can't be solved, then the aircraft will either continue as planned if it's within operating proceedures, or divert to the nearest airport. That could either be on the American side of the Atlantic or English / Irish. All modern aircraft have lots of redundancy built in to them so if a primary system fails, the secondary kicks in and even a third or fourth system in some cases. There are 4 engines for this reason on some aircraft, including the Boeing 747-400 you'll be travelling on, to provide plenty of power and redundancy. The 747 can quite happily fly on 3 engines and even 2 if required. For two engined aircraft, there is something called ETOPS regulations (Extended Twin Enigined Operations) which governs under what situation a twin engined aircraft can fly over areas with limited diversion options, eg trans-atlantic. Air travel is safe and well thought out. I'm flying to Antigua on a twin engined aircraft on friday, I wouldn't do that unless I knew I was in safe hands!!

There's really nothing to worry about. Just sit back with a drink or two and enjoy your seat back entertainment.

Darren