new PE seats

this is a fantastic website. I was a gold card holder but slipped to silver. now accrue miles via the credit card (fee one.)
i do feel it is time for PE to be improved. i flew World traveller plus to US recently and it is just better on board (not on the ground cos you don't have separate check in)...by better i mean cleaner, fresher and it feels like you have more space. The PE on LGW flights and those on the older airbuses just feels so cramped and old. any news on an upgrade to PE? I heard they were considering it a while back but no news?

[mitchja]

Yeah I'd agree with that....still better than World Traveller Plus though.

I would hope something improves in the furture especially now that PE is so popular.

You also get more Flying Club miles with PE compared to Exec Club Points in WTP.

PE has already seen imporvements.

New PE seats are already on board all the A340-600 and also G-VWOW and G-VBIG which are both 747-400's.

The seats are bigger than BA WTP and also feature laptop power, the crew supply leads which BA charge for!!!.

Champagne, Newspapers, priority bagage, priority disembarkation, dedicated check in. dedicated crew members on A340-600 and 747-400.

ALl in all PE is much better then WTP

I agree that PE is much better than WTP but I cant believe that Virgin still havent increased the cabin baggage allowance to 2 pieces like BA. This would in effect cost them nothing but would add that extra competitive edge over the BA product.

[Bazz]

Anteo,

I believe PE will admit a carry-on plus a laptop bag (of sensible proportions) and for ladies both the above plus a handbag, so there is a degree of flexibility.

As far as "... cost them nothing..." well if you multiply the number of PE seats by the extra weight there is inevitably a cost factor in fuel economy, then extrapolate that across the fleet over a year and your talking serious money, right off the bottom line. There would need to be a tangible financial benefit to VS to encourage this practice.

[Pete]

It's not necessarily a weight thing (you'd probably put that stuff in the hold if you couldn't hump it on with you), but more of a safety thing.

If you take on more carry on, it has to fit somewhere, and if the overhead bins are overloaded with too many bags, there's more likelihood that a bag could fall out in an emergency/heavy landing/bad turbulence, etc. If you get a 10lb bag dropping on your head, that's gonna hurt.

In the UC cabin, there are less seat per overhead bin, so airlines can afford to allow pax to take on more cabin baggage without compromising safety.

Personally, I'm all for restricting carry on to a sensible - and safe - amount. As I prefer aisle seats, the last thing I want is a case dropping on my head because someone wanted to save a bit of time at luggage reclaim at the other end.

Pix

Point taken- because they dont give a two bag allowance I do only take one bag on board. I just stand there at check in hoping they dont weigh the thing.....[:I]

have they advertised these "new seats" in PE that you refer to? Would love to see them

[Pete]

The 'new' seats referred to in this thread aren't exactly new, they're the 'Wash' style seats that came in with the introduction of V:Port entertainment systems on the 346 and certain LHR 744s.

There is rumour that the Economy & Premium Economy cabins will be getting a refresh at the end of this year, but I don't know whether that means the physical seating & cabin (which seems unlikely since Kash & Wash aren't *that* old), or just new services thrown into the mix. I'm sure there'll be much speculation about that before any official announcements are made!

Pix

Educing cabin bagage not only is for safety reasons and practiacl space issues but aslo for speeding up lines at security.

Look at the US airports where American passengers carry nearly evrything on board with them.

They create long lines and once on board block the aisles on boarding so slows down the whole process.

I say the hold is for bags and the cabin is for passengers!!!!

KASH and WASH seats are staying all the improvements to Economy and PE are to do with service only!!