This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
I'd been working & packing through the night, getting ~15mins sleep before the taxi arrived early at my flat on Wednesday morning (booked for 0515hrs, arrived @ 0500hrs) - I wasn't quite ready, so made the driver wait til the appointed time [:D] (BTW, if anyone from the Swindon area wants a recommendation for a reasonably-priced airport taxi service, it was Link Radio Cars). So nice to have a traffic-free journey down the M4 - such a change from my daily commute between J16 & J5 [y]
Got to check-in ~0645hrs and headed to the UC check-in - BTW, I really like the redesign of the VS check-in area, so much tidier-looking than it was previously. The Securicor pre-screener lady was nice & friendly, asking some questions about where I'd been in Malaysia last year - she was also a little amazed at me checking in so early for the 1100hrs flight ('I need to maximise my ClubHouse time' was my reply [:D]). I got the inevitable 'Do you have any cigarette lighters with you? If so, remember you can't take them past the gate area' - I'd brought my oldest, emptiest lighter with me in this eventuality, but at least I'd still be able to smoke in the CH!
There were no staff at UC check-in, so I got diverted to the small queue at the PE desks. Explained that I'd already checked-in online, and wanted to request a bulkhead seat - unfortunately no bulkheads were available ('they're all reserved for pax with children sir, but you can ask at the gate' - first time I've ever heard this). Confirmed that all exit rows were chargeable at the princely sum of 50 - so asked about the free A/K seats (the ones with the door bustle) - these are now only available as part of a 'buy one, get one free' offer on the exit rows (hmm, so what happens for those travelling solo??). Anyhow, kept my original seat, and got my BC (had to ask for a Fasttrack sticker to be placed on it though). Even though the check-in agent was pleasant, it wasn't my best check-in experience, so I marked this as average.
Headed through a very quiet security check (no shoes off, no laptop out of bag, etc... how I love UK security [:D]) and then through the outbound passport control checkpoint, before my nostrils were assaulted by the pungent fragrances abusing my airspace in World Duty Free (ack! [:(]). As I'd pre-ordered my duty free, I exited the shop as quickly as possible and headed towards the gate areas to get to the ClubHouse.
The CH entrance stairway is mighty impressive (and I do like the alternative method of a lift to the side of the stairwell):
Got to the front desk just after 0700hrs and presented my BC & Au card for entry, commenting that the entrance was truly impressive, but got no reply to that. The receptionist asked if I'd been in the CH - not since the remodelling, I replied - she offered to give me a guided tour, which I accepted. The 'guided tour' was very quick - 'Here's the secure bag check' (which I used straight off), then a quick point to 'there's the bar, and the toilets are down there' - wasn't drastically impressed with the briefness of this and had to almost grab her arm to get a couple of extra questions answered. Had a wander around to acquaint myself with the surroundings and told the Cowshed reception that I was in the CH - just so they knew in advance of my pre-booked Rhinestone Cowboy treatment. Decided to make myself comfortable in the smoking area behind the bar, and my order was soon taken for a glass of champagne & a full English breakfast [y] Whilst waiting for the food & drink, I took in the view from the window by my seat:
Wasn't long before my champagne arrived, along with the plastic cutlery & napkin for my food.....
Champers @ 0730hrs:
Whilst waiting for the breakfast to arrive, I went up to the concierge desk and asked if they could check on bulkhead availability for the flight - but they could only do this when the check-in closed @ ~0950hrs. Left my details for them to check at that time. Went back to the smoking area, and my breakfast was just arriving - very nice & tasty breakfast (if a little lacking in the quantity I like in a full English [:D]). Since I was still hungry, I decided to take full advantage and order the scrambled eggs & smoked salmon - along with a Blue Lagoon [;)] Both were excellent [y] Since the wireless internet service offered is the T-mobile 'got-you-by-the-short-and-curlies' chargeable service, I went off to use the free PCs in 'The Office' to post on here....
The blue drinks start flowing:
At 0900hrs, I went up to the Cowshed reception and I was able to go into a booth straight away for my treatment. I can't agree with some of the other reports about The Rhinestone Cowboy treatment - for me it was a very close shave, and the treatment so relaxing that I fell asleep [:D] (note that in the Cowshed menu in the CH, it mentions nothing about the treatment including eyebrow shaping, unlike the VS website). After being suitably beautified (nah, the treatment couldn't be *that* good [:D]), I went back into the smoking area and chucked down another couple of Blue Lagoons before the boarding call came. Before leaving for boarding, I asked at the concierge desk if there'd been any luck with the bulkhead quest - nope, all full. I prepared for the long trek to Gate 42 by catching the lift down to the lower floor (gotta conserve energy [:D]) - but WTF are my flights *always* from the gates furthest away? *sigh*
Got to the gate, where priority boarding was well signed and working (even though there was a long queue). Was asked how long I was going to be in the US for, but that was all.
Asked again about a bulkhead seat - no joy, all full - to be fair, I'd known the flight was chock-full from the availability tool, but it never hurts to try [;)]. Still, when putting my BC through the machine, it came back with 'wrong data' as it did all 4 times the GA tried. Oooh, what did that mean? Could this be my very first op-up? Nope, according to the GA, I had bent the BC - as it had been in my back pocket, she wasn't far wrong [:D] So, I boarded G-VBIG (Tinker Belle), still looking forward to my first flight in Y for quite some time & V:Port of course [:)]
Got to my seat, and there's someone sat in it [:0] Ask the girl sat there if her BC said 31C - she said 'yes' and produced her BC as proof. She was all very nice about it, said that this had happened to her before, and she got an UG last time....my heart skips a beat, could this be my time? Check the seating with an FA, who wanders off with both BCs (mine & the girl in 'my' seat) - the FA comes back and checks names on the BCs - she says that I'm actually in 76C in PE! Wooooot - my first ever VS op-up - grinning like a Cheshire Cat I was [:D][:D]
At this point, I got to meet the FSM, who shook my hand, introduced herself and took me up to the lower deck PE cabin [y][y] I got to sit at the bar while the rest of the seat assignments were sorted - was asked if I wanted champers (now, does a bear **** in the woods? [:D]) and sat chatting for a little while, while the chaos around us settled down. The ground agents were finalising the flight and were saying that the plane was completely full - Econ & PE completely full, just 4 seats in UC available (but no meals for them) - seemed like just everybody wanted to fly on that plane!
Took my seat, and the doors were closed up - push back started @ 1058hrs, but we stopped after a few feet - continuing the push back @ 1125hrs. I did my usual trick of dropping off to nap while taxiing, only to wake up at the start of the take-off roll (just why I manage to wake up at this point is beyond me). The take-off roll seemed to take ages and I thought we were never going to rotate (but after reading this thread and given that the flight was completely full, this makes more sense now) - I think we were wheels up at ~1145hrs, nice smooth climb out and the seatbelt lights were out after ~10 mins. I found the Wash PE seat to be comfortable, though it didn't seem to have as much legroom as the older style seats on the upper decks, but the silver plastic surrounds on the back actually looked quite stylish (seat gets a 'Good' marking - and I guess it was a heck of a lot better than my original assignment [:D]).
V:Port was switched on and in service very quickly - after the usual News preamble, I programmed 'Mr & Mrs Smith', 'Meet the Fockers', and various 'Little Britain', 'The Office' & 'I'm Alan Partridge' episodes. The drinks service was done and I chose a G&T - when the second drinks service came round, I ordered a G&T and managed to fall asleep before it came [:D] When the meal service was ready, I chose the chicken - it was extremely good, a nice chunk of chicken, cooked well, with Penne pasta & a mushroom sauce - very tasty. The dessert was a chocolate profiterole-type dessert, and that was good too - full marks on the food [y]
Marked Entertainment as Excellent, though I didn't actually get to see most of my V:Port programming - I catnapped through a lot of the flight (in fact, I should apologise to the guy in 76A who was desperate for the loo at one point, but couldn't wake me up [:I]) and chose to watch some episodes of Coupling Series 1 on DVD (sorry to those that got my LMAO out loud - Coupling is too funny!), but I wanted to watch the choices I'd made (in fact, I had a book I wanted to read too - but never really got the chance) [:D]
Apparently, somewhere along the line, my pre-order had been messed up - instead of 200 Lambert & Butler, there was a bottle of Glenfiddich in my pre-order bag (maybe someone was trying to get me to give up smoking [:D]), but that was soon easily sorted with 200 Benson & Hedges replacing the Glenfiddich [y]
More catnapping - my last catnap went through the afternoon tea service and I awoke some 55mins before landing....me missing food [:0] - though the FSM did manage to find some sandwiches left over from the UC tea service - much appreciated [y][y][y] In fact, I have to give full marks to all the staff on this flight, they were above excellent, and I was well looked after throughout - the FSM being particularly outstanding [:)]
We took a particularly Southern approach into SFO - I don't think I've ever had an approach as far South over SF before. A very smooth approach & landing got us on the ground and parked up by 1350hrs PDT - bang on time [y]
A very quick disembarkation, followed by a fast walk up to immigration. Thank goodness I'd decided to walk quickly - the BA flight must've landed at the same time as us and was just as full. So 2 full 747s dumping out into immigration at the same time, which I'm sure you can imagine lead to some big queues - I managed to avoid most of these and was stood in a short line of 7 people, sandwiched between BA pax [:D] Even so, it still took some 15 mins to get through though. For some reason, my fingers were very dry, and that lead to problems trying to get my fingerprints at the immigration post - all sorted with a quick dab of a moisture pad on the counter, and very few questions asked. My luggage was already going round the carousel, and was straight through customs with no problems - outside the terminal by 1420hrs PDT - not bad at all [y][y] Oh, and I realised that I still had my cigarette lighter with me - such a dangerous thing to be taking onboard, obviously [:D]
All in all, an excellent flight [:)]
Cheers
Michael