VS043 LGW-LAS 07 Oct 05 (PE)

Well now I can add to my knowledge the Upper Deck Premium Economy seat from the LGW aircraft Pretty Woman.

But its a mixed bag travel report. Lets start at the beginning. Remembering the Press release of 26th September:-

'Virgin Atlantic's Premium Economy passengers benefit from many dedicated services when they travel on Premium Economy which include a dedicated check in, a separate cabin, priority boarding, priority duty free and quicker baggage reclaim and a dedicated toilet on the majority of aircraft. They also receive a pre-departure drink and post dinner liqueur.'

I got the train from Dorking to Gatwick because it gets me right into the terminal. Its a lesson the other airports are not learning. Trains right to the terminal. Who knew they would be popular?

Gatwick on a Saturday morning is not for the faint hearted. Crowd central. Tourist crowd too. All bubbly about EasyJet to Prague. Too much for me Im afraid. I prefer miserable Heathrow business folks.

To check in then.. Upper Class Check in empty. Everything else full. I checked in using OLCI. Just dropping bags at UC check in due to my new Au status I can jump the queue.
Press Release Check Passed - separate check in.

Miserable check in staff. No fast track through security - its been abolished apparently. Premium Tags for my bag.
Gold Card Benefit Fail - No Fast Track (not VS fault I guess but unadvertised)

Oh well its early.

Off to the CH.

Queue.

25-30 minutes.

Finally through.

Off to the CH.

I had booked my haircur and was there within the five minutes of my time. It was necessary too. I needed the haircut too! Much better.

I had a nice breakfast and coffee and took a walk through to the shops. Bedlam. It was a sea of shell suits and smokers. I retreated back to the clubhouse for more coffee.

Boarding was called for Gate 17. Off I trudged.

What a queue. all in single file along a corridor made out of prefab portakabins on stilts. (so it seemed). This part of Gatwick is a dump. Through the queue there is a gate area full of empty seats. I wonder at the stupidity of it. Why not move the ticket readers to the gate ans let people sit down? No that would be too easy of course. Lets make the passengers queue in single file as people with bulky luggage bash into them trying to get past to the gates beyond. Long long wait.

'Cheer up, youre going to Vegas' says a VS staff person. 'Why?' I reply.. She walks off confused.

Press Release Check Failed - No priority boarding.

Onboard then finally.

Upstairs. I recognise the flight attendant at the door from a previous trip but nobody else.

I take my seat. - 74K which is not bad - nobody behind.
Press Release Check Failed - No pre-departure drink was offered

Uneventful take off. Crappy Nova flight system means nothing much of interest on the movie channel. I turn it off and dozed in the comfortable seats. No in flight power. Irritating controls that are welded to the seat. Small Screen. Nova. Soon it will be gone I hope.

Food is not bad. Chicken and Pasta, Chocolate Gu Pud, Cheese. Passable wine.
Press Release Check Failed - No post dinner liqueur was offered

More sleep. I got up to walk around.

'The new additional services include dedicated cabin crew, a redesigned meal service and dedicated amenity kit. They will also receive a soft fleece blanket and a fruitbowl service, where passengers can help themselves to fruit throughout the flight.'

'
Press Release Check Failed - Standard Y food
Press Release Check Failed - No fruitbowl
Press Release Check Failed - Standard Y amenity kit
Press Release Check Failed - No soft fleece blanket

None of this was available. Large crowd of boozers at the back of the upstairs and a sea of empty cans. That was all.

Hungry now for a baguette - which I eat despite not liking them.

More Sleep, then I watch Al Goes movie on the end of the planet. Its masterful. I buy it. I like the Mac software he uses - Keynote - but I doubt it does all the trick presentation mechanisms he employs. Yet another 'good guys use Macs' product placement though. (Watch 24)

Chicken Sandwich. Passable.

Uneventful gentle touchdown.

I was out pretty fast and off to the INS desk - I know LAS - its a bun fight queue so Im off as fast as I can. Each person you go past is 5 minutes saved so I use the stairs rather than the queue for the escalator. Must have passed about 25 people. Top of the queue. I head to the desk. Keep left so as to be at the desk closest to the USA desks and sure enough I get called over to the US desk and am out in less than five minutes. There now you know my secrets for a sharp exit:-)

However.

We wait for bags

'Everyone theres no mobile phones or smoking in here so turn em off now'

Says the charming traileresque voice on the microphone.

We wait for bags. 10 minutes.

The first bags arrive.

Virgin Holidays their sitckers proidly proclaim.
Hundreds of them.
Then a delay.
Crew Bags
Then a delay
Eventually the main bags arrive and after ages mine shows up.
Press Release Check Failed - No priority bags

Out at last for a phone call and a queue for a taxi. No Taxis. Welcome to Vegas. I hate this place.

So overall I think theres a big big gap between my expectation fueled by the Virgin press release relaunching premium and what I actually received. These 'benefits' are actually tiny arent they - but if they are the differentiation in the service and they are absend then it might as well just say :-

'Virgin Atlantic's Premium Economy passengers benefit a bigger seaat and f all else.'

Ouch. And another reason why I think I'll avoid flying direct to / from LAS in the future.

VS do need to be more careful about setting expectations about these new offerings. V-Ben reported here that the revised catering and amenity kit offerings would be launched at the beginning of November.

Good tip about taking the queue closest to the US entry desks.

Paul

Virgin Atlantic, the pioneer of the Premium Economy cabin, is to reinvent the product in a £12m revamp which includes a new wider seat - the largest in its class - and additional services to woo business and leisure passengers alike.

Its a well written weasel press release - the only word that says its not all in place is 'to' above. All the rest is about what it is not that its not available.

In my business, a 'launch' implies that the product must be generally available in 30 days or you are in danger of being judged as making incorrect forward looking statements and having the the wrath of the SEC fall on your head. I guess the simple word 'to' avoids all that but I would imagine it will be years until its across the fleed - just like Cradle seats hung around in Club for years on some routes even after finally everyone admitted they were awful.

I am extremely sorry to learn of your dissatisfaction with certain aspects
of our product and service and would like to offer our genuine apologies
for any disappointment caused.

As you are aware, we are currently in the process of refurbishing our
aircraft with the new Premium Economy 'Super Seat' and this new product is
being rolled out across our fleet as quickly as possible.

We now have six aircraft fitted with the Super Seat. Unfortunately, until
the new seat has been fitted on the entire fleet, we are not able to
guarantee to offer this facility to our passengers.

We do, wherever possible, advise in our media and advertising material and
website that these changes do take some time and the new seat may be not on
board some flights. It also advises that from November 2006 our passengers
will see some enhancements to our Premium Economy cabin.

Your comments regarding our in-flight entertainment have been noted. The
average age of the aircraft in our fleet is approximately 7 years old.
However in that short space of time, technology has advanced in leaps and
bounds. There are currently four types of in-flight entertainment installed
on our aircraft, Nova, Odyssey, Arcadia and V-Port. The 'V-Port' system is
scheduled to eventually replace our present equipment, with several
aircraft already completed.

I am only sorry that the on board service, priority boarding and delivery
baggage concerns exacerbated your disappointment on this occasion. I have
forwarded your comments to the relevant Managers for their review.

As a gesture of goodwill and by way of an apology, I have credited 10,000
Flying Club miles to your Goldcard account, with our compliments.

Once again, please accept my sincere apologies for the disappointment that
has been experienced. We value your support and look forward to welcoming
you on board one of our flights again soon.

Well I followed up with customer services, basically copying my review to them. I didnt ask for them to make any compensation or refer to this site or that this was published so its very nice that they credited me some points.

I would have preferred a better flight but its a nice gesture.