This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
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Generally I tend to favor the late EWR flight, or occasionally an early afternoon flight into JFK, so it was with some curiosity that I embarked on possibly my first foray on the VS3 - outbound from LHR at an unnerving 9:30 am. There was not too much change in my normal routine though as I found myself hauling my 'getting too old for this' body out of my Camberley bed at my fairly standard 6am. Another first was that I had checked in online and printed out my boarding pass the night before so I knew that an 8:00 am Heathrow arrival would probably suffice. However my regular commute has long taught me the lessons of leaving home too late so a breakfastless 6:30 departure beckoned.
The traffic had already built so the 15 mile trip took longer than my normal Sunday evening departure and it was almost 7:30 before the taxi pulled up outside a relatively unbusy Terminal 3. Taking my last breaths of damp June morning air, at least for a few days, I disappeared into the terminal and dragged my half empty luggage down to Zone A and stood back to fathom out how to manage this 'bag drop' palaver. Realising fairly quickly that there was no Premium Economy bag drop I joined a queue announcing itself as 'KIOSK BAG DROP' and then retraced my steps as I quickly realised that the desks to my right presented a more sensible 'ONLINE BAG DROP'. The next question that presented itself at the front of my almost awake mind was - why had I bothered with online check-in? The Bag Drop queue was longer than the PE check-in and seemed to be taking just about as long - oh well you live and learn. The 'Drop' was fairly painless, despite its rather ominous sounding moniker, and I soon found myself heading upstairs and through security.
It seems that every time I depart from Terminal 3 I have to walk further in order to get round the end of the security barrier in order to retrace my steps back down the other side of the barriers. I deftly sidestepped the hoards of passengers desperately repacking their bags while supervised by battle weary security personal and passed through Checkpoint #1 and out of sight of the landside lubbers. Checkpoint #2 was pleasantly empty and I began to realise the upside of an early flight, hell even the immigration staff at Checkpoint #3 were still in bed I thought as I re-holstered my passport and let Checkpoint #4 X-ray my shoes boy that area sure smells better in the morning than at the end of the day.
Having checked my itinerary the previous day I had noted that lunch would be served on the flight so I opted for a pre-flight breakfast. Still a couple of flights short of regaining my Au status the CH was not an option so I took a deep breath and headed for TGI Friday (I wasnt and it was a Monday so not quite sure how that works). Breakfast was memorably unmemorable, indeed I think Ive already forgotten about it as I type this a mere four hours later I think it involved oil but Im not sure what type.
Proceed to Gate 34 announced the monitor screens as I stumbled out of TGIF, 10 poorer but 1000 calories, and the experience, richer. Of course the nice thing about Terminal 3 is that you can burn off a fair proportion of the calories on the walk to the gate, I think BAA look on it as giving a little bit extra back to the traveler tip here avoid the walkways and boost your fat burning routine by an additional 20 percent.
There at Gate 34 the enchanting Mystic Meg awaited, all sleek lines and silver, stick of spaghetti with wings I think not. We boarded fairly soon after my arrival although I doubt the two event were connected and for the first time in ages was not subjected to Security Checkpoint #5. I gathered some reading material, boarded the a/c and took my place in my preferred seat 21G (Not at the front (galley), not at the back (toilets) and with the aisle on my right). It could be my imagination but there seemed more legroom under the seat on this flight than the same seat on my previous flight. I know that all legroom should be equal, however it seems, I thought, that some legroom is more equal than others.
The preflight announcement completed without any real deviation we began out slow pushback from the gate and then, under our own power for the first time, joined the Monday morning taxiway queues for our shot at 270 Left. This it seemed was a disadvantage of a Morning departure as it was nearly half an hour before we were racing down the tarmac and climbing into the grey Sky to the West of Heathrow, arcing towards Slough at 5,000 feet and climbing which I might add is probably not a bad way to be heading towards Slough if you need head towards it at all.
Early turbulence greeted our passage through the cloud base and the arrival of the first glimpse of the sun most of the passengers had seen in days. Eventually the captain granted the crew his permission to begin serving the passengers while at the same time confining the guests to a further period of seatbelt captivity. Menus were passed around alerting me to the inadequacies of the flight itinerary, lunch it seems was off the menu (tee hee), instead I was to have a second breakfast. Then I realised, with some incredulity that this was okay as I had totally forgotten about the first one anyway. Actually breakfast was a pretty full-on operation which provided the full spectrum of food groups, fruit, cereal, yogurt, bread, potatoes and sausage and I for one was grateful that I had decided to forego breakfast at Heathrow.
On my previous return from New York I had slept through most of the flight and started watching Bridge to Terabithia a little too late to conclude my enjoyment prior to the entertainment being shut-down on approach to Heathrow. I had expected to have to wait till the end of July and a trip to LA before seeing the last half an hour so was quite happy to take the opportunity of this unexpected trip to finish the family tale. I find myself increasingly delving into these type of family films, as befits my username, as I try to align myself with my kids future tastes. Unfortunately if this trend continues I see problems looming in 10 years time if the fashion for hoodies and trousers hanging from mid-thigh continues. Actually the film was a rather pleasing and enchanting tale and enhanced by a couple of fantastic performances by the two young stars.. Unfortunately the point at which I rejoined the film was the beginning of the ****SPOILER WARNING*** sad bit **** END SPOILERS ******, so a bit of a downer there.
Shortly after the end of the film, and now almost three hours into the flight the crew appeared with a full drinks service and the dispensing of pretzels, good timing too as I had by this time not eaten anything for almost an hour. Almost simultaneous to this refreshing event was a announcement that some passengers were having persistent problems with V-Port, and therefore the crew, after length discussions and presumably a process only slight less complex than the election of a deputy leader of the Labour party, had decided to reboot the system.
At this point I booted up my PC and typed the first half of the TR that ended at the previous paragraph and that seemed to fill the void until v-port was back on line. Explored the i-map feature that had managed to crash my system on the previous flight and I have to say that I found it a bit slow. Anyway by this point I was beginning to get a bit bored, My sixth trip across the Atlantic in less than 5 months meant that most of the obvious TV programmes had been watched and it was getting a bit late for another film although I do have a couple mapped out for the return.
Catering returned with some tea and a nice cinnamon and apple biscuit and anything with cinnamon in it is alright by me. I enjoyed this over an episode of Hotel which I had probably seen before but well, what can I say, I have a selective memory.
By this time we were approaching JFK and landed a little ahead of schedule at noon exactly. Disembarkation was orderly enough and the immigration procedure, luggage collection and customs were a mere formality and so it was that within barely half an hour of landing I found myself back with the other landsiders and heading for the SkyTrain and E Train. Seven bucks and 50 minutes later I was checking into my Manhattan hotel.
Phil
