This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
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Cabin Crew
Was looking forward to this flight very much, first flight in PE and my wife and I made use of the PE sale a while back.
Checked in online the night before and it looked as if most of PE was empty. We arrived at Heathrow with plenty of time, partly so we could have a browse around the shops and also because we had not used the Parking Express carpark I booked before. As it turned out this was simple to find and the M25/M4 gave us a clear run [:0]
Arrived at T3 around 11.45 and was greeted and asked if we had checked in online and what class we were travelling. We were told the PE bag drop was closed at the moment and that we would have to join the general bag drop. This was annoying, but we then saw the queue, going around to zone C! We joined this as there was no other option and were told by staff patrolling the line that there had been a technical fault and the queue would move shortly.
Next all PE customers were called forward, not many fortunatly but the security there wanted to see our return ticket, which I didn't have. So we were sent to the check-in machine, which doesn't allow you to print an intinerary, so we then went to the ticket desks. There we got an intinerary printed and were sent back to the PE line. Only one desk open and the process was slow as the belts were not working. We eventually got the the desk, 45minutes after entering the building! The lady was apologectic for any delay and said that our flight was delayed by at least an hour due to delay on the inbound from Boston. Our cases were wayed and then put onto a trolley and taken off by another member of VS staff.
Security was good, no wait at all, straight through - fantastic.
We wandered around the shops and the screens displayed a 15:30 take off and 14:50 boarding. Several other VS flights delayed as well by the looks of it.
We were called to the gate ~14:45 and again all PE and UC passengers were called forward, as soon as boarding passes read we were ushered straight onto the aircraft.
Sat down by 14:55 and champagne, not sparkling wine, was poured for everyone. A second drink was offered too, this may be due to the delay as we didnt push back until 15:35.
Seats were the new style, which I had been hoping for being our first time in PE, but unfortunatly we didn't have V:Port, but Odyssey, which was dissapointing.
Crew were friendly and before takeoff were chatting to some regulars and introducting themselves to those they didn't know. It appeared that 2 crew were attached to PE for the duration of the flight.
We finally left Heathrow at 16:00 and drinks were served about 30minutes afterwards at the same time as the IFE was started. Menus came around at the same time with the Chicken Korma, Braised Beef & Penne options. This was served about an hour afterwards, the warm bread rools coming around shortly afterwards was a nice touch.
Baileys/Brandy was offered after dinner service was cleared and ice creams after that.
Total flight time eas 7hrs exactly, the taxi to the gate in Boston was delayed due to a 'British Airways aircraft blocking the way', which was an amusing announcement!
PE was full minus 1 seat, UC appeared to be about 50% full and Economy was about 90%.
Immigration/Passport control queues were minimal as there were lots of people ready to deal with our flight arriving and PE/UC bags appeared to come off first
Overall a great experience, crew were great, the flight smooth, just a shame that whilst the seats were upgraded they didn't put V:Port in.
G.
