VS012 BOS-LHR 19 Nov 09 (PE)

This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

We're always late, so it was huge surprise to see that we were virtually alone in the great hall at TE Logan. The oddest change was no grumpy pre-check lectern at the start of the roped entries. For several years there was a very friendly, funny agent there, who would take your passport, crack a joke about your middle name, and pass you through. After 9/11 that became a surly personage who was all business, which mostly meant telling people like us that we were in the wrong line until we'd been identified on the check -in list.

Still, it has been almost a year since we've flown VS out of Boston (sorry to say that BA from JFK has proven cheaper) and PE means no CH. So, back to a meal at Dine Boston, airside wait and boarding right on time, through the front jetway.

A full flight (not sure where the rest of the pax appeared from), we were duly given sparkling in a very tiny flute, waited and waited for our turn, and the straight off southern route, smooth flight all the way.

Dinner was unremarkable as none of the choices appealed at all, so it was green salad and cheese for me, a 'refill'of a shot glass- sized wine glass, and a good cup of tea. For some odd, non-related fight reason (unless it was the really dumb and limited choice of loop movies on Odyssey), I simply could not get comfortable. My seat seemed to have some important component missing--like all the back springs--and I spent a lot of time down the back of Y, peering out at the night sky. The cabin staff were very tolerant, and I didn't leave until the toilet nearby began to smell rather high.

Flying PE means--a guaranteed foot rest. That's a pretty expensive way to prop up your toes. For some non explainable reason, after all these years, I had been too cheap, and too annoyed by the cost,to purchase an upgradeable PE ticket, despite having a huge mileage surplus--and the short hop didn't seem worth it.

Breakfast was a cookie (a cookie????) which I declined (a yogurt would have been ideal), and tea and we were right on time, bags off (including golf bags on general carousel) and off to Heathrow Connect.

Thanks for the TR, but why dont you just throw caution to the wind and enjoy those masses of miles you have??? you only live once.

cheers

alex

Sorry to hear about your poor flight but thank you for taking the time to post a TR.

quote:Originally posted by Alex V
Thanks for the TR, but why dont you just throw caution to the wind and enjoy those masses of miles you have??? you only live once.

cheers

alex


Good question Alex. Living in Boston, where the London flight is only six-seven or so hours, it is hard to reconcile both the additional cost for an S ticket, as well as the miles. I LOVE flying UC, but maybe not enough to spend hundreds of dollars to use my miles, when they are actually more of a benefit for a longer trip. We used 125,000 miles last summer for a UC flight on NZ last summer and well worth.
Still, the Boston fare for PE is not cheap, and VS should offer the same excellence for service and aircraft on all flights--or offer a differentiated fare/mileage usage. BA are very upfront about their PE fare--it is legroom. VS claim a lot more--but don't/can't deliver on 340-300. Air New Zealand deliver the best PE in the business outside of Singapore Air. So--what's holding VS back?

Thanks for the caution to the wind advice--and I am very grateful to be able to assert that I have done so many, many times--all good. That doesn't mean I'm willing to be conned into paying hard earned miles for inflated qualifying fares.

cheers,
RR[:?]

Good answer RR and on that basis if i were too, travelling the same route and used that same train of thought i too would be in PE aswell.

cheers

alex