This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
I was on ExpertFlyer the night before and noticed that both the PE and Economy cabins were packed full, probably oversold, and there was still over 7 seats available in UC. I then (mistakenly, in hindsight) started getting very hopeful of an Op Upgrade.
I had checked in the day before and because I live a 2 minute drive from the airport, I dropped my bags off at 11AM and went home, no upgrade at the check-in desk, but I was still hopeful. The inbound flight had to divert to Barbados due to potholes in the runway in Antigua (anybody who has been to the Caribbean will not be surprised by such events !), and therefore our departure was re-scheduled from 4.30PM to 6.30PM, not a problem for me, more time to relax at home.
Got down to the airport again at about 5PM, paid my departure tax (yes they even charge their own citizens
) and then braced myself for the catastrophic process, that is V.C Bird airport emigration and security...And as always it never disappoints, about 7 different lines leading up to the emigration desks, people cursing and pushing in front of each other. Then onto the security process, not helped at all by people failing to take off their shoes and remove their laptops until they suddenly realize they are holding everybody else up, is it really that hard to look ahead and see what everybody else is doing? Then after taking 30 minutes to move 30 meters, they decided to take another 15 minutes searching me and emptying everything out of my hand luggage, then letting me pick my stuff up from the floor and repack, by this point I was sweating profusely. Well I was through now, just take a seat and relax I thought, but no, not one single empty seat in the downstairs are of the departure lounge, packed like a tin of sardines, so I trundled upstairs and found a seat miles from the departure gate with no AC
... Why oh why this wonderful nation does not give a rats *** about its tourists (whom almost exclusively drive their dwindling economy) is beyond me, it is one of the worst airports in the world with some of the rudest staff in the world, hardly a great final impression. if I was a tourist, I know I wouldn't go back.Anyyyway, where were we, ah yes that upgrade I was after, surely after the hassle of getting through, the upgrade would now follow. All of a sudden the PA system got going and passengers names were being read out, alas the speakers upstairs were not loud enough so I ran downstairs like a little kid, listening for my name, which never came. Then on my way back up I pass by a staff member with some shiny purple boarding cards(still purple in ANU for now) in his hand, and then I finally accepted that I had been overlooked for the upgrade, instead found out that the 5 remaining seats in UC were given to a family of 5 travelling in PE, whilst the well dressed, well behaved, solo flying, silver card holder was left in PE....Ohhhhhhhhhh I was sooo jealous, and yes a little spiteful
Right then, priority boarding announced, yay ! Or not...Again another shambolic system they have in Antigua, to access the new departure gates you have to walk through a narrow passage way first, and guess what ? Those darn Economy passengers had started queuing early and blocked our way !
So as all us UC and PE lot bundled our way through the rest of them, there were the usual comments "Look at them".."Why do they get to go first!"...etc...etc...You know how it is, I'm used to it, especially on this route at this airport 
Soooo onto the aircraft I went and up those stairs into the serene bubble, took my seat in 80K and immediately noticed that the seat back was very wobbly. There was on old disabled man in the seat next to me, but he switched with his daughter before take off (I think she moved him to the downstairs PE section, once she saw the difference in seats
). I try to avoid drinking too much when seated at the window, I'm not one for clambering over people 4 times a night, so didn't opt for the pre-take off drink this time around. I was told by 3 different cabin crew members, before take off, to put my seat in the upright position. I tried explaining to all of them that it was a dodgy seat, yet all three insisted on leaning over me and trying the lever themselves, then left without a word. Either I'm a very attractive guy, or they thought I was genuinely incapable of operating the seat, or perhaps I was trying to con them into an extra 2 inches of recline for take off, a bit ridiculous really... 
... 2 hours and 20 minutes later than scheduled, we were airborne. 453 passenger and 17(?) crew, I didn't think the 744 could carry so many...It was the end of the summer hols which explains the full flight, and needless to say, we needed every inch of that runway 
Cabin crew came and took our food order almost immediately after take off, the choices were lamb, chicken or pasta. I went for the pasta. The entertainment system then began, however I loaded some movies onto my ipad in order to avoid the tragically outdated Nova system, still I feel sorry for anybody who comes unprepared for it, it's just that bad.
Everything seemed to be going just fine until about 45 minutes later, the crew began giving out the meals, starting at the front of the cabin. 2 glasses were dropped in the isle by the same member of crew, both smashing everywhere, I think the poor girl was rather new (perhaps to PE anyway) as she got into a bit of a panic. She cleared it up as best she could and then told every passenger in the cabin face to face to be careful about walking on a specific place in the aisle, which was very good of her.
They finally reached 80K, I was told that they had ran out of PE pasta meals, I replied "No problem, lamb is fine." I was then told that they had neither chicken nor lamb available for me and was offered the economy pasta meal. I am not one for giving the crew a tough time I simply said "No problem," with a smile on my face and took the meal...
It gets worse, no PE cutlery, no desert, no cheese, no glass, no crackers and no salad...And the economy meal was bland and rather cold by the time it had reached me. What makes it far worse than anything is that I thought I was doing the crew a favor by not kicking up a fuss, but after I was handed my meal on a tray (that's all it was, just the plastic container with the tin foil, plastic knife and fork, and that's it), I received no apology whatsoever, let alone the offer of a dink. From what I could see I was the only person in the cabin that received a meal like this, perhaps they could have got me something from Upper instead? Frequent flyer, nice guy, but I guess it doesn't matter to VS anymore....
After that I watched a couple of films, then tried to get some sleep but didn't succeed in that either. I did get a PE breakfast though, with everything a PE breakfast should have, a real highlight of the flight
Landed about one hour behind schedule into Gatwick, bags were off quickly and I was gone.
All in all, disappointing service from VS. The meal was one thing, but the service just seems unprofessional these days, and certainly lacks any of the enthusiasm of years past. They are lucky they have such a beautiful UC cabin, it's the only reason I stick with them, as far as I'm concerned BA at the moment surpass them in both onboard offerings and customer service, they are superior to VS outside of the UC cabin (not a fan of the Club World seats or lay out). So I will continue to fly in W and Y with VS to rack up the miles, but as a loyal customer and fan of the company, I hope they get their act together soon.
I have to say everytime I have flown premium the service has been great but this inconsistency is what is causing VS problems 
