This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Needed to go to Florida to check on our rental property (and get some much overdue sun!!) so I booked a miles plus money economy ticket, got a pretty good price so was very happy with that. I specifically chose VS27 operated by an A330 so that we could have a window and aisle set of 2 seats rather than running the risk of having a stranger sat next to us for 9 hours on a 747...
4 days before the flight, got the usual call from Virgin asking if I was happy with the booking and if there was anything they could do for me. I asked what the upgrade options were, half expecting the answer to be something like "we can do a PE upgrade for £250 each". Instead she came back with £134 each, which I thought was an absolute bargain, so I did it.
This would be our first PE experience on the new A330 so I was quite looking forward to seeing what it was like compared to upstairs on the 747 which I love.A couple of days before the flight, I noticed on expertflyer and MMB that the aircraft had been changed to a 747. Ok, not a problem I thought, will miss the chance of trying out the new cabin, but at least we might get a seat upstairs which I've always really enjoyed.
Did twilight check-in at Gatwick and bagged 75H & K, an exit row. :-) However, our boarding passes were kept back and we were asked to go to the ticket desk in the morning as there was some kind of "issue" with our ticket...
Got to the ticket desk in the morning after a lovely evening at the Sofitel hotel (I thoroughly recommend the executive floor rooms which come with lounge access!). The issue with the ticket was that they hadn't yet processed the payment for the upgrades (in a way, thank god they hadn't!) - the lady behind the desk then tried to charge me £268 for each seat plus a change fee of £100.
Eventually after a few phone calls and some discussion, they worked out that they were trying to charge me twice and for a "change fee" that they didn't need to. Who ever served me on the phone had made a total mess of the booking. Anyway, all sorted and I was charged the £134 each as originally promised and no change fee.Went through premium security, which was empty. While sitting looking out over the apron I noticed that Beauty Queen was sat waiting at a gate. Odd as I thought that the A330 only did the VS27 from gatwick, but it can't be as it's been changed to a 747... A quick check on expertflyer and a chat with a virgin ground staff member I stumbled across revealed that our flight had been changed BACK to the A330 that morning. Worried that knowing my luck we'd now end up split up at opposite ends of the cabin, she very kindly checked our booking and confirmed that we did have a window and aisle together. This must have been a nightmare for the ground staff having to re-assign everyones seat (again).
Eventually the gate was called (the flight had a 45 minute delay). There were a few complaints from passengers who had lost the seats they'd chosen during online check-in.
The flight was completely full. PE boarding was called nice and early, before a lot of passengers had even got into the gate area. We settled into 24H&K and had a glass of sparkling wine/"champagne" each.
I know there's been mixed reviews of the A330 PE cabin but personally I quite liked it. Obviously it's not as nice as upstairs on the 747! I found the seat very comfortable, although I'm not a fan of the leg rest - I prefer the older style one that extends from the seat. Boarding was through the L2 door, behind the PE cabin so there wasn't a stream of economy pax struggling through, which helped make it feel more exclusive (has it always been like that? I'm sure I remember walking thru PE to get to the back of the A330 before??).
We were soon in the air and being handed hot towels (really, really hot!!), menus and amenity kits. The drinks service followed shortly after this - G&T's and about 10 bags of pretzels! - the crew were the most generous I've ever encountered on a flight.
Lunch was very good, although the beef ran out but the chicken was a very tasty substitute. Multiple bread rolls were offered, as were plenty of drinks.
Later we were offered the usual ice creams (very nice), fruit, plenty of drinks and finally afternoon tea which again was very tasty.
The crew were probably one of the best I've encountered on any flight. They were all a real credit to virgin - constantly coming through the cabin, very attentive and friendly.
Landed about 30 minutes late after navigating around some thunderstorm cells, but thankfully before the BA flight or VS Glasgow one which resulted in the immigration hall being empty! Off the aircraft and through immigration within about 5 minutes!
All in all ended up being a fantastic flight.
Coming home, via a short stay in New York, on VS18 - looking forward to seeing what a daytime return trip across the Atlantic is like...
