This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
I am writing this report as when I was researching booking my flights last year, there was not much information available on the PE cabin on the new A330 2 cabin, economy + PE, we flew PE each way. We flew to ST Lucia on a Virgin 747 about 9 years ago PE, so in the upper deck which we enjoyed, I had concerns about space etc having read some comments on the forum.
Going out to Orlando we had no real problems, I had already reserved our seats in the PE cabin as soon as they were available to reserve online, about 10 weeks before we flew, we booked 22 DFG (the middle section as the cabin is 2 + 3 + 2). On checkin at the airport we still had the seats we reseved, so we just used the PE checkin desk at Manchester which was empty as we arrived, quite a few people were queuing at the economy desk.
PE PAX were called for boarding first about 45 minutes before the flight, so we got on board quickly with no problems, the cabin looked nice and plush with leather seats everywhere, nice lighting, the centre of the cabin where we sat felt very spacious as the ceiling is much higher than the 2 seats on either side as there are no overhead lockers for the central rows that you have on the Window seats, so the effect feels very roomy, but you do lose the air vents that you normally have for your seat to control airflow. We had one carry on travel case, there was plenty of room in the overhead lockers above the window seats, so was not an issue, I can imagine if there were lots of Passengers with carry on luggage, there could be abit of a free for all for the available overhead storge space, so early boarding is recommended, though we had no problems. There is limited space under the seats, for small bags, having a young child we took on some colouring books/games/toys/snacks and a change of clothes in case of accidents which fit in a bag under the seat.
On sitting down the cabin crew started to circulate offerring a welcome drink of champagne and soft drinks for kids, which was most welcome and relaxed you into the flight nicely, my wife is a nervous flyer and does not enjoy long haul, so this brought a smile to her face, which is not easy to achieve on a plane !!!
We left the gate on time and were up in there the air quickly, for what turned out to be a very enjoyable non eventful flight.
The IFE is excellent, largest seatback screen I have seen on an aircraft, lots of movies, TV & Music choice, the games are basic but good, in PE we got complimentary headphones, not sure if that's the case for economy. The IFE kept my 6 year old tech advanced child happy for the flight, so that's quite an achievemnt, I watched 4 fairly recent movies, which had been on the cinemas in the last few months but were not yet available on DVD in the UK, so a 10/10 for IFE. My son was particularly fascinated following the maps and aircraft progress on the flight status, saved him asking me when we would be there continuously !!!
Dinner was served mid afternoon, a nice choice, I think it was chicken, beef or Raviolli, I had beef which was good, child meal was good. One odd thing was that the starter was Prawn salad, we're not a fan of prawns so did not touch it, fish starters are abit love em or hate em, so was a surprise as a starter with no choice, I would have expected a more bland starter that everyone would be ok with.
We used the 2 bathrooms at the front of the cabin, I mention this as I read that people were reporting 1 of the bathrooms at the front of PE was not available regularly, so this was not the case on our flight. The location is abit odd, as you walk past the front rown, behind the cabin wall, where the cabin crew are sat/stood, so if waiting for the bathroom, you are mingling with the crew while they work/chat, which was different than on aircraft I have flown before, but this is better for the front row of the cabin, as they do not get the PAX waiting for the bathroom stood in there space waiting in the front of the cabin.
The seats were comfortable for the flight, we did not recline, as the PAX infront did not recline the seat, so there was plenty of legroom and support, I am 5'11 in tall and broad chested, but felt I had lots of space, so that was good. The seat table is on the left armrest, I'm guessing with the size of the IFE screen they could not do a dropdown table from the seat infront, one problem with this is the armrest can be opened affecting the PAX next to you, my son wanted it out constantly so he could draw and play with his toys on the table. The other problem with this is that the armrests are solid and fixed between the seats, on flights in the past when alone we have lifted the armrest between the seats when we have flown as 2 adults, as this gives lots more space, it seemed a shame we had an isolated row of 3 seats and you could not lift the armrests to use all the available space, not a major problem outgoing, but when returning on a night flight, its a pain when you have an uncomfortable child who would prefer to lean against you or you could stretch out over the adults and all get more comfortable.
We landed about 25 minutes late due to strong headwinds, but we had a good flight and landed to mid 80's Orlando sunshine, so everyone was happy.
PE PAX were first off the plane, so we arrived at an empty US Homeland Security desk, which was good, the line quickly built behind us as US securty is not the quickest.
