VS355 BOM-LHR 16 MAY 13 (Premium Economy)

This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

So, finally my return from Mumbai.

So first:
Checkin:
Security at Mumbai airport somewhat mental - so my passport checked no less than 6 times during the immigration/checkin process. Checkin agent checked me in as first in PE queue, taking no more than 2 mins.

Overall - would highly recommend flying a min of PE on this route - the time saving in having access to business lanes in airport is WELL worth it. The immigration queues are quite quite mental and slow moving.

Once through I had use of the celebrations lounge courtesy of my PP. Rate this as okay, but its no No1 heathrow for sure.

Boarding was quick and PE/UC priority enforced, which was nice to see. Once boarded 2 glasses of sparking wine and a paper as rest boarded, which was also nice. Load in PE was medium (half full), but a full EC section, and full UC from what I could tell.

The flight itself could have done with 2 items from my PE experience:
1/ Food - the initial hot roll was okay, but far too small to send me to the land of nod. More carbs on a night flight would help!.
2/ Drinks service, needed prompting this time, on several occasions. They did deliver 2 drinks at once when asked however, and the G+T was very nice.
3/ The 2nd food option was Indian veg option or a chesse omlette. Breakfast - surely they could have had a bacon roll option, or sausage? This particularly disappointed, in both size and quality. I should have taken a photo of the crossant, easy the smallest I've ever seen - think normal croissant size, half it, half it again, and you have the single bite sized croissant presented to me.

Slept as did many eventually for 2-3 hours during flight. IFE was a good choice again (Vera on demand). Wifi and mobile network available. Wifi seemed quite ridiculously priced. 7.50 for 20Mbyet for 1 hour, 10 quid for 30Mbyte time unlimited. Seriously no unlimited use option killed it for me - 30Mbyte is FAR too small in my opinion - I'd have paid 10 quid for an unlimited service.

So, a flight of contrasts. Reasonable service when prompted, crap food, good entertainment, too expensive wifi for business use.

I will be flying Virgin on this route again in August, and possibly again in Jan or Feb next year, so will update on progress. The timings are what make this choice as just miles better than BA. Also the fact Virgin PE gives business lane access in both directions.

Sadly can't take Virgin rest of year for other trips due to the difficulty in getting to the part of the US I travel most too - won't be an option until Delta hookup complete.

Thanks for your TR....those numerous passport checks at BOM remember those well when I use to live there and travel to/from Mumbai in 2007/2008. Sounds like things have not really improved.

Shame about the food. I'm surprised chicken sausages don't put in an appearance as they always did in the BA breakfasts out of Mumbai and were quite tasty. Do feedback to VS though if you haven't already, this is a relatively new route with lots of competition on it.....so it's in there interest to get the in flight service right.

Jon

Jon
By what route should I feedback do you think? - its in my interest given I'm flying on this route in same class at least 2-3 times in next year.

NUmerous passport isn't just it, its the numerous x-rays I really objected to! Twice (and they had machines for another on entry to aiport I saw too) was my case.

Food though really must be improved or it'll stop others flying the route - truely worse airline food in years. Complete contrast to flight ex-London.

Indeed, those X-ray checks too....!

I would feedback through the customer relations route. I agree is important they get the service right and if your experience was disappointing, VS should expect to hear about it.

I recall a few years back that someone took a picture of the food they were served on the VS Mumbai route before it was suspended which went viral and VS promised rapid improvements which were implemented.

So I am not suggesting its anything close to that but you left the aircraft disappointed and will fly again, so do feedback.

When flying to/from India, my company had travel deals with BA and Jet Airways. Food, service and entertainment wise five years ago.....Jet were the best but by all accounts they went off the boil for a bit and BA raised their game.....VS cannot afford to be the under dog on a route like this.

Jon

I recall a few years back that someone took a picture of the food they were served on the VS Mumbai route before it was suspended which went viral
Jon

I remember that TR. It was really funny.

A fine TR...I would hope VS listen to your feedback as the only reason you fly them is timings and priority security...not anything to do with the brand/service Well, I'm sure the miles and TP come in handy

Miles/TP do come in handy - and the service outbound was truely the best on any scheduled airline I've EVER had - thats why I'll return.

But the food on return, really quite inexcusable, and if I was a local Indian employee and this was my first experience of VS, I'd imagine I'd have picked Jet on a following trip. As mentioned, Virgin can't afford to mess this route up - which is why I've reported it to them.

I will report back later in year though - got at least one more trip in 2013 on VS on this route, and at least 1 in 2014 in diary.

To update - my response from Virgin:
"It is a shame to read that you did not like the food offered on board. We have recently change
catering companies, and, so far have received very positive reviews."

A cynical me hopes its Improved, but doubts it. Good feedback - I do wonder who's resporting that - truely was appalling on my flight. Anyhow, I'm repeating trip in August, will report back - but I'll be bringing food on board with me on return journey - it was that bad.

Thanks for the TR Starquake, good to get some feedback on this route. I'm going out PE on Monday and back UC the following Sunday, so I'll find out what the UC food is like on the VS355. I hope its better than you describe in PE.

Thanks also for the forewarning of the multiple passport checks. I imagine they are fairly mind numbing at that time of night after a long day and with an 02:35 departure time.

Due to the shambles that is Mumbai, I will no longer fly in and out of there.

I have heard good things about Delhi airport, so booked my next trip (end of Aug) in to Delhi.

Then Spice Jet to Pune.....

To update - my response from Virgin:
"It is a shame to read that you did not like the food offered on board. We have recently change
catering companies, and, so far have received very positive reviews."

A cynical me hopes its Improved, but doubts it. Good feedback - I do wonder who's resporting that - truely was appalling on my flight. Anyhow, I'm repeating trip in August, will report back - but I'll be bringing food on board with me on return journey - it was that bad.

"A shame..." Is the stock phrase for VS customer services at the moment. Check out their replies on the Facebook page, everything is a shame.

Back on it week after next ... and back week after.. wish me luck.

Thanks for the TR, it's been two or three years since I flew out of BOM last but I recall everything you say, and more .

those numerous passport checks at BOM remember those well when I use to live there and travel to/from Mumbai in 2007/2008. Sounds like things have not really improved

Yes, if you can get in the business lane - but the inter-terminal transfers, well, they're still third world.

Shame about the food. I'm surprised chicken sausages don't put in an appearance

One of only two times have I had food poisoning from an in flight meal included chicken sausages (the other was a chicken breast) - I will never again eat chicken in flight ...

Numerous passport isn't just it, its the numerous x-rays I really objected to! Twice (and they had machines for another on entry to athe airport I saw too) was my case.

You know, there's very little to nothing VS can do about BOM airport itself, the security, the inane bureaucracy, etc. There is no point even mentioning this. I too worked in India (2006-9) and love the country, but by 'eck the best thing they retained from the Raj was a love of good old British paperwork - elevated to new levels. One good thing though about the security, flying (vs the terrorists part) is very safe in India.

Food though really must be improved or it'll stop others flying the route - truly the worst airline food in years. Complete contrast to flight ex-London.

VS has a problem with PE, viz it's brand, pricing and positioning. As a premium economy product the food should be considered OK, the seats comfy and spacious, the crew generally fab, the side frills good. But then you can frequently pay upwards of £2,000 to sit in PE and at that price the food and drink is really bad - this is UC pricing for many who travel. In the last year I've flown PE twice and depending where you usually sit expectations change - in my case I agree, PE grub needs better (oh and the portions are tiny!).

I think the issue with VS PE is that it's been watered down too much, and at the same time BA have made a few changes to WT+ which I understand has made the difference between the two classes narrower than it was before.