This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
You probably know already that my work pays for economy tickets only, so having sought some advice on upgrading at the airport before hand, I thought I'd try my luck. As the flight was at 20:40 on a Friday, and my trip to LHR involves a long stretch on the M25, I decided to set off extra early, aiming to get to the airport for around 16:30. I booked the No.1 Lounge to help pass time when I'm there.
Traffic wasn't too bad on the way (though the other side was stationary due to a 3-lane wide pothole that revealed overnight and caused a lot of vehicles to break down that morning), and I got to the airport around 16:15. The first thing I noticed was the mixture of ground staff at the door - I think this was the first time I noticed so many DL staff amongst the VS lot in the check-in area, and their appearances and outfits couldn't have been further apart...
Speaking of outfits and appearances, it's been almost 5 months since I last flew with VS (other than the odd LR), so this was also the first time I saw the new VS uniform "in person". I must admit, I didn't really like the male version, as it's a bit of a funny colour, but the ladies ones weren't half as bad as I thought. Maybe it was because the VS staff were standing right next to the DL ones, but I thought they looked pretty sharp.
I went straight towards the end to the Upgrade Sales desk, and there was a chap in front already, trying to strike a deal. He was in the same situation - work paid for EC and he's upgrading himself to PE, but on the BOS flight which was due to leave in 1 hour! The agent had to make a call to Crawley Towers to have the seat released (presumably because it was so close to departure time, as it didn't happen with mine), and I overheard that the charge was £199 when the payment was taken.
After a fairly lengthy wait (10 mins or so, but hey I had time to kill), it was my turn. This was my first time asking for a quote for upgrading, and I actually felt a little nervous!
The lady at the desk (with really dramatic and glamourous hair) confirmed that there were both UC and PE seats available still, with a cost of £269 to PE, and £700+ to UC. Having set myself a budget of £200 for PE upgrade, I politely declined.
She then kindly offered to act as a bag drop for my luggage, to save me dragging it across to the concourse. So I took it up. Then the conversation took a surprising turn when she asked me what my budget was for upgrading. Suddenly realising that the quoted prices were potentially negotiable, I played it cool and said that I didn't have a budget as such, was hoping hoping for something as cheap as possible
This was when she gave me an ultimatum of £199, which was apparently the lowest that she could do. I did wonder whether somehow she read my mind about the budget, but of course I decided to just go ahead and treat myself, as I didn't have a reason not to 
To her credit she did try and sell me UC (there seems to be room for manoeuvre there too), but I declined and mentioned that I've not heard great things about the UCDS. She agreed and said that she found it quite uncomfortable, and that if she wants to sleep in it she can only manage by lying sideways (she's pretty slim, but quite tall). She also told me that the flight load was ok, with another 5 seats left in PE. I wonder if the upgrade price would be higher later on when the seats run out? (I didn't see any obvious spaces in PE on board). I was then put on the spot for the seat selection. Now you have to know that I only ever choose seats after thorough research (and sometimes asking questions on this forum), but a quick assessment told me that I didn't really have time to do that. I knew I didn't want the seat right at the back as food options might run out, and had also recalled noise issues with the bulkhead seats. She tried giving me more information, telling me that the PE seats go from 18, and she had a number of aisle seats available in the middle, i.e. D or G. So I chose 20G, thinking that it would be a couple of rows back, with aisle access.
After that tense moment I tried lightening the mood by making small talk and expressing my admiration for her lovely hair. That was quite a bonding experience when she explained to me how she did her hair, though I don't think I'll be able to pull such dramatic hair-do off
Then it got even more exciting. As she handed me the new boarding pass (it still said seq. 8
), she whispered in my year, "as you are flying in PE you can purchase access to the Clubhouse for £60 today". She then quickly added that I didn't need to decide right then (having seen how indecisive I can be - based on her experience with the upgrade, and with the seat selection) and just needed to buy it at the door if I wanted. She was right about my indecisiveness, as I actually made a call to the OH to see what he thought! Of course being the sweetie that he is, he encouraged me to go for it, given how much time I still had to spare. So I walked towards Lounge F area as soon as I was through security (pretty quick, and very friendly staff), with quite some excitement.
As I nervously walked up those stairs for the first time, it actually felt like I was trying to gain entry to a members' only nightclub (not that I go to many of those!) without a membership. I just about plucked up the courage and asked to buy a ticket. However, the lady at the door informed me that a purchased ticket would only allow access for 2 hours, and advised me to come back in an hour's time, and suggested that I could go to the No.1 Lounge next door in the meantime. It was a bit disappointing, but as I already had booked the No.1 Lounge, and understood that the CH wouldn't be the CH if it were overcrowded by non-AU/UC flyers, I was happy to follow her advice.
First impression of the No.1 Lounge was fine - quite crowded, but nice enough. I settled in one of the seats near the window, but as it was dark out, there wasn't much plane watching. After a glass of wine and some chicken pitta (more like half a pitta), some mushroom soup and a mini muffin, and with my laptop in front of me and 3 magazines in hand, I was pretty happy there and decided not to go to the CH. It would be nice to explore the CH with Mr W together next year instead
I tried booking for a massage but the spa was full until after my flight starts boarding, so that wouldn't be a very relaxing experience! Anyhow the hours flew by, and before long we were boarding from Gate 21 (about a 10 minutes walk away).
Every time I fly with VS, the sign next to the toilets on the way to the gates, "No toilets beyond this point", and the crowds that gather outside made me have a little smile to myself.
There was no queue for PE boarding by the time I got there, so I walked straight through. Upon boarding I realised that I actually chose a bulkhead seat at 20G as although the AC and HK start from 18 and 19, the middle seats start from row 20! I was a little worried, and even more so when a couple with a 19-month old sat next to me, and there was another baby in 19H
I must admit at this point that the baby next to me was really cute, and the parents reassured me as soon as they sat down that the baby has flown a lot and is a very relaxed little flyer. I felt better straight away as they were clearly very considerate parents
To help the little one settle down, their trick was to make her watch a video on their ipad of herself! Imagine my surprise when I glanced across, and there she was, sat on her daddy's lap quietly, studying her own face with what seems to be a great amount of fascination. Her parents called her vain a few times, which was quite funny.
The captain announced that there were 214 pax on board with 12 CC, and we were on board VGEM Diamond Girl. This was the first time I heard the announcement with the aircraft name I think.
Just before we started moving, the baby in 19H started crying. The reaction of the baby next to me was one of the funniest things I've ever seen! She looked and pointed at the crying baby, said word by word, "baby... crying...", and shook her little head in disapproval.
At this point I wanted to steal this super cute and hilarious little person!) The actual flight was drama-free. With it being a fairly short night flight, I just wanted to get dinner out of the way (I know I ate at the No.1 Lounge but I was hardly full
), and go to sleep. CC was really slow at serving pre-dinner drinks, clearing the glasses away, handing out hot towels, handing out the dinner, and clearing the plates, to the extent that by the time that was done, we had less than 5 hours left on a 7 hours flight. The mother next to me actually pressed the call bell to clear the trays at the same time so I wonder if that helped speed things up? Of course this gave us (by us I mean my new bestie - the cute baby and me) plenty of time to play the "pass the butter, cheese, knives (though that was quickly intervened by her mum), salad dressing, and the salt and pepper mill and build a tower" game. Despite the repetitiveness, it was quite enjoyable (maybe I'm starting to get broody after all! Miracles might happen), and better still her mum let me pinch their salt and pepper mills as well 
Don't you just love the "pinched from Virgin Atlantic" wording? It's a genius branding idea, and I am already looking forward to collecting some silver ones next year After dinner, I promptly put my ear plugs in, and eye mask on, slowly reclined (after checking the tray table position and giving the passenger behind me a nod), put my feet up onto the lovely pouffe, and nodded off. I really noticed a difference between the PE and EC seats - I felt so much more comfortable (this travelling for work business might start costing me...) and managed to sleep until a CC was in front of me asking whether I wanted breakfast. I was pretty groggy but managed a yes, and being a trooper that I am, started eating straight away with my eyes half closed (no longer reclining though - I'm a good recliner).
I must say though, whilst dinner was decent (some boring beetroot salad followed by a beef casserole, with apple cake and custard), breakfast was borderline inedible. It was supposed to be scrambled eggs with cheese (not cheese again! argh!) with mushrooms and beans - honestly, you wouldn't know what was what without inspecting what's on your fork. I managed half of it and gave up.
Then we had a 5-10 minute window to use the toilets before we started descending, and shortly afterwards we were in Dubai.
There was no queue at all at immigration
, so I even had to wait for my bags to come out - it was one of the first ones to arrive, and I'm not sure if PE bags get priority treatment? I know you get an UC tag if flying UC, but as there's no tag on my bag I assume that might have been an coincidence. The hotel pick-up was waiting for me, and by 9.15am I was checked into the hotel, to a upgraded corner suite all to myself with views of Sheikh Zayed! That's Dubai hotel services for you
I feel so well looked after here despite being a woman travelling alone. So overall it was a decent journey, actually made better and more fun by sitting next to the cute (but she knows it
) and smart little baby and her considerate and relaxed parents. I was really glad I upgraded - actually I didn't feel the usual excitement on the way to the airport, so the upgrade really perked me up. The food was marked average due to the terrible breakfast, and the CC although were bubbly and smiley, didn't try to engage in conversations (they were really friendly and some of them a bit too touchy-feeling on my last DXB trip on VS) and were pretty slow at getting dinner out of the way. One thing I forgot to mention was the Vera - I loved the bigger and clearer screen, and the better headphones in PE, although somewhat wasted by only watching the VS destination guides (lots of adventures in 2015 so time to prepare myself - and didn't want to commit to anything long due to wanting to go to sleep quickly) so top mark given for entertainment. Still got another week here before flying back, and will be doing a bit of exploration this weekend
) so I feel a bit more relaxed. Also one of my friends is flying out to join me this Fri morning (also arriving on the VS400 - I'm thinking about giving her one of the salt and pepper mills that I "pinched") and it will be her first time here, so I'm saving up energy to be a proper tourist then 
