VS011 LHR-BOS 21 Nov 07 (PE)

This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

VS 11, LHR BOS 21st Nov

Took advantage of the PE sales a few months ago to book a short trip to Boston. Did OLCI the day before and arrived at LHR just before noon for our 14:40 flight. Still used the PE check-in as there were only 2 people in it and the bag drop queue was huge!

Check-in was fairly painless, we were in seats 19A+C (row 18 had already gone) and we were soon upstairs for a bite to eat. After eating it was time to negotiate security. The lines were fairly long, but it didnt take long, and then we came to the joke that is shoe screening! Most people were just ignoring the requests to go through it and were just left to wander off, what is the point of it![?]

Went for a quick look around the shops and then had the first inkling that there may be a problem. The board was showing that our gate was due to open at 15:45, so not much chance of leaving at 14:40 then![:?]

After a quick coffee I re-checked the board, it was now saying gate open at 17:45, things were getting worse and no announcements had been made to explain what was going on. It then changed to 19:45, so it was time to find out what was going on.

I finally found the Virgin information desk and myself and quite a few other unhappy passengers were trying to find out what was up. We were told that the plane had gone tech at the gate and they were trying to fix it, and if it wasnt ready by 20:00, we would not be going at all and would have to wait until the next day. This obviously did not please many, especially the American travellers who were on their way home for Thanksgiving. We were given a 5 voucher each and told to keep an eye on the board; it was now just after 17:00. Its at times like this you wish you were flying in Upper, so you could make good use of the Clubhouse.


At about 18:45 one of the Virgin agents started wondering around looking for VS11 passengers, she told us the part had been replaced and they were doing the final checks and it was looking good for a 20:00 departure. Eight oclock came, and went, with no more info, so back to the desk again, and we were told to go to gate 20 (Still no announcements in the main terminal!).

The area finally started to fill up as the news filtered through, and we were told it would be a quick board, and we would be on our way at 21:00. The agent told us that she wanted us to be ready to board quickly (to which came back many disgruntled replies that we had all been waiting to board for quite some time!) At 20:50 boarding finally started, but things seemed fairly slow.

We were finally on our way at 21:45, a mere 7 hours late!!!!!!

The flight itself was fairly good, we were on a 343 (not sure which), but had the new PE seats so that was OK. The captain then informed us that the delay was due to our original plane going tech in Delhi (it was still there), and the plane we were now on was undergoing routine maintenance, so they had to finish that before it was allowed to fly. So we had two differing versions for the delay!

Bottled water was on the seats and just before take-off we had our champers. Food was served fairly quickly (but no drinks first!). I had the chicken korma, which was fairly good, followed by a baileys/brandy round. We had one water/juice round during the flight, a fruit round and then coffee and a bar of chocolate just before landing, which I thought was rather disappointing.

We finally touched down at BOS at 23:50, and after a long taxi finally got to the gate. The one advantage of arriving that late was that the immigration hall was empty and we were through in a few minutes. Our bags were waiting for us (they were not tagged as PE, but I guess the bar code detects that they are), and by 00:40 we were having a quick beer (or two) at the Sheraton hotel bar.

I have no real complaints about the flight itself, other than the rather mean second meal offering. The crew were good, not sure if it was the original crew for the 14:40 flight, but if it was I guess they must have been just as pissed off as the rest of us with the delay! The only real moan I have is the lack of information from Virgin as to what was going on, and the attitude that if you dont go tonight tough!!

Great TR! Thanks so much for posting!

GJ

[buns]

papadoc

Contrary to what others might say, I found your TR very enjoyable.

£5 for food to cover a seven hour delay in T3 must have left you with lots of change[:w][:w] The wait must have allowed you to visit all the retail opportunities.

How did you find the leg room in the new PE?

Thanks once again

buns

hi great TR, glad the service was ok although no drinks round is a bit off. i think you would have had the original crew, cause the flight time is short they would have been able to be delayed for a while before they ran out of hours. So cause of this they probably decided to 'combine' the drinks with the meal service, they probably did this in Y as well. i agree the 'sit and sip' service, which is the chocolate bar/brownie/biscuit and coffee is a bit bad it looks cheap too, but i suppose with those paper cups you do get more hot drink than you would with the thimbles you normally get.

Originally posted by buns4vs

How did you find the leg room in the new PE?

Erm, with his legs?

Thanks for the clarifying details, john v. screw! [y]

GJ

lol your welcome, this is nomally done after a delay, as it is assumed the passenger will be tired and hungry, so this way the service is done quicker and alow people to relax and get fed

Thanks for the report, always interesting to see how things pan out when its all goes pair shaped,at least the bar was still open.[:D]

Thanks to everybody for taking the time to reply, and to johnvscrew for the explanations and for agreeing with me about the 'sit and sip' service.[:)]