VS004 JFK-LHR 16 Mar 08 (PE)

This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

Spent a lovely 4 nights in NYC, staying at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. A massive hotel but had no major issues there. The lifts can get a bit crowded at peak times though, even with their system where you select the floor on a keypad and it tells you which lift to use. The biggest issue is that it assumes one person per floor selected. Groups of 10 selected their floor once, so the lift allocates the same lift to more people, and it's too full.

Anyway, booked the early evening flight this time as it was on sale, and not the usual VS046, so caught the bus from the Port Authority to JFK, which I find much nicer than the subway. No carrying luggage up and down steps, etc. The only issue is that terminal 4 is usually their last stop, so I got off to T6 and used the airtrain one stop to T4.

It was now about 3 hours till departure, but quite busy at the PE desks, but quickly seen to, and picked up a clubhouse pass [:w]. Not been in the JFK one before, so walked over and showed my pass, and had a quick explanation of the place, where everything was, etc. Lots of empty seats, so picked one right at the end overlooking the gates. Ordered the chicken and a vodka cranberry. Service was very good, no issues there, and the food was lovely, seemed more like it was prepared there, unlike LHR where it does seem to be more microwaved.

Sat around for a bit, few more drinks, a nice dessert, and the flight was called. They warned there was a long queue at security though, so gold and upper pax can go straight to the front. Previous experience has shown that PE pax also get this, but it's never mentioned anywhere, so walked to the front and allowed to use the fast track lane. This was mentioned in a previous trip report here, but no one at JFK seems to publicise it.

The seat map had shown a lot of empty seats around me, so was hoping for the same as my flight out. Priority boarding was in effect, so walked straight onto the A346. I completely forget which one it was, but it was born in 2005 I recall. Never been on this type of plane before. It felt a lot more cramped that the 747 I came over in. Narrower aisles and a lot more 'corridor like'. Lots of traffic through as people boarded. It then seemed that a large group of roadies and techies had booked, as they all got on and filled the seats that had shown as empty. Still, an empty seat in front, so I can't complain, until someone decided to move from his middle seat to the one in front. [:(!]

Offered a drink, asked for a vodka and cranberry, and told they never stock cranberry. Odd seeing as I've had it on other flights.

Didn't eat anything on the flight as I had already eaten, and the breakfast option is never appealing on VS. Meal service seemed to be delayed whilst upper class was looked after from the same galley. Crew were ok though, but one seemed to change his name after take off and then had the same name as the other crew member. [?]

Lots of people walking between Economy and Upper, including two older women who wore sunglasses all the time. Yes, it was very sunny on board!

Asked for some water from the galley, and was handed a warm bottle of water then the crew member turned round to do something else. I miss the water and juice being left out. I don't remember any water runs throughout this flight. Maybe they just leave people to sleep and assume people will ask?

Landing was roughly on time, though no one was on the air bridge to move it to the plane, so delayed whilst we waited for that. Again, we were held whilst the upper pax departed, though people from the other aisle managed to sneak in too. Never landed at LHR at that time of day (6.30ish) and can't believe how busy it was. We'd landed at gate 42 area and it was such a long walk to arrivals. Very busy hall but IRIS was working, so queued up behind one other person there. It seems to have slowed down considerably since I last used it in November. Is it just the sheer number of eye scans it has to now go through to find you? I still prefer the NL version, Privium, where you carry your biometric data with you, and then it matches what you have on your card. Much quicker and easier to use as it's just one eye you scan.

Walked down to the furthest carousel, 11, and waited. Priority baggage seemed to be working well though, and my bag soon came around. Off to find the Dot2dot desk and get driven home again. Had the minibus all to myself again, and the driver dropped me off outside my house, as it was on the way to the hotel, so didn't make much difference to him. Great service, would certainly recommend it.

So, still not convinced by new PE. There's nowhere to stand if you just want a few mins to stretch, unlike upstairs on a 747. No water or juice left out, no newspapers or mags to read, toilets used by Economy and the food isn't that great.

My next flight is off to Sao Paulo in Club World, so be interesting to see how that compares to Upper Class, and reserved seats upstairs again [:D]

Thanks for the TR,

DMB

Another good result on the CH pass front! Service on board seems a bit slack though.
DL

[buns]

Thanks for the TR[y][y]

Mrs Buns asks me to pass on her appreciation of your assessment of the JFK Clubhouse, in preparation of her forthcoming trip to NYC[;)]

I have to concur with Dragon Lady that, in the absence of any explanation, the lack of attention by the crew has not left you eager to taken another VS flight[V]


buns

and a shameless plug of my NYC pics can be found here [:p]

Originally posted by buns4vs
I have to concur with Dragon Lady that, in the absence of any explanation, the lack of attention by the crew has not left you eager to taken another VS flight[V]

I think I would look at BA if they let you pre book your seats. The thought of being stuck in the middle seat for 7 hours just puts me off. Though I will go see if I can try out the seat on my next flight, and see if I could manage!

Cranberry is onboard, but its for use at the Upper Class bar. Maybe you had it when travelling in Upper Class? Or maybe the crew in W/Y were just a good crew and went and stole some from the bar.

I guess its weird looking at it from a passengers point of view. The water bottles we hand out in Upper Class and Premium Economy are never chilled. They are left in a big box ontop of the bar and we set them out before passengers board. (They are never chilled) so the crewmember probably just grabbed a spare bottle and gave you that. It is a good point about having cold water bottles though, and one I never though about!

As for the meals coming out at diffrent times from the same galley, its very complex. The galley that W gets served out of is actually the J galley and the 2 W crewmembers are given two ovens at the side of the galley. They really have to dodge and watch out in that VERY difficult galley as all the J Class Crew and the galley person are cooking and grabbing orders. W Class just has to squeeze around them and wait for the food to cook and get it all set up without disturbing the J class crew. Hope that explains a little. A good note about the luke warm water bottles though. I am going to suggest that we are given chilled water. It is such a valid point and something I just have never thought about! (Oh and you are only allowed to leave out Juice and Water in Y galleys. Don't know why just the company rule. So the J Class galley would have had no water sitting out)

Thanks for the comments Galley Guy.

About the water, I just prefer it chilled, and with the downgrade of PE it's just the little things that make the difference. No water or juice since the move downstairs in PE. No fruitbowl left out. No newspapers left out. Drinks and meals having to wait for J.

Also, I really hate the amount of ads we get forced upon us. Pre departure, V-port shows ads, before each film, some ads are shown, on landing, more ads. The price is going up for PE all the time, yet the service and features is in decline.

No problem. It's true. You have valid points. I am going to write in to the service center and print off a copy of this page for them. It might lead to cold water being loaded for the pre departure water bottles. I'm sad to read that your experience is suffering. I know how frustrating that is. When I fly as a passenger I am put in Upper/Premium and I know that it could be very dissapointing if you don't get what you expect (and even more so when your paying for it!) Very often on the 600 everyone falls asleep and the fruit bowl is taken around while everyone is sleeping. I usually put it ontop of my breakfast cart and offer it during the breakfast service. Usually gets well recieved that way. Juice and water is supposed to be done every 20 minutes. Crew tend to cut back as that is excessive, but not doing it at all is really shocking. I hope your future travels in Y-W-J leave you with a better feeling about flying with us.

Originally posted by Galley Guy

Juice and water is supposed to be done every 20 minutes. Crew tend to cut back as that is excessive, but not doing it at all is really shocking.

Every 20 minutes? In my experience you're lucky to see it every couple of hours never mind every 20 minutes (regardless of the cabin you're travelling in). Why do the cabin crew feel this is excessive? Surely deviation from the guidelines/ crew interpretation of said guidelines, just allows the service to be eroded/forgotten.

Well every 20 minutes is very very demanding on the crew who are also supposed to be checking toilets ever 20 minutes. Imagine a full 747. It has taken me over 1.5 hours to do one round of juice and water before. So when you get back into the galley its already time to start at the beginning again. If that makes sense. Then your also trying to jump into the toilets and check them. Meanwhile you have people pressing call bells or standing in the galley wanting a chat. I assure you I have never done one flight where it is asked for crew to do juice and water every 20 minutes. However, I do try and do it at least twice.

Also because passengers are aware that there is a water fountain (on the A346), a call bell, and a galley. If they are thirsty they are more than welcome to use any of those. We do do our best. I find I like when they come to the galley most, cause they get to stretch their legs and it opens up the possibility for a conversation. [:D]

[ChuckC]

Locotus, thanks for your excellent trip report. Galley Guy, thank you for the input and your genuine concern.

Chuck-

Thanks for the TR. Seems like access to the NYC CH (my favourite for food) was a godsend!

Dean

Originally posted by Wolves27
Thanks for the TR. Seems like access to the NYC CH (my favourite for food) was a godsend!

Dean

It was, but I could see it could get very full. I was in the KLM lounge (via Priority Pass) last time, and except for the food, was perfectly acceptable. It still had nicer nibbles than VS's onboard offerings. [:)]