This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
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Plane - Tinker Belle
This was for me a short notice trip to CA, as I only got approval to book it around 2 weeks beforehand, as a consequence the Cowshed bookings were all full.
I left home at 6:40 to get to Purple Parking, and just missed their next bus, so sat waiting for the next one to fill up, which took over 25 mins. It was around 8am by the time I got to checkin.
I was met by the UC greeter, and I asked her about the trial of the UC check in, as the last time I had come through LHR, they were trialing all Gold and UC passengers checking in upstairs.
I was told that VS are considering letting all customers who qualify for UC or Gold checkin to use the ramp, they are working out how they could do this for non VA cars. They do notice at certain peak times that the loss of the checkin desks to Singapore Airlines causes some congestion.
I probably only waited around 5 minutes until an agent was free, was offerred a mileage upgrade to Upper, but declined it, as I find PE fine for the way out, and I have already booked an UC return with miles. Had no problems getting 28A.
Had a short queue at security control and then straight to the Clubhouse, and straight to the Cowshed reception. There were no slots, and I went onto the waitlist, but was never called.
The Menu had changed, so I ordered a Farmhouse, with no Mushroom or Tomato and brown sauce, the waitress had trouble understanding this, and my drink request which was an Apple Juice. As the breakfast turned up with Mushroom and Tomata and no sauce at all !
The lounge was pretty full, and as I don't usually travel on a Saturday, I have only a Sunday or weekday to comapre it to.
We were called to gate 18 at 10:40 for the 11:30 departure. I've not been to Gate 18 recently, they have this weird gate structure, where you cannot get into the boarding area as you have to wait until the other disembarking passengers from other flights to walk past. When they are ready, they close the walkway doors to other passengers, and open up the crossway to the waiting passengers. They then proceed to hassle you to get out of the way so they can close them again!
I was almost directed into the wrong line by the Virgin greeter, who was clearly only separating people into the two lines by colour of boarding pass. Once I pointed out that I should be in the PE/UC line, she started asking if people were travelling in Economy, and pointed them to the other line.
The upside to this gate, and the time it was called, was that I was able to walk straight onto the plane.
There were a few missing passengers, and I could see the Turnaround Co-ordinator getting concerned about missing his on-time departure. We had engineers onboard fixing something, and they left, and then came back, as one had mislaid a security pass, they failed to find it. Just as they were about to close the door, the drivers phoned down to say that a TV monitor used for Navigation had just gone blank, and that the engineers were coming back.
Our push back time was missed, and at this point the FSM took over door duties, and phoned a colleague further back in the plane, to advise where there was a Gold member sitting. I believe it was in an Exit Row [:D]
They also said that there were 250 PLUS 1 on board. I know there were 50 in PE, and Economy looked almost full. I am sure Upper was pretty full as well.
What does the PLUS 1 mean ?
She then turned round, and welcomed me back, and we had a conversation about the destination etc. It was a very timely and appropriate point, that did n't interrupt her schedule but was appreciated.
The engineers fixed the screen and we pushed back at noon, 30 minutes late. With a flight time of 9 hours and 50 minutes, I expected the arrival time to be as scheduled.
We did n't have much delay considering we were 30 mins late, and we took off and got a good view of the Castle. There were some unusually loud air noises from both L2 and R2, the First Officer came down as soon as he could, and it was decided that it was probably due to old seals making the noise during the cabin pressurisation.
V-Port was switched on after a while, and I settled into watching a lot of movies.
Lunch was Beef Goulash which was OK, although the Veggie Pasta looked pretty good. Rounds of Ice Cream, Hot Panini, Cheese Roll & a cereal bar and later fruit came during the flight, and for once I had timed my naps right and did n't miss any of them.
We approached SFO in the cloud, and after all the flights here, I've never not been able to see anyting as we come around and make our approach. We also came in from a different direction, flying over Oakland airport, and spending a long time and very low over the water.
A fairly smooth touchdown and we were on stand by 14:40. L1 was opened first, and then L2, and I was off and out by the time the UC passengers were just coming off. The last time I was in SFO I got through very quickly, and my heart sank, when I walked into the main corridor to see the BA flight passengers piling out.
The immigration queue moved quickly, I asked my ESTA question, which means I really need to keep a record of the number so I can edit it in future, to change the address detail.
Headed out to the luggage belt, where my bag was waiting, and headed off to Customs. From getting off the plane to getting my bag was 14 minutes, which I think is very close to a personal best for me at SFO.
The weather was cloudy, so I headed up to the North Face Outlet, and then onto REI as they were having an anniversary sale.
In summary, a consistant service and a safe an uneventfull flight coupled with a rare (for me) Au acknowledgement. The crew were very professional throughout.
A return TR will be posted on Friday.
