This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
having arrived back from spain the day before i used twilight check in to drop the 2 bags Mrs FB insisted were vital (dont know why when we have a house full of everything). this was a disaster. 2 agents and a long queue, not helped by every CI taking ages. having deposited the bags i was then informed Mrs FB who had done OLCI still needed to do a manual check in the next day which rather defeats the object.
Anyway on arriving back at LGW the next day and after a wait at the ticket desk it was confrimed she didnt need to do so and we were advised to go straight through security.(then being quizzed at the gate as to why she didnt have a security sticker !!)
arrived at gate and casually strolled past the longest q i have ever seen to the priority sign. a very alert supervisor tapped the agent serving an EC customer to say 'leave them' but being a very nice person I insisted she finish first (still got the glares though
Once through we were herded into a packed waiting area. it soon became apparent that 1615 had no chance. eventually an announcement that due to not having a flight plan the captain didnt want us on board. we finally started loading about 1630.
on board and up into the bubble, impeccable service from 2 young ladies who it transpired had not been advised of the delay and had been at LGW since very early. drinks straight away .
finally took off just after 1715 to be advised of a 10 hour flight due to a slight detour via Portugal !!
Flight was uneventful but long. food came round fairly quickly (beef good but small), and service was impecable especially as FA insisted on providing the wine 2 glasses at a time "as they are so small". I liked her
. subsequesnt drinks,baileys, water,ice cream and fruit were all delivered without fuss and with a smile despite them both being worn out. i think VA may be getting a complimentary letter on return.watched Book of Eli with Denzil Washington (great film) and then caught snatches of Sherlock Holmes between naps. didnt expect to enjoy it as much as i did.
a very soggy and unappetising sarnie an hour before landing knocks the food rating down. to be honest its so crap and poorly presented they may as well not bother. (a pit stop into Macds solved this problem a bit later).
Finally landed at MCO at 2220 local (330 BST) and thanks to opur position (80H/K) were second off the plane (well until some very rude foreign type pushed in front of Mrs FB).
immi was breeze, 5 minute wait for the bags and then straight up onto the sky train.
thanks to other v flyers we now knew hertz was on air port and proceeded to the gold desk where we were directed to our car. To my horror it was a battery powered Prius. sod saving the world this thing has less power than my mower. i swear i could do a standing 1/4 mile quicker
due to the late hour we only drove to tampa (half way) stayed overnight in the ramada and then finished the journey sunday morning -ah to be back in our house and enjoying the sun hopefully for the next 3 weeks. now if that volcano could hang on until May 31 we wouldnt mind being stuck here an extra couple of months.
so to summarise
Ground/pre flight poor. lack of knowledge of the system and too much queuing.
On board. absolutley first class. the girls were tired out but service was absolutley spot on. Entertainment good, food spoilt by soggy sarnie.
Edited to remove staff name - honey lamb
