This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Checked myself in at the self-service machine and this was completed quickly, dropped my one case at the bag drop and made a quick enquiry about the cost of upgrading to UC and was told this would be £849 - tempting but decided to stick with PE.
Security was quick and I was airside within 10mins of checking in, T3 seemed really quiet on this windy Thursday afternoon (more of that later)
Called to Gate 19 at 1545 and boarded quickly, priority boarding in operation. Not welcomed by name and was quickly seated in 20A, PE was about three quarters full. UC had 16 spare seats and economy was wide open.
1650 came and went with the Captain announcing that due to high winds restrictions were in place and to expect a ground delay of around 50mins. Whilst we waited, the friendly cabin crew served a couple of glasses of sparkling wine and handed out menus and secured the cabin. I had a spare seat next to me which helped.
Pushback commenced at 1738 and we departed 30mins later. A flight time of 7hrs15mins was promised. After take-off, drinks were served with pretzels - refills gladly offered and accepted.
Dinner followed about an hour into the flight and the Cajun chicken salad was served without the dressing, none of the trays had the dressing on so poor show LSG Sky chefs.
Main course of Chicken Biriyani was tasty and I really enjoyed it, a warm roll, a delicious blackcurrant mousse and cheese and crackers ended an enjoyable meal.
Two refills of wine were welcome and water was regularly topped up too.
Cabin lights dimmed, I watched a film on v-port whilst regular water and juice runs took place. The flight soon passed with the fruit bowl coming around, choice of ice cream - can highly recommend the raspberry pavlova and more drinks and a soft delicious Gu chocolate brownie before touching down only 30mins late.
The crew member serving my side of the cabin was polite, friendly and helpful and Virgin at its best - the other side of the cabin was served by a less friendly member of the team.
The FSM was not visible at all which was a shame and though the flight had 3 FSMs on board, all three were working in UC.
A good flight, my first in PE for sometime and the first time from LHR - the purple seats are lovely and the luxury of vport helps pass the time too.
