VS020 SFO-LHR 19 AUG 10 (Premium Economy)
Posted: 26 Dec 2010, 18:12This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
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This was my third flight with VS, and my first time in VS PE. I’ll make some comparisons to ANZ PE which I flew from AKL to YVR earlier in the trip. The cost to upgrade a sector from economy to PE with VS on the Great Escapade is £255, and with ANZ £265.
After 2 months away from the UK, the majority of which was spent working in hospitals in New Zealand and Vancouver Island I was due to return back to the UK. I decided to end my trip with a few days in San Francisco. I stayed in the Intercontinental Hotel. I arrived late in SFO from YVR due to fog in the SFO area. This meant that our plane wasn’t able to take off from YVR. When I arrived in SFO I took the BART to my hotel, then explored the local area. The next day I took a Segway tour of the city (highly recommended), and then in the afternoon I hired a bike to cycle over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito.
The next morning I caught the BART to SFO and found VS check-in. There was a queue for economy and PE, but none for UC. I was about to find the end of the PE queue, but a check-in agent at the UC spotted me, and waved for me to come over resulting in a very quick check-in and bag drop. I then proceeded to security which had a medium sized line resulting in a little bit of a wait.
To compare this to PE check-in with Air New Zealand. In Auckland, ANZ have an entirely separate check-in area at Auckland for their PE and Business Premier Customers. They also have a lift up to a priority security screening area, so on average it’s probably a slightly smoother experience with ANZ, but not by much.
I boarded after the UC and Au / Ag members. My aircraft was G-VROC (Mustang Sally). I was in seat 32H. I found the VS PE seat to be comfortable and have a good amount of space available. There is slightly more leg room with ANZ, however, VS provide a slightly wider seat and more separation from your neighbour which means I preferred the VS PE seat. I was unlucky in that the person in front of me fully reclined their seat almost immediately which substantially reduced the amount of space available to me.
I was offered a sparkling wine after boarding. We took off around about on time, with a great view over the Golden Gate Bridge as we climbed out from SFO.
Food on the VS flight was OK, but nothing special. The food on the ANZ PE flight was substantially better, served in courses, and with individual orders being taken by name. ANZ were also substantially more generous with wine refills in that if your glass looked half empty you would be offered a refill. The ANZ meal service was finished with port, and the VS service finished with a glass of Bailies.
Unfortunately, entertainment let the VS flight down. It’s not at all Virgin’s fault, but a previous passenger had managed to snap off their headphone jacks into the headphone socket, meaning that I had no IFE during the flight. VS did give me 4,000 miles to make up for it though. ANZ have a system much like V-PORT, but it’s a little bit more responsive and you also get noise cancelling headphones in PE, so I think their product is a little better than VS’.
The flight was quite smooth throughout. There was a medical emergency about halfway through the flight. As a medical student, nearly a doctor, I volunteered to help. However, there was an actual doctor onboard so I wasn’t needed.
We landed into LHR slightly late, but not excessively. My bag came off quite quickly. I caught a tube to South Kensington to meet up with my friend for lunch, then caught a tube back to King’s Cross to get on a train to Cambridge and straight back to a lecture and the start of term!
Overall, a good flight. I slightly preferred ANZ’s PE product to Virgin’s. Although I have not flown business class before, I felt as if the ANZ product was a bit like business class light, but VS was more economy ++. I enjoyed my 3 flights with VS over the summer, and I will be flying with them again.