V-Flyer

After some concern about whether paid for upgrades would be available, and what the process was, I arrived at the airport in good time, having utilised 'twilight checkin' the previous day as was passing Gatwick anyway, got to the ticket desk, and paid £350 to get a nice seat on the upper deck, which was well worth the extra.

Also what I did not realise is that the PE, offers you the chance to use the Priority departure lane, which at Gatwick could save you at least an hour when it's busy.

Off to departures, and having been told they would call the flight with an hour or so before it's scheduled departure we arrived at the gate to walk straight on, and then upstairs.

Once on board the upper deck was half empty, so changed my seat to a window seat with no one next to me, and as travelling with a group, we had a nervous flyer, so I asked one of the cabin crew whether we could have a chat to the guys steering, and they asked and no problem. The pilots were very good, with my friend, going through weather maps, and explaining some procedures and stuff, which did put his mind at rest.

Offered the usual sparkling wine - not Champagne for sure - but then again not that bad either, a couple of these and a good mill around the upper deck before we pushed back ahead of schedule. Quite a long taxi, and then airborne around on time, but no concern as the flight time was around an hour less thatn posted.

On board video system was one the oldest types, and was very hit and miss - thankfully I had some films on a iPad to watch instead.

In flight service very good, plenty of drinks, and water all through the flight, the main meal was excellent, and the hot sandwiches toward the end of the flight just helped along with the ice-cream.

Arrived about an hour early and then, did the usual race to get in the queue for immigration, this step took around 30 minutes, so not too bad, add up to an hour to that time, if you are flying at the back of the bus though.

Bags took a while to come though, as they were tagged as Economy, so one line for thought, is that if you do run a paid for upgrade, do it all on the day, as they will re-tag bags, - of course whether this helps or not depends, but it di on the return.

all in all an excellent flight.

Thanks for the TR. Looks like you had a good flight.

And yes the bags would have been tagged at twilight and would not have been re-tagged when you upgraded afterwards - but you learnt that on the way back.

Thanks for the TR, glad you managed to get your upgrade to PE!

Luke

Thank you for the TR.

great TR! we dont and never have offered champagne in premium ecconomy. its berry brothers creme de limon
berry brothers are one of the main wine merchants for buckingham palace. something alot of people dont know lol

Great TR nice one on getting the cabin change.

cheers

alex