This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
We arrived at Gatwick the evening before our flight and used the twilight check in service as we were staying at the Premier Inn (new one) at the North Terminal.
The twilight check in service was quiet at 5pm with only two people on the desks. The person who served us seemed to be pretty bored no happyness or smiling but I think if you were checking loads of people in that were going away would you be happy? lol
Anyway once all bags were checked in took about ten minutes off for dinner and then bed. The new premier inn at Gatwick North terminal is fantastic and the Thyme restaurant and bar there is great too - not expensive at all just your normal rates you would pay if you went to one of the whitbread brand restaurants local to where you live.
We headed to preimum security at 630am and there was one channel open and only about 2 people in front of us took about 5 minutes to get through with no problems at all.
Once airside we were called to Gate 21 at 09:55 and commenced boarding Mademoiselle Rouge at 10:30.
Boarding was completed and doors closed by 10:55 with 271 passengers onboard.
So far the pre-flight service was good as soon as we were seated we had been offered sparking wine, bucks fizz, orange juice, or water, and the complimentary independent or times newspaper.
On our seat when we boarded were blankets, headset, and a free bottle of water.
We pushed back at 11:00 exactly and was on the runway and took off at 11:15 exactly - great on time departure.
The first drinks service with sour cream pretzels commenced about 20 minutes into the flight follow approximately 1hour and a half later by the main meal service (lunch).
The menu in the PE cabin to the East Coast was -
Starter - King Prawns with a mixed bean salad in a citrus dressing (very small but only as a starter)
Main Course -
Beef Stoganoff with long grain white rice.
Roasted Chicken Breast with Road potatoes, carrots and gravy.
Vegetable lasagne with ratatouile and shave italian cheese (v)
Bread - Choice of over baked bread rolls
Desert - Belgian white chocolate cake with raspberries.
I opted for the Roaster chicken breast which was absolutely loved and no mushrooms in sight.
I was a bit disappointed by the size of the starter and desert but it all sufficed.
Once the main meal service was completed about 1 and a half hours later they came round with a skinny cow chocolate coated Ice Cream lolly, which was pretty plain but ok.
2 hours before landing high tea was served.
This was cheese and pickle finger sandwiches on white bread, banana toffee cupcake served with tea or coffee.
The cheese and pickle sandwich wasn't what I was expecting, as there seemed to be no pickle in the sandwich at all so was just cheese. However the cupcake was absolutely amazing you could taste the banana and the toffee separately whilst the cupcake was not dry or too moist.
Before we knew it it was time for landing and the captain announced descent for landing at the final 20 minutes of the flight.
The who flight was pretty normal to be honest few bumps along the way but nothing major and landing was very smooth.
We went straight to the gate and beauty queen had just landed before us so when we disembarked we had the VS75 passengers infront of us at the immigration check.
The only one thing with the flight that was a bit off - although didn't really effect it that much was the cabin supervisor for PE was friends with the people in front of us and him and his colleagues were constantly chatting with them and causing people problems with getting up and down the aisle along with the drinks service was delayed at one point due to the cabin crew member stopping to have a chat about Easter with them, but as I say only a tiny thing but yeah.
Overall an average experience for PE nothing to write home about but maybe Virgin need to consider something for their PE range to make it the WOW factor again as the cabin was not full and the PE cabin supervisor stated that on the VS15 there was 273 seats available, so although it's school term time this seems a pretty low passenger count for one service considering they were using a 747 also.
Anyway now off to the theme parks for me and will be providing another trip report for my journey back on a refit 747.
First new aircraft and The Times instead of the M**l. Luxury 
