V-Flyer

Having had a pretty rubbish trip outbound (24K) I was praying for something better on the return leg. 19A is first on the left as you turn left which has to be the best position for getting off first at your destination. However, you are at the back of PE and guess what? Your choice for dinner is, once again, nil unless you are a vegetarian. The beef option had run out before they had served even half the PE cabin and the chap next to me had the last of the chicken option...remind me what I paid the extra hundreds for? Don't insult me with a menu choice card! And the breakfast??? The OJ was an orange drink, definitely not real juice, and the congealed mass of 'stuff', swimming in water was not actually recognisable as breakfast constituents. I didn't even get as far as trying to eat it and anyone who knows me will testify that I will try any foodstuff around the globe; this really did prove the exception! I would much rather take my chances in Economy next time or prehaps splash the cash for business, but Virgin will be lucky to get my custom anytime soon.

wow i was really hoping it would have been totally cool on the return.
Again sorry to hear you didnt have a good one.
I wonder how they VS decide what to load in terms of food stuffs when preparing for a flight like this. It must be tricky because they cant just take one of everything, they must have to try and anticipate or just take an average amount?

Ouch - that does not sound good at all.

I've had the "back of PE, crew can't be bothered" experience as well, and it wasn't good either, so I sympathise.

My own experience was a contributing factor to my move to the dark side.

You pay the extra hundreds for the bigger seat, extra legroom and more private cabin.

The meals are, essentially, still economy meals and here, it must be said, BA have stolen the lead - serving a limited selection of Club World main courses in WT+ was a clever idea. Something VS would do well to note.

Unfortunately running out of meals is a problem on most airlines. To avoid it happening to you, sit as far front in the cabin as possible.

Thanks for TR - what a shame about meals and IFE on way out. We are flying VS 093 on Saturday in economy on way out but coming back VS094 PE and have reserved seats 19A/C/D. Sounds like i should take plenty of snacks or maybe better to order special meal of some type

gumshoe wrote:
The meals are, essentially, still economy meals and here, it must be said, BA have stolen the lead - serving a limited selection of Club World main courses in WT+ was a clever idea. Something VS would do well to note.

Unfortunately running out of meals is a problem on most airlines. To avoid it happening to you, sit as far front in the cabin as possible.

RE: meals - is that right? I thought they were different. Although saying that last time I flew PE in feb the meals did seem small.

RE: running out of meals - yeah you are right, it's first come first served

I to was hoping for a resurrecting TR bringing VS PE back from the dead....oh bugger

Sorry to hear of another poor experience - it may do no harm to inform VS of your feelings regarding your flight

RE: meals - is that right? I thought they were different. Although saying that last time I flew PE in feb the meals did seem small.

RE: running out of meals - yeah you are right, it's first come first served

The meals seemed exactly the same to me, admittedly, the choices were different, but the quality and size were the same. There was no cheese and biscuits in either cabin, and very small.

I'm starting to really feel that PE is not worth the extra.

Thank you for the TR. I also had 19A coming home from Cancun last December and the meal choice again ran out long before they reached me. I asked the cabin crew how many beef meals they loaded and was told 38, they also told me they were trailing a new system to monitor meal choices which should improve the choice of meals. They have obviously not made any progress yet!

Miss G wrote:The meals seemed exactly the same to me, admittedly, the choices were different, but the quality and size were the same. There was no cheese and biscuits in either cabin, and very small.

I'm starting to really feel that PE is not worth the extra.

You may be right, although I think the seat is still more comfortable and if you can get a front row seat then the leg room coupled with the width of the seat (which you would lose in EC on an exit seat) makes it worth the little extra on a long haul IMHO.

It's important not to forget that the key word in Premium Economy is economy.

You are paying for an enhanced economy product with more space and privacy, not an "Upper Class lite" product.

Maybe it's VS's fault for promising too much in the marketing hype.

Age old compaint - meal options ran out at the back.

Unless more meals of each are loaded then, unfortunately, some will not get their first or even second choice.

Extra meals will get wasted.
Start at the rear will just mean the front will complain.

I don't see much option really.

Darren Wheeler wrote:Age old compaint - meal options ran out at the back.

Unless more meals of each are loaded then, unfortunately, some will not get their first or even second choice.

Extra meals will get wasted.
Start at the rear will just mean the front will complain.

I don't see much option really.

They could always load more of the more popular choices, they must know what passengers ask for the most as they will be the ones that always run out first.

And extra meals cost more further increasing fares.

As Darren says it will mean more food is wasted than already happens and that is not sustainable. just one extra wasted meal on each VS flight per day is over 20,000 meals per year.

That's not to say food can't be improved but there is not a lot that can be done for what is essentially mass produced cook-chill-reheat food. It even challenged Heston Bluementhal when he tried to do it for BA.

Sitting further up in the pointy end is still no guarantee either. And there are complaints on BA boards on flyer talk that even in F you don't always get your first choice,

a little trick I used to use when sitting in the back of the bubble was to chat to the CC before take off and say very politely 'is there any possibility of saving me a ???? please Im allergic to (the one I didn't want)..........it worked 9 times out of 10 and quite often (if sat alone) I got served first -as the trolley was on the way up

Im off to cancun next week and booked for the first time in PE.....this story worrys me a little

gumshoe wrote:It's important not to forget that the key word in Premium Economy is economy.

You are paying for an enhanced economy product with more space and privacy, not an "Upper Class lite" product.

Maybe it's VS's fault for promising too much in the marketing hype.

thats a very good point actually . I hadnt thought of it in that way.

There's an incredibly simple way to balance out the 'running out of options' problem.

AA does this to their credit.

On the way out you start at the front, on the way back you start at the rear.

At least then you only stand a maximum 50% chance.

slinky09 wrote:There's an incredibly simple way to balance out the 'running out of options' problem.

AA does this to their credit.

On the way out you start at the front, on the way back you start at the rear.

At least then you only stand a maximum 50% chance.

Sounds a very fare way of doing it to me

Kabuta007 wrote:

slinky09 wrote:There's an incredibly simple way to balance out the 'running out of options' problem.

AA does this to their credit.

On the way out you start at the front, on the way back you start at the rear.

At least then you only stand a maximum 50% chance.

Sounds a very fare way of doing it to me

Me too.

I would have thought that Premium Economy would have been served their meals before the economy passengers and then if the PE options run out at least they could pinch an economy meal? That way it's not somebody who's paid a premium for an upgraded flight who's been left totally without.

I, however, think a better solution would be to put more PE meals on the flight in the first place any unallocated meals offered to the economy passengers. The difference in price between meals cannot be that great, and that way you aren't upsetting the people who pay more meanwhile economy passengers think they're getting something for nothing - win-win.

That's such a simple fix guys - VS take note please!

Trouble is you'd need to carry PE passengers x 3 meal choice to ensure everyone gets their choice.

Meal service starts around the same time in the PE and Eco cabin.

gumshoe wrote:It's important not to forget that the key word in Premium Economy is economy.

You are paying for an enhanced economy product with more space and privacy, not an "Upper Class lite" product.

Maybe it's VS's fault for promising too much in the marketing hype.

Before PE was "enhanced" to its current level, it was very much a business minus product. Sadly the beancounters have watered down or removed the nice touches that used to make it special.

If in PE I always order a low fat meal and has always been very nice. Not been brave enough to order a UC low fat meal yet!