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#942299 by mitchja
21 Mar 2018, 13:54
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I'd booked this trip a few months ago just as a long weekend getaway. For some reason there was very very limited availability coming back from BOS so I ended up coming home via JFK.

After booking it, some American friends of mine decided to join me in Boston as they where working close by.

When I booked this flight, the dates and what would be happening this weekend in Boston never even occurred to me :D - yep it was St Patrick's Day (I presume that was why there wasn't much availability coming home)

I did my usual and went down to London on the train via the East Coast line then the usual tube from King's Cross to LHR.

When I made the booking the A/C was showing as a B789 but that later changed to a A333. I do like Premium Economy on the A333's and for East coast US flights I find it more than adequate.

Being AU, I used the J check-in desks which was good as usual. Very friendly agent. I headed up to the Clubhouse. The security wing was nice and easy. I was warmly welcomed at the Clubhouse and did my usual and headed straight to the Spa to book a hair cut which is now £20 (10% discount for golds so £18). My appointment time was there and then so I didn't have to wait.

After my haircut I found a seat and settled in just across from the bar. Service was good the whole time I was there. It was pretty busy initially but once some of the VS started being called it did calm down a little mid-afternoon.

The late afternoon BOS departure time (16:45) seems a little odd to me. I seem to remember it being earlier than that previously? Anyway...

I did my usual and headed up to the patio area for some fresh air. The weather was reasonable as well today. It really is a hidden treasure up there as not many people seem to know it exists! I was chatting with an American couple whilst near the bar and they very surprised to learn about the patio area and so they had a look.

The flight was called around 16:00 and for a change we where departing from gate 40 in the other pier. Not departed from that area on a VS flight for some time! It was pretty chaos in that area as there was a delayed BA flight to LAS departing from the next gate and there where pax everywhere!!

Priority boarding was working well though at gate 40 and I was soon on-board. I was very warmly welcomed on board and the crew member said I should know where I'm going by now.

I did ask in the Clubhouse if anything was available in the bulk-head row, they said no, despite once the aircraft door was closed there where actually still 4 empty bulk head seats in Premium. I decided to stick with 19C. A few other pax did move after take-off though.

We had 253 pax and 11 crew on today's flight and the flight time would be 6 Hrs 33 mins. The A333 was G-VSKY. The new J and W galley config looks fantastic and is much much better than the old config. There's a smaller Wander Wall for Premium economy pax, someone on here described it as more a 'corner' than an wall, which is spot on. It's still a great addition though :)

We pushed back at 16:38 and where in the air by 17:00.

The CSS working inn Premium today came and introduced herself to me which was a nice touch. She also came and asked me what dinner option I'd like and she wanted to make sure I got my first choice meal which was another very nice touch.

The usual bar service started after take-off shortly followed by dinner.

The current Premium economy menu is as follows:

The usual salad starter

Lasagne
Chicken brest iin herb cream sauce
Vegetable Moussaka

Sticky toffee slice

I had the lasagne which was excellent and very tasty. I made a point of feeding back how good the food was, which the crew where very pleased to hear.

I watched a coupe of films on VERA which worked as well as usual.

Crew where regularly passing through the Premium cabin offering water and juice. My duty free pre-order was delivered to my seat.

The afternoon snack was served around 90 minutes before landing, which again was very tasty and very well presented.

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That could easy pass as a business class afternoon snack. In fact I showed that photo to my American friends (who fly AA) and the first thing they said was 'oh so you flew business class then?' Nope - that's Premium Economy and they where very impressed by this.

Service was really good the entire flight.

We landed at Logon about 19:30 so some 45 minutes early. I thanked and said my goodbyes to the crew. Immigration was pretty quiet at that time. Global Entry machines are at the very far end of the immigration hall, but I was still first to the luggage carousel....where we waited, waited and then waited some more. Apparently they couldn't open the cargo door to get the luggage off. Eventually though bags started coming off and mine appeared pretty quickly.

I was outside the terminal by 20:15 and heading the a cab line to get me into the city. By 22:00 I was in a local bar meeting my friends :cool:

All in all another excellent VS flight with a great crew :-D

I had a fantastic time in Boston (as usual). Whilst the weather was bitterly cold with an evil wind chill most days, it was sunny and pleasant as long as you where wrapped up when out and about.

We watched the St Patrick's Day Parade on Sunday which was completely crazy (but in a good way)!! As you can imagine, the bars had lines going round the block (all with a $20 cover charge as well)!!

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