This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Part 1 can be found here.
Once again, I'll reiterate my apologies, I'm now 3 months behind on my trip reports for no reason other than forgetfulness! Thank goodness I keep notes.
Transiting at PVG
So, at the end of Part 1 of this intrepid adventure I had just arrived at Shanghai. My layover was scheduled to be 4 hours and 45 minutes. However, thanks to the early arrival from Auckland I was looking at a little over five hours.
After a long walk through the Arrivals concourse I came upon International Transfer signage. By the looks of it, passengers connecting between certain airlines (primarily Star Alliance, plus VS) are permitted to use the airside transfer facility without needing to collect baggage.
The transfer desk was already a bit of a scrum, with passengers all lining up to be processed onto their next flights. The desks seemed to cater for passengers headed to Frankfurt on LH, London with VS, Zurich with LX, and Vienna with OS. Thankfully, London passengers were pulled individually from the crowd. My boarding pass was reprinted in VS colours and adorned with a new stamp. Before proceeding to security though, I was informed that I would need to pass through quarantine and a health inspection!! I was told to take a seat and wait for an escort.
After chatting to some of the other passengers waiting (some as surprised as me), it turns out the health inspection is simply a check of your temperature. And so we sat for only five minutes or so before our escort arrived. We headed towards passport control but took a sharp right to the quarantine area (I took this chance to snag a Shanghai brochure ahead of an upcoming trip in May!).
Lots of queuing and boarding pass stamps later, the quarantine checks were done. At no point though was my temperature taken, though others theorised that it was perhaps done with Infrared imaging or lasers.
We headed back up the stairs to the transfer desk, and after one more stamp we were permitted into the transfer area. We headed up an escalator and emerged up on the departures level, in between passport control and security.
Security was heaving and it took a good half an hour to get through.
Investigating PVG, and lounge time!
After finally extracting myself from security, it was time to have a little look around. Shanghai seems like a fairly modern airport with huge windows and great views out on to the tarmac, which seemed to go on forever given that on the horizon was the sea. The lounges at PVG are mostly named after the gate they are next to. In my instance, the VS third-party lounge was the China Eastern No. 77 Lounge, named aptly due to it being adjacent to Gate 77. The entrance was rather tucked away though and in my initial wanderings I couldn't figure out how to get in! I eventually chanced upon this discrete lift entrance.
Small and unassuming...Immediately after spotting the lift, I spotted a fairly obvious set of stairs, ooops. How did I miss that? Next to the stairs was a list of patrons to this lounge...
I wonder how much China Eastern make off of all these extra tenants?Nonetheless, once I was up I was warmly greeted by the two China Eastern ladies at the front desk. They had no problems at all accepting my VS gold card and allowed me in. Not that I was expecting one, but I didn't get any kind of "tour" to show me where stuff was. Turns out I didn't need one anyway as really there wasn't an awful lot to it.
The lounge was actually quite busy (unsurprising given the number of other airlines using the lounge). There was a lot of seating options though and I didn't struggle to find somewhere to perch up. Wifi was included in the lounge which was a nice surprise. I hoped that I would be able to catch up on anything I had missed during my NZ flight. I posted a quick wave to you fine folks, but was unable to do much else owing to the Great Firewall preventing my access to WhatsApp, or anything Google related. I had to pay £1.05 to send a standard SMS to my girlfriend at home to let her know I had made it through okay... Oh, China!
With that box ticked I went to investigate the other lounge facilities. As mentioned above, it was a busy morning and taking pictures was not easy - I don't like having other people in my photos (partly for their privacy but also because it's hard to see anything else), and so on this occasion I neglected to get any photos of the actual lounge itself - my apologies. So instead I'll hotlink the photo of the lounge from the VS site:
Not my personal shot, just the one on the VS websiteAt the far end in the picture above was the food station. As you might imagine it was largely basic Chinese offerings such as rice and noodles. There was a soup/noodle station where a lady would make what you wanted to eat. I didn't venture over to this side though in anticipation of a language barrier.
The Western options looked awful, simple cold breakfast offerings like cereal and croissants, and orange/apple juice and milk. I decided against alcohol on this occasion!!
I grabbed some rice and noodles and other assorted carbohydrates and re-took my seat from earlier. To it's credit, the lounge does offer some nice views back down to the rest of the terminal, and some better views of the tarmac. I watched a Swiss A340-300 arrive from Zurich, followed shortly after by the VS250 from London.
View from the loungeKilling time
Unfortunately five hours, according to my Dad, would probably not have been enough time to hop into the city during my layover. And so the airport it was to be! Besides sitting about in the lounge, there really was very little else to do. I went for a little walk around the departures area and found a garden area which was pleasant enough!
A bit of airport greeneryAt the far end of the international departures level, you can look down onto the Domestic departures area which was superb for people watching! For most of the remaining time I watched some Netflix episodes that I had downloaded to my phone.
And that, really, is just about as much pre-flight spiel as I can give you! There just wasn't really much else happening. I probably clocked plenty of steps though, if only I had a Fitbit...
On board
G-VZIG, my ride back to the UK!Crowds had begun to form around Gate 87, which is where the VS251 would be departing from. I decided to join them just before 11am. Coincidentally, boarding was called at 11:02! There was a separate boarding line for Upper & Premium passengers, which was completely empty, so I took it. There was some kind of secondary boarding pass check on the jetbridge which caused a bit of a bottleneck, but on inspection mine was fine and onto Dream Jeannie I went!
I was sitting in 25D, a middle aisle seat. Honestly my first impressions of the cabin were not positive. The leather seats were beginning to look quite worn. My footrest was also broken, with one side hanging loose so it couldn't be used properly. This was of course rather annoying but given it was a day flight I didn't expect to be using the footrest too much. Whilst I was settling in a rather rushed announcement came, giving the journey time as 11 hours 30 minutes. The announcement was repeated in Mandarin, as did every announcement.
I was quickly offered the standard welcome drink, a choice of OJ or Champagne. I chose the OJ to start with, and with a second drink being offered, I switched to champagne to toast the end of my long trip. My first impressions of the crew were positive!
Time to go....
The doors were shut at 11:32 and a load of 232 on board. Not bad for a Thursday afternoon flight in January. A further announcement followed about a short ATC delay, and the weather in the UK, which was misty with occasional rain. My surprise was palpable!
Coincidentally, my seatmates (or row-mates?) in 25F and 25G were the very same people sitting next to me on NZ289 from Auckland. We had just swapped places! They remarked that they were not as impressed with the VS PE seat as they were with the NZ PE seat. I could understand their comparison.
And so we pushed back at 11:55. The taxi ride was very long as we traversed the entire width of PVG, passed what appeared to be a new terminal building under construction, and passed Terminal 1. We were finally in the air at 12:25, a good half an hour after pushback! From what I could see out of my neighbour's window, Shanghai was looking hazy.
Being in the back row I could recline back with no guilt. And so I did! Given the lack of connectivity in the airport I decided to try and get the Wifi service working once we hit 10,000ft. I struggled. Although previous experience tells me that it is tricky to get on so soon after the connection is enabled.
Start of service!
The first round of drinks appeared thirty minutes in. I asked for an Amarula if they had one, and got two! They came with the usual little packet of pretzels. My initial opinions of the crew were cemented, the drinks were flowing and they seemed nice. There were two FSMs on board today, and one of them was helping with the drinks service. We spoke a little and it transpired that this was his first round trip after a six month absence, so was being looked after by another FSM to help him ease back in. It was good to see crew open to conversation. It's always a good sign!
The full meal service began at 1:30pm, so about an hour into the flight. The menu was the December 2017 cycle, for the VS251 only. It is possible it has changed since then, but for the curious, it was as follows:
Starter
Musclun salad
Mains
Thyme and lemon roasted chicken breast
Pumpkin ravioli
Hoki fish fillet
Pudding
Lemon Tart
Light Meal
Aubergine parmigiana
Wok fried sliced beef
I opted for the thyme and lemon chicken, which, in keeping with the theme of all my previous meals in PE, was good and filling. To accompany I went with The Windmill, a Spanish Sauvignon.
Main meal. Sorry for the mess. Lots to fit on the tray!Teas and coffees followed, followed by Brandy or Amarula. As I had already sunk four mini Amarulas, I opted for a brandy this time...
I had also somehow managed to connect to the Wifi service, despite being over Chinese airspace still, which I was told is usually not possible!
A surprise welcome and some time at the bar!
With lunch over I went for a little wander around to stretch my legs. I chanced upon the second FSM whom I had not spoken to yet, and yet she seemed to know who I am! "You're Richard, aren't you?" she asked. She welcomed me back as a Gold flyer and invited me to sit up at the bar! I asked her if it would be okay and she was happy for me to do so as it was currently unoccupied.
This FSM went out of her way to make me feel really welcome and introduced me to the rest of the crew working in Upper. I thanked them for letting me sit at the bar. I stayed up for around 30 minutes, as whilst I was aware they were happy for me to be there, I was an interloper and didn't want to overstay my welcome.
I snapped this picture out of the door window whilst we were passing over the mountains of Mongolia!
MongoliaAfter returning to my seat, a small snack made the rounds, which I had written in my notes as "some kind of chocolate vanilla ice cream thingy". It seemed I had neglected to get a picture. But you cannot complain about snacks, I suppose!
Somewhere over Russia
The Wifi on my phone refused to come back, which was a little disappointing. I wondered if it was due to our position over Siberia. Roughly at the half-way mark some juice or water was offered as a refreshment, as well as a fairly bland cheese roll as a mid-flight snack. I'm not sure if this is just an example of ex-PVG catering, but it did not strike me as particularly "premium".
As far as my body clock was, I think it had just given up entirely. It was roughly 22:00 in Auckland, my departure point, 19:00 in Shanghai, but 11:00 in the UK. Which time zone was I even in anymore? I didn't know. I decided on a snooze to try and realign myself with my destination.
After my snooze, the light meal was about to be served. I opted for the beef, which came with a "Dove" chocolate bar (almost identical to Galaxy in the UK) along with a cup of tea.
Light mealNearly home
A pre-descent announcement came with 35 minutes to go just as we passed the Dutch coast. Overall I was very impressed, a very good flight with a friendly and engaging crew. The flight deck announced no ATC delays in London and were anticipating being on stand at 4pm.
As we began to approach the UK, the winter sun was well and truly setting. As we banked to the left, the dimming feature on the 787 windows created a quite impressive effect, as below!
New green mood lighting?!We passed over with London shrouded in thick cloud. I decided to take what I expected to be my last look at the sun for quite some time. It had been a cruel companion at times in New Zealand but I had a feeling I would miss it. The clouds were as thick as they looked, and it seemed to take the full length of our final descent to breach them.
We finally came down with a thump at 15:55 into a very foggy London. Ah, home again. We taxied for a short while (much shorter than in PVG!) and pulled up at Gate 18 at 16:01.
Immigration was a breeze and both my bags made the trip from Auckland without harm, given only one arrived in Auckland on my outbound, I can only deduce that Shanghai baggage handlers are better than those in LAX!
And so back to Huntingdon it was. I decided on the Heathrow Express and the tube via Kings Cross as the prospect of an hour's ride on the tube made me shudder!
At the time of writing I have just under five weeks to go until my next trip, which is coincidentally back to Shanghai! So TRs for the VS250/251 will arrive at some point!
Thanks for reading
(VS11 LHR-BOS in Economy and DL58 BOS-LHR in Comfort+ to come soon)
