This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Living in central London we just jumped the train to Gatwick on the day of our flights, check in was friendly and efficient and quickly we were heading through premium security due to our lounge booking. We were booked into Gatwick North clubrooms using our priority pass and had paid £20 each on top for guaranteed entry and upgrade from No1. I prefer the clubrooms in Gatwick south but I’m willing to slum it now and again. The service was ok but it was pretty busy but the champagne flowed freely enough and I polished off eggs benedict and later on some snacks. My OH polished off breakfast and later on the burger, so based on the champagne consumption and at least 3 meals I didn’t think £40 was a bad deal.
We headed to our flight, we arrived just at the end of priority boarding so walked straight onto the plane, we were in seats 24A and C on the back row of PE in the bubble. The seats were comfy and with plenty of legroom even for my OH who is 6’3. Soon we were offered some pre-flight prosecco, which was ok albeit a bit sweet. FSM came around and introduced herself, which is always the sign of a good flight IMO. First round of drinks was pretty quick after take off and I had my trusty G&T. Meal followed shortly afterwards, this was the bit I was worried about, after having some fantastic UC meals I was worried PE food would feel like the downfall. However, the lasagne I had was actually quite nice and the chocolate dessert was pretty good too. I quite enjoyed the after dinner ‘not quite’ baileys, in fact I feel this is missing in UC. I have asked in UC previously if they had any after dinner baileys and they always said no. Maybe because they use a different type of liqueur. The flight wizzed by, I watched the latest star wars (don’t bother) and Black Panther (pretty good), drink services were frequent and the service excellent. Shortly before landing we had afternoon tea, this was miles better than the afternoon tea served on BA in CW so I was impressed.
I was worried about being in the bubble when it came to getting off and through immigration, however, aside from the EC passengers upstairs the crew held the rest of EC back until we disembarked which meant only around a 15-20 minute wait to get through immigration. Our bags were already off and set aside for us by the time we got through so from plane to Lyft was in total around 30 mins, which I was impressed with.
I left the flight not feeling like I had missed too much compared to UC, don’t get me wrong I still prefer UC but I didn’t think PE up in the bubble is a bad alternative.
I might do a quick Orlando review about the hotels etc if people are interested as we took Hilton up on their timeshare talk offer for the stay and were happy we did. Look out for another post if interested.
Also, I’ll post about the return, which demonstrates how the crew can make a good product a bad experience.
