This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Aircraft reg: G-VNAP
Aircraft name: Sleeping Beauty
After an early start and having to get up at 5am in order to allow extra time for early morning traffic, we were dropped off at T4 and caught the Heathrow Express to travel to the Central Terminal station. The staff on duty on HEX were definitely on a par with the TSA in terms of friendly service with orders being barked at pax over the PA system repeatedly telling us not to board the train, stay behind the yellow line etc OK we get the picture![:(!]
After arriving at the station for T1,2,3 we took the trek to T3 which brought us to a series of barriers, allowing only pax for areas A and B through; everyone else had to walk to their check-in area outside. Queues were not that bad and we were through pretty quickly, heading up to security with boarding passes in hand. Fast track actually had quite a bit of a queue and it took around 15 mins to get to the front. Thankfully, we did not need to have our bag ruthlessly emptied in front of passing pax and were able to proceed straight to passport control, before realising we would have to go through the whole shoe removal rigmarole. This caused confusion among many pax who tried to put their bags through the x ray machines which did not exactly help the wait time. TBH, its better than at many airports but still a bit of a disaster in my opinion better organisation could remove the bottle-necks experienced at several points in the process.
We had a look around the duty-free but didnt buy much I fancied a book or magazine from World News but the rather long queues in the shop put me off. We also changed our pounds for dollars and got ripped off with the awful rate of 1:$1.75. Then made our way to the CH for a quick foray in and out as we didnt have that much time left. However, I did manage to get a few pics from the Garden (see below) which is where I spent most of my time as usual. Regrettably, I forgot to try the acclaimed CH waffles and just helped myself to some shortbread. Again, it was easy to see why the lounge has won so many awards as it is head and shoulders above anything else Ive ever experienced. I also forgot to congratulate John on his recent OBE, although hes probably sick of it anyway.[:p]
Taken from the Garden:
The Sky Lounge:
We then left the CH and headed to gate 32 for our flight and thankfully were able to board straight away. This was probably one of the best boardings Ive had with priority boarding rigidly enforced and no other pax allowed to board at first no need to push past others amid cold stares and mutterings.[:I]
Settled into my seat at the bulkhead in PE which despite my previous dislike of the bulkhead seats has now won me over and I now much prefer the more spacious feel, extra (perceived?) legroom and space to walk to the aisle from the window-seat without performing feats of gymnastic proportion which would have my chiropractor rubbing his hands in glee as he charges forty pounds for a fifteen minute treatment. (However he is brilliant and if anyone needs a good chiropractor in Hampshire feel free to PM me)[B)][:I]
I declined the offer of a pre-take off drink and took to looking out the window as we pushed back from 332. Thankfully, the taxi was pretty short and in no time we were lifting off on runway 09R after a BA A320 if I remember correctly. Unfortunately, the cloud was fairly low which meant we were only allowed a brief look at the world below. In compensation, however, v:port was switched on nice and early. For the first time, though, I didnt find the selection of movies particularly inspiring other than the handful that had made it to the BAFTAs. The rest were mainly trivial time-filling drivel to be honest. I watched The Devil Wears Prada, The Last King of Scotland and the start of a Good Year which definitely did not live up to the standards set by the previous two predictable story line with no great surprises. The comedy section was also slightly lacking with none of the favourites such as Friends, Will & Grace, Less Than Perfect etc and nothing from French & Saunders or good ol BBC features, other than Only Fools and Horses.
Taken on take-off:
I was very impressed with the new PE (NPE thanks DragonLady) product which has now been brought closer to a bad biz class product than Y+ which is where I have always thought VS should be aiming good service at a more widely affordable price. The meals themselves have been improved and seemed superior to the Y offerings, particularly on the presentation side of things. Just by simply serving the food in ceramic crockery, the look of the meal has been much improved. Similarly, the quantity of food surprised me with ice creams served a few hours after the main meal, a sandwich after the ice creams, fruit after the sandwich and a roll and more fruit prior to landing. There were also the usual snacks in the galley to help yourself to. I would be hard pressed to fault the food in PE now for the price. Also, the presence of menus was a nice touch too.[:D]
PE menu:
For the last few hours of the flight, I took to looking out the window at the amazing views we experienced over Calgary and down the Rockies. Normally I dont get much of a view as I mostly fly to the east coast or overnight to JNB so this was a rare treat for me. It makes one realise that perhaps the best entertainment is provided by our own scenery, not some IFE system [/philosophical moment]
Somewhere over the US:
Mono Lake, CA:
Similarly, we had excellent views of LA on descent and approach with a flightpath over the foothills, west LA, Santa Monica, Dodger Stadium before banking right and flying over Inglewood to LAX. The landing was pretty smooth and the taxi to the gate didnt take too long.
Final approach to LAX:
Theme restaurant:
Immigration was as quick as could be expected, but it took a while for our bags to come not much evidence of priority delivery here. Similarly, it took a long time to hand in our Visa waiver forms and the one person on duty definitely struggled what a ghastly terminal T2 is.
Overall, the flight was good and went surprisingly quickly for a 10-11 hour. Other than the IFE selection, I have no complaints about the flight good crew (esp. the FSM), good food and good seats.
Sorry the resolution's not so good - the resizing doesn't do the pictures any favours[;)]
VS.
