This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
So off to the clubhouse, after a slow fast track experience. Mind you, the main security queue was nasty.
Checked in to the CH, dropped shoes off for what turned out to be a truly splendid shine, & sat down, eager for a beverage. I managed to avoid being seen by the waiting staff for quite a while, despite being of Large frame, and wearing a particularly bright orange shirt. Maybe the shirt was dazzling the staff, it certainly clashed with just about all the carefully selected furnishings.
Finally attracted the attention of somebody by waving around my unshod feet clad in novelty socks. Refreshment then came swiftly, followed by a nice little piece of cod, then some fruit salad with tasty ginger & lemon grass sorbet on top - yummy. I then had my pre-booked haircut, another quick drink, and it was time to take the long march to gate 36. I joined the queue to be let in to the gate room proper, and was called across to the other desk as an Au card holder. The lady took my BP and inserted it into the reader, which beeped & flashed red. She then took a pen, crossed out the 46A on the card and wrote 18K instead! Result! An op-up! Next came boarding which was dignified enough, and I stepped aboard Jetstreamer, an A340-300. I was pleased to see it has the new PE purple leather seats. In fact, it also seemed to have new Y seats, with very nice covers and sensibly placed IFE controls.
I also noticed the new PE blankets on the seat. Menu cards & bottled water were on the mini table on the centre armrest. Of course, 18K is a bulkhead, which means that the IFE controls are still buried in the armrest. The screen is still the tiny odyssey thing. I got a chance to view this while watching the new safety video, which is just the old one edited to include mentions of PDAs with flight-safe modes etc, so all you Danni Behr fans can continue to drool & slaver.
We were around 20 mins late taking off, the captain said that this was due to a shortage of Air Traffic Controllers. I guess they had all gone to Epsom for the Derby.
Once airborne, new PE amenity kits were handed out, in a colour scheme almost matching the new blankets.
Our FA then brought round 'hot' towels, which weren't even warm- is there anything worse?
A drinks round was next, followed by our attentive FA taking orders for refills. Then came lunch, I didn't bother with the main course, having eaten in the CH, I thought it may help somebody further back get their first choice. Nice hot bread was served by the FSM, an efficient no-nonsense lady who seemed good at marshalling her troops. I passed on the chocolate Gu pot thing too, shame it wasnt the nice fruit one I had on the VS1 a couple of weeks ago.
Then came tea & coffee in special PE pots, not the blue plastic ones they have in Y. Trays were cleared away, then the FSM returned brandishing brandy & Baileys. I went for the brandy, & was poured a seriously good measure . This had the desired effect, I put on the QC2s, something soothing on the Ipod, then a good snooze. Later in the flight, the fruit bowl was brought round, and a while later ice cream from HMs own Royal herd! I'm glad that She has some pets that do something useful, ever tried milking a corgi?
All too soon it was time to descend into Boston, where we had an uneventful landing 10 mins early. The immigration was busier than usual, the passengers from the Alitalia flight were still queuing in front of us, but it wasn't too bad. Baggage was delivered to a different carousel than the one announced, but it showed up quickly.
All in all, a very good PE experience, which was obviously executed to the letter of the plan. It just proves what we all know, that its the FSM and the CC that make the difference. [y]
