This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
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We were dropped off at a hectic T3 drop zone and made our way to check in which was dead at UC and PE and only fairly busy at Econ. We were we were dealt with by a friendly, but pretty useless check in agent, who was unable to move us to Row 18 as requested because, she said it was already taken, only to find once on board 4 our of the 7 seats were empty! We had chosen to pay our APD at the airport, this is clearly marked on our boarding cards, so no chance of anybody boarding without doing so. We did so at the ticket desk, a very slow process dealt with by the un-friendliest person I have ever come across.
That all done, we collected our pre-ordered money from Travelex, another painfully slow experience, but we had plenty of time so was not too bothered. Security was fairly quiet and even with being selected for the shoe's off routine we were through within 10mins. Just a note the IRIS sign up room was closed due to technical difficulties.
Gate was announced at about 1:20, with us departing from gate 5, we left it 10mins and then had a slow walk across, upon our arrival we found a huge queue waiting outside the gate area, eventually we had our passports checked before entering the gate area and then our boarding passes taken/put through the machine before we could sit down. Gate 5 isn't too big and soon there were no seats left, something not helped by the security staff erecting their table in front of and blocking 2 whole sets of seats. Priority boarding was kind off called, but with nobody checking the boarding passes, as this has already been done then it was open to abuse, something that clearly happened. I'm not sure if this is Virgin's usual gate procedure at LHR but is something I feel they need to look at. For all our problems with our return flight, the JFK set up works very well and really ensures those who are entitled to priority boarding receive it
We settled into our seats, 20A&C, our a/c was G-VSSH so obviously had the new PE seats, but not the new Y ones. Flight time of 6hours was called and we found out that 272pax were on board so a nearly full flight, with Y almost full, W three quarters full and J not far off full too. The last 2 pax to board in PE were 2 older ladies, very Hyacinth Bucket like. Once the realised their seats were in a middle set of 3 and not a side 2, one of them marched up to the galley and very loudly told the CC member that they just had to be seated in a 2 and could not possibly sit in a 3. We could not hear the CC response but upon her return she told her friend that it was 'being sorted' so not to get too comfy, unfortunately for these ladies all the 2's were occupied and a quiet word in the ear by a CSS just before take off was all that was 'sorted' and the 2 ladies remained in there original seats with annoyed faces for the rest of the flight. Shame.
This was our first flight with the new PE seats and on first impressions they look very nice and comfy too.Menu's and Amenity kits had been left on the seats so the new service all seemed to be in order. Menu for this was as mentioned in the recent TR by JAT74L. No champers or bucks fizz offered as a pre-take off drink, just OJ and water. T'other half had the Pork, which as JAT74L said, just looked like a Y meal in the PE china, where as my Mushroom Stroganoff really looked and tasted the part, the Fru Lemon Shots was delicious too. Brandy and Baileys, Ice Cream served as expected and a snack was offered before landing, which included the very yummy GU brownie. Only 2 parts of the new PE service didn't happen/work as the VS marketing suggest, there was no fruit bowl left, and none offered at all during the flight and the 'dedicated crew member'. The CC we had were very good but we had 3/4 different people serving throughout the flight and all of them doing Y service also. Have to also say the FSM on this flight was very good,lots of informative announcements made, and she was visible many times in W, helping out and she was also in Y quite a lot of the flight.
Flight landed about 45mins early, but then we sat on the tarmac for 20mins because a Lufthansa Jumbo was at our gate, this seemed pretty odd as there were plenty of gates in the same area free, do Virgin have to use a specific gate at BOS?. Security was a breeze for me, usual miserable staff etc but no probs, not so for t'other half who got a real grilling from his agent because I had our travel documents on me and he did not have a copy, she eventually let him in, and then just to rub salt in, wished him a happy birthday as she finally stamped his passport!No sign of priority baggage working as usual, eventually they came after a good 75% of the other pax had left and we went and caught a taxi into BOS.
Personally I really didn't enjoy this PE flight. I can't put my finger on exactly why because mainly everything was as it should have been, but certainly compared to PE on the B744's I don't think the A346's can compete. The PE cabin seems to be used as a corridor to Y with CC constantly walking up and down. I personally found the new seat uncomfortable after a couple of hours, the foot rest didn't fit my leg position, the flap on the window side of the A and K seat head rest is only a quarter of the size of the other side and makes sleeping very uncomfortable. Maybe I was expecting too much of the new improvements and set my expectations too high but it has certainly made my hunger for UC even greater. Yes it is still an improvement on Y, but other than seat pitch I'm not sure PE is actually worth it.
