This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
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Seat 28A
I was returning from Las Vegas, after a company conference and had a 10am flight from LV with Ted. My colleague was supposed to be on my flight, but his admin had somehow put him on a later flight.
He asked for Standby, but it was touch and go as the last flight had not taken any of the previous stanby passengers due to weight issues (?!?)
He did actually get the last seat on the flight, but 2 mins later was asked to get off. There were some fog issues at SF that morning and flights had been diverted, so he was taken off to put other passengers on.
The flight arrived into SF early, and I got to the Virgin checkin area at 12:10, the security guard was building the barrier system, and told me check in opens at 1pm.
I also had a brief chat to the female security agent while I was waiting, as I had seen her help in the setup.
I called a friend who was delivering a large car part for me, and she stopped outside and I collected a 5 foot plastic tube.
Checkin opened promptly, and I was called up by the female security agent I had been talking to earlier, and was quickly processed and waited for the checkin staff to arrive and set up.
There were a number of boarding pass machine problems, but as I was in the UC line I was called forward by the first agent who became ready. I had been checked in by him before, and got seat 28A with no issue. He took my luggage receipts from Ted, and asked me about the tube. I was happy to check it, but they labelled it and said if the TSA have any issue, they would put it in the hold.
I arrived in the lounge to be greeted and welcomed back, why can't they do this on board ? BA can do it !
As soon as I sat down I was asked if I wanted a drink by one of the staff I recognise, but again the menu is similar to the DC one, nothing really appealed so I had the Sandwich.
Some other colleagues arrived, and eventually my traveling partner turned up, there were no other bulkhead seats left so he was further back in the PE cabin.
Boarding was called at 4pm for the 4.30pm departure, and the tube got through the TSA no problem. By the time we got to the gate, the lounge area was empty and we pretty much walked straight on board. I hid the tube in the larger wardrobe by door R2 and settled in at the bar while the last 60 passengers turned up.
At 4.30pm, there was one UC passenger still missing, and she turned up a few moments later, no apology nor any degree of concern that she had been delaying departure.
We pushed back and started off to 28L, and by 4.55pm we were airborne. I did not hear the journey time back.
The crew presented the foot rests soon after the seat belts came off, although I could not find a blanket.
My seat neighbour, checked in at the same time I did, although his agent would not give him 28C, and had to do that at the Clubhouse.
The dinner choices were Chicken and Mash, Salmon and a Veggie option. I went for the Chicken which was pretty bland.
I watched the end of Prince Caspian during the meal.
I settled down to sleep without a blanket, and fortunately the cabin had warmed up, because it was freezing for the first hour or so.
I woke with 3 hours to go and decided to watch Tropic Thunder, which was OK in places. Tom Cruise was worth watching at least.
The IFE had problems on this row, not sure about anywhere else, but it kept stuttering, pausing and showing artifacts, similar to rain causing a BSkyB picture to break up.
I saw a clear view of Silverstone as we came in, we needed 10 mins of circling, and touched down at 10:50.
The CC returned my Plastic Tube and wanted to know what it was, I did n't tell them because I thought they would think I was too much of a petrol head, so they were guessing a hockey stick or didgeridoo.
They felt it was far funnier thinking it was an instrument and I should try getting a note out of it.
I was the first off and headed to Immigration from Gate 34, which was a long walk and Immigration was fairly clear, and BOTH Iris machines were working. Although they do appear to have a long wait from the recognition point to opening the doors.
By the time I got downstairs, Belt 6 had started to run, and the bags came off. Even considering our bags were interlined, our 3 bags came off within 5 mins, and we were on our way out.
From landing to being outside was 20 mins, which is excellent. I was home within an hour of landing.
Summary
Checkin was very good.
Clubhouse was very good.
On Board Service was very good, friendly and efficient.
Baggage was very good.
As usual, the level of service to and from SF is a consistent very good in my opinion.
