VS026 JFK-LHR 23 Mar 07 (PE)

This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

So the early flight back from JFK, my preference rather than suffering 5 hours 'sleep' on the redeye, so I get the wake up call at 5:20 and stagger out of the hotel and into the waiting car, 25 minutes later I'm at JFK and checking in, no queues for any of the desks, and with the speed of service I get I'm not surprised, luggage tagged, ticket issues (with Gold written on it rather than the nice CH invites) and the chap goes back to the conversation with the 2 other people hanging around his desk (sorry to have interrupted, I'll try not to in future) lug bag off to security scanner and then take a quick wonder through duty free before heading to the CH for some breakfast.

CH is pretty empty as I suspect is the flight (so no chance of an op-up as JonMorgan told me in an email - I suspect v-flyer and expertflyer are really bringing out his inner plane geek!) one all American breakfast and a cup of really grim coffee later I'm feeling a bit human and dig out the laptop to hunt around for WiFi access, end up paying 7.95USD for a 24 hour pass on the boingo network as the 'free' WiFi I'd used on previous visits seemed to have been secured (boo!)

Boarding was called at 07:30 and it was a short stroll to security where I made a real amateur mistake, I'd been sent two bottles of wine and without thinking had planned to take them as hand luggage knowing they wouldn't survive the journey in the hold, and of course they will now be divided up between the TSA people that took them off me *sigh* I didn't have the time, or secure padded bag to check the wine so it was my 'gift' to the TSA or T4 at JFK (aren't I nice). Security really is the real downside of flying these days and has certainly removed any shred of the glamour that may have remained in the idea of jet / business travel.

Anyway, onwards to get B28 where 'Silver Fox' is waiting to take me home, and if there is no op-up at the gate then this will be my first flight in the 'new and improved PE' - there is no magic beep as my ticket goes through so seat 19A it is.... oh and with only 3 people in front priority boarding really isn't anything to use / worry about!

My home for the next 7 hours or so is 19A, not really a window seat as the window is level with the back of 18A but other than that my first impressions of the new PE is good, not convinced by the build quality of the cabin, as the chap in 19B quickly ends up holding a 'weapon the size of a baseball bat' when the aisle side armrest cover detaches itself, could certainly get a good swing on it, luckily he decides not to want to hijack the plane, and re-attaches the armrest to the seat! No drinks are offered prior to take off for us in row 19, although the people behind us get the usual orange juice / bucks fizz / champers offering, I decide not to ask to see if drinks are forth coming (as they should be) as the attendant returns back to the galley area, my second amateur mistake.... (clearly I'm on good form this morning)

PE is about 25% full and just before push back the chap in 19B moves forward into 18B, hope it was nothing personal but the extra space it gives me is nice.

Push back is at 08:25 and we're in the air by 08:40 with the highlight of the take off being that as the pilot puts the engines to full power, something in the galley decides it's all too much and a cascade of water comes out of one of the compartments and starts heading back towards economy.

IFE and power are on about 10 minutes after take and I experience the first part of the new Premium PE with the handing out of hot towels....

Breakfast is served and the woman in 20A is enjoying the comedy she is watching too much...(curse Virgin's IFE and the range of comedy in the system!) the new food is an improvement, nice to have it served in china, and have proper knives and forks.

Entertainment wise, I watched The Ground Truth: After the Killing Fields - excellent, well worth watching if depressing. The best of Top Gear (again) - it would be good if some of the other programs were updated in the IFE, rather than just the new films each month.

Had a quick stroll down the back, and it looks like economy is about 20% full.... probably a nice easy flight for the crew as I doubt UC is that busy either.

And to round off the day nicely, with two hours to go to touch down at LHR the battery on my QC2's gives up the ghost, lucky I packed a spore, shame the spare is the wrong size... *sigh* talk about amateur night (still at least I'm sad / organised enough to carry a pair of backup earphones!)

With 90 minutes to go there was a tea / coffee service, which comprises of a paper cup with your choice of poison and you can help yourself to chocolate brownie from Gu (Yum) a bar of chocolate from Green and Black or an cinnamon cereal bar thing, does the job.

So my impressions of the new PE, an improvement, but it still feels like economy plus rather than Upper Class minus, the new seats are comfy, although I'm not sure how great they'll be for sleeping on the redeye flights as I found myself slipping a bit on the leather, the lack of leg support also might cause discomfort when sleeping (in fact I was talking to a member of CC about this on my outbound UC flight)

We were landing from the west so we didn't get to do the flight over London and taxied off the runway and parked for a bit, the captain came on to say that one of the 12 main tyres had deflated and needed to be checked before we could proceed to the gate, 15 minutes later we were given the all clear to carry on to our stand...

All in all a good flight, new PE is better than it was, but I'd hoped for more and was left feeling a bit disappointed by it, maybe the marketing of the new improved service is raising expectations a bit too high.

Great TR, Thank you.[:)]

Your comments are interesting and match some others recently, vis a vis the new PE service is a bit variable. Sometimes all the promised extras, like the drinks rounds, fruit bowl, towels, etc. and then again sometimes not. Like my last flight in PE, a lot was missing, even if food came in china, whereas the one before was superb with all the promised extras.

A word on row 19, this is the one missing a window, so if that's important peeps, book another seat!

I'm going to add comments on the seat review section about 19..

Dave, last time you and I did that flight together, with the upgrade to UC, there was a full 'lunch' served towards the end of the flight. Does anyone know if this is just a UC thing, or did the second meal in PE/E on the daytime flight used to be a bigger one than Dave had?

Thanks for the TR. Paper cup with a hot drink and a choc bar, doesn't sound all that [n]

Great TR mate, [y] v well written

the highlight of the take off being that as the pilot puts the engines to full power, something in the galley decides it's all too much and a cascade of water comes out of one of the compartments and starts heading back towards economy.

[:o)] [:o)] That did make me laugh

You didn't happen to notice if there were any episodes of 24 lurking in the depths of v:port did you..?

The Gu Brownies are scrummy (and only 200 calories each).They are even better warmed (by a quick blast in the microwave) and served with a splosh of cream (a box is lying in my fridge awaiting consumption today!).

Originally posted by chrisV
You didn't happen to notice if there were any episodes of 24 lurking in the depths of v:port did you..?

Didn't seem to be that I could see...

Originally posted by DragonLady
The Gu Brownies are scrummy (and only 200 calories each).They are even better warmed (by a quick blast in the microwave) and served with a splosh of cream (a box is lying in my fridge awaiting consumption today!).

I'll have to remember that at home, shame there isn't a passenger use microwave in PE to re-create the same effect at 36,000ft, it does sound good
[:D]

I've been caught with no window too. Always catches me out

[HighFlyer]

Your check-in experience sounds just like the one we had at the beginning of the month.

The second meal in PE used to be a sandwich - so much better than a paper cup and a bit of chocolate.

Thanks,
Sarah

Thank you for the TR of VS026. I plan to take the early flight back on my next trip as I don't like the cabin temperature of the redeye.

[

Originally posted by DragonLady
The Gu Brownies are scrummy (and only 200 calories each).They are even better warmed (by a quick blast in the microwave) and served with a splosh of cream (a box is lying in my fridge awaiting consumption today!).

I'll have to remember that at home, shame there isn't a passenger use microwave in PE to re-create the same effect at 36,000ft, it does sound good
[:D]
[/quote]

Absolutely delicious!! As she sits here scoffing the rest of the box.....

Originally posted by ZippyUK
Thank you for the TR of VS026. I plan to take the early flight back on my next trip as I don't like the cabin temperature of the redeye.

Smart move, I've not done the redeye for a few trips now, but the cabins always do seem to be over heated.