This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
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We took a cab to Paddington and hopped onto the HEX, arriving at 7:10am. We wound our way through a series of hallways and escalators, finally arriving at Terminal 3. Thanks to expertflyer I knew our flight was completely full, so I had checked in the day before on-line, and printed boarding passes. We had to take a cab to LGA to catch another flight so we couldn't take a chance being bumped.
Lines at the bag drop were long so even though we were checked in, we went to the PE check-in line anyway. Short line, but moved a bit slowly. When we checked in the woman at the counter was slightly baffled by our pre-printed boarding passes. She acted as though she had never seen such a thing before. The scanner was not even on so she had to look up our info manually. She did not mention the APD at all, so we forgot to present our Paypal receipt and therefore we forgot to ask for a voucher. By the time I remembered it was too late - am kind of annoyed as it would have been nice to save GBP40 each on our next flight.
We headed to security. No fast track for us and we picked the wrong line, as it took forever. We saw two people who had been directly behind us initially fly through way ahead of us on the other line, so it was just bad luck on our part. We finally got through and had to go through the shoe check. Seemed strange that only half the people going through security needed to have shoe checks - others were waved right through. As much as it's a hassle, I think it should be an all or nothing proposition.
MrStars went to grab some breakfast and I picked up rubber ducks dressed like a policeman and a beefeater as requested by my niece and nephew. As security had taken so long that took up all the free time and it was time to head to gate 7. At the gate we joined the queue and though there was a banner about priority boarding it was off to the side with no one manning it. The queue wasn't too bad so we just joined the queue and didn't enquire further about priority boarding. Just after we got through the line an announcement was made for pre-boarding. I wasn't paying careful enough attention, but I was about to sit down and heard Premium Economy and got up to board. I am not sure what other announcements were made before.
Just before we boarded I did look to see if I could see the name of the aircraft anywhere, but wasn't exactly sure where to look so did not see it.
The flight was absolutely full. We were seated in 21A and C. MrStars complained about the lack of footroom due to equipment boxes. I do all of our travel planning, so perhaps that was my fault for not checking before picking our seats. I'm not sure if this is an issue on all PE seats, or just select seats. We've flown PE many times before and I've never noticed it before. Then again, I'm 5'4' to MrStars 6'1', so it's less of an issue for me. The plane was fitted with the new PE seats, which we agreed were an improvement.
The usual pre-take off drink service occurred, but no newspapers were offered. However, there was a stand with newspapers and magazines just before boarding, so I am guessing this is the new approach - letting passengers pre-select their newspaper or magazine before boarding.
Had a chatterbox of a child (around age 7) sitting directly behind me, but he quieted down once the flight got underway. There were twin girls, around age 5, seated across the aisle from us and we noticed they had been given some sort of special kits from VS which included a backpack, baseball caps, and a book, that we could see (might have had other stuff as well, that we didn't see).
We pulled back from the gate only about 15 minutes late, after getting de-iced. We joined a queue for take-off and by the time we got underway, I think we were almost an hour past original flight time. We still got into JFK on-time.
Unlike Decker (just read his trip report for same day, same itinerary, different flight) the announcement about setting your flightsafe devices to the flightsafe mode prior to turning them off for take-off was made properly. Not having a flightsafe device myself I was actually paying attention to the announcement as I was wondering what the flightsafe mode did.
The new amenity kit looks nice, but I am surprised that whilst making an effort to brand it PE, they left off any mention of Virgin anywhere on the kit! I would think that at the very least they would want the pen and case to say Virgin with the idea that someone using them once they were off the plane would be in effect advertising the brand. Just my thought.
Breakfast was a fruit smoothie (PJ Smoothies), fresh fruit salad, raspberry bio rumbler cereal (an unfortunate sounding name for something that was yogurt, cereal & dehydrated raspberries), a roll with sultanas, and a mini strawberry muffin.
Hot choices:
English breadkfast - Lincolnshire pork sausage served with grilled back bacon, potato quiche, sauteed mushrooms and Heinz baked beans
Vegetarian breakfast - Emmenthal omelette served with sauteed potato cubes, sauteed spinach and tomato concassee.
The menu also noted Bakery choice: strawberry bun or mini-chocolate muffin. However, no one that we could see got a mini-chocolate muffin. There was no choice, everyone seemed to have the same mini-strawberry muffin preloaded on their tray. MrStars and I opted to take the tray without the hot breakfast. Others who had the hot breakfasts were offered an additional roll, but we were not. We did not mind, or we would have asked for one.
Later on the flight the usual tea and coffee service, wine service, and Baileys & whatever else service came around, as well as the fruit bowl. We were served vanilla ice cream, fruit bowl came around a second time, and we also had a choice of brownie or granola bar of some sort (not sure, as I was sleeping when it came around and MrStars grabbed me a brownie). No mention of Green & Blacks, as I know MrStars would have taken whatever G&B was available - he's a big fan.
We had a similar, but slightly more informative message, as Decker regarding v:port. We were told that as our flight was absolutely full, when it was first switched on it might be a little slow to load if everyone was trying to access it at the same time. They asked us not to press the buttons repeatedly as it could jam our individual screens, and to allow 10-15 second after we pressed a button for a response. I was trying to sleep a little at the beginning of the flight so did not access the system right away. By the time I accessed it, response time was fine.
The flight was relatively smooth - we hit two patches of turbulence - the first one about half way through the flight, the second patch about an hour and half before landing. IME it is common to find turbulence an hour and a half outside of NY, both coming and going, so it must have something to do with ocean patterns in that area.
After the recent thread regarding the toilets, I made sure to note their appearance. I think the cabin crew must have been doing a good job of preventing the E passengers from crossing through the curtain as there was never a line and I did not notice anyone crossing through, as I have on other flights. I was prepared for the worst, but both times the toilet was spotless and fresh smelling. No wet floors and the sink area was spotless and clean.
We had an excellent clear view during our descent and enjoyed picking out places on Long Island (I grew up there, so I was trying to see what I could recognize). The boy behind me kept exclaiming that he thought he saw Central park and I didn't have the heart to tell him otherwise!
We landed on-time at JFK, taxied to a gate almost immediately. After waiting for the UC passengers to deboard, we were on our way. Walked very swiftly to immigration and were through in a flash. Lines were light, but it also helps that we are citizens. Friendly gent at the desk said 'Welcome home' which I always think is nice b/c it is our home, even though it isn't, if you know what I mean.
Our bags came out fairly quickly, which is a change for JFK, which often messes up priority baggage handling. Breezed through customs and there were no lines for taxis. Headed to LGA for our UA flight....separate report on that to follow.
Heading back on 18th April, UC (miles upgrage).
Edited to add: We had an announcement made at the beginning of our flight that someone on board was highly allergic to peanuts so it would be appreciated if passengers could refrain from eating peanuts or opening any food containing peanuts. No incidents, so I assume everyone complied.
