VS022 IAD-LHR 14 May 07 (PE)

This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

A340-300 Diana

Seat 18C (again)

The Lounge at DC no longer has the excellent Cottage Pie on the menu, and just has the regular menu items, so no filling hot food before getting on board.

Also, I noticed that it was very hard to understand the concierges and the bar staff. They also did n't understand english very well.
I asked where the candy bars were, the bar staff did n't understand, until my waitress came down stairs and got the basket from out the back.

The South African Airways flight had just gone, so I wondered if they kept it back or had just forgotten to put it out.

Again, free WiFi at the lounge was a welcome change.

Boarding was called around 5:50pm, and I went straight on board.

There were no menus on board, so when it came to a food choice, the crew could n't tell me what type of Fish it was, and both meat options came with a load of sweetcorn, which I can't stand.

I selected the Chicken, but it was smothered with Sweetcorn and the mashed sweet potato looked like something the cat deposited on the carpet.

In over 50+ flights with Virgin I have never had an issue with the food, and in general I find it quite good.

I asked to speak to the FSM and fed back the Clubhouse meal issue and the meal options on board. I completed a feedback form to formally log the issue.

The FSM gave me an option of selecting an Upper Class meal, but again I found the options a little too fussy, but at least the offer was made. Incidentally, the back section of Upper Class was completely empty.

We landed 15 minutes early, and I was down waiting for the bags at 6:55am. It took a further 35 minutes for my bags to arrive. My Ski Boot bag with an Upper class tag came off first, the next bag took 15 minutes later. My second bag came off 30 minutes after the first, and did not have an upper class tag. Clearly the Bag room at IAD did not apply one. My skis came off virtually last.

In summary, a comfortable flight, excellent service, let down for me personally with a poor food option and very slow baggage.

Mark

Thanks for the 2 TR's, shame about the food, nice they offered you an UC dinner. [y]

DMB

Thanks for the TR[y]

VS service let down by the food; now where have I heard that before[;)]

45.

Thanks for the TR; I fly this route a lot so it's interesting to get another point of view.

Tony

Originally posted by ukcobra
There were no menus on board, so when it came to a food choice, the crew could n't tell me what type of Fish it was, and both meat options came with a load of sweetcorn, which I can't stand.

I selected the Chicken, but it was smothered with Sweetcorn and the mashed sweet potato looked like something the cat deposited on the carpet.

Ah, attack of the dreaded 'Chicken a la furball' again!

I think lacing both meat options on the same menu cycle with sweetcorn is a another really good example how VS don't provide a good variety of dishes on their menus.

Mike