This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
I will start the Virgin section of the report by saying that VS have REAL problems at Chicago some can be put down to teething problems, but not all. We checked in at the PE desk and were not impressed by the level of knowledge of the agent everything she said to us seemed to be read from a little notebook she had at the side of her. The service has now been up and running for 31 days but some of the staff are still finding their feet. One thing the agent did say was that there would be NO food in the lounge and we should eat before going through security!
After grabbing a snack we joined one of several long and slow moving queues to get through to the gates. The main duty free shop is land side, but if you miss it (like I did) you can buy the most popular items booze and cigarettes from the pick up point beyond security.
We made our way to the lounge, there is nothing wrong with the lounge itself it is the JAL lounge, now shared with VS. Comfortable seating and the usual oasis of calm that a lounge should be. There is one member of staff in VS uniform on duty. All she seemed to do is vet people going in, and talk on the phone. Inside, there are plenty of seats lots of cold drinks and about half a dozen packets of crisps / rice crackers. There is no wi-fi, no food, no English papers or magazines and, on the day we were there, no coffee because the machine wasnt plugged in! The one Virgin item in the lounge is the Priority boarding sign!
It was quite apparent that this is not what J passengers expected, and there were lots of moans about the lack of facilities, the loudest complaints were from people who hadnt been told about the lack of food at check in, and were told that they would have to go back through security if they wanted to eat.
The one announcement that was made was for boarding, so everyone decamped from the lounge to the gate only to be told that boarding would start in a few minutes. The area round the podium and gates was a mess, boarding started with passengers travelling with children and those requiring extra time to board cue half the plane to step forward. A few minutes later, J and W passengers were called no priority boarding channel - because the sign is in the lounge. [:(!]
When we did board, we were on African Queen - so Odyssey again and the old PE seats. On board though, how things changed! The crew were great led by a very efficient FSM, who came to say hello before we took off. Drinks and UK papers were handed out as soon as we got on and everything was spot on from a service point of view. Flying time was announced as 7 hours 35 minutes. The FSM announced that there are 202 pax on bard, and apologised for the delay, which was caused by airport congestion. After the plane has landed it has to go to a remote stand to be serviced and is then brought back, this causes long delays as it waits to get on the taxiways.
Following this delay, there was a further delay as some bags had to be shifted in the hold, again we were informed and apologies were made. We pushed back at 6.20pm and wheels up was 6.46pm. As soon as we levelled out we got a drink, and the IFE was switched on very early. The menu was the same as the New York trip Dave and I did last month, so I had the Cajun spiced chicken with mashed sweet potato, corn, black beans, red peppers in a Cajun sauce again. Nice, but not as nice as the outbound meal.
The other two main course choices were - Saut_ed Shrimps and scallops served with sticky rice, buttered vegetables and ginger & onion sauce.
Smoked mozzarella ravioli with marinara sauce served with red & yellow peppers and parmesan cheese.
Nothing appealed on the IFE so, as soon as I had eaten, I went to sleep until the lights came on and coffee was served. I didnt bother with the muffin, as Revivals awaited.
We were stacked for a while and landed at a very sunny Heathrow at 8.30am. When we walked towards Immigration, the queue to get in stretched right out of the Immigration Hall, up the stairs and up to the Flight Connection desk!
Tip to Brits / EEC passport holders that queue is for non EEC passports, though there is no way of telling this. If you walk to the right of the queue and follow the trolley route into the hall, you can by-pass the masses and walk to the EEC queue, which had about 5 people in it when we got there. I hate to think what the waiting time was for the big queue Welcome to the UK. [n]
Bags arrived safely, if not very quickly, and then it was up to Revivals to freshen up and get some breakfast.
The main thing I will remember from the return leg, is the very poor organisation shown by VS at OHare, it is all very well saying that the route has only been going 31 days, but that is 31 days worth of premium class passengers that VS are hoping to prise away from BA and the US airlines if any regular J flier has sampled what we saw, then they wont be rushing back. IMHO, it could all be made a lot better by having a couple of experienced UK or US staff on hand to advise at check in and at the podium.
I would certainly have no hesitation in recommending Chicago as a venue for a short break - great food, great shopping, great museums / galleries and the whole city is sports mad. [8D]
Nick
