VS201 HKG-LHR 8 Jun 07 (Upper)

This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin

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We had travelled UC with Virgin previously LGW - MCO and LAS - LGW and although this was on one of the Gatwick fleet's 747's which had not received the makeover it was a pleasant trip so we were hoping for better things on the newer fleet.

We had travelled out the week before on VS200 and aside from the shambolic state of T3 the flight was uneventful and the cabin generally good. Sadly the return was not the same!

As we had started the day in Taipei and as EVA Air have no agreement with Virgin we had to make our way to the Transit check-in at HKG. Although I appreciate that Virgin are trying to make things easier by saving us from the hassle of having to enter Hong Kong to retrieve our bags and then check-in and pass through passport control etc the process seeemed very archaic.

Firstly we had a lengthy process where bag checks were identified, our bags physically described etc, then we were told to find a seat and wait whilst they located our bags. We were told this should take 30mins. After an hour had passed I approached the desk only to be told they had found them some time earlier but forgot to tell us!

We then proceeded to gate 36 and prepared to board on time. The announcement was difficult to interpret and only after standing in line for 15mins were we told that UC and PE had a separate line.

Outbound the seat ahead had been unoccupied but on the return this was not the case. As soon as we had taken off the passenger fully reclined his seat and any semblance of leg room for me disappeared. I'm only 6'1' but found my knees jammed against the seat back and the TV Screen invisible because of the acute angle. Even when I reclined my seat full back the screen was impossible to see clearly. The Cabin crew were brusque, our daughters child meal which we had booked was not on board and the adult choice wasn't one that many 8year olds would wish for!

My only comfort was that if this is the PE experience, Economy must be even worse! And why bother with those amenity kits? What a waste of money and time!

We're off to Dubai UC in Aug and I'll be very interested to see how that fares then back to PE for a trip to San Francisco in Oct and Florida/Nevada again Dec/Jan.

Hi Darren,

Thanks for the TR - it's a shame you didnt have a great experience as I have never found PE to be anything other than excellent.

You might find it useful to check out some of the sections on this site to help make your next journey more enjoyable - there are allsorts of tips on seat selection, checking in, priority boarding, cabin service, IFE etc etc etc

That's one of lowest crew ratings I've seen in some time -- can you give more details? Thanks for the TR!

GJ

The crew rating was based on the lack of apology for the missing childs meal and the general 'unfriendliness'. My daughter travels a lot and is also not a fussy child eater, often she will eat what we eat but we ordered a childs meal because it was a long trip and something 'basic' was we felt the best option. All she ended up with was Tandoori Chicken and a rather hot and spicy one too. I don't know many 8 year olds who would choose that!

Perhaps my rating is a little harsh but unlike other flights I was not left feeling I had received the treatment I would expect. I had been struggling to get the seat power working for my laptop and having asked if it needed to be switched on or was only active at certain portions of the flight the response was 'well it should be working'. Eventually I managed to find a working socket in the seat to my right but at no point did anyone seem the slightest bit interested.

As I said, other flights have been unremarkable but when the seat in front was fully reclined I felt very restricted and had perhaps hoped for more than I ought to have from the PE cabin.

I'd say your rating sounds about right, then...bummer :-(

I hope your next flights are better!

GJ

Sorry you had a bad flight [n] Sounds like your ratings are fair [:?]

Without reports of poor flights, the flyer ratings (3 month average & mega all time) will not represent the quality to expect.

Lets hope your next trips are the absolute opposite!

our daughters child meal which we had booked was not on board and the adult choice wasn't one that many 8year olds would wish for!

This has happened to my family on EVERY virgin flight I have ever taken. It is very annoying, but in most cases the crew are very apologetic, and one time even offered my younger brother a jacket potato with cheese, beans and chicken nuggets served on a china plate when we were travelling in Economy. Result [y]

Anyway, lets hope something similar happens with you if you encounter a similar problem again.

Thanks for the TR, sorry to hear about the bad PE flight. Hope your PE flight to SFO is a better one for you,

Dominic