This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
On arriving at Terminal 3 there was the usual chaos in the dropping of area where scores of cars try to fit into a space that can only accommodate a few at a time.
The Premium Economy check in was only manned by 2 staff which was a bit disappointing. It therefore took about 30 minutes for me to reach the front of the queue. After that security was its usual long winding queue covering half the length of the terminal.
I purchased the necessary duty free items, had a sandwich at one of the delis and then proceeded to sit down with a good book. I had bearly read one page when we were suddenly ushered to move towards the Gates. Apparently a suspect package had been found and there was now a security alert. This alert lasted all of 20 minutes but was still to delay our eventual departure time by one and a half hours.
This was my first experience of the new Premium Economy seats and I have to say that they were quite comfortable, although for some unknown reason I had expected more legroom. On Soul Sister we were treated to the pre flight drink and the staff seemed very friendly. Unfortunately once we were airborne things started to go wrong. The entertainment system froze several times and had to be reset and it seemed as if the SkyMap system could only deal with so many passengers at one time. I wasnt too impressed with the choice of films either. I flew BA Economy last month and they had the latest films plus a whole host of classics which I enjoyed thoroughly. Not too impressed with Virgins entertainment.
The next thing to go wrong was the menu. We were supposed to have rice and beef or pasta and chicken. I asked for the beef and got given potatoes and pork with apple sauce. I pointed this out to the hostess who said that the caterers had actually provided pork dishes instead of beef. Imagine I was a Muslim passenger who had asked for beef and got pork instead.Aside from the menu mixup, the portions were very small. We had a pasta starter with a roll followed by the main course and then a sorry excuse for a desert. I am not exaggerating if I compare it to a small pot of petit filou. I would rather do away with all the fancy cutlery and get a decent meal. I dont know if this was a one off but next time I have 2 choices, either spend an exhorbitant amount of money on going Upper Class or switch to BA Premium Economy and get better meals (over the past year the meals I have experienced on BA have been bigger and better than Virgin).
Anyway the last part of my journey the arrival in Lagos was actually the smoothest. I whizzed through immigration, collected my bags within 20 minutes and was out before some Upper Class passengers.
My return journey will be in a few weeks and if the service is anything like the outward leg, I might seriously consider switching back to BA - at least until their service deteriorates or Virgins improves.
