This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Seeking an upgrade to Premium Economy had never crossed my mind until reading lynnewobs trip report. So at 4:30pm, I arrived at the Virgin ticket desk and enquired regarding the possibility. A phone call and some tapping on the computer later, the agent said that it would be possible as there were 4 free seats in Premium Economy and that as I was on a reward ticket, I was only allowed to upgrade with miles. The agent asked me how many miles I had redeemed for the ticket, to which I replied 22,500. From that, she informed me that it would cost me 12,000 miles to upgrade. It seemed as though she derived this number just by dividing the original sum in half. Does this mean that ordinarily, a reward Economy to Premium Economy upgrade would be 22,500 miles? Anyway, it doesnt seem to correlate with the 20,000 that lynnewob was quoted.
When it was all sorted, the agent handed me a new e-ticket receipt and I proceeded to the Premium check-in area or 2nd Class as the lady who checked my passport called it. I was checked-in straight away by a very pleasant lady, who unfortunately wasnt too knowledgeable about the seat layouts. Knowing that the flight was on a B744, I requested an aisle seat upstairs, to which she replied, this is an Airbus so there are no seats upstairs. I asked her to check again and she had to ask one of her adjacent colleagues who sorted me out and I was in possession of a boarding pass for seat 71C. So this was to be my first experience in anything other than Economy and also on the top deck of a B744, apart from the time that I visited the flight deck as a kid when stuff like that was allowed. My only other vivid memory of flying during those days (they werent that long ago) was that whenever we landed, everyone used to clap and cheer as if they hadnt believed we were going to make it. Back to the present and I took my bag to the screening drop off area that is now shared with Virgin America and then down to the shopping concourse. It was only 5:15pm so I had 4 and a half hours to kill which I managed by getting through more of my book and some window shopping. Just out of interest, does anyone know if the Christmas in New York shop is a permanent thing?
More thanks now goes to lynnewob due to her trip report I knew that Premium Economy passengers were allowed to use the Business Class lane through immigration. The check-in agent did not inform me of this benefit, although I gather this is now in the process of being addressed. I did this at around 8:00pm and it wasnt busy at all I was through in less then 5 minutes and the Economy line didnt seem too busy either.
We were to depart from gate B30 and upon approach, I noticed that we would be flying on Tinker Belle. A pre-boarding announcement was made at 8:40pm explaining that the plane was a little late getting in, but that as the flight wasnt full, making up the time should be no problem. At this point, I did wonder if I had made the right choice in upgrading as if Economy wasnt full, there could have been the prospect of a couple of seats to myself. Furthermore, an explanation was made of the boarding procedure with the Priority Boarding line clearly marked and its use clearly stated why cant this happen at Heathrow?
Boarding began at 8:55pm and Priority Boarding worked well except that it seemed the cabin crew werent quite ready to receive us. We all made it down to the bottom of the ramp before being met by a barrier blocking off the aerobridge. It was a five minute stand around before we were allowed onto the aerobridge and onto the plane. I made my way upstairs to find that my new wheeled trolley-cum-rucksack wouldnt fit in the overhead store so the cabin crew kindly offered to store it in the wardrobe by the galley. Also, there would be no purple leather for me. However, the seats were extremely comfortable nonetheless. I was then settling in when I noticed that I was sitting in 71H and not 71C which is of course on the other side of the aisle (my Premium Economy naivety was shining evidently at this point). As per the Premium Economy service, there was a bottle of water, amenity kit, blanket and pillow waiting for me and champagne, bucks fizz and orange juice served. Menus were also handed out at this point which consisted of:
Salad
-Asian style salad with mandarins, black sesame seeds and carrot with seasonal leaves and olive oil vinaigrette (it turned out that a balsamic dressing was offered instead)
Main
-Bangers and mash
-Saut_ed chicken
-Vegetable noodle stir fry
-Onion roll
-Banana swirl cake with chocolate sauce
-Cheese and biscuits
-Tea and Coffee
The menu also mentioned that breakfast was to be served although it did not say what it would consist of. As I would find out later, this was probably done so passengers didnt feel short changed so soon into the flight.
It was announced that the flight time to Heathrow would be 6 hours and 13 minutes and that the weather in the UK was actually pretty good. Just before we were all set to go, a member of the cabin crew asked me to move to 70C for take off and that if I wanted to stay there, that would be fine.
We managed to push back on time at 9:45pm, but that is when the waiting began. The FSM made an announcement that it would be likely that we would have to wait for a period of time and that she would let us know when she knew any details. Sure enough, the Captain promptly let us all know that we were 15th in the queue and that it would take anything up to an hour. It is at a time like this where having the entertainment system already running such as with Emirates and ICE can be a real advantage. We in the exit row had a bit of a chat with the two cabin crew who were seated by the exits and learned that one of the crew working downstairs was recently on a flight out of JFK where they were 61st in line for take off! Also, I learned that the crew stay on Long Island and that there is a shuttle to a mall not too far away where you need to go downstairs by the teddy bear shop to get your nails done avoid the place upstairs at all costs!
About 10:45pm, the Captain made a further announcement that we were now 4th in line and that it shouldnt be too long. The cabin crew member in front of me suggested 11:01pm as our take off time and what time did we take off? Someone obviously had some inside information. Once in the air, hot towels were handed out and the FSM made her introductions including, should you need anything at all, DONT ask my cabin crew a Freudian slip no doubt. Drinks were served and dinner was offered about an hour into the flight. I chose the bangers and mash and it was pretty good as was the dessert. It was also a new experience to be eating on a plane with proper cutlery on proper crockery.
I got some shut eye after dinner and woke with about 2 and half hours left to be greeted with another drinks service and then breakfast about an hour out of London. This consisted of tea/coffee and a cappuccino muffin or banana and raisin loaf. I thought it was a rather measly offering and I would have liked to see something hot offered as well. Consequently, on the bus back home, I was absolutely starving and just had to eat something the moment I got in the door.
Everything was cleared up just before we landed at 10:25am, some 55 minutes after our scheduled arrival time, but not bad considering the hold up at JFK. I was through immigration by 10:45am and there were already bags on the carousel, although mine didnt arrive until 11:00am. I cant comment on how well priority baggage worked but there were still a few Premium passengers waiting when I left, headed for the bus station.
My impressions of JFK and Premium Economy? There are still a few training/orientation issues to be sorted out with the ground staff as evidenced by their lack of familiarity with seat layouts and the benefits of each class of travel. However, all JFK ground staff that I encountered were helpful and polite, which is a great starting point. The crew were saying that it is only in the past year or so that taking off has become such an issue and this also needs to be looked at.
Once on the plane, the cabin crew on the upper deck were fantastic, never intrusive but always around just in case you needed anything. Also, they managed to keep us amused for the hour that we were stuck on the ground before take off. They were also more formal than the cabin crew in Economy (you can read my thoughts on this in my LHR-JFK trip report) which is great in some ways, although being called sir did make me feel a bit old (for the record, Im 21).
Has this experience converted me? No at this stage I dont think that I could justify the price of Premium Economy especially on the shorter routes like this one. The price increase for me as a student and a student for a considerable number of years to come is just too great when compared to Economy and what is offered by both classes. The only way I would be tempted to fly Premium Economy again would be through a mileage upgrade, if there was a substantial saleor if someone were to pay for me to travel. Although, having said that, I am glad that I have experienced Premium Economy and look forward to when I may be able to travel it in the future.
Jonathan
