This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Checked in at 8am for the 11:15am flight, all the Bulkhead and Exit row seats had gone so i had been told, this was untrue.
The UC line was short, with only 1 other customer in front of us.
The security line was huge, we got our FastTrack markers on our boarding passes, the FastTrack line appeared to be slower moving than the FT line, it took around 30 minutes to get through, discussing this with my colleagues, it appears we should have gone upstairs for faster passage.
Finding the clubhouse was an experience, wandering around the corridors of the terminal was unexpected.
Had a massage, the breakfast and some drinks, found the clubhouse very cold. It was very quiet compared to other clubhouses. Also had my shoes shined and commented on how much better they came back than my LHR shoe shine !
Spoke with the Concierge to see if my seat could be changed, I had 78K, and I realy wanted an Aisle bulkhead/exit row. I also asked for a second colleague to be admitted, as it was only 15 minutes before the expected boarding time, he was admitted FOC.
Got a call an hour before takeoff to tell me that 70H was free. I was told they had all gone, so the checkin agent had clearly mis-informed me.
The Gate assigned was 35, and we were called around 10:20 and we made our way to the gate. Not having traveled from LGW before with a scheduled VA flight, I was not prepared for the scrum that ensued nor the lack of Priority Boarding. My PE boarding pass had also been printed in UC colours. I was told to go to the front, but I was not prepared to cause a riot, so we were asked to step out of the line and a Security checker will come and see our passports. This took longer than if we would have remained in the line. Was very un-impressed at their excuses, that the gate layout does not permit them to do it, when clearly, it was a lack of planning.
Got on board to find a large family group were together upstairs, with many young children, which would explain why there was very limited choice of seats. My seat neighbour was on staff travel, and her boyfriend was allocated my old seat, so i know that 70H and 70K were free at the time of checkin.[V]
There were many annoucements about the fact that most of the plane would not have any IFE, and compensation was being offerred.
We pushed back late, probably something to do with the flight was almost full, and had 544 people onboard including crew and were into the air at 11:45.
When the IFE was switched on I was glad to see my screen worked, what I was n't expecting is that the headphone socket would not allow any headphones to be plugged in. I enlisted the help of the crew, and was told the FSM would come to see me.
30 Minutes later, I had to remind the crew that I was expecting a visit, although in their defence I had told them just befofre they started heating the lunch.
After lunch I was visited by the CSS who explained the options, back to my old seat, and kick out the boyfriend of my seat neighbour or stay put. The DVD option was given, but strangely I had seen just about everything, and had not seen some of the films on the NOVA system.
I elected to move, and in hindsight this was the wrong thing to do, my new seat neighbour was a large chap who did n't move much so I felt guilty about asking him to move. So as a consequence I did n't have many drinks, and now have a headache from de-hydration.
While out of my seat, the FSM did come up and have a chat and apologise for the issue. There were only 2 Gold members on board, so I was surprised not to have been greeted prior to reporting an issue.
We touched down at 2.30, and were blown about on the way down, as it was very windy in Vegas.
The immigration hal was empty, and I was through quickly and the bag belt started up at 2:50, I had my bag by 3:15, it was tagged as UC, but I'm not wholly convinced the priority baggage was in place.
I teamed up with 2 other employees who were here for the same conference and a short taxi ride got me to the hotel by 3.30pm. My travelling companions were not off the plane and through security until an hour after I got to the Hotel.
Summary
Clubhouse better than expected.
No Priority Boarding.
Checkin Agent was not accurate
Security Lines slow
Entertainment in seat 70H was broken
Food was poor, I went for the beef.
Cabin Crew were friendly, worked hard, but upstairs in PE was a completely different experience to PE from LHR, it was not as good.
FSM was friendly and prepared to spend time to discuss the issues, as I did mention the boarding scuffle.
Seats are tired and need updating.
Would probably choose not to fly direct to Las Vegas again.
