VS039 LHR-ORD 13 Aug 09 (PE)

This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

We stopped overnight at the Hilton at T4 - the terminal over there looks like a Low Cost / Charter airline terminal (I feel sorry for those who are travelling first from there!). Nice relaxed evening and an early rise to get over to T3. We asked about a taxi and were told it would cost 20!

Had checked in on line, but not printer boarding cards, so strolled over to the Upper Class to drop off bags and get boarding cards. Couldn't get row 18 - told seats were taken/blocked/broken. Check-in staff very friendly and efficient. Up through the security wing - told that the shoe carnival the other side has now gone, and it was random selection of shoes to be screened. Someone in front of us had loads of liquids and so was causing a few problems! Still pretty fast and did a little shopping before heading up to the lounge. Had a little breakfast before a very good and relaxing facial. Asked about upgrading using miles, but as we had used an AMEX upgrade voucher it was a no.

Time seemed to fly by, and then it was time to head off to the gate. Nice to see that they had a priority lane set up and that most people had already boarded. Once on board, offered champagne (really sparkling sweet wine). There were two babies in PE, hence the blocked 18A/C and 18H/K - they slept for most of the flight and no crying could be heard.

After take-off, drinks round quickly and the staff were friendly and happy and chatty. No pretzels offered - have these been taken off as a cost cutting exercise? Lunch was:

Green garden salad with vinaigrette dressing

Braised beef bourguignon, chicken korma with veggie jalfrezi or pasta with arrabiata sauce

Gu chocolate 25th birthday dessert.

The salad was brown (not green) - I asked to change it, which was done, but I was told that they usually looked like that. The curry option was very popular and very tasty indeed. Bread was offered - crusty white cob and cheese sticks - both very dry/slightly stale. Dessert was good.

Not vPort unfortunately. The selection of films were not bad, the problem was that the tapes were very badly worn, slipped a lot and were of poor quality. This meant that some of the films were basically unwatchable.

Flight was unremarkable - seat belt signs were on for a lot of it, which meant long queues at the loos when they did turn off.

Pre-landing snack was a ham or cheese sandwich. The ham option had the thinnest piece of ham that I have ever seen.

Landed a little early, and off pretty quick (PE was nearly full, and UC was about half-full - a few friend/family upgrades I think!).

Security at ORD was a nightmare....very slow, lots of lanes not open and the gentleman who did my entry was very abrupt and unfriendly indeed. Bags had been off for about an hour before we got through security!

Overall:

1. Staff very good
2. Food - some bits very good, and other bits very poor indeed
3. Inflight entertainment waslet down by the quality of the tapes being used!

Thanks for the detailed TR, yet again food was disappointing although PE food often seems better than UC. I hope the films are better on the way back.

Thank you for the TR. The pretzels have been removed unfortunately. They have also removed the cheese and buscuits in Y and they no longer do a drinks sevices on flight leaving after 7pm local time i think...

Ralph

every little helps with cost I suppose, but I quite liked the pretzels. I haven't noticed a missing drinks round previously - is that in Econ only, or also in PE?

[honey lamb]

quote: Nice relaxed evening and an early rise to get over to T3. We asked about a taxi and were told it would cost 20!
Probably more! When I was deposited at T1 via LTN by a very badly delayed EI flight at 3:15am, it cost me 25 to get to the Hilton at T4. At that hour of the morning there was no traffic but it still took the bones of 30 minutes to get there as we had to go round the perimeter if the airport. (Fortunately Aer Lingus refunded the taxi fare [y])

quote: No pretzels offered - have these been taken off as a cost cutting exercise?
Yes. This was mentioned in a recent thread.

Thanks for the TR.

Thank you for the TR![y]

Thanks for the TR

Thanks for the TR, yup pretzels gone but so to, I thought, was the pre-meal drinks round in PE too ... not on your flight.

With 346s grounded, we're going to see more 343s on some routes, e.g. EWR, meaning Odyssey and bad quality IFE. I know I go on about this, but it really is something VS should get a grip of and not doing so is going to reflect badly on VS's standing as more flights are Odyssey rather than VPort.

our flight to EWR in December has been changed to a 343 - at least we are upper, so you can have a bigger screen, but still not as good as vPort. It is a shame, as I have been selling VS to my friends on the basis of the onboard entertainment.....some of them will say that they would be better off on BA these days!

quote:Originally posted by ralphy
they no longer do a drinks sevices on flight leaving after 7pm local time i think...

Ralph


Just to clarify, the drinks cart follows the meal cart on flights departing sfter 7pm, so a full selection is still available.

[mitchja]

Thanks for the TR.

If you have problems with your IFE (in any cabin on any A/C), speak to the FSM, as they *should* offer you miles as compensation.

Regards