This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
At the Airport:
Dropped off by car at Gatwick Sat morning, with the airport looking fairly busy (in full holiday mode) with long queues to the drop off at the South terminal. The escalator up to departures now has narrower barriers so those with suitcases now have to take the ramp around. The UC check-in desk was empty, and bag drop was completed painlessly with the girl at the desk confirming that the Clubhouse was now closed and that I was to show my Gold card to get into the No1 lounge (since I was flying PE). Walking past, the economy check-in looked like a nightmare, with lots of people queueing (apparantly online check-in crashed the previous day). Fast track through security was smooth and painless, with the whole process done in only a few minutes. Once through security my colleague and I followed the signs to the No1 lounge, which took us by a strange route, via various corridors and stairs and past the serviceair lounge before emerging at the North end of the terminal. It's actualy much quicker and easier to get to by going up the stairs by the Frankie & Benney's and then turning right.
We got to the lounge and were very surprised that there was no-one at the door so we wondered in slightly unsure what to do. Eventually the Virgin rep (after finishing her conversation with another passenger/staff?) came over to sign us in and take boarding card details. First impressions I must say are very good and it is certainly an adequate temporary substitute for the clubhouse. The lounge itself http://www.no1lounges.com/gatwick.php is a very nice, modern affair, with two split levels, double height floor to ceiling windows giving a very good view of the airport (better than from the clubhouse IMO). It is not as big as the clubhouse but seemed adeqaute for the number of people using it. Breakfast available was a mixture of a buffet selection of cereals, etc and a small 'cooked to order' selection offered. Picked up some cereal and ordered the bacon roll with some orange juice and a pot of tea from the waitress servive, which all proved to be very good. Some alcoholic drinks were free (e.g. G&T), but others such as the cocktails were extra. Attempted to access the wifi but despite having the code, couldn't get it to work. The Virgin rep came round personally to let us know what gate the flight was at and advised on when we should think about leaving.
After a couple of hours I nipped out to do a spot of shopping at the Dixons tax free and then made my way to the gate. Boarding hadn't started yet as there was a delay in getting the aircraft ready. With the number of people at the gate the flight was clearly full and when boarding was eventually called there was a big queue to get on despite only PE and UC being called (I guess the large PE section on the 744 causes this). There was a further delay before pushback and we eventually took off about an hour later than scheduled.
On-board
Boarded (with a general hello, but no 'personal welcome back' from the CC) and made our way to the upstairs PE section. Usual PE pre-flight drinks were handed out once we had sat down. I personally prefer the Upper Deck as the side-bins allow a great place to store all the bits and pieces for the flight and there is a much greater sense of space with the wide aisle. My colleague however prefers the lower deck as he thinks you get better service as the CC are apparantly shared with the UC cabin, and also the larger overhead bins for carry on's.
Food was average for VS PE, with the main meal choosing a nothing special, but edible chicken. Unusually there was no after dinner offer of Baileys or Brandy (although apparantly this was done on the lower PE deck) no obvious reason why they missed this, also the glassware was replaced by plastic mid-flight for some reason - the CC ran out of clean glasses maybe? Managaed to get a bit of rest and awoke when the usual Ice cream was handed out. Later in the flight sandwiches were also given out and were actually quite nice (not sure if this is a recent change to the usual egg cob things but is a welcome one). Watched the Star Trek movie and a couple of the comedy programmes, some of the programmes were the same as my previous flight in July though and the quality of the selection seems to have gone downhill in the last year, the Nova IFE is also defininetely showing it's age.
Managed to get a further bit of rest; although the LGW 747's older style PE seats are not as nice to look at as the newer leather seats, they do have proper leg rests as part of the seat so in my opinion are much easier to rest/sleep in. The seat belt sign was put on a few times in strangely clear air (possibly something to do with the fact this was a full flight to Vegas![:w]).
We made up a bit of time on way and landed only slightly behind schedule. Immigration was relatively painless and bags arrived soon after the carosel started.
Overall an average PE flight, the temporary No1 lounge for Golds is IMO good and the in-flight service was ok, if not outstanding.
Hope this read ok and will try and get out a TP for the return flight. If anyone has further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Dave
