This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
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Cabin Crew
Next morning suitably refreshed we made our way to the terminal and found a very quiet PE check in. In no time at all we were issued with boarding passes and fast track stickers and as we had passes for the Vroom we didn't waste any time making our way there. Time wise it was just after 7.00am so the airport wasn't too busy and neither was the Vroom. As per my previous thread (which I posted from the Vroom) we thought the facilities, food and general comfort was perfectly acceptable. It's not up to clubhouse standards but this isn't what it is trying to be. If you want somewhere to escape the madness outside it fits the bill.
After some food and drinks we were told that our flight was going to be about an hour late due to a late inbound flight. While I'm never happy with flights being late I consoled myself with another sausage roll (with brown sauce) and Mrs M had another Danish. This was another good reason for being in the Vroom.
As the time passed it did start to get a bit busier and the adults only seating area filled up pretty quickly to the point where a couple of UC passengers complained that there was no where to sit. This wasn't strictly true as there were some tables available at the other end but I guess they didn't want to sit with the families that were already there. We also met Jimmy Carr who was also off on his hols, nice guy gave us his autograph and had our picture taken with him.
Eventually our flight was called and we made our way to the gate which was pretty empty when we got there. Passports and boarding passes checked we made our way on the plane and upstairs to reacquaint ourselves with 79 a & c. It's been a while since we've been PE and I was quite surprised how much room we had. The seats were still as shabby and creaky as I remembered but not unacceptably so. Champagne was served but without our favourite pretzels :-( and final checks made we pushed back just after 11.00, 90 minutes late. The pilot felt confident that he could get an hour of that back so we sat back and relaxed after all we were on holiday.
After an hour or so the entertainment was switched on so I settled down and watched Night at the Museum 2, nice and light with some really funny bits. Lunch was served an hour or so into the film and I had the seafood pasta which was OK. After the film I spent a few hours paying some games on my iphone and listening to music before ice cream was served. There were a few drink runs throughout the afternoon and the 2 guys looking after the upper deck were generally pretty good at keeping everyone happy. About an hour from landing afternoon tea was served which again was OK.
The flight itself was very smooth, hardly any turbulance which we haven't experienced in a very long time. Anyway we started our decent into ANU and after a few turns here and there we were on the ground just over an hour late.
Now some of you may remember me asking for tips on arrival to ANU and the concensus was get off and into immigration asap and be worried if there was a BA plane on the tarmac. Well guess what, there was a BA plane on the tarmac.
Doors opened and we made our way quickly down the stairs and passed as many people as we could without being too obvious and into the immigration hall. To our surprise there was no one there other than a few people who were a bit faster than us off our plane so we were through in about 10 minutes. Around the corner to the luggage belt we were delighted to see both our bags appear within a couple of minutes and as we walked passed the immigration hall to see a heaving mass of people and felt glad we did the rush through.
Outside we were met the the VH reps and after a short wait for a couple of other people we were on the mini bus to our hotel. An hour or so later we were swimming in the pool with a cooling pina colada.
Return TR will follow shortly.
Miopyk [8D]
