VS002 EWR-LHR 7 Dec 09 (PE)

This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

After 4 cold but busy days in New York it was time to return. I had originally booked a car to pick us up from the hotel at 6.45pm but changed it to 6pm earlier in the day as we felt it was too late. We didnt really need to worry though as we were at Newark in just over half an hour!!

There werent all that many people at check-in but it seemed busy (if that makes sense). The security official was directing economy passengers to the check-in kiosks rather than the desks if they hadnt checked in online, and it looked like it was going to be a really full flight (which I already knew anyway). Again, we had checked in online and were given boarding passes for 32H and K, with an apology from the agent that he couldnt give us any better seats not sure if he was talking about exit rows or not being able to upgrade us (even though I didnt ask), but he was friendly none-the-less.

We had eaten at lunchtime so went straight through a deserted security and settled down for a while in the stifling hot gate area. There were lots of announcements asking for particular passengers to receive a special message and several announcements asking for volunteers to travel on the flight the next morning at 8am in exchange for hotel and meal vouchers and a return flight to anywhere except Australia.

Boarding was right on time and again priority boarding worked well. We were offered Champagne, orange juice or Bucks Fizz and welcomed aboard G-VWOW (they really emphasised the WOW!!) and told that the flight would be a swift 6 hours.

We pushed back on time but then didnt move for a while. After 10 minutes or so we were told that there was a problem with a passenger and that we would be returning to the gate. It must have been a good 20 or so minutes later that we were back on stand, and ground staff came on and spoke to a man with a child across the aisle from us. The child was too old to sit on the dads lap and there were no spare seats on the plane so they would have to travel tomorrow instead. The man was one of a party of about 12 or 14 (most of the cabin it seemed) and there was outrage and they all said that if the dad and child werent flying then they all wanted to get off too. After a bit of arguing (not really sure whether the dad or Virgin were at fault, and I cant understand why it wasnt picked up during booking, check-in or boarding) a man in the row behind said that he would volunteer to get off and they could have his seat. He said that his wife was in labour and he wasnt going to travel but decided to after all, so he got a huge round of applause from the party and wished well for the baby.

His bag was found pretty quickly but we had to refuel, even though wed moved less than 100 yards!!! We took off about an hour late in the end, and dinner was served quickly from the same menu as the one we were given on the outbound..

Then it was lights off until about 90 minutes from Heathrow when breakfast was served. Ive read bad things about PE breakfasts on here but was pleasantly surprised with a very generous piece of fruit cake and a warm giant raisin cookie. Because of the short flight time we landed pretty much on time and we were home before we knew it.

Again, we had a great trip. The crew were fantastic and again worked hard, and I cant wait to fly Virgin again!

quote:Originally posted by Kaz61
Ive read bad things about PE breakfasts on here but was pleasantly surprised with a very generous piece of fruit cake and a warm giant raisin cookie.


That's exactly what I (and some others around here) seem to think is bad about PE breakfast...

I don't know about anyone else, but when I see 'biscuits' (and not the US variety) for breakfast, I have this mental image of Linda Bassett in 'East is East' putting out a plate of rich tea biscuits and calling the kids down saying 'yer breakfast's ready'.

As for cake... that's something you get with afternoon tea, right?

I still think what is being offered is rather shabby...

Thanks for the TR, and sounds like you had an interesting departure!

As for needing to take on more fuel, that's a sensible move by the Captain. While planes leave with a good amount of reserve fuel, any significant amount of sodding around on the ground beyond what is budgeted for, with the engines running eats into that reserve, so taking the opportunity to uplift a bit extra is a good bit of prudence, especially if the weather forecast for Heathrow was less than great, and the threat of arrival delays was higher than usual.

It sounds like you didn't get arrival delays, but no harm having the extra fuel there. Better it being in the wings than it being sat in a tank in EWR when you could have used it!

Mike

Both your legs seem to have been very good [y].

I wonder about the child situation however, presumably the CC did a visual check and determined the child was too large to be safely strapped in - but, if I were the parent and had informed VS the age of the child etc. then was told I couldn't travel, I too would have been terribly irritated.

I hope the man who volunteered to offload received a full compensation offer!

quote:Originally posted by mike-smashing
quote:Originally posted by Kaz61
Ive read bad things about PE breakfasts on here but was pleasantly surprised with a very generous piece of fruit cake and a warm giant raisin cookie.


That's exactly what I (and some others around here) seem to think is bad about PE breakfast...



I agree. On a trip that is less than 8 hours, I would never eat a full breakfast if I'm connecting anyway, and had access to a lounge. Let me deplane, shower, then eat something. I'd probably not eat a full breakfast under any circumstance, still recovering from the food and drink a few hours earlier [:)]

The PE offering is an attempt to fill you up, with all the wrong stuff. IN UC, I'd probably order a fruit & yogurt bowl. In PE, I'd appreciate a fruit plate, and an optional yogurt. As has been said before the issue is not always or necessarily the quality (the cake and biscuit might be perfectly good). It's the type of food that is on offer. Understand that, if the food is decent, lots of people might like cake and biscuit, and it's good to know you found it acceptable.

And while we're talking about breakfast..let's think about this a bit. Imagine we're on an east coast to LHR flight. We have probably had a bit at the airport or CH. Dinner aloft (depart 7:30) is 9pm EST, an hour and a half into a six hour flight. Dessert, a drink, it's 10:30 pm. Two hours sleep,and presto it's 1 am EST (6 am GB) and the lights are on. You are asked if you would like a ...cookie? You manage to ask politely for a cup of tea and your stomach asks for a yoghurt, and a Rennies. Your brain is wrapping itself around instant jet lag and the need to pretend that 2 pm is the new 7 am. Breakfast might be welcome in say... five hours.

When flying UC I have only tea on the breakfast run, and eat those good eggs and salmon in Revivals after a warm shower, strong tea, and the morning paper. When NOT in UC, and refusing that sinking feeling cookie, breakfast happens somewhere around 11 am and probably at a motorway stop if traveling. If just at work in London, breakfast happens the next day.

So, my pitch is to pitch the cookie, bring on some nice Greek yoghurt and fresh fruit and have everyone disembark with happy tummies.

cheers,
RR [:?]