This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
I got the train down from Lincoln to London Kings Cross, having lost my Oyster card in an apartment move last year I needed to purchase another. The original plan was to the Tube across to Paddington and get the LHR Express Train, however when I compared the journeys and spoke to some friends who had done both decided I didn't gain much by doing this, so instead I took the Picadilly line directly to LHR. This took 50 minutes, arriving at 12:40. It would be interesting to do the train next time to compare the two.
I had checked in online but needed to drop my bags off and pick up my boarding card, so joined the PE line. The line was not long however a large family group was checking in, including a very young baby and there seemed to be some fuss over the documentation. The couple in front of me got called to an Upper Class desk once one became free.
I checked in and got a green card and customs form there, I headed upstairs and straight to the Travelex desk to pick up my cash passport. According to Money saving expert my bank, Halifax, is one of the most expensive debit cards to use abroad, so with free ATM withdrawls it seemed sensible. It did take a while to go through the paperwork and it is a Visa Electron which may/may not be accepted everywhere but I will mainly be using it to withdraw cash from an ATM. Then onto the post office to post some last minute (read late) birthday cards, then through security. I try and be as prepared as possible for sercurity I refuse to travel with any liquids/balms and always take my belt off and put it in my bag etc. This time I didn't seem to have enough hands with an iPod, digital camera, BlackBerry, Wallet, Laptop, huge coat and leather boots I ended up with 5 of the plastic trays! Once I was redressed I headed to the duty free to get a free squirt of aftershave.
I booked into the T3 servisair lounge and printed off the invitation, I thought this included directions but it didn't. The airport's signage worked fine however and I soon found it and a seat so that I could see the apron and runway. There was quite a commotion when an Emirates A380 taxied and took off. The food selection in these lounges isn't brilliant, more snacks but the beverage selection is fine. I started with an espresso and orange juice then moved onto the Becks, a lovely 2007 Tempranillo and some self-mixed G+T's.
At 15:30 the screen displayed 'boarding', I headed to WHSmiths picked up some literature then to the gate, 21. These gates are a long way away, now I will understand when I read other trip reports. At the gate there were two lines one for Economy pax and another for PE and UC. I joined the PE and my boarding card was ripped immediately. I then headed into the gate area and realised there were secondary security checks for everyone. This consisted of two managers and a team of hand searchers. Everyone's hand baggage was searched, everyone's shoes, coats and belts had to be removed and those travelling with electrical items had to prove they worked. In addition those who had bottles of water, juice etc had to drink some. No wonder they called us early to the gate!
Once through this you entered a gate area with no facilities other than seats and a vending machine. A cart with newpapers on etc was available for those who wanted them. At 16:20 priority boarding was called, UC pax used door B, PE pax used door A which was to then become the economy door. I boarded and as 20H is on the right hand side of the plane had to pass through the UC bar area, well I couldn't help peering! Found my seat and stowed baggage etc. The pre-flight drinks service started, sparkling wine, orange juice, bucks fizz or water. I had the wine. Once all were boarded the economy pax kept flowing through this cabin which was a little annoying however unavoidable I imagine. They must have poured too many pre-flight drinks as they came around again and I had a second wine. Doors closed, BlackBerry off and then I needed the toilet. Really badly. Cabin crew prepare for departure and we taxi and queue for what seems forever to take off. I must have looked quite nervous as I squirmed in my seat! I distracted myself by reading things twice in the newspaper and undid my trouser button which helped. As soon as the seatbelt sign went off I followed the cabin staff to the toilet as they were unlocked I was in there!
Back to my seat and the bar service started. Not wanting to appear an alcoholic I opted for a sparkling water, 'with ice sir?' 'yes please', I said 'and lemon too if you have it', 'I do appologise but I only have lime... I suppose I could find you some lemon though' 'Actually I'd rather have lime but lemon was the safe thing to ask for!' This is the first time I've flown anything other than Econ so to have drinks served in glass and in proper on the ground measures was wonderful.
V:Port started and I plugged in my Phillips headphones. As I've not used V:Port before I selected the tutorial but soon bored of it and found my own way around. I started off watching Coco Before Chanel. Very good.
Menu's brought round:
Choice of bread roll
Ceasar salad
Chicken Dish, with carrots, broccoli, potatoes and stuffing
King Prawn something
Pasta something
Gu Choc pot
I went for the chicken which was interesting. I don't know how they do the carrots but they were v hard in the middle but very overdone and soft on the outside! It was all washed down with 2 glasses of Virgin's Tempranillo and a top up of water. As I finished with my breadroll which was stale on the outside and fresh on the in I noticed I didn't have a Gu desert. Had I wanted one especially I would have asked but I wasn't that bothered so didn't. Although the virgin website suggests 'premium dining' I was prepared for a very economy meal packaged as a PE product. I liked having proper china and metal cutlery so wasn't overly dissapointed with the meal.
After dinner drinks, brandy or bailey's - I had brandy which was very nice.
Cabin lights then dimmed and Coco Before Chanel finished, so i tried my hand at some trivia and won the round! Interestingly it was against everyone in row 53! There were quite a lot of school trips on the flight so no doubt these all knew eachother.
At some point now I went to the toilet and came back. Whilst sitting down I managed to bend my headphone jack in the socket rendering it broken. They were only 20 headphones but still frustrating. I asked for a VS pair and abandoned mine when I disembarked.
I watched some Family Guy, and was presented by an ice cream which was a little too frozen so it had to sit for a while. An offer of water/orange juice came round pre-poured on a tray and I asked for a sparkling water instead. The person sat next to me did not eat dinner and asked for some fruit if they had it. On the way back to the galley the crew member dropped the tray and made a mess so had to clean up. Because of this it took about 20-25 minutes to get the sparkling water and a banana. But I wasn't parched so didn't mind the wait.
I had a go at the inflight map which was good, then back to trivia. As I exited Trivia V:Port decided it needed to reboot so it did. The person in 19H and another passenger in my eyeline was having considerable problems with V:Port which lead to multiple resets which didn't work. In the end a battered copy of Hello! magazine was offered as a substitute as neither liked anything from the DVD menu.
A final drinks round then all inflight stuff turned off for the last phase of flight.
The landing was very good and we had a long taxi to our gate. Priority disembarkation worked well, however I managed to overtake a few UC pax on the way to the hall. Here we were the only flight in so it was very quick. Baggage took a long time to come through, however I think priority worked as most had UC tags or PE tags on before I left.
Overall a very good first flight with VS, everything worked and came in above expectation. I do not, however, that I would be so eager to fly with VS again if the plane did not offer V:Port or the new style PE seat.
I fly back on Wednesday, but in Econ so will be interesting to see if the actual food is much different or if it's just the pacakaging.
