This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
After a Baileys had been served and the meals cleared away, the lights were dimmed as it was a night flight. I settled back for a nap and again woke up 7 hours later! The PE seats are so much better for sleeping than Economy. After waking we were only 3 hours-ish from Hong Kong so I watched Robin Hood and then breakfast was served. It was pretty average – I had fried rice – but the rolls were warm and fresh. Drinks were offered multiple times and service was friendly and efficient throughout. We soon began our descent into HKG and landed early (about 25 mins). I went and took my pre-booked shower which was lovely and refreshing and wandered around and made use of the free Wi-Fi to check emails etc.
I bought 2 bottles of water to take onto the flight with me but after the flight was called and we headed down the gangway onto the plane there was a secondary security inspection and all liquids over 100ml were taken off us – even those bought in the terminal (after primary inspection). This has never happened to me before and didn’t happen on the way to the UK. Oh well, a waste of $30HKG and also meant we all kept asking for water the whole time on the flight. Boarding was again fast and efficient, offered 2 glasses of wine/juice before take off and made our slot perfectly on time. Food was served promptly – I had chicken with veges and it was fantastic – really delicious. I thought having had a good sleep on the previous leg that I would be awake for the majority of the 9 hour trek to Sydney – happily I slept a further 5 hours! It really makes the trip so much shorter if you’re unconscious for the majority of it! Food was served not long after I woke and I had a not too appetising sausage and tomato sauce roll (frankfurter cut up and smothered in tomato sauce). However, as I was nearly back in Australia I wasn’t too bothered and we were soon making our descent over a very picturesque Sydney. Everything flowed smoothly, I went through the super fast electronic immigration system (like IRIS) and my bag was one of the first to be dumped out onto the belt. I declared my choccies and gravy granules and was waved through customs. A quick train ride to Domestic and check in for my Brisbane flight and I was soon winging my way to the glorious state of Queensland.
It’s great to be home – only a bit of jetlag – way less than normal. I am happily spouting the virtues of Virgin Atlantic to everyone and will recommend them to anyone who asks. Premium Economy is wonderful – no doubt Upper is better, but for the very reasonable price I paid (about 160% of the Economy price in the end – bargain!) it couldn’t be better.
Thanks to all the contributors at V-Flyer for helping me make good decisions about seats etc. No doubt I’ll be asking questions about various things soon! Cheers.
Just some notes;
1. The V-Port is great – except the controller thing is attached to the unit at the opposite end to what would be logical, so when you use it the cable is stretched across and can be a bit awkward.
2. The headphone jack would be better placed on the end of the armrest not on the inside where I kept hitting it with my leg as I fidgeted.
3. The tannoy announcements were very, very quiet – hard to hear and I missed a few – they needed to turn it up a bit.
4. More Baileys would be good!
) so my admiration goes out to you 
). i understand that I would have to declare them at SYD.