This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin
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I asked about the SUG and was told that I might hear at the gate. I queried whether I could guarantee a W seat but was told again that I'd hear at the gate.
I was expecting to be directed to an alternative lounge but was instead pointed at the old new lounge. On entering the fresh lick of paint was apparent and the appearance was brighter though not substantially different. Food was already being served and was regretfully not to my tastes but knowing I was going to be down the back I ate some veggie pasta and chips and dips.
Service was the usual EWR efficiency and the lounge was full. Just after 20:00 I decided to depart for a 20:25 boarding and was pleased that I had. No fast track and a three lane deep queue to go through the ONE security check point. Whilst waiting several people expressed concern about timings for the flight and were pointed to the masses of Red VS boarding passes in the queue - "they won't go without you"
. The checks were quick when I finally reached the front and I continued down to the gate where shortly thereafter preboarding for the usual suspects was announced. As I strode to the person checking BPs there was an announcement that they were still selling PE seats if people wanted to buy. I proffered my BP and waited hesitantly for the "bing". Nothing. I recoiled in mild horror - but.. but.. but... I've got an SUG there must be a mistake! The person doing the checking kindly directed me to what I guess was the station manager who explained that whilst yes I was on an SUG I was only a J15 and there were 4 J6s before me and that all W seats were now gone. I was less than pleased with this but hopefully swallowed the news with some aplomb. Given that we Flying Co peeps have traditionally been told that our SUGs re second only to necessary repositioning crew it was a slap to be told that we were in fact only J15. (For the benefit of those not steeped in arcana - the lower your J/W rating the more likely you are to be upgraded. J15 is in the boondocks).
So I boarded and stowed my luggage only to find the holy grail of people wanting limited leg room - an AVOD box under the seat in front. To my left were the purple extra leg room seats and the massively extra leg room exit row seats BUT not for me.....
Frankly at this point I just thought - y'know what - before V-Flyer this used to be the only way I flew - suck it up Princess. So I readjusted some cognitive filters and decided to enjoy the experience.
My fellow seat mates were MUCH more outgoing than normal seat mates in UC or W. There's a spirit of commonality in coach that is much more inclusive. Now at the bar in UC you see this but in coach it's there next to you. We had a good old goss to see what they'd been up to and I got down to some people watching.
I didn't eat on the flight (chicken curry or beef stew) as I wanted to try and sleep so I just had a G&T and a glass of wine. Rather than offer a proper TR I'll just offer some vignettes.
An announcement that there'd be a drinks round followed by the meal service was kyboshed by the fact it was a night service (apparently). We had turbulence for the first 20-30 mins and then the crew went straight into meal service. I declined the food but asked for "a G&T and a glass of wine - as I missed the first drinks service". "No you didn't (flat contradiction), there is no drinks service - it's a night flight". Well tell that to your announcing friend not me. I was still given the requested drinks but the response was (to me at least) unprofessional.
No acknowledgement of status on boarding or service although the FSM did walk the length of the cabin once.
The frequent attempts by other pax to infiltrate the extra leg room seats. This must be a nightmare for the crew. They kept having to turn people away explaining that some of the people there had PAID extra so they couldn't just take the seat. This led to one of my favourite riposte exchanges. "But I should have one of those seats - the seat belt in this seat is too tight" "that's OK madam I can get you a seat belt extender" - so apparently fatness is not an instant "free extra leg room" indicator.
Ask about loads when booking extra leg room - some people had three seats to themselves and thus had a bed. The "gentleman" to my left wound me up. He and his partner had three seats to themselves so up came the armrests and he lay down in his partner's lap with his shoes up on the seat. Now in my world chivalry dictates otherwise. In addition every time I saw his iPhone it was "No Service" until 15 minutes from landing when he worked out how to engage Flight mode. Then after "all electronic instruments" were required to be switched off he continued listening to music on his iPhone until crew did the final approach check.
Just before final approach a woman from PE went to the bathroom such that crew were strapped in by the time she exited a couple of minutes later. They seemed slightly surprised by this
.All in all I probably got as much sleep as I do in PE and whilst the legroom was limited 9 hours on I'm still awake functioning and not aching. So it was a salutary lesson in the perceived evils of coach. I really didn't mind it that much.
As an aside Flying Co were VERY quick to recredit my miles and to explain that if I had wanted to upgrade to PE in the event of no UC I should have booked BOTH and they would have refunded whichever was unused. I'm just slightly miffed that I upgraded my X to an L for nothing
