VS045 LHR-JFK 9 APR 11 (Premium Economy)

This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

Aircraft was G-VOGE, Cover Girl.

This was the first leg of our 2 legged trip from London to Boston. We would connect at JFK onto AA Eagle for the short hop to BOS. We did this because BOS had no reward availability.

Nice easy drive to LHR from just south of MK on a beautiful morning, car dropped at Purple Parking and off the bus to check in around 2 hours before.

Dealt with by a nice agent who said she'd had to downgrade people today as every flight was oversold, and it was 'just as well we had done OLCI'. Good for business I guess!

Collected our Dollars, on board on time after a stop at EAT for a bite to eat.

The flight was a short 6h 50m, and it really did feel it. 313 passengers and 12 crew (is that a lower number of crew?).

We took off from runway 9R and did a very tight left turn to the west right away, then the usual routing over Ireland to Nova Scotia and down. The flight was very smooth with no need for the seatbelt sign.

I seemed like there was only one lady working in PE all the time, assisted by the other crew from time to time. She was OK, and overall I'd describe the service by the crew as the classic 7/10 or grade'B', nothing stunning but got the job done fine.

Had a nice beef hotpot dish for dinner and the white-chocolatey dessert was good too. One of the better aeroplane meals I've encountered.

Enjoyed my book, iPod and The Fighter on the IFE with an ice cream that was frozen rock solid at first! Tasted good though. Afternoon tea on a tray is a good improvement, and the coronation chicken sarnie/cookie was enjoyable. In fact for such a short flight time, the gaps between meals may have been a little too short as I was stuffed when we landed!

One gripe was that Economy passengers continually used the PE toilets. I had to wait at least 4 times on the flight for an Economy passenger to finish before I could get in. I raised this casually with the FSM in the galley before landing. He didn't seem to think there was much that could be done, although he did agree that it wasn't acceptable. Perhaps a 'PREMIUM ECONOMY ONLY' sticker on the toilet door would do it?

Landed early at around 4.10pm on 22L, slow taxi to the gate to disembark at 4.20pm, and greeted by a lovely empty immigration hall. Bag off in the first 15 or so, and out of the terminal on the airtrain within 20 minutes of landing, which was excellent.

So, to conclude:
Ground staff were all very nice, professional and did represent the Virgin brand well.
Cabin crew were a bit more 'average' but not exactly poor. Just 'good'.
Food has definitely improved.
IFE is the same as ever but worked reliably.
Arrival to JFK worked like a dream time-wise.

Thanks for posting Clarkey! Glad to hear of a good experience!

The loo situation remains an irritating one! I'm not sure if a sign on the door would work, hmmm solution needed though!

Great result for the immigration queues and JFK.

Luke

Clarkey, thanks for the TR. I fully agree that a solution needs to be found to the loo situation, happens to me on nearly every flight and it needs addressing!!

Good timing with the immigration run.

All the best

Jon

Clarkey, thanks for the TR. I fully agree that a solution needs to be found to the loo situation, happens to me on nearly every flight and it needs
Jon

Thanks for TR
Still believe a simple door code lock would suffice, would remove all the issue and could even be issued to gold/silver as a simple perk if traveling in Y
NH

313 passengers and 12 crew (is that a lower number of crew?).

There should be thirteen cabin crew on a 340-600 so there was one less than normal.

Oh and I tried one of those white chocolate PE desserts for the first time the other day - they were good!!!

Yes they were one crew down which is why there was only one crew-member working PE instead of 2.
The loo issue is a constant problem for us and impossible for us to monitor 100% of the time. I personally wouldn't dare go through a curtain into another class on any airline when travelling as a pax but unfortunately not everyone is the same. I think that the only deterrent might be electric fencing?

Thanks for the responses folks.

I like the electric fence idea, made me laugh!

Electric fencing, what an idea!!

Thank you for the TR.