This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
. The decision to take the M3, M25 then M4 route felt like the right one at the time, I knew there would be traffic on the M25 but adding bad weather to the mix meant I should have known better. M3 was lovely and clear but M25 quickly came to a complete stop. The heavens absolutely opened with thunder, lightning, hail and what not – I had started to worry when I had to put the hand brake on since we’d not moved for 15 minutes!!! Finally things started moving again, albeit at a very slow pace!We arrived at the Quality Parking facility, booked through Purple Parking. Advertised as 5 minutes from the airport with frequent transfer buses (I’ll mention more of this on my return TR). Car dropped off at 17:45 and on route to the airport.
Check In
On arrival to T3, it was very quiet. This would be our first evening flight with VS at T3 and I was pleased to see a lovely smile from the check in agent. I must say, the nicest agent I’ve ever dealt with. The flight was originally set to a 343, when completing a load check around 15:00 I had noticed UC had changed to a 346 layout, however, the flight was still listed as 343, also Flight Aware showed a 346 as operating. I asked the checkin agent if it was a 346, she was initially a little unsure and asked her colleague if that was the “babybus”. At this point we had a little giggle about their names for the different aircraft. They called a 343 a babybus and a 346 “the bigger bus”. Anyway, quickly established it was a 346 and I knew this meant there would be better UC availability – queried upgrade and referred to ticketing desk.
Unfortunately, no UC availability for a reasonable price or miles – cost to transfer to an S was £800 to then use miles to upgrade which seemed very unreasonable so left it.
Security
Very quiet – straight through with only a couple in front. The lady in front of me had a massive and I mean MASSIVE carry on bag – I’m almost certain it was bigger than the suitcase I had just checked. It almost didn’t fit through the scanner. I can’t understand why any airline would permit this, however, it seems whatever airline she was on were happy with it.
Departures
As we had no CH, we decided we’d book the Servisair Lounge. My partner is a nervous traveller and we always find it nice to have someone quiet to relax in prior to the flight. After picking up a few bits in duty free, we headed to the servisair lounge. Once past the massive queue to get in, we quickly discovered that the a place for relaxation it was not! We had used this before with no issue but this time there were no seats at all.
I’m guessing it may have been caused by delays with flights meaning people were in there a lot longer than normal.Nonetheless we finally found a seat after a couple left and relaxed. The weather outside was still awful and we overhead someone on the phone saying a Barcelona flight was struck by lightning.
Boarding was called at 19:20 and gate 22 announced. Now let the mission commence! Gate 22 was one of the furthest gates and it felt like the moving walkways went on forever! As we came to the end of one walkway to turn right, the flight board showing the VS17 and “closing” this caused us to panic slightly as we had left on 1st call and assumed it was a mistake.
Arrived at the gate and straight on board – only to find the aircraft mostly empty. I think VS used the “closing” to get everyone down to the gate sharpish.
No lucky beep for me, however, an Indian gentlemen who was in Y got a PE seat – more on him later.
On board
Found our seats on Varga Girl – ahhhh Vport!!
19 H and K.The crew all seemed very occupied, almost as if they weren’t ready for boarding. Welcome drinks were served to the other aisle but it was over 30 minutes until we were served a welcome drink – big thumbs down on this!
With all 252 passengers on board by 19:45, we were advised of a flight time of 7 hrs 15!! However, the next announcement from the flightdeck advised of a 20-30 minute delay due to Air Traffic Control delays caused by the weather. 25 minutes later we were told we had a new slot, the captain himself sounded very pleased and did say that a number of aircraft had been cancelled or given 1 hour + new time slots, we were lucky. However, he shortly returned to say there was no “tug” so we had to wait. Another 45 minutes later we taxied just before 21:00 and took off at 21:08.
Once up, the crew passed around amenity kits and menus – on all my other flights, the amenity kits have always been in the seat pocket or seat, it was a nice touch that they were handed out.
The crew themselves weren’t the happiest i’ve seen, although professional and hard working, there was a distinct lack of personality from them. Few smiles and I felt like I was back on a BA flight with a “procedural” approach.
A South African FSM, very good! I was impressed by his announcements and he did run a very tight ship with regular visits to all cabins.
No drinks round as after 7pm flight, so food was served within 45 minutes of taking off. I opted for the Beef Hotpot which was very nice and my OH had the salmon which was excellent too.
Back to the Indian gentleman who got the op up to PE. He was sat in 18 G.
Now, this is what you call ‘milking’ it. He had 3 welcome drinks, he then asked for 2 options for dinner – to which the CC advised that he would have to wait for everyone to be served then if there was any left he could have another. He had 3 bread rolls when offered, he also ended up having 2 meals as the CC returned with an extra one. He had his seat in full recline from the minute we were up in the air (making it difficult for the lady behind to eat her meal), he had his feet up in the air on the wall – shoes off etc. He must have used his call button near on 10 times during the flight and also had 2 sandwiches for the snack later on. Oh and this was his first VS flight!! I wasn’t bitter at all.
The toilet issue remains and I must say i did have a giggle on this flight. A gentleman from Y was up immediately at the seat belt signs were switched off, the PE crew went up and simply closed the curtain in front of him! He peeked through to sort of say “what’s going on” and she simply pointed to the back! Well done! However, it remained an issue throughout the flight, I would never use the UC toilets but it seems not all feel the same.
I enjoyed some vport then decided to snooze for a bit.
I woke when we were around 90 minutes out of EWR, sandwiches were being served. Now, the cabin lights were dimmed and the majority of the cabin went to sleep during this time. To then be woken up with sandwiches was a very odd concept. I couldn’t stomach it and felt more like I should be eating breakfast!
Landed in EWR at 23:55, quickly off and made the dash to immigration. I knew it would be quiet as it wasn’t a peak time but Tinkerbelle had mentioned that the immigration staff was reduced. I am very pleased that I did rush as there was 1, yes that’s right ONE immigration officer serving international arrivals.
Not much better for US citizens with only 1 person too. As you can imagine, the queue quickly built and was very time consuming, especially when certain people were unable to understand the concept of putting your fingers on the pad for scanning!! Anyway, the queue stretched out past the immigration hall. There were 15 or so in front of us and it had taken 15 minutes to service around 6 so for the Y passengers at the end, it was going to take ages! What also frustrated me was the number of people in wheelchairs with 5+ family members who were all taken to the front. What frustrated me, is one asian lady had been walking up and down the aisles on the flight – I remember because she kept walking through PE suddenly when we arrived she couldn’t walk at all and all her 12 or so family members had to go with her, delaying things even more!! After 20 minutes 2 more immigration officers joined and things sped up.
Baggage already out, picked up by our dial 7 car and on into the city within 25 minutes and a lovely bed in Chelsea (thanks for the recommendation Tonty)
Overall, a good flight but I believe thanks to it being a 346. I still feel the ice cream should be served on this flight and would make a nice addition after dinner, perhaps as an option for “movie time”. I’d like to see an alternative snack option for the later meal, perhaps muffins and pastries instead of sandwiches.
