This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
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Cabin Crew
VS027
London Gatwick (LGW)- Orlando International Airport (MCO)
Departure Gate: 13
Arrival Gate: 85
747-4Q8 G-VTOP ‘Virginia Plain’ Built 1997
Seat 77H Premium Economy
4th Flight on this aircraft, 44th 747 flight
Sch Dep 11:35 Sch Arr 15:45
Act Dep 11:21 Act Arr 15:14
I had been attempting to get out to visit the parents in Florida for a while. My original plan had been to head out in January but that plan went a little wrong for a number of reason. However, at the end of April, after a couple of long weeks at work I decided to pop online and spend some of my FC miles which were burning a rather large hole in my pocket. Twenty minutes later one PE reward flight was booked and thus I was all set for my first Premium Economy flight on VS and a first venture into the bubble, finally achieving a childhood dream.
I had originally wanted to get onto the new 330, and selected the 27 on the 30th for that exact reason but despite showing as a 330 on expert flyer etc once I had booked the seat map was showing as a 744. Given all the comments recently about the 330s and their ‘teething’ problems, perhaps it was a blessing.
The weekend before had been rather different. Friday was the usual last minute rush at work to hand over files and prepare the holiday notes. My cousin and his girlfriend had long been booked for a weekend down in the New Forest with me so they came down on the Saturday morning. Saturday evening we settled down with a few glasses of red and I became a Barcelona fan for the evening. It is safe to say that Sunday saw me very much in ‘hangover hell’, I blame, of all people, Craig David for introducing us to the lethal tequila and pineapple combo.
Despite the hangover from hell, at exactly t-24 I was online to check in and managed to obtain SEQ1!!!!!! I have now decided to frame the boarding pass on my wall...is that taking the whole SEQ1 to far?
Sunday afternoon I traveled up to London and overnighted at my brothers place in Brixton. TFL or as I now refer to them as ‘Transport for the Olympics’ as this is all they seem to harp on about when doing engineering works! In their wisdom decided not to run the Victoria Line on Bank Holiday Monday because of, yes you have guessed it, improvement works for the Olympics! So it was a much earlier than planned start as I had to walk the fifteen minutes to Stockwell Tube (now of course rather famous in the UK for all the wrong reasons) before jumping on the Northern Line to London Bridge. For £7 I boarded the First Capital Connect service down to LGW. Why anyone pays £30 for the Gatwick Express service from Victoria which is only two minutes faster is beyond me. The train journey was an interesting mix of VS Crew, passengers and lots of people still drunk coming home from the night before!
32 minutes of speeding through the Surrey countryside and I arrived into LGW. Having never used the train into LGW, I was surprised by how great the station is. I left the platform and was deposited into the familiar South Terminal check in hall and made my way to Zone’s A and C. The terminal was chock of block due to the great half term getaway.
As I approached the Check In dragon guarding the PE/UC desk, a middle aged lady who thought she was far more important barged in front of me. The dragon asked if she was flying Upper or PE and was granted access. As I stepped up the dragon said to ‘Good morning sir, economy check in is behind you’. Now I may only be 26 but I was not impressed by this profiling. I, of course, took great pleasure in saying ‘No I am traveling PE today’. She didn’t apologise but did let me into the PE/J check in area where I was called straight forward to a young chap on the PE desk. First thing I asked for was a proper boarding pass, after all we could not have SEQ1 only on a scrappy bit of paper! I was very pleased to be given the new boarding card stock carrying the new logo...yes I am a geek. I was asked the usual security and ESTA/APD questions. He did not bother telling me about fast track and almost forgot to put a PE tag on my bag until it was almost disappearing into the luggage black hole.
A quick pit stop and then through fast track which lived up to the hype and proved rather fast! All in all from the train pulling into the station to being airside was 11 minutes. Not bad in my book at all!
I did the usual lap around the largest shopping mall in West Sussex and then headed up to Weatherspoons for a spot of breakfast. Not really my top choice but it seemed better than going to an Italian for breakfast and I felt like something more than a Pret sandwich. I managed to turn a blind eye to some of the behaviour in their and even stopped to have a quick chat with some Barcelona fans.
As advertised at 10am sharp Gate 13 flashed up on the screens so after checking out the new swanky loos at LGW it was off down to see Virginia Plain waiting for me. After Tinks started the thread on VS aircraft most flown it was rather ironic to see good old Virginia waiting for me. This is now a record 4th time on her (including once when she had a gender change and became Austin!)
There was a long line waiting to get into the gate area. Some 70 meters ahead I could see a purple priority boarding sign. I umed and ared about what to do. In the end in true British style I skipped the queue pretending I was heading to a gate further up the concourse. At the last minute right by the priority boarding sign I made a sharp right hand turn and joined the queue. It was, of course, at this stage that the glaring looks and mutters started. The issue now was how I got the final 10 meters to the desks at the gate entrance. I was soon joined by a fellow PE passenger and in the end we just shouted excuse me and the crowd parted and we were soon welcomed at the desk. It may have been said a thousand times but it still amazes me that LGW cannot get this priority boarding sorted. All it would need is for a barrier to be placed from the priority boarding sign round to the left hand gate desk. It is not that difficult.
A ten minute wait at the gate area and soon UC and PE boarding was called. A short walk down the airbridge and I was being guided upstairs. Two very charming crew members where waiting upstairs and busy helping everyone settle into the cabin. I set up home in 77H and was son offered a glass of the Sparkling Wine which went down a treat. The usual amenity pack and water bottle was waiting on the seat. It soon became apparent that I would not have a seat buddy for the flight which meant a seat for my iPad! In fact they were a couple of spare seats upstairs, with economy being a full house and UC with one open seat.
As we where sat waiting for departure the lady across the aisle rather vocally complained about the lack of seat power for her MacBook. She assured the crew member that VS reservations had told her all PE seats had inseat power. The crew member practiced, what I would imagine to be a well rehearsed blurb about the fleet being upgraded slowly and could only apologise. Within minutes the FSM arrived and she was whisked off to UC never to be seen again!
Aforementioned FSM cam on over the PA and it was clear we had one of those who loved making public announcements! Not only did we have the standard PA’s but also detailed announcements about ensuring the doors where secured, him needing sight down the left hand side of the aircraft and that he then needed to call the captain to tell him we where all secure downstairs. It was all a bit much. I do love a good old PA but 12 before take off is a bit much.
Video demo undertaken we pushed back around twenty minutes late, which was due to slow fueling. As we pushed back the LAS flight followed us out of the cul-de-sac of gates at LGW. I quickly spied the BA 777, also off to MCO, taxiing out from the North Terminal, and she soon overtook us. Fingers crossed the power of four engines will mean we will beat her into the immigration hall at MCO! Flight deck team came on with the usual announcements, 8 hours 28 flight time, fairly smooth but could be some bumps, out over Southampton, Southern Ireland, make land at Kennedy Space Centre.
A brief wait on the taxiway, the double bing bong plus another PA by the FSM (the captain is ready for us to take off, I need to give him the all clear that we are ready’) and we where off. A very long trundle and into the Sussex sky we went. It was amazing the difference in noise levels in the bubble compared to the main deck.
10,000 meters reached, the seatbelt sign off and the drinks service started. A very large G+T arrived which was most welcomed, menus where also handed out. Odyssey was fired up but nothing I fancied so out came the iPad and I started watching The Killing (which I highly recommend, not the American copycat version but the original Danish version!).
Within 45 minutes of blast off, the excellent crew began the PE meal service. This is where the difference between Y and PE really came to the fore (ignoring the seat of course!). The meal was:
Starter:
Scottish Smoked Salmon Salad with a wedge of lemon
Main:
Beef hotpot topped with sliced potatoes and served with roasted Mediterranean vegetables
Desert:
Belgian White Chocolate and raspberry truffle
Warm Bread:
White poppyseed roll
Cheese and Biscuits:
Croxton Manor Red Leicester
Wine:
Sanderling Red (SA Australia)
I will admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the meal service. I normally despise airline food but this was excellent and for the first time in easily 10 years I finished a full airline meal. The service was complete with three glasses of the red, followed by two rounds of Tea and then a Brandy. The crew where fantastic, nothing was too much of an ask and there certainly the mystical ‘MCO route’ syndrome was not present. The luxury of proper cutlery was great as was the glasses and proper tea cup! I thought that PE really came into its own in the meal service, a great meal, quiet cabin, happy crew and great food.
The next couple of hours passed pretty fast. I settled into The Killing, had a couple of bits of fruit from the fruit bowl and had another two G+T’s. The afternoon ice cream was served with a choice of either Hagen Dazz Vanilla or Strawberry from an English farm. I went for Vanilla and it was just at the right temperature. Sometime on these flights the ice cream is so cold that it almost sticks to your tongue but not today.
As we reached St. John’s the seatbelt sign came on for about an hour and the crew also took their seats as we entered a patch of rough air. To be fair it was not that bad but the rest of the flight pretty much bumpy the whole way.
With about two hours to go, the afternoon tea service was served. This was the only part of the PE service which I thought was a bit of a let down. It is nearly the same as is served downstairs and is just offered on a small tray. The plastic cutlery was back (why not just use proper cutlery as with the first meal service?). The sandwich was that horrid Coronation Chicken one, the cookie was the usual one. To be fair I wasn’t that hungry but the two cups of tea where welcomend. It was a shame really, after such an excellent first meal service, to see that the afternoon tea service was the same. It would not take very much to make it slightly different.
The pilot came on to give the usual ‘twenty minutes to use the loo’ announcement and before long we where descending in over Kennedy Space Centre. A sharp left hand turn over Sanford Airport and we where on finals into MCO gliding in over the Beeline (as I still call it!) and we touched down at MCO at 3.14pm local into 38 degree heat. As the reverse thrust was applied, a VS 330 could be seen just taxiing over the bridge to Airside 4, so clearly the MAN flight had beaten us. Ten minutes later we where on stand and then the BA 777 from earlier roared in.
Priority disembarkation worked very well and with a little bit of a power walk I was back in the familiar MCO immigration hall where the tail end of the MAN flight where still waiting to be granted entry into the US. A ten minute wait, I was called up to the immigration desk. Only asked for my thumb prints this time, asked me when I last visited the US and with my answer finished he stamped my passport and wished me a pleasant stay. I wandered over to the PE baggage reclaim where my bag was waiting for me. A quick look behind me, revealed a jam packed immigration hall, for those who have been to MCO, the queue was now well back through the little tunnel area that you emerge from into the hall! No issues at Customs and by 3.35pm I was off the monorail and meeting my parents after four months!
All in all, I was driving out of MCO’s South Exit by 3.50pm not bad at all when you consider I landed at 3.14pm....a new family record time!
So how was the flight. Well I would go as far as to say that this was my best flight with VS ever. After my issues last year when coming back from MCO, this flight was a pleasant contrast. The two crew members upstairs were fantastic, nothing was too much trouble, they were friendly and always willing to help, this coupled with the excellent meal service (disregarding afternoon tea) made for a most pleasant flight. The bubble was as brilliant as I had imagined at 10 years old. So the seats where ‘old’ but to be fair they are not that bad and therefore get an excellent as they worked, were comfortable and the space was most welcomed. Entertainment gets average as other than the moving map I did not use it. LGW ground staff get an average because of the lack of priority boarding. And I am happy to report that Virginia looked very clean, yes the walls are greying of her but the aircraft was clean and tidy.
t was a great flight and I am happy to say that my faith in VS has been restored!
Thank You 
