VS012 BOS-LHR 2 SEP 11 (Premium Economy)

This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

After flying out UC, I have to confess I was slightly underwhelmed about having to return PE. Also, we were only able to reserve two seats in the middle block of three, rather than on the outside of the cabin, which I have always found annoying. Because of this, and having never asked before, I decided I was going to enquire at check-in if there was any availability in UC, and if so how much would the upgrade cost (we were out of miles having used them all to upgrade the outward leg!). I thought asking about cost might go down better than just asking for an upgrade, the chances of which I'm sure are very slim! Check-in was dead - I suspect because we arrived only 75 minutes before the flight, due to a combination of a very slow transfer from the hire car drop off, and traffic around Boston - it was twitchy-bum time when we were stuck going nowhere about 5 miles from Logan, less than two hours before the flight!! Anyway, the very friendly, smiley lady on check in said she'd check if there was availability in UC, and a few seconds later, she said there was only one seat, but then she checked with her colleague, and it appeared there were two seats available. Half way there I thought. She then told me the cost would be £1100….each. Ouch!! I said, in a rather sorry, puppy-dog way, that we couldn't afford that, half hoping she'd take pity. Alas not. I was happy I had tried though.

As we were so late, there wasn't much time to hang around. I got told off by the TSA man for leaving some coins in my pocket when going through the body scanner (whoops). Only had time to spend the few remaining dollars on some Ghirardelli squares for work colleagues, before we boarded. There was the usual huddle of people clambering to board, even though UC/PE had only just been called. Comedy moment when we boarded - my wife got directed to one aisle (which was actually the wrong one), whilst I was sent to the other. I found my seat in the middle of the row of three, but she walked past the right row. She couldn't turn around due to the queue of people behind, plus she couldn't cut across the middle aisle, as there were people sitting there. My laughing at her when she managed to clamber her way back didn't go down to well!

Once seated, fizzy wine was quickly served, and much to my wife's delight (she hates flying - see outward leg TR!), the captain announced the flight would be just under 6 hours. As we'd flown out in August, and back in September, there was a new IFE magazine, and I saw some good stuff on I wanted to watch (Senna, Super8). After takeoff, dinner was quickly served. I had lamb curry, whilst the wife went for some raviolli thing (can't remember what was in it - even though I ate it all - again, see previous TR!!). Food was OK, but luke warm, rather than hot. Wine in a small plastic bottle really is a bit of a come down after having it poured for you in a real glass. Woe is me…. ;o) Service was pretty efficient, and tea/coffee was offered a couple of times just in case you were a slow eater!

Despite my best intentions of watching some good films, I fell asleep pretty quickly, having only managed a couple of episodes of Family Guy. Woke up three hours later (wife still wide awake), but quickly dozed off again, only to be woken by the smell of breakfast. Not sure if it was because I was half asleep, but it really did not smell appealing. I decline, and to be honest was by now looking forward to disembarking. Not that it was a bad flight, but I really can't cope with sleeping sitting up, even if the PE seats are very comfy and supportive. I get grouchy! Whilst on the subject of seats, I hadn't really noticed before how much legroom you lose when the seat in front is fully reclined. The wife pulled a bit of a face when the person in front reclined, however the elderly American couple opposite made a big fuss when the person in front of them reclined whilst they were still having dinner. To be fair, it did nearly knock a glass of wine over!

It seemed to take forever for us to disembark after we'd come to a halt (20 mins at least), and we were faced with an enormous queue once we got to the immigration hall. There was absolutely no management of the queue at all, so when it split towards the front, one half was being pointed to at least 8 free desks, whilst the other half (ours) only had 3, and then one of them disappeared as we neared the front. Come on BAA - sort it out!!! Once through, we then had another massive wait for our bags. The carousel was jam packed, and nobody seemed to be taking any bags (they were probably stuck in immigration). At least 40 mins before ours came out. At this point, I was very please with the decision to use Purple Parking's premium service (plus we earned another 1000 miles!), where our car was delievered to the terminal.

In summary, an efficient, comfortable flight, but all the waiting around at the end was very frustrating - all of which was out of VS's control. The moral of the story (for me anyway), is never fly UC unless you can afford to do it every time. As nice as PE, there really is quite a gulf between the two. I remember the first time we flew PE (out of LGW to LAS), we were in the bubble of a 747, and it felt a real treat. I suspect we shall only get that feeling now when in UC. It's official - I am now a flight snob!!!

Another one bites the dust as they say :-)

Thank you for the TR.

Great TR - thanks.

And, "it's true what you say..."

Thanks for the TR

How did you like Boston?

And yes once you have been in UC is it very hard to go back !

BAA are to blame for many things but the staffing of the immigration desks is not one of them. That is down to the UK Border Agency

Awesome TR! A great read

My wife didn't like flying and I used to get to eat all her meals too However, now she seems to have gotten over that and eats her own food - how very dare

Thanks for the TR -- enjoyed it.

all the waiting around at the end was very frustrating - all of which was out of VS's control.

Sounds like you had a really long wait for bags, which IS a VS matter -- and you should have had priority luggage if travelling in PE. So that's poor.