This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
A bit of background. I generally fly EK business longhaul but as they didn't cover my route I had the choice of BA or VS. As I hadn't flown with VS since 1990 and the BGI route was going to be on a 747 I chose them over BA on the 777.
As soon as I had my PNR I checked my seats online and was a bit off to see I had seats in the group of 4. I checked daily to see if any others became available - to no avail.
I did OLCI again confirming these seats. I left my bags at the bag drop and whisked through the Fast Track security at LGW.
At circa 09.15 it was saying "go to gate" - there was hardly anyone there at all. I asked a VS staff member if any other seats were available in PE and was met with a curt reply of NO. Boarding started straightaway and we boarded Tinker Bell. I appreciated the bottle of water in the seat pocket.
The male CC was extremely nice and friendly. I managed to drink 3 glasses of sparkling wine before take off. Shortly after a drink service was offered along with Pretzels. Lunch followed - nothing much to say here. I missed the liquor run as I was wandering around! The male CC was great in filling up my water bottle every time I asked.
Before landing we were offered some sandwiches and the famous scone which I couldn't eat as I was full.
We landed in BGI after a very comfortable flight.
I was very impressed with the VS PE product and service received. The seat pitch is good and I found the leather seats comfortable even though pressing the lumbar support button did nothing. The crew were very good and I left with a great impression of VS after many years of not travelling with them.
I shall include my return journey too:
I returned with Tinker Bell again. (By the way the aircraft database on here is incorrect for Tinker Bell as it shows that it has only UC on the top deck which is incorrect - there are 5 rows of EC on the left and 6 on the right at the rear of the bubble)
When I booked I couldn't fly PE on the return leg as it was full so I stuck with EC.
The day before OLCI opened I checked the seat situation as I had awful seats down the back and was delighted to see that all of the top deck EC seats were now available. So I grabbed 76BC upstairs in the bubble.
We were greeted very warmly by 2 female CC. They put my hand luggage in the UC locker as it wouldn't fit in the over-head bins.
Soon after take off we were offered a drink, then dinner. Nothing much to mention really. Lots of wine top-ups. It was a pretty boring flight until we arrived over Ireland where things started getting bumpy, so much so the captain asked the crew to take their jump seats. They managed to switch off the seat belt signs for about 10 mins before landing.
Sitting in the bubble has enormous advantages if travelling EC (lovely quiet cabin - food served quickly - a lot less engine noise and mainly you are one of the first people off the plane which in my case was fantastic as I had a connection to Italy)
So we were off before any of the PE's downstairs - there was NO queue at customs - and here is a great thing - as were flew out PE we still had our PE labels on our suitcases for our return - blow me - our suitcases arrived along with the UC ones!! This is something to bear in mind...keep your PE luggage labels!!
We landed at 6am and I wanted to catch the 07.10 EZY flight to MXP... and I did and my suitcases arrived with me at MXP. Finally landed in MXP (Milan) at 9am UK time. What a record - just 3 hours after landing at LGW!
A few things I didn't think much of: the VS V Port system - not many films. - the garish blankets - the size of the overhead bins in EC in the bubble.
Well that is it. Hope you enjoy.
Mozart
