This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Our taxi (local guy we’ve known for years), arrived bang on schedule, and the drive to LGW south was uneventful.
We were checked in by a friendly agent, and received our boarding cards quickly, efficiently, and with a smile!
Now, for months, I’d been checking MMB, and no seat selection had been available. Around 6 weeks before the flight, it was. So with great excitement, I went to grab my seats (LGW/MAN config 1). Bugger, only seats left for selection were 82A,C,D – oh well, might be able to change at OLCI, I thought,. Nevertheless, I kept checking almost daily, but no more seats became available for selection.
Now, either all the other PE passengers were as eager as me, or virtually no seats were ever made available for requests…
OLCI – worked (for a change), but still not able to change seats (bang on 24 hours before takeoff), and no luck at the airport either.
So, 82A,C,D it had to be.
Back on the day, security was quite fast, and we were very soon ensconced in the No.1 lounge. I hadn’t visited this lounge before, and based on recommendations from the ever-reliable and knowledgeable V-Flyer community, had decided to give it a try. I quite liked this lounge, albeit a little crowded due to some delayed flights (we were told), it’s an airy sort of place with good staff. The snack selection was a little limited, but good enough for a break away from the chaos that is Gatwick departures at the start of school holidays!
At about 12:15, set off for the gate for VS15 due to depart at 1300. Boarding went smoothly, and we turned left! But unfortunately had to stop short of the UC cabin – damn it!
Take off, hot towels, drinks, meal etc – nothing to report, pretty bog standard service, no real sparkle, no real complaints.
A little about the seats and cabin. – Being a advocate of the PE in the bubble offering, I wasn’t greatly looking forward to row 82. And, it isn’t nearly as good as the bubble…..size and privacy of cabin aside, the leg room is definitely a little less than the bubble, and the arm-rests are narrower, which all in all, makes these seats less desirable – all in my opinion, of course.
The seat itself was very wobbly (to and fro), and the padding very tired indeed. The aisle is narrower as well, which lead to more knocks from the trolleys.
Not overly impressed with these seats, and yep, you guessed it, I got the same ones on the way back!
Ruby Tuesday did her stuff though, with 453 passengers on board, plus 16 crew, and we landed in MCO on time(ish) and smoothly.
One thing you can say for the PE mini-cabin though, is that you’re off the plane quickly, and with immigration and baggage going as quickly and smoothly as I’ve known it, we were in our taxi within 35 minutes of leaving our seats – that is a personal record by some distance, and I wouldn’t mind betting that it couldn’t be done much faster.
All in all, a “functional” flight (to shamelessly borrow a word used by Buns), and I wasn’t all that impressed with my seat, but wen all is said and done, we got to MCO safely and with some degree of comfort.
This could, though, have been just about any airline, there wasn’t much that screamed “Virgin experience” to me.
And so began, a 13 day stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge…
Return TR to follow…
Concorde RIP - the most amazing machine to grace our skies
