VS046 JFK-LHR 20 NOV 12 (Premium Economy)

This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin

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Food & Drink

Entertainment

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Cabin Crew

Woke up in suite 14y at Waldorf Astoria after a good nights sleep ready to hit the ground running .
When we opened our suitcases the previous night we found that our two eldest girls had kindly put shopping lists in them for clothes,Hollister ,Ralph Lauren etc as they knew we were going to go to Woodbury common on Monday so we wanted to do as much as poss on the sun.
Started off with a trip up the ESB ,awesome.
Then went to ground zero,a very strange experience knowing so many people died there.
Next up was an open top bus ride ,great to see so much of manhattan .
Rockefeller Centre was great ,biggest Xmas tree I've ever seen .
Central park was nice.
We nt to Woodbury common on mon ,a shoppers paradise,absolute bargains to be had.
Done a bit more shopping on the tues morn ,had a hearty lunch as suggested on here and the made our way to JFK being driven by an absolute maniac.
Dropped bags off and stayed landslide going to the oasis lounge,whilst not the clubhouse it was still good to get away from the crowds and watch the action on the aprons and runway.
Saw I plane land which was cosmic girl(yes that's how early we were) had a few drinks and a bite to eat and headed down to security about 5 45 pm,still quite early but mrs b was a bit worried about getting through in enough time.
Not very impressed with the airside facilities ,not much there at all.treated myself to a decent set of headphones for the flight.
Boarded plane and first impressions were there seemed to be more room in PE on the 747 than a 346 especially at the window seat,pre takeoff drink and newspaper offered and accepted.
The people in front reclined at their earliest opportunity and again had no option but to recline mine even though I didn't want to because I just couldn't see the screen otherwise.
As said on Previous TR I feel these seats recline too far.
Drink and dinner service rolled in to one and found the beef stew and dumplings very nice indeed.
Went to sleep after dinner and the next thing I knew breakfast was being served .
Had the full English which was good if a bit small and landed just after 7 to a warmer meeting at customs than on the outbound.
All in all we had a wonderful trip and found NY fantastic .
We will def return most likely with virgin but I will have to consider different flights ( a much earlier one) and different seats(PE but try and get the first row)
Thanks for reading
Blacky

Glad the city and the flight lived up to expectations. There's so much to do in NYC that it does bear repeat trips with very little crossover in activity.

How did you get out to Woodbury Common?

Paul

p.s. a suite at the Waldorf ?

Thank you for taking the time to post your TR. Sounds like you had a very enjoyable time in New York and a good return flight.

got a coach from outsid the hotel 42 dollars each ,forget the name of the company,the hotel sorted it,we were the first stop and then done 3 more pick ups before we left,nice pleasant ride and you get a book of discount vouchers included so it more than paid for itself.
The suite was lovely,nice to have A lounge as well as a bedroom

Another fine TR Blacky

Good to hear you had an awesome time in NYC, hope you did all that shopping for the offspring

Taxi drivers are maniacs on the route to JFK as it is flat fare so they want to get it over and done with as soon as possible.. all part of the experience, and even to this day I love it.

The 747 is a larger plane so that is probably why you felt more space was available. There are a couple of golden seats but all in all the cabins offer pretty much the same seat space.

A good flight by the sounds of things and good to hear VS have performed as expected.

In regards to the return the best combination I find is the VS3 and the VS46... I have yet to take the VS26 though, this could be a good one on the inbound to help jet lag wise. Front row seats are assigned at checkin so make sure you have a big smile when you ask, a bit of banter with the agent may also help your chances

Cheers for posting

Don't worry joey,the kids done just fine on the clothes front.
I think your right about the 3, it would be much better to get there earlier.
What are the times for the 25&26?
Blacky

Well I'm no expert scubaroo as it was my first time to NY but I would def avoid the 45 at all costs and plump for the 3 ,with the delay on the outbound and the 3 or so hours at immigration we ended up basically wasting an evening of valuable time.
The 46 I found to be a good flight even managing to get a few hours sleep which for me is a bit of a rare occurrence on a plane and because it is for the most part run by 747s gets you home quite quickly in just over 6 hrs

Well I'm no expert scubaroo as it was my first time to NY but I would def avoid the 45 at all costs and plump for the 3 ,with the delay on the outbound and the 3 or so hours at immigration we ended up basically wasting an evening of valuable time.
The 46 I found to be a good flight even managing to get a few hours sleep which for me is a bit of a rare occurrence on a plane and because it is for the most part run by 747s gets you home quite quickly in just over 6 hrs

Any consensus on the best flight no.s out and back in terms of times and Immigration queues?

The consensus at the moment is something like this, from best to worse. (The 9 seems to have got worse of late.)
3 17 25 1 45 9

Returning I've come in on the 4, 46, 10, and 18 this year and on most occasions the e-gates have had no queue and I've been through in minutes. Sometimes the normal desks have been empty too.