This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Second time I've flown the LHR-HKG leg of this flight and once again had a very pleasurable experience. Tried in vein to use miles to upgrade my S fare to UC, but UC was full. Maybe next time I'll learn not to travel on the Friday before a school holiday!
Once onboard, took my seat in 20D and very nice it was too. Mid cabin and by the aisle so was very happy. Sat next to a pax who had been bumped up from economy, leaving her boss at the back of the plane, which I found very amusing. Was nice to see how excited she was at the prospect of a large comfy seat! Reminded me the first time the OH and I travelled PE. That was in the bubble to LAS a few years ago, and felt very special to truely have your own cabin. Perhaps as I've flown UC a few times since then, but PE doesn't have the same glamour as I felt back then. Still a very nice product though. The FSM was a Scottish chap (can't remember his name) but his announcements were very amusing and it was the first time I'd ever had the chance to enter a prize draw to win a bottle of bubbly by answering a couple of safety questions, which was a nice touch. The pilot then proceeded to recite a monologue about Britain and flying with Virgin, which got a round of applause at the end!
Take off was a bit hairy due to the strong winds and also was delayed due to some debris being blown into the runway. Once in the air, the hot towels came before supper service. The Chinese chicken was fair, but wasn't all that hungry anyway. Glad to see they still bring round the post dinner brandy/Baileys (though it was some knock-off variety!). Missed the UC cheese though :-(
Got a couple of films in before about 3 hours shut-eye. Another film, and then got a cuppa and a cookie, bit of TV then it was breakfast (full English was so-so) and was descending before I knew it. The 11 hrs seemed to go very quickly. Plenty of offers for drinks in between meal services which was nice as I've often found I've needed to go and find one myself.
Hopefully will get the same crew next Friday as they were superb. It's amazing how a bit of lighthearted humour makes a difference. The FSM made a nice dig at BA before disembarking, saying that he was sure you'd never had so much fun spending 11 hours with a Virgin and that you'd never get that with BA. I reckon Richard must have scribed that himself :-)
