VS019 LHR-SFO 12 JUN 14 (Premium Economy)

This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

*Sorry still don't know how to upload pics from my iPad*

I thought I was organised and well planned but I was proven wrong as I clicked the 'check in' button on the VS website......Day minus 1 and 5 minutes earlier I had written down Mrs P' and my booking refs, logged in and was ready to capture seq1&2. On the curl of 12.59 & 59 secs I continually refreshed the page until I says the OLCI open. As soon as I saw it I popped in our details as quick as was super-humanly possible and ****POW*** Seq 19 & 20 was achieved!? Hugely disappointed

Anyway, after an evening of drowning my sorrows and enjoying a fabulous summers evening with a BBQ at Petmadness Towers, it was time to rise and shine for our drive to Heathrow. Arriving at LHR for the first time since T2 opened (looks very lovely), we navigated our way to Purple Parking Meet & Greet to drop the car off.

Wandered to the VS check-in area and waited in line behind 2 people in the PE queue. In no time at all were greeted by our agent who checked us in with a smile and pleasant chat about nothing in particular. Bags gone & through security in less than 25 minutes it was time for a little breakfast and official celebration of the start of our holiday. No CH access so it was The Bridge Bar for a few drinkies and a sausage sandwich before drifting off to gate 19 to board. I am always laughed at as we make our way to the gate and name all the VS planes as we pass them...Mrs P has a lot to learn!! By the way, we were on Lady Penelope today.

Arrived at the gate with a big queue which was bypassed as priority boarding was brilliantly enforced Used Mobile boarding passes for the second time which was very cool! Met at the aircraft door by the CC and the FSM, which I thought was a nice touch. No name used or specific greeting, which I always think is a missed opportunity, but pleasant nonetheless. Offered a glass of sparkly by our CC, who was very good and informed by the FSM that there were 367 Pax & crew on board with a flight time of 10 hrs 28 mins.

Settled into my comfy PE seat (which had a little rocking motion!?) and fell asleep as the plane was rocketing down the runway. Woke up and the seatbelt sign was off and drinks were being served. Just looking around the VS PE cabin and I still really like it: great lighting, very comfortable seating, plenty of room and a light, airy feel about it.

As dinner was served Mrs P was in the land of nod, so I chose the beef bolognaise which was served as pic below. She then wakes up, attracts the CC's attention and then, as only the veggie option is left, is offered a fillet of beef from Upper Class - gutted ! The bolognaise was actually pretty good as was most things on the tray. Mrs P reports the UC meal being very nice and gloated just a little.

It seems that there is a diabetes conference on in San Francisco as PE was full of delegates finalising PowerPoints, writing notes and having that general work chit chat. I was wondering why Flightstats was indicating a busy flight as well as being hindered for my search for the ever popular G fare!

The CC that was looking after us demonstrated a number of times that she was willing to go above and beyond service thresholds. She was really lovely, offered alternatives to various pax who didn't fancy the dinner menu, grabbed a UC meal for Mrs P and generally wanted to make the flight a great one

Throughout the flight we were offered juice runs, then a pizza pocket (which was ok) for a snack. A flight to the west coast always seems long but it seems a little shorter in PE (tho there is still 3.5 hours to go at this stage!!

The usual cheese and something sandwich for Afternoon Tea was delivered and then we were preparing for our descent into SFO. Some quite strong headwinds whilst descending and, this combined with still seeing water as you're only 500 feet up, made for an interesting landing. We then taxied forever to get to our gate.

This is where the FSM got it a little wrong Obviously the UC pax and upstairs Y cabin was released first and we were held by the FSM on the AC side of PE. After about 19 minutes all the PE pax from the other side were released followed rapidly by about 50 excited Y pax to be escaping. We were still being held on our side of PE...a bit annoying but as we got to immigration there was a minimal queue (not many CBP officers on duty) so were through in less than 15 minutes, just before a massive queue of pax from other flights arrived Bags done in another 20 and off to get the BART to Civic Center, SF for one night before our adventure starts ...

Overall, an excellent flight with very attentive crew, lovely cabin & decent food.

Thanks for the TR, sounds like you had a great flight.
Simon quizzes me on the reg names now and again, not because he's interested. He does it because he likes to see how sad I am! I'm getting much better!

Petmadness - can you let me know which seat no's you were in? we are doing this journey in September and are studying the seat maps at the moment....

Thanks for the TR. Sounds a rather odd way to 'offload', is it always like that at SFO?

Have a great trip.

*Sorry still don't know how to upload pics from my iPad*

When you are typing you will see below an options tab and an Upload attachment tab. Click on the Upload Attachment tab. You will then see an option to choose file, so click on that and choose your photo. Then click add file.

When it is uploaded you will see an option to "place inline". Move your cursor to the place you want to place the photo and click "Place inline". Bingo.

If your file is too big you can download an image resizer free from the app store. I then use that to set the photo dimensions to 700 wide and 500 high. Works fine.

And you can add photos after publishing such as this TR, just use the edit button and follow the above instructions.

Sorted.


And thank you for the TR.

[buns]

Thanks for a very engaging TR

Why is it that us V flyers are gutted when we do not get SEQ1

Never mind, the supper crew member looking after you and the Mrs certainly made up for it and i have to say it is great when it happens and renews continued loyalty with VS.

Hope San Francsico was all that you wanted

buns

Petmadness - can you let me know which seat no's you were in? we are doing this journey in September and are studying the seat maps at the moment....

No worries, we were in 36 AC which were pretty decent with no distractions. What I did notice on this route is that the seats are requested very swiftly so be at the ready as soon as they are released!!

*Sorry still don't know how to upload pics from my iPad*

When you are typing you will see below an options tab and an Upload attachment tab. Click on the Upload Attachment tab. You will then see an option to choose file, so click on that and choose your photo. Then click add file.

When it is uploaded you will see an option to "place inline". Move your cursor to the place you want to place the photo and click "Place inline". Bingo.

If your file is too big you can download an image resizer free from the app store. I then use that to set the photo dimensions to 700 wide and 500 high. Works fine.

And you can add photos after publishing such as this TR, just use the edit button and follow the above instructions.

Sorted.


And thank you for the TR.

Superb, thanks for this HWV....I'll try it when I post the return TR *hopes that he doesn't crash the V-Flyer site*

Thanks for a very engaging TR

Why is it that us V flyers are gutted when we do not get SEQ1

Never mind, the supper crew member looking after you and the Mrs certainly made up for it and i have to say it is great when it happens and renews continued loyalty with VS.

Hope San Francsico was all that you wanted

buns

Thanks Buns

Weird thing, this site.....it changes our priorities to more important focuses such as Seq1, search for G's and other things more important than world peace

Only had 1 night in San Fran as we picked up an RV for two weeks the next day but have been a couple of times before and love the place

Excellent TR PM ,sounds like one crew member went the extra mile which is always appreciated ,hope you had a great holiday

[honey lamb]

Why is it that us V flyers are gutted when we do not get SEQ1
buns

Oh, I don't know. I'm rather proud of my SEQ 479 on EK and whatever the SEQ was on a flight from Mendoza to Buenos Aires where check-in closed the minute we had checked in thanks to a somewhat tardy CDC

Great TR, PM. I mourn the fact that it is now 2 years since I last took that flight. I think it was my favourite flight in the whole VS network

Super TR Petmadness, thanks. Always interesting to read reviews from the PE cabin, I think we'll have to give it a try soon, maybe when I get my Amex PE upgrade vouchers in a couple of months.

Looking forward to the return TR which I see has already been posted.

Thank you petmadness