VS046 JFK-LHR 18 Mar 06 (PE)

This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin

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Having extended my stay due to work commitments - the plan was to catch the earlier VS04 and be back early on Sunday morning. Unfortunately I was obviously too complacent and having left Manhattan too late I found myself arriving at the VS ticket counter at 6:33 and being told that the flight had already closed. So I took my punishment and accepted the alternative of my usual VS046 departure.

At Upper Class check-in I asked for an upstairs seat if available and the the agent had to call the supervisor over to confirm that 74A was indeed upstairs - not cool.

Arrived at the Clubhouse tired and extremely parched. It was emptying rapidly as the VS04 pax departed - particularly frustrating. I sat myself down expecting the normal attentive service.. and finally gave up 10 minutes later and retrieved a cold Coke Zero from the fridge. Other people sat down and were seen to and I sat there waiting for anyone to ask me if I wanted anything to eat - I was beginning to think I had a personal hygiene problem!! Eventually I managed to catch someone's eye and get them over. Having studied the menu I already knew what I wanted but listened to the specials anyway. Then I was informed that the menu's were changed so what I had read in the menu was totally useless. I ordered a main course and was then surprised when a started turned up first. Overall a fairly poor Clubhouse experience.

Made my way to the gate B29 - normal TSA experience on way through. Turned up at an empty gate - it really was still quite early. Took my seat upstairs and took advantage of the offered OJ. Timely take off - pushed back about 10 minutes early. They turned on the v:port very early and I settled down to watch a film - oh no - it was not working on my seat or the empty one next to me. Some people seemed to have it others did not but did not seem to bothered. They tried rebooting my screen twice but with luck. I passed on the meal as I was still full from the starter and main course in the clubhouse. There was nothing left to do but to go to sleep.

Did get a reasonable nights sleep and we landed just about on time. Then annoyingly we passed the T3 stands and made our way towards the T5 stands. Yes for the second time in barely two weeks we were parked at a remote stand and bussed to the Terminal. Immigration was fine and luggage arrived speedily.

Not the best of flight - some of it down to me but missing out on v:port was a bit of a pain.

Phil

Buffy cool TR. thank you. [y]

[Nottingham Nick]

Thanks for the TR, Buffy. [y] No V-port is a pain, but at least - as you were eastbound - you could get your head down. (And a quick letter to customer services usually results in some bonus miles.) [8D][8D]

Are VS fairly flexible about which plane you catch from JFK, or did you have a flexible ticket?

As one who always travels on non-flexible, cheapo, tickets. I have often wondered how sympathetic the airline would be if I missed my flight. I have never had the inclination, or the bottle, to put it to the test though. [;)][:I]

Nick

Thanks for the TR, just pleased you could get some sleep so that the lack of v-port was no big issue. Though it does seem there are many who have experienced either complete malfunction of the system, or at least it freezing up and needing rebooting [:(]

Originally posted by Nottingham Nick
...a quick letter to customer services usually results in some bonus miles. [8D][8D]

Yea have'nt decided on that yet. In all honesty they did try and most people seemed to be OK. I could have moved seats if it really mattered that much.

Originally posted by Nottingham Nick

Are VS fairly flexible about which plane you catch from JFK, or did you have a flexible ticket?

Well I'm not sure what ticket I was on as I only had a reference and our TA does not supply all the details. My guess from a previous trip at the same fare is that it was W out and S return. Certainly it was 55GBP for a change of day but I think changes within the day were not counted. I like to think that having missed it by a couple of minutes they reasoned that I was not a chancer but had genuinely missed the flight and it was not worth trying to charge as it had already been changed once anyway.

Phil