This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
We booked this trip in May (fairly last minute for us) as we got invited to join my husband's favourite band on tour for three of their dates (it's a weird life). We just booked cheap Premium Economy tickets; I don't need any more TP this year as I've already renewed Au, and with this trip and everything else we have planned, my OH will renew his as well by January. We live in Yorkshire so the drive to MAN is preferable to the slog to LHR. The only downside is that due to the timing of all the MAN flights, we usually get snarled up in rush hour traffic. Not so on this occasion; apart from a couple of delays, we managed to be at the airport in record time! Just before setting off, I realised with horror that I had neglected to book our parking in the short stay/multi story car park :( I'm usually so on the ball with stuff like this for all our work trips, but it completely slipped my mind. In the end, upon arrival we just went into the long stay car park which was fine, just not as convenient. The buses do go about every 10 minutes and we only had one suitcase between us as it was a short trip.
We arrived at the terminal about 3 hours before the flight and went to check in. I check in online but never print VS boarding passes now as there's no option to e-mail them to yourself any more, and my laptop isn't hooked up to a printer. At the check-in desks a lovely lady helped us and said that as we were both Au, she wanted to release bulkhead seats for us (we were in middle seats towards the back initially as the cabin was quite full by the time we booked). She checked with a supervisor and returned to advise us we had the seats. If you can believe it, despite flying in PE very frequently over the last 3-4 years, we've never had these seats before! So we were curious about the pros and cons. We were given our boarding passes with stickers for the priority lane, passes for the Escape lounge, and wished a pleasant flight.
As a general tip, we have found that without exception, the "priority" lane at MAN T2 is a total waste of time. Whenever we fly with VS the regular lane is usually dead and the priority lane is much slower because they send everyone with small children and wheelchairs etc. down that way. This time we just jumped onto the regular side and were through in minutes. After grabbing a couple of essentials in Boots, we went straight to the Escape lounge. Gold and J passengers now get complementary meals from the paid menu in the lounge, so I had smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on toast and he had eggs benedict. The food was delivered quickly and whilst it's definitely not CH standard, it fills you up. I had some cups of tea and we had a pleasant hour or so there. The lounge was actually quite peaceful despite a sign outside saying it was full, so they would only be letting in business class passengers (I guess no PP entry that morning).
We went downstairs as our gate was announced and waited for boarding. Everything ran very smoothly and we were the first in to the PE cabin. I wasn't sure about the bulkhead seats as I was worried about lack of storage due to no under seat storage, but as we were first on we had plenty of room for our carry on bags. The cabin was about two thirds full, and the three seats on the front row next to us were empty. I got a glass of sparkly stuff before take off because... why not? We actually both fell asleep during take off, and when we awoke a kind member of CC had left the two foot rests for us in the adjacent row Once we had those, the flight was supremely comfy! Having that extra space to spread out was fantastic and we definitely recommend it. It was the most comfortable PE flight we have ever done. Having complained in a previous thread that we never get Au recognition on board any more, on both our flights to and from Orlando last month the flight manager greeted us personally, and the same happened on this flight. She was very charming and said if there was anything she could do for us, just to let her know.
The flight was very smooth and we slept a lot on and off. The food wasn't great. I had the veggie option which was mushrooms with more mushrooms coated in mushroom sauce. Somewhere hiding in it were three sad mushroom gnocchi pieces. It was not delicious. My OH had the beef option and said it was decent, it was a little spicy so quite tasty. The dessert was nice, it was a chocolate brownie that was apparently served with cream according to the description, but there was no cream present! However, the starter salad weirdly had strawberries on it, which I retained for eating with the brownie instead ;)
All the CC were very friendly and efficient. Our trays were cleared promptly after meals and there was just a good vibe about the crew. A little while before landing we were served afternoon tea. I had the veggie sandwiches and my OH had the regular selection. Both were good, I just wish there was more of them and less of the cakes! We had two small cubes of cake, a chocolate torte and a lemon sponge, then the scone with clotted cream and jam. The scones were great!
When we landed in SFO we were off the plane very quickly and went straight for immigration. The queue for the automatic machines moved fast, but then the actual line for seeing an officer was quite slow and we waited about 25 minutes with a child throwing a tantrum a few places in front as our only entertainment ;) When it was our turn, the officer was really very friendly and seemed happier to chat rather than ask questions! We were through in about a minute where our bag had already been pulled from the carousel and was already waiting for us. We hopped in a taxi and were on our way to our hotel in Sausalito within about five minutes. Overall a really great flight. I'll update with details of the return journey later tonight.