V-Flyer

I'd heard some very mixed reports regarding VS's quality of hard product, food, AVOD and inflight service from various reports on Flyertalk and V-Flyer. Initially I decided to bite the bullet and take a chance based on the extremely cheap points + pay fares that were on offer ($852aud+2,000 Flying Club Points). Coupling this with the Amex MR transfer bonus sealed the deal considering that Discount Y fares for the same dates for going for $1200AUD+ at the time.

I watched Expert Flyer and the VS website like a hawk in the weeks up to this flight trying to work out if I should buy up to PE before the flight or risk an ODU on the day. Fortunately prices continued to drop and drop to the point where I shelled out a further $523aud and another 5,000 points to confirm W class return.

Finally I'd be moving up a class in the right direction

I figured that even if the PE service was a disaster I still would have the comfort of an extra 7 inches of legroom, 3 inches of seat width and several more degrees of recline for the equivalent cost of CX or QF Discount Y.

Arriving at SYD around 90mins prior to our scheduled departure I spied a massive queue for the Y check in, fortunately the PE desk was open and clear so we were on our way very quickly. I'd preselected seat 19H in a bid to avoid being too close to the toilets altthough in retrospect I wouldn't have minded sitting near them, unfortunately row 18 had been completely snapped up in the meantime so there was no chance of scoring the bulkhead with footrest for maximum comfort and space.

After some leisurely duty dree shopping we headed for the gate where our A340-600 awaited. Upon arrival I was again pleased to enjoy priority boarding with the Upper Class folk (the only downside being turned right upon boarding - the bar looked very inviting on board!).

Upon entering the PE cabin my first impression was that the seats looked much bigger than I had expected and the cabin much more intimate compared to the Y cabin behind which seemed to stretch into infinity. I was very pleased with the leg room and space of the seat and promptly ordered a pre-departure champagne from the first FA to pass.

Bottled water, pillows, blanket and amenity kit were already waiting at my seat so all that was left to do was sit back, relax and await take-off. I enjoyed the cutesy, animated safety video although the ageing video tape playback was not a particularly good look - in fact I was extremely worried that I might have ended up on equipment that had looped IFE but fortunately this wasn't the case.

Following take-off and climb out the V-Port AVOD was switched on and I found the system to be not particularly impressive as it looks dated and ran very slowly. After a few minutes of exploring the content I found it to be adequate with around 30 movies, a large number of CDs and TV shows (more comparable to TG than EK I thought).

Around 40mins into the flight dinner was served and I chose the Sichuan Pepper Chicken with blueberry cheesecake and green salad. The food was edible but not particularly great and the only thing premium seemed to be the cloth napkin and real cutlery, overall it was acceptable though. I enjoyed an after dinner brandy and settled back to enjoy a repeat viewing of 'Up In The Air'

The W cabin is curtained off from the rest of Y which gives a more secluded and exclusive feel which I enjoyed, a few cheeky Y pax tried to slip through the curtin to make use of the PE toilets and were promptly sent packing by the cabin crew.

The rest of the flight was fairly uneventful, a 'snack' was served shortly before landing which consisted of a dry ham quiche and a bitter coffee. Again not particularly premium but adequate for the task.

Arrival into HKG was on time and our baggage was first on the carousel which was a nice ending to my first time out of Y. Overall I found that VS PE was acceptable as a Y+ experience, cabin crew were particularly helpful being a mixture of UK and HKG staff. Given the price paid + points was around $750aud cheaper than QF PE I thought it was excellent value for a more comfortable travel option.

Thanks for the TR, glad you had a positive experience.

Thank you for the great TR.