This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
I could have flown from MAN via the VS109 in J (no premium being the A332 A/C used on that route) but that meant flying to Raleigh-Durham, NC (RDU) which was over a 2 hour drive from where my friends live in Morehead City. Their nearest airport is New Bern (EWN) and that was an option if flying from LHR. Though flying Premium from LHR>EWN via ATL was roughly the same price as flying 'Upper' from MAN to RDU via ATL.
With EWN only being a small regional airport there are only 2 flight a day from ATL with DL. AA also fly into and out of EWN.
I ended up booking this via Delta.com as it was approx £40 cheaper than booking directly with VS and hey, all the Flying benefits are now the same when flying DL and VS right...........wrong, as I actually fell into the trap of thinking that, but it turns out not quite - more on that later (if you havn't already read my other post).
I've checked-in online the day before, though with this being a DL booking, but check-in was done via VS, I couldn't
get mobile boarding passes. Also, the bulkhead row 18 in Premium on the A346 opened up at approx 8am the previous day so I grabbed seat 18G. It pays off to keep checking your seat maps!
Ever since I'd booked this flight, there seems to be various issues going on between VS and DL with seat maps and PNR's etc. All did seem to get sorted eventually but there are still things not streamlined enough between VS and DL bookings.
My booking was as follows all booked via Delta.com:
DL 4364 (VS103) LHR>ATL - Premium A fare
DL 4993 ATL>EWN - Comfort+ W fare
DL 4587 EWN>ATL - Comfort+ W f are
DL 4365 (VS104) ATL>LHR - Premium G fare
At first I could only select seats via the DL app or DL website. VS showed my booking as being Upper on the outbound and Economy on the inbound (that didn't even tally with the G fare code on the inbound flight?) and would not let me see seat maps let alone select anything.
After a few days that sorted itself out (?) and did show as being in Premium both ways via VS but still wouldn't let me select seats. Also at that point I lost the ability to see or select seats via Delta as well! That got fixed a few months later and I was then able to select seats both via VS and DL app and website.
Set off down to London the previous day via my usual east coast mainline train journey. No longer VTEC anymore but LNER now. No immediately obvious changes so far, other than earning or spending Flying Club miles is no longer an option. Earning Nectar points is still available though so I switched to them instead. Stayed at my usual LHR hotel; the Crowne Plaza - which is starting to look a little tired now in places, may look at switching to the new T4 one once that opens.
Headed to LHR around 07:30 the following morning. VS Premium check-in wasn't busy at all. I was asked if I wanted to upgrade to Upper for £899 - no, not at that price, sorry. As I've dropped back down to Silver now, no Clubhouse access so I'd pre-booked the No 1 lounge. That was pretty good and worth the money. It didn't get too busy either and was pretty easy to find a seat (unlike the last time I was in there).
We departed from gate 20 I think it was. Aircraft was an A346; G-VNAP (Sleeping Beauty). Utter chaos in the gate room as everyone decided to queue and huddle by door B even though as we all know by now, VS board Upper, Premium etc first and then economy by row number from the back of the A/C forwards
I was welcomed on-board and I headed to my seat 18G. Welcome drink was soon offered. Premium cabin was full. I think J was pretty full as well. We actually had 281 pax on-board todays flight with 12 cabin crew and 2 flight desk crew so that only left 27 empty seats the A336 can carry 308 pax.
The door was closed and we where all set to go - apart from we couldn't go anywhere as apparently an aircraft had broken down behind us so we had to wait some time for that. That eventually cleared and we pushed back at little late at ~11:35. We rotated around 12:00.
The FSM made an announcement that G-VNAP does not have WiFi installed. My IFE screen was also completely unusable as well as I had to be loaned an iPad. EmPower to USB/power socket adapters where also handed out if you needed to use the in-seat power.
Drinks where soon served shortly followed by lunch. Sorry but I cannot remember the exact menu but I had the chicken tagliatelle (I think). It was OK, nothing special.
No hot towels in Premium any more - I'm sure that did used to be a thing in Premium didn't it (?) and the water bottle is now handed out on your meal tray. No mention what so ever about the basket of 'goodies' in the Premium galley (the half-baked wander wall thing on the A346's or B744's) - you either had to know about that or discover it yourself by wandering into the galley.
Several of the listed films where not loaded on to VERA On demand or the iPads either. I did hear a few other pax comment on this. The iPad is basically the same as the IFE but without the navigation maps. It does become a little bit of a nuisance during meal times as there's simply not enough room on your table for both the iPad and your meal tray.
The crew where generally pretty good during the either flight. Mind you, the Premium cabin was 'put to bed' though with the window blinds asked to be put down and the cabin lights dimmed for quite a lot of the flight. Nothing like trying to subdue your pax by trying to get them to sleep is there!
FSM again helping the 2 other crew in Premium as on previous VS flights. The right hand side of the cabin is always served first now, not that anything seems to run out as far as I could tell anyway. Only 2 crew work the trolly services in Premium now. The Premium washroom on the right hand side of the cabin had fixtures missing and / or glued back on the wall. Overall G-VNAP is not in a particularly good condition IMHO. I also had to pull my seat back out of the recline position as it wouldn't do it itself. The lumber support also didn't seem to work either.
I watched a few films during the flight - not much else to do really.
The afternoon snack was served about 90 minutes before landing. That was as good as ever. This is one aspect of the Premium service VS have now got right. Sandwiches, cake and a scone. Hot drinks are all served in mugs now too which again is good.
We actually made up some time during the flight and landed pretty on time. Parked next to the VS109 from MAN.
Said my goodbyes to the crew and headed to immigration. Complete breeze again having Global Entry, though oddly the agent was directing all foreign passport holders to a desk 'to get a stamp' but the agent working the desk just took the GE photo slip and waved everyone out. The whole process took <5 mins. (MIA is still the only airport where I received a passport stamp since having Global Entry).
Bags where already starting to come off by the time I got the the belt and mine didn't take long. Through customs and to the transfer bag-drop belt. I had ~4 hours to kill before my next flight, which was was over an hour delayed in the end as well!
All-in-all an OK VS flight but please VS, put Sleeping Beauty back to sleep where she belongs!! Clearly more effort went into painting the outside of her rather than putting resources into the cabins. What made things worse was that VS only credited me 50 tier points and 100% mileage for the TATL leg even though it was on a Delta booked 'A' premium fare. Turns out VS map Delta 'A' fares to their own 'H' fares
(even though when I made this booking VS had no H or K availability and where offering only S fare availability for Premium. )Regards
James Mitchell
James Mitchell
