On our recent trip to London we were unable to find a budget friendly business class fares and decided to travel Virgin's Premium Economy cabin which had announced new specials for their fares to London in February. The fares seemed were quite affordable at $850 per head.

Both my husband and I are quite tall and we require extra leg room on flights and this prompts our frequent splurges on business class flights. However, we had flown the Canadian low cost carrier Zoom in November in the Premium Economy cabin and had been extremely happy with the extra leg room and the onboard service. Unfortunately Zoom doesn't start its transatlantic service until the start of the high season in March so without much ado went ahead and booked ourselves on Virgin Atlantic's Premium Economy. After all the airline is half owned by the world's best airline Singapore Airlines and we were quite excited by the prospect of flying Virgin Atlantic as we had heard glowing reports of the airline from all those who had flown on it befoe.

On the Airline's website the Premium Economy cabin is described as having the following upgrades as compared to an ordinary economy seat. A seat with a pitch of 38" and width of 21", priority Boarding, a pre flight drink and a complementary news paper, an after dinner liqueur and a choice of fruit from the fruit bowl as well priority baggage reclaim when you land.
When we got to JFK for our flight, three hours before our flight on the evening of February the 21^st we were told that our scheduled 10pm flight had been delayed and we were going to be put on to the earlier flight that was leaving at 7.50 pm we didn’t protest too much and agreed even though it meant that we had to quickly deposit our bags and rush through the long lines at security to make the flight. When we reached the gate we saw that Economy passengers had already begun boarding and there didn’t seem any priority boarding for Premium Economy.

 We had been told at check-in that we would be seated apart in the middle row as both me and my husband wanted aisle seats and all the two seater aisles on either side of the premium economy were already gone by the time we had arrived at the airport. We didn’t think much of it until we got onboard and saw that the flight was absolutely full and the seats that we had been allotted were not at all comfortable. We consoled ourselves by saying that the flight was a mere five and a half hours long and before we know it we would be at Heathrow.

Once we were airborne we did get a chance to enjoy the preflight welcome drink but there was no complimentary newspaper, after dinner liqueur or complimentary fruit from the fruit bowl. The meal service was strictly average and on arrival at Heathrow we had a long wait at the carousel for our luggage which came along with the baggage of Economy class passengers. There was no priority baggage reclaim at all.

Later that week my husband had to rush back to New York for work and even though he got to airport three hours in advance he was again allotted a seat in the middle row in the Premium Economy cabin and this time it was not even an aisle seat. He had a miserable journey back to New York and when he got home he promptly called me in London and told me to check-in online and choose my seat before leaving for Heathrow. He is well aware of  my passion for an aisle seat when I fly Economy as that’s the only way I can somewhat stretch my legs.

I did what he had advised and arrived at Heathrow for check-in , the stipulated three hours before my flight.  Having had DVT on a flight back from New York City in 1996 I am somewhat paranoid when I fly and tend to always ask for the exit row seat at the check-in counter even though I often do an online check-in and choose an aisle seat. As exit row seats are always released at the airport, there is no harm in asking for it while checking-in.

I did this yesterday as well as was astounded when the check-in clerk told me that I would have to cough up extra for it. I was shocked as this has never happened to me before in all my years of flying. I have never been asked by a scheduled airline to pay for the 'privilege' of an exit row seat. I am well aware that some low cost carriers do it as they need the revenue but was astounded that an airline such as Virgin Atlantic needed to do so. I didn’t bother to ask her how much this 'privilege' would cost me and whether I would get a receipt at all for the extra payment. Instead I decided to travel in my chosen aisle seat and proceeded to clear security for my flight.
 
As the flight was called I made my way to the assigned gate and noticed that here too there were no dedicated lines for Virgin Upper class and Premium Economy as was touted on Virgin's website but we were all herded onboard together. As I settled into my seat I noticed that the preflight welcome drink service had already finished by the time I got onboard and the air stewardess didn’t even bother to get me one even though she noticed that I had just settled in my seat. After my experience at check-in, I wickedly wondered whether I should demand a refund for the pre flight drink which was not served to me! Before we were airborne I saw the airhostess go up to a man who was seated a few rows ahead of me and ask him to move up to an empty exit row seat for take off as according to air safety rules you have to have able bodied passengers seated near the exits in case of an emergency. I guess the clerk had been unable to sell all the exit row seats!

The rest of my flight was quite uneventful and since the load onboard was light we did get to experience many of the services which are meant for Premium Economy   like complimentary newspapers and after meal drinks however there was no priority baggage reclaim at JFK as well and my bags came along with those of Economy passengers.

This morning I once again checked the website of Virgin Atlantic and there is no mention anywhere on the website of extra payment for Exit row seats. I wonder if this is ethical for wasn't the low cost carrier Ryanair penalized by authorities recently for hiding fees and charges in its published fares? Maybe Sir Richard Branson is feeling the pinch of high oil prices and has decided to follow the low cost carrier models in order to raise onboard revenue. Whatever it is it’s a pretty shabby practice for an airline which enjoys such a great reputation to resort these tactics in their award winning Premium Economy cabin.