First, a big thank you to everyone who hangs at this very helpful forum.
I'm pretty much a lurker but really appreciate the replies to my questions and the many posts I was able to read and glean info from.
Please see my pictures of the Envoy lounge and seats/food at
http://community.webshots.com/user/bballinger - I've named the pictures with what they were vs trying to tag after uploading. The quality is going to vary as some were taken with the iPhone, some with my old Lumix, and some with a much nicer Nikon depending on what was handy.
This was our first flight in Envoy and I went in with almost zero expectations. My husband is 6'4", 250lbs and had a disc laminectomy a few years ago, so we figured this would be much more comfortable for him than coach.
We arrived at PHL on 2/15 under threat of yet another snowstorm. The snow was pretty bad on the drive down, but much lighter at the airport. We parked at FastTrack Parking on Essington and took their shuttle to the airport.
Checked in at the desk, agent was a little snarly. Rolled her eyes at me when I didn't hear a question she asked and thought to myself, "Oh boy..." We then went immediately to the Envoy lounge and were chastised by the older gentleman at the desk because our passports had our full middle names and our tickets did not. We were lectured that we would eventually be fined for such an error and that we should insure it didn't happen again. This went on for about 5 minutes. Seriously. Finally our passports were returned and we headed in to the lounge.
We went left to self-serve instead of right to the bar, and it was very quiet with a great view of the falling snow. The wine/beer and food was constantly being checked and cleaned by staff, no fewer than 5 and all of which at one time or another let us know that the full bar was on the other side of the lounge if we wanted anything. It was very quiet, dimly lit, lots of outlets for plugging in and I saw no more than 10 other passengers. Nice comfy chairs, and we had some fruit, toasted bread, cheese and olive spread and it was fine. The staff kept everything topped off, you couldn't put a plate down before it was removed or pour a glass of water before the ice bucket was refilled.
Upon boarding our coats were hung and we were offered a pre-flight champagne, mimosa, or plain OJ. Once seated and served, we were asked what our cocktail preference would be once we were in the air and handed our headphones for the IFE. We sat in 3G-H out, 3A-B in and had no problems with our seats, although coming home some passengers were juggled because their IFE systems didn't work. FA's seemed a little flustered by this, apparently the info wasn't provided before they got everyone settled in.
We found the leg room great, although the fixed sides of the seat makes it feel a little tighter than expected (I missed being able to raise the arm rest between us somewhat). I found the angle of the seats a little odd as well; I either had to sit all the way up, with a pillow at my middle back, or reclined with my feet up to be comfortable. The default position of the seat made me feel like I was slouching, no matter how I sat.
The husband fit fine and was actually able to stretch his legs all the way out, although to pop out the control for his IFE he had to slide out of the seat (also to plug the headphones in) since it was under the side of his thigh.
I have scanned the menus in with my pictures as well, and I was pleasantly surprised by the food. I took pics of all food going over, forgot completely on the way back, sorry! I had the Teriyaki chicken and while it was fine, the wild rice side was terrible (both crunchy and underseasoned) so it stayed on the plate.
We weren't all that impressed with the lounge at Barajas. There was coffee, alcohol, and a few bowls of olives. Great views, but it was somewhat dirty and had an overly bright and cafeteria-like vibe. After espresso and cleaning up a bit, we moved on to get something to eat downstairs.
All flight staff ware very nice, I have no complaints at all. I do have one odd note: All Envoy pax were using the lav in the front by seat 1A on the way over, in addition to the ones in the rear; on the way back we were blocked from doing so, and I was actually turned away and told to use the lav in the back, "...in Envoy". Isn't that lav in the front also in Envoy? On that leg the only people in the first row were US Airways employees (in uniform), so maybe that was why? At one point or another all of the attendants gathered in the front to hang and talk to the traveling staff, sitting on seat arms, standing at the bulkhead, so I felt like maybe they didn't want us busting them up trying to get through.
Also on our return flight, a Policia van came screaming up the tarmac, a man in handcuffs was dumped on the plane, screaming all the time something about how this was wrong, he could prove he was married, etc. After some confusion the attempted deportation was aborted and the man was removed again. There are going to be some odd pictures of that as my husband tried to capture the chaos.
All in all we had a great trip and I hope I hit on everything that people would want to know from a flight report. If not, please feel free to ask! Thanks again for everything.