I recently had the joy of European travel being buggered up twice. On 01 March I was on perhaps the last flight to escape DUB from storm Emma. This week I missed a connection in FRA (again ex DUB), and joined a cast of thousands dumped out of the sterile area. We weren't allowed into the lounges because of the queues already there. By the time I got to a service desk, the nearest hotel was in Heidelberg, a one hour autobahn journey away. LH paid for one night in a 4 star hotel and for return taxi fares: the taxi driver who took me back to FRA disclosed the fare was €175. Ouch! After being on hold with LH within Germany for almost two hours, I dusted off my address book and rang their Canadian res office: within 20 minutes I was rebooked on SQ/NZ home: the next available departure. When I woke up to head back to the airport my tickets had already been reissued and I could check-in online. Even managed to get decent aisle seats forward for both the SQ and NZ segments.
The queue for security took 1:20. No priority lanes except for ticketed J or F pax. So much for *G priority security. I had enough time to grab a pretzel in the lounge and boogied to the gate for the first segment. SQ were their usual excellent selves in Y. After grabbing a shower at Changi I went to my gate, popped at the service desk asking for a an aisle seat more forward. I was given back my BP with a new seat assignment.
They gave me my own Sky couch row. Perfect! No padding, but the belt kits were distributed shortly after take off and I set up my playpen in the sky. Here's a few observations:
- I am 1.56m tall--a leprechaun for all intents and purposes--and it still wasn't big enough for me to full stretch out, even diagonally.
- There is little benefit of reclining the seats if you're not sitting up. It doesn't increase your space.
- Putting your head near the window means you will, at some point, have your feet/legs in the aisle. If the crew don't wake you to move, a passenger tripping over you in the dark certainly will.
- Even with three Y class pillows, it was challenging to get really comfortable
Was it good? It was--more importantly, it better than sitting up in Y class and trying to sleep. But I've gotten more rest in premium economy. And the cost of upfront booking an entire Sky couch for one person makes little sense. If I were travelling with my husband, he's 1.72m so even cuddling he would struggle to find a restful position. If I were a parent with a couple of younger kids, it'd probably work really well: I would merely recline my outer seat and have the two kids on the "cot" next to me.