EOS Experience, the BEST
 

Hello all,

I had this wonderful trip report all done, pressed submit new thread, and it disappeared and I was told I was not logged in, which I was. So, here we go again.

I have just completed my first, but not my last roundtrip with the most amazing airlines, EOS. Let ne preface this report by saying my last 30 overwater flights from the NY area to Europe have been as follows: 1 in coach (and yes, I survived but still suffer nightmares....) 28 in J and 1 in F. I have flown UAL, CO, Virgin, LH and BA I have never flown an airline as great as EOS.

When was the last time a station manager came to the lounge to intorduce herself to everyone and thank them for flying with that airline today. DOn't know about you, but that never happened to me until I flew EOS. When was the last time that all the FAs in your area came over and said "Good evening Mrs. Cruisr, my name is ....and I'll be your FA tonight. I am so glad that you are flying with us tonight". Not only that but the purser came over and again said "Hello Mrs. Cruisr, I'm your purser for tonight and I'm so glad you are here...."

This great experience started at check in at JFK. What a pleasure. No lines. I approached the check in area and was greeted by my "escort" who would escort me to TSA after i checked in. He also frequently used my name which is so nice to hear as opposed to being not acknowledge at all. After a one minute check in my "escort" brought me over to the TSA (BTW if you want a free shoe shine on your way, that can be arranged, too). The TSA experience was amazing. My escort announced to TSA that he had an EOS guest and immediatly two TSA's came over and took my carry on (which my escort offered to carry for me) and explained the TSA process (can you imagine) and I was thru immediately.

My new escort met me at the other side and escorted me to the Emirates Lounge which EOS uses. Suffice it to say it was wonderful. Business center, excellent food choices, bar area, Big screen tv, dining area and relaxation areas. All with great views of the tarmac and runway. But the best was yet to come...the actual flight. What a run up to this moment.

Boarding was announced and again we were escorted to the gate. Our check in crew were now at the gate to take the tickets they issued. I think they were just as excited about the passengers experiencing EOS as I was. The plane is a 757 reconfigured for just 48 seats. I have flown the baby jets on LH from EWR to Dusseldorf and the EOS configuration and interior beats that hands down. It is sleek and modern and very functional. Each suite area has over 20 square feet of space. As mentioned above the personal touches were everywhere and started with the welcome and introductions. These FAs seemed to really love their jobs. It was refreshing to see such enthusiasm,

Onboard amenities include Bose Noise Reducing headphones, personal movie player (preloaded with current and award winning movies) on which I watched Good Night and Good lUck. The amenity kit included the basics but also had a spray container of Evian that you can spritz on your face as a refresher. The food choices and wine list were excellent but as I dined in the lounge I decided on the Express Dinner which was huge chilled shrimp on a bed of mesculam(sp?) lettuce. I opted out of breakfast in favor of sleep (more on that later) and when I awoke found a cute EOS shopping bag packed with a croissant, roll yogurt and a smoothie. Again, a very nice touch.

Now, on to the best part of EOS, the seat or should I say the bed. First of all each of the seats have 2 throw pillows, a nice little homey touch. The seats are extremely comfortable. There is seat which faces you where you can invite a travel companion to sit and/or dine with you. Now, when it is time to take a nap the FA will make up your bed with a bottom sheet, full size pillow and a blanket/sheet combo. The seats are very wide and as I'm a side sleeper I had plenty of room. I slept until about 30 minutes prior to landing....that a great start on the day if you are going to London for a short time, as I was.

Landing at Stansted and going thru customs was a breeze. NO LINES...What a pleasure. Even when I am in the Fast Track at LHR or LGW I still am in a line. I hate lines....Once thru customs there was again an EOS employee to assist with anything. One nice thing is that you receive a free roundtrip Stansted express ticket and that's how I got to London.

The Stansted advantage: In my opinion I had an easier time getting to London from Stansted then I have from LHR or LGW. The Stansted Express is 45 minutes to Liverpool Street Station. If you have business in the "City" it is the most convenient airport. Liverpool St Station is one stop to Bank Street which is in the heart of the financial/stock exchange area. Last time I stayed at Threadneedles, on Threadneedles Street, one block from the Bank St Station and it took me over an hour 20 minutes to get there from LHR.

This time I was staying at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane. I took the Central Line from Liverool Street Station and as I made good conects it was 1 hr. 14 minutes to my hotel. Going back was 1 hr. 8 minutes. I was impressed.

At the airport the check in was just as easy as at JFK. Escorts there for you and fast track immigration as well. In the lounge a high tea was set up as well as assorted other goodies. Again, a nice touch were phones that offered free calls to the US. While in the lounge the Station Mgr, Mary, an ex 25 year CO employee, came in to introduce herself to everyone and thank us for flying. Personal service like I have never seen. I guess this is what it feels like to travel if you are a VIP.

On the return flight I really got to enjoy the inflight product and service even more as I was awake for 1/2 the flight. Again food and wine were incredible and I had the best in flight food I ever had. Appetizer was Goat Cheese on roasted vegetables and entree was filet mignon you could cut with your fork. Dessert was a chocalte fallen cake with ice cream and fresh whipped cream. It was amazing.

I know that Flyertalk is for people who have loyalty to airlines and more importantly their frequent flyer programs. EOS has recently unveiled a frequent flyer program. Also, in checking ther website I see that they are now participating in the Amex. Platinum 2 for 1 ticket program. There prices and the value are the BEST from NY to London. Try them once and you will be spoiled. I know I am. I am willing to give up my UA and CO miles and fly EOS. I'l earn points with them, save money and have an amazing experience. Its like flying first class use to be 20 years ago. Its the best.

Cheers

Wow. Who's paying for the TSA to provide personal service? :confused:

Actually it's a five minute walk from Liverpool Street to Bank and both are very much in the heart of the City.

It almost sounds too good to be true... Are you sure you don't work for Eos? :o

Great report. Just curious, what fare did you pay and how far out did you book?

Given that the OP posted notices also in the UA/BA/VS/AA forums (who also offer JFK to London service), it also makes me wonder if the OP works for EOS?

A few articles in the press point to nearly-empty EOS planes flying over the Atlantic, so maybe this was part of the concerted effort to combat that I suppose (gotta give the OP credit for the marketing gimmick)...

Oh come on, the poster has more than 150 posts going back more than a year on a gazillion subjects, all fairly credible. Would be a bit of a stretch to say that was a set up.

My colleagues who have flown EOS also utterly rave. Whether it can make money and survive with 20-30 passengers a night, who knows

Hi,

As you can see from my profile, I have been posting here since Dec. 2004 and have posted across a whole gamut of boards and NO I don't work for EOS. I just am very impressed with what I received and I would love to see EOS get more exposure and therefor people trying them. Flying is not fun anymore and EOS made it fun.

I did the 14 day advance purchase fare. The 14 day advance purchase fare was $1475 each way plus taxes and imm fees.

Its sort of sad that if someone really likes something and reports on it they are accused of working for the company. I'm also going to be posting a trip report on the Grosvenor House Hotel where I stayed and I do not work for Marriott.....

Cheers

I saw the OP's post in the UA forum, and then noticed that there are posts in the BA and Virgin forums directing people to the Trip Report as well.

Hmm...Maybe I should do the same when I fly Upper Class on VS or First Class on EK...

Give me a break...I highly doubt he works for EOS given his record on the board based on posts, etc. as someone else already pointed out...he obviously posted in the other forums because it is germane to those specific airlines re: flights from NYC to London, which is very competitive in the premium cabins. Also, there was a report yesterday in the WSJ about both EOS and MaxJet and they have not been averaging nearly empty loads as you state.

I thought it was a very good trip report and gave me a good idea what to expect if one would fly EOS.

Thanks for the trip report cruisr, very well written and informative!

Thanks for the report!

I agree, and I've been there. Trust me, the people that make accusations are just trying to find excuses to discredit people. :td:

Maybe you should. :rolleyes:

Cheers

Call me gullible but I looked at the EOS website and was impressed with their money-back guarantee for BA or VS flyers, if you have two transatlantic flights in J (or better for BA) on those airlines in the last 6 months EOS offers a 100% satisfaction or money-back guarantee on your first EOS flight.

It's obvious what's going on there and what that's directed to but hey, a money-back guarantee is a money-back guarantee. And I didn't notice any fine print.

he is actually a she I believe....

I hope you won't be too disappointed if the TSA only assigns one agent to welcome you and take your carry on luggage then. ;)

Maybe you are part of an EOS sleeper cell, planted in order to carry out guerrilla marketing if things get tough ;).

With any web forum, as a reader you have to take every opinion with a pinch of salt. Even if the reviewer is independent, you do not know if they have the same strandards and expectations so what seems great to them may be lousy to you. There is the risk on any review site that the service under review may plant some friendly comments but, by the same token, negative comments may have been posted by business rivals.

I do not know if the OP is genuine and I do not care. I am surprised that there were absolutely no flaws identified so, in my cynical way, if the post is indepenedent of EOS, I believe that the OP has lower expectations than me, rather than that the product was perfect. I find that even with great service there is normally a niggle somewhere. Other readers may think otherwise. That said, it does not mean that EOS isn't a great service, I will keep an open mind for now.

Cruisr, what were the load levels on the flights and did you have any niggles?

This sounds like an absolutely fantastic experience and certainly one that I would like to enjoy if my budget could stretch that far (or if EOS ever accept BA staff travel tickets).

The only thing I wonder though is whether EOS may eventually become a victim of their own success??? If EOS ever increase frequencies, take on larger aircraft or, indeed, begin to enjoy near-100% load factors, I fear that many of the more personal touches you enjoyed may become less common. Furthermore, had there been a problem with any aspect of the pre-flight preps at STN, I doubt that the station manager would have had a chance to visit.

Yes, they sound absolutely fantastic, but I fear that this level of excellence will be a struggle to uphold.

Let's hope EOS start to fly some more routes - India, UAE? and put some pressure on BA et al.

http://www.eosairlines.com/cgi-bin/f...O&page=P_LHWUK

see above - doesn't appear anywhere else i think.

works out at £1,100 p/person. or £550 p/person as i'm not sure when the price is reduced.

Love that place. The restaurant is one of the best in London.

What makes the OP's trip report a little bit suspect to some is its fawning quality. So I will give the inquiring and suspicious minds a break. They were posed as questions or caustic wit IIRC.

I might add that it's easy for an upstart airline to provide all the personalized services while it's trying to attract customers. What happens when they have enough? Will they maintain their level of services?

I thoroughly enjoyed my first round on Eos as well. Glad to see the OP had the same experience I had.

Just a couple of notes:

1. The $1475 each way fare is a 30 AP fare and requires a round-trip purchase. The 14 AP has a price of $2250 each way.
2. The promotion referenced by ajinlondon will result in a fare of 550 GBP each way p/person. However, it also works off the unrestricted fare of 1250 GBP creating a fare of 625 GBP each way p/person.


Cheers.

Nice report!
 

What an outstanding airline! Sounds great. Unfortunately I don´t think they´ll be able to maintain that type of service on a longterm-basis! Saw that on our small local airline "Styrian Spirit" who reduced their service after only one year ... now they´re grounded due to bankruptcy...

Still a very nice way to cross the Atlantic! Maybe the best around, especially considering the low fares. But due to the lack of a network/alliance or codeshares only useful to NYC or LON based customers!

Regards, Thomas

There was an EOS plane parked at LAX today, anybody know what that's about?

Excellent trip report. Are you SURE there wasn't at least one little tiny thing that was wrong? ;)

Unfortunately, I don't think they will last. I know the other carriers are matching dollar for dollar, and the frequent flyer programs they offer are a huge incentive. NYC-LON is a flagship route for AA and BA, and they will not allow their market share to be diluted too much.

If I could afford it I would try EOS. My cousin received a free ticket on EOS by participating in a marketing study.

In terms of matching, only the major US carriers are matching. BA & VS, the carriers I would contend Eos is actually competing with most, have not matched Eos' fares. Additionally, AA, CO & UA put season restrictions on their unrestricted match so all carriers are now charging about $2400 more per round-trip than Eos for unrestricted tickets. From London, BA & VS charge 1600 GBP more for CW/UC purchases within 7 days of travel.

The frequent flyer programmes and customer loyalty on the other hand, I agree are significant hurdles.


Cheers.

Most airlines provide charter operations. I bet Eos is no different.


Cheers.

If the service levels are NOT maintained, then it is only one departments' fault:

Human Resources

Look at CX and SQ! They still have very good service quality. Unless the HR department manages to reduce the motivation they have, I think EOS will be successful.

Hi all,

The old saying which I probably am getting wrong goes something like "People who are happy (with a product or service) will tell 10 people, people who are not satisifed will tell 100 people." People always seem to want to hear the negative. I have read other trip reports here and when they raved about something they were not questioned or accused of working for the airline or hotel they were reporting on.

ANyway to answer two questions: Load factor was higher on the JFK-STD with 24. The return flight was 20. I don't know what the break even point would be but I hope they are making it.

Yes, there was one thing that I did not like but it seemed too ridiculous to mention as it has nothing to do with EOS as I think it is a security issue. Plastic cutlery from STD-JFK. Other then that, again at the risk of being accused of fawning, everything else was fabulous.

Thanks to all of you who gave me positive reinforcement. This was my first trip report. I am plaaning on doing the trip report for the Grosvenor House Hotel which is a grand old dame hotel which is revamping to become a JW Marriott next year. And NO, my name is NOT MArriott....

Cheers

Quite possible. Perusing the BA forum will give you an idea of how people on that board are all too eager to dismiss positive reviews of VS.

I have flown SQ in J once. The experience was absolutely flawless. Perfection sometimes does happen.

Exactly. Some people look at things in a different way. If I scrutinized everything when travelling then if the steward makes me wait too long for my drink, I will remember and get annoyed. However if I was the type of person who is very relaxed and doesn't sweat the little stuff, it will be easy to have a perfect experience if you are not concerned about every little detail.

Cheers

Plus, the website has a promo that you can get 30,000 addl points if you are a new member and fly before June 30.

Interesting trip report. Sounds like a nice experience. If anything, it must be nice not fighting the crowds at LHR and LGW.

EOS is apparently the best of the LON-NYC carriers at the moment. MaxJet is also in there, and SilverJet is starting up within the next 9 months (and looks set to be considerably cheaper - £999 instead of £2,000+ - with a better seat than the others).

The thing about all of these carriers is that you pay a reduced business class fare. The American legacy carriers are still offering business class travel (admittedly not so cosseted as this EOS report indicates) for those who can upgrade from coach using miles or systemwides; and this means that BA and VS are still having to work hard. EOS is very good, but at a price. So there is still competition.....

Anyone remember People's Express and their business fares?

Sounds nice, but don't get too used to it.

All premium carriers have been tried many times and they all have one thig in common . . .


. . . THEY FAIL.

As the other poster suggested, EOS has been running a few charters here and there. They have "spare" aircraft and are starting market them.

Clearly you haven't heard of Privatair.

However, I disagree that ALL three of these carriers will fail.

First off, none of them have the massive pension programs, staff overheads, massive tech groups so they have a huge cost advantage over the traditional carriers.

Secondly, the way we buy travel is vastly different to when MGM and PE were operating. We're no longer dependent on travel agents who recieved big kick backs from the airlines to organise our travel, we use the internet and do it ourselves. We can do our own research into the best airline and best price for our needs and buy accordingly.

Thirdly, because these companies are small they can develop a better relationship with their clients. If people are happy with the service then they're going to keep coming back.

Yes! To India!
 

THAT WOULD BE FANTASTIC..PLEASE, FLY TO INDIA!!! i've also heard nothing but great reviews of EOS and the luxury experience they are providing...great to know they are now part of the AMEX 2 for 1 program...

Privatair is a completely different business model than EOS or MAXjet, so it is comparing apples to oranges.

Both EOS and MAXjet have low density seating. They need to fill the vast majority of those seats on a nightly basis at high fares to stand a chance at making a profit.

Neither airline offers frequency. Their competitors in the market do.

They only fly to one overseas and two U.S. destinations. That makes it very difficult for them to land corporate accounts, which are what provide a reliable stream of premium fares. Without this, they need to rely on ad-hoc business travelers and price sensitive premium leisure travelers. That's not a reliable base of support.

It would be hard enough for one carrier to succeed here, but there are two going head-to-head.

Fuel prices are high and one of the carriers, MAXjet, is operating particularly old equipment.

The airports served by EOS and MAXjet have huge O&D markets so the connectivity is much less of an issue. I'm also willing to bet both already have some decent corporate accounts from financial institutions that have no interests outside Wall Street or DC.

Your assumption that they need high load factor can't be debated as we don't know what load factors they need to make a profit. It might be far lower than we think especially if you consider the low number of first and biz pax on any legacy carrier flights. Also, their fuel burn is going to be lower because they don't have as much weight onboard.

It's quite possible one will exit the market but I maintain that one or two of these airlines can be successful in cherry picking routes and premium pax from the legacy carriers. Personally, if I had the choice between sharing an aircraft with a couple of hundred economy pax with screaming babies and unruly passengers and an airline that is probably out of the reach of most, I know where I'd spend my money.

EOS has it's seats on display in Terminal 4 at Heathrow - few steps from the BA Pavillion lounge... I must say, they don't look all that great..

Sure, it's a huge O&D market, but it is also one of, if not the most, heavily competitive international market in the world. Sering only one market limits their ability to sign corporate contracts on the U.S. side. Their newness and, frankly, their precarious financial position, also impede their ability to land corporate contracts.

Competitors include AA, BA, VS, UA, CO, AI and KU.

I actually have some insight into this as far as one of the two competitors in concerned. Suffice it to say they need a very high load factor to break even. All anecdotal evidence that I have heard is that they are runnign with very, very low load factors. Far less than they need. Remember, their fares are not as high as the mainstream carriers.

Even though they are lighter, their engines (well, MAXjet's, at least) are a very old model (JT9Ds) that are not very fuel efficent. That will more than eat-up any weight-related fuel savings.

I would consider using them too, but, as you point-out, most people won't. Price conscious premium travelers are a very small market and not one that produces consistent business year-round.