CAROL MIDGLEY | NOTEBOOK
Pay an extra £75 to travel in peace? You bet we will
Carol Midgley
Saturday July 10 2021, 12.01am, The Times
Try to contain your envy but I’ve had my first experience of premium economy, Avanti’s move to three-tier travel. It wasn’t intentional. I’m normally strictly “economy” but at Euston with husband and daughter we’d done the usual inelegant dash past the long sweep of totally empty first class carriages to fight like bantam cocks for space in “goat”, finding nowhere to sit, at least not anywhere remotely together. M&S gin and tonics were winking from my bag which needed drinking before they got warm (an appalling waste) so we bit the bullet and paid the weekend upgrade, which I dimly recall used to be £15 each to sit in first class with free drinks and snacks. Now? It’s £25 each to sit in premium economy with . . . naff-all except an antimacassar behind your head. Initially hopes soared: the tannoy told of a free biryani being served. Ooh. But that was only for the elite in first. However if we used the first class lavatory and hovered at the sliding door we could inhale the curry aroma we weren’t allowed to have. “PE” was empty save for us and one other person. Was it worth paying £75 to escape battery chicken class and sip G&Ts in peace for two hours? Totally. I’d do it again.