Well done - you will definitely enjoy PE and what a lovely surprise for your DH
We had our first taste of PE last October and thoroughly enjoyed it. We (family of 3, me DH and DD then 9) sat in row 72 which has no-one sat at the back which suited me down to the ground so no horrible little children kicking the back of my seat like I normally get, or banging their tray
. Unless you are using Twilight Checkin (no PE or Upper Class desk on Twilight), you have your own PE check-in line which is great if the economy queue is rather large
. You can board pretty much as soon or as late as you like - we went for middle boarding so we could get comfortable and enjoy our glasses of champagne/bucks fizz.
As for the cabin itself, it's up the spiral staircase which gives you a real buzz when you get on - the seats are in rows of 2, so Katie and I had 2 seats together then Darryl sat on the other side of the aisle to us - a much wider aisle than in economy, I hasten to add (on the return flight from Miami we changed Darryl's seat to one near the exit door for extra leg room which he thoroughly enjoyed - he's not overly tall, but the only problem with the seats I mentioned above is that the cabin crew's chairs are behind them so you can't put them back as far as normal - as someone who can never sleep on a plane this is not a problem as I sit and watch movies anyway and DD can sleep on a sixpence!). The chairs are wider and much more comfy - and I've got a big bum so these things are important
. The chair in front is further away - even when chairs are reclined you have better space. What I really liked is not only do you have overhead lockers, but by each window seat is another very spacious locker which was great for newspapers/mags and handluggage, water bottles etc. Because there's not many passangers in this cabin (I think about 40?), the cabin crew seem much more attentive - like Clare says dinner is served pretty promptly which means you should get your choice of meal and they regularly brought around glasses of water/juice throughout the flight. The chairs even have a little stool at the bottom which you can slide down and for people like me who are somewhat vertically challenged this was a real plus.
When we landed both times, on decending the stairs the cabin crew were literally holding back the economy passengers so we could get off first. We got through Orlando airport and out in our car in record time, mostly helped by the fact that because you are off first with Upper Class and your luggage is on a separate carousel, you're head of the queue each time through immigration, buggage reclaim, car rental etc.
A thoroughly enjoyable experience which we're hoping to repeat later this year. It'll be sooo difficult travelling economy again, but my next ambition is First Class
I'm sure I've probably forgotten something, but know there's loads of PE travellers out there who will add their experiences.
Enjoy
