I am writing from my US office having travelled over here at the weekend for the week. We have a significant new global pitch and also a strategic offsite meeting so I had a lot to prepare for the trip. Coincidentally I had been contacted by SilverJet (having filled in one of their online surveys in the hope of winning a free flight). I didn't win a flight but I did get a special offer. So when I was planning this trip I figured I would give them a try. Silver Jet is an 'all business class' airline. Customers pay a premium but the costs are no way near as much as First Class and the overall package is better than Premium Economy package from the other airlines
Normally I fly Virgin - I am a fiercely loyal Virgin customer and I really like how I can use my loyalty points with them. As I fly so often I am usually able to get Premium Economy flights for Economy fares. On this occasion the Premium Economy ticket was the same cost as the Silver Jet ticket so after some considerable humming and awwing about missing out on my precious Virgin miles I opted for Silver Jet.
What I fail to mention is that I am not a very good flyer...in fact every time before I fly there is usually a major air disaster. This time my trip was prefaced by the air crash in Phuket. So I wasn't over pleased to see the remodelled old jet that we were to fly in!
Overall I had a really good experience. The airline lounge was the big winner for me. I like to work at airports and get really frustrated about finding a hotspot near a power socket in crowds of tourists. The Silver Jet lounge was nice and the staff couldn't have been more friendly. The wireless access was also free.
The flight was great. I worked and then slept so that I could be ready for my 'appointment' with my colleague that night (more on that later). The inflight entertainment was fine and I was working so that didn't really matter. However the food sucked! And that did matter! The only other real drawback was that because the airline had its own private lounge and also its own departure gate I didn't get to do any duty free shopping. That really really mattered ;-).
Overall though, the lack of stress coupled with excellent service made it really make sense for business travellers and I would definitely fly Silver Jet again.
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