Virgin Atlantic

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Any one flown with Virgin Atlantic recently ? What are they like for comfort ( bucket class ) and food and drink service. Normally fly with BA or emirates for long haul but virgin are offering some good deals at the moment.
 


They are fine marra, fly long haul a couple of times a year with them and food / drinks are good as any other. We tend to upgrade to economy delight for the wider seats and extra legroom, not much more than economy and worth it. We paid for the next step up last October but other than a glass of cheap fizz and real cutlery it was no different. In fact we had a right t’w@t in front of us who made the flight a nightmare. Just goes to show that no matter what you pay you can still end up with idiots, just richer idiots.

I prefer them to BA tbh, but if i don’t want to pay for 1st class with a bed then it’s not worth it for anything in between imho.
 
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Sunderland Til I Cry said:
They are fine marra, fly long haul a couple of times a year with them and food / drinks are good as any other. We tend to upgrade to economy delight for the wider seats and extra legroom, not much more than economy and worth it. We paid for the next step up last October but other than a glass of cheap fizz and real cutlery it was no different. In fact we had a right t’w@t in front of us who made the flight a nightmare. Just goes to show that no matter what you pay you can still end up with idiots, just richer idiots.

I prefer them to BA tbh, but if i don’t want to pay for 1st class with a bed then it’s not worth it for anything in between imho.
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Agree with this.
Flew to Jamaica last year and upgraded us to premium.
It was spot on apart from about 6 Jamaicans, who delighted in treating the staff like dirt.

Throwing litter into the isles instead of keeping it until a bin round.
Dropping dirty nappies under the seats.
Putting bare feet up on top of the seat in front of them
Much down talking to the staff and making unreasonable demand (Like asking for their meal to be served later etc)
Leaving their seat areas looking like they'd been living in it for 9 months, not 9 hours.

As far as Virgin goes, they're much the same as any other really.
 
Ive always gone Premium Economy with Virgin and TUI and to be fair I prefered TUI, Virgin were ok but the staff looked haggered bored and couldnt be arsed, TUI were pulling out all the stops when it came to customer service
 
Only ever flown Upper or Business with them, not bad but not a patch on BA longhaul, although that will explain the huge price difference!
 
To be honest, I don't think there is much between the major carriers in Economy on long-haul transatlantic routes. You really need to head east to get the significantly higher standards of service from the Middle Eastern and Asian airlines.
 
Economy is pretty much the same in all long haul airlines, Virgin have a few flights from Manchester. With BA you'd have to go down to Heathrow or Gatwick.

Premium Economy on Virgin, World Traveller Plus on BA or Premium on TUI are pretty much the same; it gives you a bigger seat with more legroom so a more comfortable flight if you want to spend a little more - check the difference as it can often be good value.
 
In the most part these days I find them all much of a muchness.these days.. few exceptions . The crew make it as much as anything.. get grumpy arse and it can spoil it

I flew Tui to Costa Rica and was suitable impressed with Thier long haul service
 
cornish mackem said:
Spent a bit of time in the lounges at LHR and Virgin were by far the best.
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The BA lounges at Heathrow T3 and T5 are in desperate need of refurbishment (though T5B has already been done). Trouble is that they are so busy that there is never a good time to close them - they really should have been done when passenger numbers were low during the pandemic. The BA lounge at Gatwick is much better.

The trick at Heathrow is that if you are on a BA flight from T3 then you can use any of the OneWorld lounges (as long as you qualify) which gives you access to the Cathay Pacific and Qantas ones which are much better.
 
Epping said:
In the most part these days I find them all much of a muchness.these days.. few exceptions . The crew make it as much as anything.. get grumpy arse and it can spoil it

I flew Tui to Costa Rica and was suitable impressed with Thier long haul service
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Absolutely spot on.

I flew to Mexico with Tui in 2022 and it was absolutely terrible though. The entertainment system was broken but they had no headphones to dish out anyway. Disgraceful scenes.
 
Darlo1973 said:
The BA lounges at Heathrow T3 and T5 are in desperate need of refurbishment (though T5B has already been done). Trouble is that they are so busy that there is never a good time to close them - they really should have been done when passenger numbers were low during the pandemic. The BA lounge at Gatwick is much better.

The trick at Heathrow is that if you are on a BA flight from T3 then you can use any of the OneWorld lounges (as long as you qualify) which gives you access to the Cathay Pacific and Qantas ones which are much better.
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It’s over 20 yrs since I worked at LHR and the virgin lounge was something else. The staff were on a different class as was the catering
 
deep south said:
Economy is pretty much the same in all long haul airlines, Virgin have a few flights from Manchester. With BA you'd have to go down to Heathrow or Gatwick.

Premium Economy on Virgin, World Traveller Plus on BA or Premium on TUI are pretty much the same; it gives you a bigger seat with more legroom so a more comfortable flight if you want to spend a little more - check the difference as it can often be good value.
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Ever flown economy on a USA airline...? 💩
 
Flown to Vegas with them loads of times. Always fly Premium.To be honest , wife and I agree that Virgin inflight meals are the worst of all the airlines we have used. In the last two years we have flown , Virgin , KLM and BA all round trips to Vegas. Food wise KLM the best, closely followed by BA. Virgin well behind.
Just for info , I see Virgin are restarting their Manchester-Vegas route this summer. First time since Covid.
 

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