Virgin Atlantic anyone?

shyguy

Anoyne flown virgin atlantic before longhaul? I am flying from London and wondering what food/entertainment/leg room is like?
Was told after I booked that they are another version of Ryanair?! (Eekk!)

Gandhi

I flew with them in '96 and they were great. They already had the little screens in the backs of the seats in those days, when nobody else had them. Lots more legroom as well than any other airline I had been on before (or since). Unless they have gone downhill a lot since, they are a great way to travel. Made economy class feel like you were in first class.

Royale with Cheese

Flew London-San Francisco with them about a year ago. Entertainment was great, each seat has it's own entertainment system. Touchscreen, hard drive with very large database of movies (lots of recent releases) tv shows and music. Can't remember much about the food, airline standard I suppose. Did get a few glasses of wine. Legroom wasn't great, did feel kind of cramped alright.

jonny68

Haven't flew with them myself but a friend of mine did and said they were the best airline he's ever flew with so must be good.:cool:

deisemum

Flew Gatwick to Orlando with them in 1994 and they were very good. Entertainment was very good and from what I remember the food was fine. Drink was free but on return overnight flight you had to go and help yourself whenever you wanted a drink

Everyone was given a goodie bag with a pair of socks, headphones and other little bits and pieces to make your journey more comfortable. You could keep these. They handed out blankets if you wanted to sleep but you didn't get to keep these.

Wishbone Ash

Virgin? - I'd be reluctant to fly with an airline that doesn't go all the way!

Popeleo

Maybe they were thinking of their low-cost offshoots - Virgin Blue and Virgin Express?

Virgin Atlantic is highly rated. Only on them once myself but a nice airline from what I hear from more frequent travellers.

BuffyBot

Seating in economy can be a little cramped to say the least, so if your anything over average it may be a squeeze. IFE is generally very good, with many of their planes having Audio-Video on Demand systems (although not all). Food can be generally a notch above some others, but not always (depends what's on the menu). Service varies from average to sometimes fantastic.

Ruu_Old

I and anyone who I ever talked to that flew with them found them excellent for long haul. The food was definitely better on the occasions that I went with them.

Darren

Virgin are fine. They are not in the same class as emirates, etihad or singapore but I woould put them on a par with BA, Cathay, Air France, Lufthansa etc. It has been 10 years since I flew with them though!!

daveg

I'd say the reference to budget airlines like Ryanair was Virgin Blue. Flew with them from Sydney to Christchurch this year. Worst flight ever. Turbulance for nearly 2 hours, hostesses crying etc etc.

Virgin Atlantic on the other hand are supposed to be superb. I'm flying to Orlando with them this Wendnesday

WexCan

Love Virgin Atlantic in all areas except one: their crew. The airline I work for has its crew room in the same building at Gatwick as Virgin. I have met very few Virgin crew who were actually pleasant to talk to, and they tend to bunch up in a corner of the smoking shed talking about everyone else in the smoking shed between themselves.

Then again, this is a behind the scenes view and I'm sure a lot of them are nice enough on board.

Dellas

Virgin are great , seat back TV and loads of choice. Food and beverages good and crew always found helpful and friendly. Sometimes the male crew can be a bit too camp and show off but thats my only complaint.

If you ever get to experience their lounges if flying premium classes then have to say its amazing. Mini Golf and champagne breakfast and thats before you board. !!!!

In between the movies they come round with Ice cream!! A nice touch. I would fly to London to fly Virgin rather than take Aer Lingus direct as the service is far superior on Virgin.

Maccattack

I worked for them last year and got upgraded to first class from Honkers to Sydney. So awesome it hurt.

Free massages!

economy is economy. crap by comparison but still good. Not as good as Singapore Airlines though, theyre the best.

Youll be fine. Theyre a good airline. with a difference.

WexCan

Dellas wrote:

Virgin are great , seat back TV and loads of choice. Food and beverages good and crew always found helpful and friendly. Sometimes the male crew can be a bit too camp and show off but thats my only complaint.

If you ever get to experience their lounges if flying premium classes then have to say its amazing. Mini Golf and champagne breakfast and thats before you board. !!!!

In between the movies they come round with Ice cream!! A nice touch. I would fly to London to fly Virgin rather than take Aer Lingus direct as the service is far superior on Virgin.

The Clubhouse at Heathrow is absolutely amazing - I'd go upper class for that alone.

keefg

Hi,

Don't worry, Virgin are nothing like Ryanair.

Virgin are a fantastic airline & I have used them every year to fly to the US since 2002.

I would suggest that you join up with their frequent flyers club before you go and start getting the miles straight away because there is a VERY good chance you will use them again.

hot fuss

Just back last week having flown from Heathrow to San Fran and back from LA with them. As everyone has said, the in flight entertainment is good because you get to choose your own and the choices are endless.

Transferring in Heathrow on the way out isn't nice though. That's the second time I've done it and both times the queues at the transfer desk have been crazy and both times we've had to ask to skip the queue so that we'll make the flight. The first time we got the last two seats and some other people were left behind as the plane was overbooked. The last time we got on, but weren't put beside each other. It doesn't seem very well organised in that regard.

Also, one thing that really annoyed me was that they put kids in the emergency exit seats on the way back, which I thought you weren't allowed to do, while my very tall husband was sitting in a normal and not terribly comfortable seat.

Having said all that though, it's still probaby better than Aer Lingus!

jahalpin

I'm flying with them to JFK on Monday week.

I have flown LHR - SFO with them 3 times. The service was excellent all 3 times, they have an excellent Inflight entertainment system with movies on demand, the food is quite good (they serve Gu desserts and the planes are very nice. The only problem is that the legroom in economy is a bit tight due to the IFE box being under the seat in front of you.

If you do fly with them you should definately join the Flying Club, I used some of my points to get a reduction on my last flight and used points to pay for my flight next week (only had to pay "taxes and charges" £130), they had a points sale which meant that 2 return economy flights to SFO = 1 return economy flight to JFK (half price sale)

I flew to LAX with Aer Lingus the first time I went to the States (2001) and Virgin is around 100 times better.

If you book online with VS you can select your seat when you book your ticket and can change it until you check in on-line upto 24 hours before your flight.

PS: There is a Virgin Atlantic "fan" site check out www.v-flyer.com