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TRAVEL SUMMARY
Business Class : known as Upper Class, this is a premium business class cabin. New seats are flat bed
style, each house in a surround / privacy partition. To fit in maximum number of seats, they are fitted
in a herringbone layout, facing inwards into the cabin. If you like to see out of the window, or
to chat with a travelling companion, these are the not the seats for you! Whilst the sleep / flat bed
format is quite comfortable, we found the seat and surround area to feel rather claustrophobic, and
the cabin ambience is not that good. Airport and ground service benefits for Upper Class are good, and
their LHR lounge offers some of the best amenities going. Onboard catering is average at best with Virgin,
and this remains an area where they have failed to improve standards for many years - not meeting a premium
cabin standard at present.
Premium Economy : a better standard of legroom, with another 6-7 inches of seat pitch, and wider seats make this
much more comfortable than the main economy cabin. As with other premium economy operations, there are really no
other tangible benefits, and whilst this is a clear improvement on Economy for space, we would only recommend if
you can find seats at a competitive fare level.
Economy Class : seat comfort standards are not good, with only 30-31 inch seat pitch making for a confined feeling
on those longer flights. Depending on your route, its worth checking other airline's
seat standards to see if you can find the more comfortable
33-34 inch seat pitch products. Meal standards in this Virgin Economy cabin are standard airline fayre, and whilst
not at the higher end of the quality scale, no real complaints.
Inflight Entertainment : this has always been a strength of Virgin Atlantic, and standards are good across all the
different cabins. There are different entertainment offerings dependant on which aircraft type you get, but all will
provide you a good standard.
Staff Service : what was once a strength of this airline, has sadly dropped in direct correlation with the expansion
of Virgin Atlantic. The basic features of staff service are generally adequate, but do not expect the levels of service
attention or cabin presence you might have experienced on some other airlines. In all cabins, too many of these Virgin staff
seem to enjoy spending long periods of time chatting in the galleys, and not offering the levels of customer service
and attention one might expect.
VERDICT : having traded for many years off an image that portrayed a younger and trendier image to many old
established airlines, Virgin Atlantic has gotten older itself. Their Business Class product is of a good overall standard,
and if they could only improve the standards of service, would be a much stronger recommendation. Premium Economy on
Virgin is a definite step up from the main cabin, but we would only expect to pay about 20-25% extra fare for
this extra legroom. Economy class standards are comparable to many European and US airlines - tight seats, and a somewhat
basic level of catering and amenities, but if fare level is competitive its worth a try.
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= Excellent
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= Fair
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