VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review : 17 May 2008 : by Anthony Wu

Customer Rating : 2/5

SYD to HKG return economy. It's the worst experience I have had for long haul flight on my way to Hong Kong. Seat is exceptionally unconfortable. It is shorter than the usual economy seats on other airlines. Food below standard comparing with other airlines flying the same route. IFE is pretty good, on par with SQ/NZ. The return flight was much better. IFE good and food quality improved. Seat is more comfortable than the previous one, at least on par with other airlines' economy seats. (don't know why though, both legs using Air Bus 340-600).

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review : 16 May 2008 : by H Gelling

Customer Rating : 2/5

Flew with Virgin Atlantic after the collapse of Oasis; flight on way out was half empty so plenty of room to stretch out to try and sleep. Food was mediocre and as we were seated near the toilets sleep was impossible. Flight back full and the plane an older one and had seen better days. My friend’s entertainment monitor packed up one 1 hour in and she was given a (black and white) DVD player to use. Staff were OK but the food was inedible and I was given the wrong meal and could get no assistance to replace it – had to go to the kitchen myself. All in all very disappointed with Virgin as I thought they were a high class airline.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review : 16 May 2008 : by C Maitland

Customer Rating : 1/5

LGW -MCO return Economy. A very disappointing experience for all of us that travelled. No childrens meals for my 3yr old. This was in both directions. Seats very cramped and when reclined they had very little legroom. It was too much trouble for the FA's to raise a smile, and too much trouble for them to help anyone out. My wife and I have notice a big decline in the service that VS now offer on their more holiday routes (MCO/LAS). They always sold themselves on the total holiday experience with it starting onboard. Not so now. Instead of improving the service over the years, they appear to have sat back and allowed charters to go one better. The service hasn't changed in 8 years, same planes, same entertainment, same seats, same staff. My next trip to Florida will be with another carrier. Not having enough Child meals on a flight to Disney Orlando is inexcusable.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review : 16 May 2008 : by David Williams

Customer Rating : 3/5

LAX-LHR Premium Economy. Seated in separate row from my wife and mentioned this as we boarded. Flight attendant said she’d sort it out but evidently forgot, or couldn’t be bothered. In the event an off-duty crew member (not Virgin) next to my wife not only offered his seat but managed to swap several other misplaced passengers around too. The crew stood by watching, which just about sums them up: nice enough, but not very professional, and certainly not pro-active. Another example: I asked – shock-horror- for a second glass of champagne pre take off and the FA poured me one: ‘I was only going to pour the rest of it down the sink anyway’. What an odd remark. Clueless, really. In other respects the new Premium Economy is pretty similar to the old. The new seats are quite slippery, thus not good for night flights when you’re trying to achieve a comfortable position for sleeping. AVOD is not as comprehensive as BA, and handheld set in the seatback in front is a bit fiddly to use. Food okay. All in all, not a sufficiently special experience to justify the money. Never sit in row 23 in PE on an A340s, as you’ll be crammed in next to the toilet, which many economy passengers push through the curtain to use. The Premium Economy crew, true to form, don’t bother stopping them. I felt sorry for the guy in the seat right next to the door, who couldn’t have got a moments rest all night.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review : 16 May 2008 : by C Rye

Customer Rating : 2/5

Gatwick to Orlando our first family trip to America with Virgin Atlantic because we were told they were the best. outbound flight attentive, good staff although we were 2 hours delayed. Coming home we were delayed by over an hour. Onboard none of our tv screens worked and staff seemed like they couldn't be bothered as it was a night flight - think staff hoped everyone was asleep. They ran out of duty free products and breakfast was a soggy egg muffin. We will seriously think about flying with Virgin again in the future.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review : 13 May 2008 : by B Mountain

Customer Rating : 2/5

Premium Economy from Antigua to London Gatwick. My worst experience of Virgin Atlantic. There were 2 staff off sick, and we were asked to bear with the available crew. One crew member went round saying coffee?, tea?. No 'would you like tea/coffee?'. I may be suspicious but they 'forgot' to offer us fruit as well. Until now I've always found the service fine; this has made me question whether it is worth the money.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review : 13 May 2008 : by Tony Gregory

Customer Rating : 1/5

Manchester-Orlando-Manchester Premium Economy. Outbound flight ok seated upstairs. Return flight terrible, unable to get seating plan online and at check in found we had been allocated row 82 downstairs with no chance of changing. Immediately behind the curtain is row 21 in economy (more legroom) and one row in front are the toilets and their inevitable queues. Be warned if you are allocated this row you will not have a pleasant flight.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review : 11 May 2008 : by Nigel Neale

Customer Rating : 1/5

Orlando 2-week fly drive for 2 from Manchester. Were unable to be seated next to each other on 30-minute delayed outward flight. Check-in clerk blamed Thomas Cook! Were offered another flight with Delta plus compensation of a free flight, refused. Later found that other passengers also offered this alternative flight which would have been to Atlanta and a 5.5 hour delay. Return flight a nightmare. 2-hour check-in queue, departure delayed 6 hours on a night flight. Departure lounge lights went out at 2am and cabin crew couldn't board plane as lounge doors were locked and alarmed. Video remote not working properly and audio jack not working. Plane dirty and missing many overnight packs - blanket, eye mask etc. In 2 years Virgin have gone from a superb airline into a terminal nosedive.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review : 10 May 2008 : by C Carter

Customer Rating : 2/5

MAN-ORL Having flown with Virgin on several occasions enjoying the "cut above the rest" treatment we were extremely dissappointed. Five hour delay, shipped out from the bowels of the terminal building by bus to the aircraft on a remote piece of tarmac. FA down by 2 personnel, the remaining were miserable and uninterested. On return flight another hour delay and the same uninterested FA, broken headphones - not even enough to go round. On boarding the bus to terminal building my wife slipped on the entry step falling and smashing a liquor bottle badly cutting her forearm. FA and ground staff looked on offering no assistance.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review : 8 May 2008 : by Jonathan Day

Customer Rating : 5/5

HKG-SYD in Premium Economy. A340-600 PE cabin nearly empty and very quiet. Excellent service from attentive crew, several drink rounds during the night and 2 tasty meals. IFE brilliant.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review : 5 May 2008 : by R Sarre

Customer Rating : 3/5

Outward flight to Antigua in Premium Economy and an excellent service. On a very full return flight travelled in Economy and this falls short from many other airlines. Seats are not evenly spaced and I overheard cabin staff apologising to people who were completely squashed due to seats in rows in front being fully reclined. Legroom in general very tight. I was sitting alongside galley area and this was extremely noisy even during lights out. Food in general not bad.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review : 5 May 2008 : by D Porter

Customer Rating : 2/5

LHR-EWR, returning BOS - LHR, both in Economy Class. Outward on 747 - 400 was OK; on time departure from LHR and early arrival at EWR. Staff were for the most part quite attentive with one notable exception (asked for another I94 form and was told "don't think we have any but I'll check"); half an hour later and no sign of I94 (or that FA), so asked another FA and had form within two minutes. AVOD IFE worked fine, and I found the food to be quite good. Seats were pretty much what I expect from an economy transatlantic - no better, no worse. Return a different story. Flight was on an A340. Travel Agent had pre assigned specific seats at time of booking (two months ago) - as we were a party of two we'd gone for window and aisle. Did on line check in and discovered that seats had been changed and we were now sitting in a middle block of four. Checked this at airport but was told "all window seats are taken" - no explanation as to why our seat assignments (which were on our confirmation) had been changed. Upon boarding we saw the same inattentive flight attendant from the outbound flight. Seats cramped and uncomfortable. After take off we settled down to enjoy the inflight entertainment. It was at this point that we discovered that the plane that we were flying on was an older model of airbus that did not have AVOD - simply a choice of films which showed on a continuous loop. At this point several people around us seemed to be having problems with the IFE; this was brought to the attention of the FA who had been on our outbound flight, but her responses were unhelpful and in several instances were actually borderline rude (the piece de resistance was when a female passenger was complaining that she had missed the start of the film - the FA said to her that this was because she (the passenger) "had taken too long choosing which film she wanted to watch" - this was nonsense - the reason the passenger missed the start of the film was because her IFE wasn't working!) . Quality of food was poor. When breakfast (a cereal bar) was served several crew conveyed the impression that this was an inconvenience that had disturbed their rest. Have flown Virgin on previous occasions but will think twice next time - main selling point for me has always been their excellent AVOD - without that, they're not even average.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review : 5 May 2008 : by R Greene

Customer Rating : 3/5

LHR-LAX My return flight from London the other afternoon was such a dramatic change from my earlier experiences with Virgin that I thought I'd check to see if others had similar experiences. Upon arrival at LHR 2 hours in advance at Premium Economy check-in was advised that no gate had been posted yet. Went through security, glanced at departures, still no gate. Did the shopping thing, noticing all along that the 1510 flight still had no gate, and the gate opening time was fast approaching. With one hour to go before take-off, and still no gate, the flight delay was finally posted to 1610. Long story short, plane was delayed somewhere along the line, and we took-off close to 3 hours late. Not cool, and although apologies were expressed over and over by the flight crew no explanation was ever given. Instead of 1635 we landed 2 hours later at some terminal that seemed closer to La Jolla than LA. Walked down a cement walkway only to find buses to take us to the terminal. It's worth the price difference from economy to Priority Econ, but for how long? If one of the advantages in traveling Upper Class or Premium Economy is that you provide separate check-ins please you do the dirty work and define these lines for us. Nasty business for the passenger to have to state this case to other passengers who are not flying in the same areas.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review : 5 May 2008 : by J Webb

Customer Rating : 4/5

LGW-LAS-LGW 747-400, PE on upper deck both ways cabin baggage only. Check-in outbound online, printed boarding pass - no problems, inbound fast PE check-in, happy staff. Preboarding reasonably efficient both ways. Seats a bit narrow but reasonable recline and, as long as you're slim(ish), possible to climb over aisle neighbour with some decorum even with seats in front reclined - biggest problem is lack of flexible headrest wings. Crew attentive and cheerful in both directions. Upper deck was excellent (tried an excursion to see the lower deck but chaos was reigning in economy) and the below-window lockers ideal for my cabin baggage - avoid aisle seats as inter-deck vents (I think) block some part of foot space under some seats. PAX/WC ratio excellent - almost no queuing. Outbound IFE outdated, inbound excellent. Food was better than I had expected. One thing for Virgin to think about: cabin baggage allowance could easily be more generous in PE!

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review : 1 May 2008 : by H Jackson

Customer Rating : 3/5

LHR-EWR, back JFK-LHR. Outbound flight delayed 2.5 hours due to incoming plane stranded somewhere else. Once onboard, crew friendly, food pleasant, IFE bit iffy, leg room tight but adequate. Return flight much worse. Nightmare traffic out to JFK. Plane delayed to await other passengers stuck on freeway. Plane packed solid (someone said consolidated two flights with another carrier). Staff did sterling job with a full plane and IFE better this time. Food OK. Our seats were terrible - seats seemed to have been misaligned, placed too close to row in front - measured at around 29inches while seat row behind had 32inches. Immediately got to cruising height, entire 3 row in front fully reclined seats leaving my husband with knees pushed up against them very hard. Overall pitch was clearly only 30" in economy and we drew short straw and had even less. Return flight was night flight but lights went on early then we had to circle Heathrow waiting for a landing slot.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review : 30 April 2008 : by K Willis

Customer Rating : 1/5

LHR-MIA Upper Class, MIA-LHR Economy. Staff inattentive in Upper Class, and whilst the bar area was very crowded, most of the staff were happy to be elsewhere with sloppy service. Upper Class is supposed to be a premium product /service, but it just isn't. Inflight beauty therapists have disappeared as part of cost cutting. The dine anytime option was not available and the food was nothing spectacular. Attendants, as is always the case, more interested in talking amongst themselves than attending to customer needs. I will not even pass comment on the Economy return as the experience was so awful I do not want to even have to think about it again. Frankly Virgin is now a tired brand that survives purely on past reputation. Worst of all, was that Virgin staff were gloating over British Airways problems with LHR Terminal 5, and whilst BA are not a good airline, at current service levels, Virgin are hardly fit to talk. Avoid.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review : 30 April 2008 : by J Taylor

Customer Rating : 3/5

LHR-LAX, SFO-LHR Economy. Online check-in worked perfectly and the bag-drop at LHR was a quick and easy experience. The flight to LAX was good. The cabin was clean and crew attentive and friendly. Food better than expected. The return flight from SFO wasn't so good. The flight was delayed arriving at SFO and on boarding it didn't look like there had been sufficient time to tidy the cabin for the return journey. Amenity kits were given out though there were no entertainment bags to keep children occupied. The food wasn't as good as on the outbound flight, breakfast a soggy cheese and egg croissant which was thrown onto the table by the crew member. The crew weren't particularly friendly, at times were quite abrupt and the general impression I got from them was that they'd rather have been someplace else.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review : 29 April 2008 : by K Shivji

Customer Rating : 3/5

Tokyo Narita - London Heathrow Premium Economy. This was my return journey back to London and having backpacked around Japan for 3 weeks, the staff at the airport gave me strange looks when I checked- in at the PE desk. It was rather annoying that the cabin staff (all-English) choose to congregate at the departure gate in a really noisy manner and openly discussing their last night's endeavors in the Tokyo clubs - some of which can't be repeated on these boards. On board, they were quite uninterested in the passengers in the Premium Economy cabin and didn't pass through the cabin very often. Premium Economy is a good cabin only for very long-haul journeys. The seats are mildly more comfortable then in Economy but don't think they are anything compared to a 'business class' seat, they really are just Economy seats which are a little wider and only a couple more inches of legroom, nothing to write home about.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review : 29 April 2008 : by Mark Freyton

Customer Rating : 2/5

LHR-JFK Upper Class. Terminal 3 at Heathrow is a nightmare, and the only saving grace is the Virgin Lounge, which continues to be the best thing about the whole airline. Ate in the lounge, which was excellent, although the lounge seemed busy and less relaxing than previous visits. Onboard the crew did the bare minimum and I was disappointed with staff attitude. An announcement was made apologising for slow service due to a crew shortage that day, however I have heard this announcement several times. Entertainment system worked well, and the seat was comfortable and allowed me to sleep for several hours. When I asked for a snack before landing I felt like I was an inconvenience, and coffee served was cold. Virgin seem to lack polish and these days it is rare to have a really good experience, good seats, good entertainment, good lounge, but a group of staff who lack motivation and professionalism. Sadly Virgin are not what they used to be (or claim to be). Overall, nothing special.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review : 29 April 2008 : by John Pinniger

Customer Rating : 3/5

Las Vegas to Gatwick April 2008. Late again for departure and seat legroom in Premium Economy poor with the seat in front reclined. About the same space as Economy so not worth the upgrade cost. Very difficult to get in or out if you have a window seat. Inflight entertainment system is now old. Dinner good but breakfast poor with a soggy egg and cheese muffin. Crew helpful but Virgin is losing the cachet as being a little but special.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review : 29 April 2008 : by Antony Davies

Customer Rating : 4/5

LHR-MIA Economy. Self service check in and bag drop facility good with helpful staff on hand to help. I found the cabin crew welcoming and accomodating, only minor criticism was lack of attention to the toilets in-flight. A340-600 does not have the most comfortable seats installed but it is quiet - 30"seat pitch though is worse than most long-haul charter airlines in the UK. V-Port (AVOD) entertainment system is top notch, once one gets the hang of how to work the controls. The service was friendly and professional including announcements from the flight deck. We were given headsets and an amenity pack with eyeshade, socks and toothbrush. Drinks and a good 3 course hot lunch served with a choice of drinks plus wine. Crew provided sales service, drinks plus juice and water rounds, ice creams mid-flight plus a snack prior to arrival at MIA. All in all a very good first experience of Virgin Atlantic.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review : 28 April 2008 : by Roy Smith

Customer Rating : 4/5

LHR to LAX. Online checkin worked as advertised, bag drop was efficient and new Virgin area at LHR is very good. Premium Economy seats and special assistance help were excellent. The food was acceptable and entertainment impressive compared to other transatlantic carriers I have used. The crew were attentive, considerate and helpful. Only downside was the flight deck not making any announcements until we began our descent into LAX. Flight was on time.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review : 23 April 2008 : by Sally Brown

Customer Rating : 2/5

Heathrow-Dubai return Economy. New plane, very clean but terrible leg room. One drinks service before meal and then told to use the water fountain by the loos and kitchen. On the return trip which left Dubai at 9.25 a.m. they served lunch as soon as they got in the air which a lot of people complained about to the staff. Again one drink which came at the same time as the food (not good) no pretzels and no more drinks service after that. Then on landing we got a cup of tea/coffee and a cereal bar or muffin. Virgin are coasting on their previously excellent reputation. I have noticed the steady decline of Virgin Atlantic in the past 8 years. They are cutting all the customer service bits that they used to be so good at for the sake of saving a few pounds!

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review : 16 April 2008 : by D Egar

Customer Rating : 2/5

Woeful experience. First and last time hopefully. Virgin area in T3 is a joke. Made to look like the next big thing, it is small and poky and slow moving queues. It took 25 mins to pay for excess baggage alone (I was second in line when i joined the queue). Aircraft both way were A340-600s (LHR- BOS, IAD-LHR). Although legroom isn't a huge issue, these are the narrowest, hardest seats I have ever experienced. I had headphone issues both ways which rendered the excellent V-PORT system redundant. Received dinner a full 2.5 hours into the outbound flight (a result of being given the worst seat in the house 64k), delayed on the way home so no drinks service. Cabin crew attentive but lacked a certain something - as if they were doing you a favour.

Virgin Atlantic review by L Ray

16 April 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Total chaos at the Virgin desk at Heathrow on our Premium Economy flight from London to Hong Kong thence onto Sydney. Upper Class staff took our checkin details and we found to our dismay that our assigned seats were not available. Given bulkhead seats, told that they are held over for overbooking in Upper Class, but not able to have for both segments, ie for both to Hong Kong and then Sydney. Told to speak to Virgin staff at Hong Kong to see if they can help. On speaking to them at HK tried to give us awful seats next to the loos, then given our original seats after being told that the flight was full - it was not. Food OK but not exceptional and cannot see that the Premium Economy experience was worth the extra money paid. Would not fly with them again especially after reading these varied reviews.

Virgin Atlantic review by K Clarke

15 April 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Joburg - LHR A340-600 Economy. Avoid economy on this plane if you can - it's awful! We were on the last leg of our 6 week round the world trip consisting of 8 flights with 5 airlines, and this was by far the worst plane and flight. Seats the most uncomfortable I can ever remember on a flight - much too short in depth, hard seat and with minimal recline - no chance of sleeping which does not make for happy passengers on a 10 hr overnight flight. Only 3 toilets for about 230 economy passengers (1 of the 4 economy toilets was out of order from take off, could it not be fixed at Joburg?!) so we had horrendous queues and because of the poor layout of the interior these were mainly through the kitchen area so were always in the way of the trolleys and cabin crew, or knocking in to some unfortunate passenger in their seat. Upper class and premium economy had 4 or 5 toilets for about 75 passengers. The plane interior was tacky, plastic and cramped. A couple of the male cabin crew were friendly enough, but most were miserable and rude, never breaking a smile - over familiar too "Got any rubbish mate? just stick it here" was one comment we received. On both our Virgin flights they missed my dairy free meal request despite me double checking for the 2nd flight - the other 4 airlines managed it perfectly first time! The food we did receive was also below average. We had 2 other long haul overnight flights with other airlines on our trip and they were frequently walking around offering drinks and snacks - I only saw the Virgin crew come through once or twice with water in between dinner and breakfast. I used to select Virgin over others airlines, even happy to pay a bit extra, but will not fly with them in the future if I can avoid it. They focus too much on showing off the Upper class, forgetting about the vast majority of their customers stuffed uncomfortably into the back, all forming their own opinions about the Virgin Atlantic brand and feeling like second class citizens - they need to be careful about protecting the Virgin brand for all customers, making them feel comfortable and valued regardless of class of travel. Other airlines seem to manage it ok. Plus, those that choose to fly Economy on leisure may also have the option of Business class on work trips and will not be selecting Virgin if our experience is anything to go by.

Virgin Atlantic review by Christos Shepherd

15 April 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-NRT (Tokyo), out in Upper Class, back in Economy. Upper Class excellent service in the clubhouse at Heathrow, attentive onboard service, first rate IFE, friendly crew, and a comfortable sleep in the long but narrow)lie-flat beds. The return in Economy, further back the plane, was miserable. Virgin's Economy layout (at least on the A340-600s) provides shockingly poor legroom (30" seat pitch - only an inch better than easyJet, on a 12 hour flight). IFE in Economy is better than on many other long-haul airlines. The cabin crew were rude and inattentive; there were few drinks rounds and not enough food was served. As far as I could tell, the toilets were not cleaned once for the whole flight. Virgin has cannibalised its formerly-generous amenity kits (even removed the earplugs!). Frankly, travelling in Economy with Virgin is like being on a mediocre charter airline, albeit with excellent IFE.

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