VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review :  29 June 2009  by Andrew Robert   (Australia)

LHR to SYD, the first leg of the journey was fine but following a change of crew at HKG the service level dropped significantly. Hot towels were provided but then the crew forgot to remove them. There was no pre-dinner drink service (as it was after 7pm), drinks were only served with food. Breakfast was simply a small muffin or roll. All in all the flight was not worth the extra for Premium Economy.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review :  29 June 2009  by Simon Jones   (UK)

Las Vegas - Gatwick. Arrived at the airport in plenty of time to try and get a good seat onboard. They provided me with an exit aisle window seat which I thought was very gracious of them. However on boarding the plane my seat was indeed a window allocation - but with no window and the exit door bulked out due to the emergency slide stowage, hence I had to side with my legs at a 45 degree angle. Staff were more concerned with getting passengers up for a conga around the cabin (it was Virgin's 25th birthday) than tending to passengers needs. Food was rubbish as was the staff attitude. Not a good experience, felt as if I was flying with a low cost company.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review :  18 June 2009  by P Fryer   (UK)

LHR to San Francisco, flight delayed for four hours, three of which were spent on the aircraft waiting for maintenance issues to be resolved. Communication was inadequate. Cabin crew were standing around doing very little, eventually one of them came round with water (after two or more hours) and the entertainment system turned on, (too little too late). The food was barely edible, FA downright resentful in their attitude. The return to LHR was worse - less food and just as inedible! when my husband asked for more drinks the FA retorted with "well you've chosen the busiest time to ask for something"! We have flown with Virgin Atlantic several times but not within the past 12 months - its not hard to see why they are making a profit they have cut down on many things, including customer service. The male flight attendant kept addressing me as love - it will be along time before I fly with virgin again.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review :  15 June 2009  by K Hatfield   (UK)

LGW to Vegas return. We had checked in online and printed our boarding cards so only needed fast luggage drop. At LGW, one queue for everybody whether check in had been completed or not, whatever flight you were booked on. Apparently BAA doing work in regular Virgin area so they'd been moved to an alternative part of the airport with limited facilities. It took us an hour and a quarter to drop our cases off. Virgin has email addresses, they are happy to email about shopping with them, I don't understand why they couldn't email through a warning that there were problems at the airport. Seats on the flights seemed very tight, food of a poor quality, particularly the vegetarian option. Spirits and wine free poured from bottles. Attracting the staff's attention for a refill of wine was difficult. And when we'd succeeded, no refill came. 2.5 hours into flight, they claimed they'd run out of all alcohol. Surprised there was no on-demand entertainment system. Return flight was severely overbooked. Our reserved seats had been changed. We did get a bulk head, but they were in the middle of the plane with fixed solid arm rests with difficult to get at controls for the entertainment system. They seemed even tighter on space than the outbound - they were also extremely hard. As others have said, breakfast and snacks were of a poor quality - and were dished out with no serviettes which was unfortunate as some items were messy to eat. Coffee in cardboard cups, and served some time after the snacks. It took the staff a long time to clear the tables. Overall, a very disappointing experience. We chose Virgin as they were the only ones who flew from the UK direct. BA have just introduced that route. We will try them next time.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review :  14 June 2009  by D Siddall   (UK)

LHR-IAD-LHR A340 - 46C outbound, 46A inbound. Agree with other comments that Virgin have made cut-backs on the food and refreshments as quantity and quality of food seems to have deteriorated. They have done away with a decent snack prior to landing, offering only biscuits, fruit or a brownie on the outbound and a cereal bar or a muffin on the inbound breakfast service - a shame as BA still offers a decent afternoon tea/breakfast. I chose Virgin for their inflight entertainment which was good as usual. Good cabin crew both ways. On the inbound we faced a four hour delay on the ground due to bad storms in the DC area which although frustrating for all was well handled by the crew and did their best to make everyone comfortable. Recommend getting the seats in the front economy cabin on the left hand side as you get a bit more legroom. Unfortunately the window seats have the IFE box under the seat in front giving less room to stretch out. Overall I think Virgin still lags BA on inflight service.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review :  10 June 2009  by D Froelich   (USA)

Economy at a Premium! This is supposed to be Virgin's business class seating. It was such a disappointment after paying a premium price for our tickets to be shown to a seat that was a little wider than coach but with so little extra legroom it was a joke. We could not stretch our legs fully as there was a board blocking the foot well of the seat in front of me, and all other seats I was told. My wife and I thought the meal was the same they served in coach but came served in china plates with no imagination for extras and how they were served. The movie selection was terrific but the cramped legroom really detracted from the transatlantic flight. We used to be fans of this airline, but will never fly these mid class economy seats again. Not worth the extra money for the tickets.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review :  8 June 2009  by Kyle Edwards   (UK)

In the past, I've rather liked Virgin - but was rather let down by their afternoon flight from Hong Kong to London. Old plane, ancient entertainment system, cramped seats, mediocre food and having to trek through economy to find the toilets doesn't make for a very "Premium" experience!

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review :  8 June 2009  by K Price   (UK)

Flight was two hours late departing Havana, no reason given for this. No drinks were offered before the late arrival of meal for overnight flight from Havana to London Gatwick. Once meal service concluded no further drinks were offered overnight. Breakfast was served eventually, being either the choice of small muffin or cereal bar and a drink, very poor fare. Legroom for economy class seats very poor, meaning a very cramped and uncomfortable sleep. Entertainment poor, unimpressive selection of films and even the 'Skymap' was not functioning. Overall would not recommend this airline.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review :  5 June 2009  by Shaun Herbaut   (UK)

We checked in online so only had to drop our bags off on arrival at Heathrow. The staff were friendly at check-in. After take off we found that three of the tv's were not working. I had an empty seat next to me, so my two children sat where I had been sitting and in the seat next to me and I sat in the aisle seat next to them. We were also given a portable dvd player and a selection of dvds to watch on the journey. I found the staff helpful and attentive throughout the flight - constantly checking we were all ok and providing us with refreshments. The food was not that great, just about edible, and they found extra fruit for the kids.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review :  4 June 2009  by Peter Evans   (UK)

LHR-LAX Upper Class using FF points. Lounge at LHR remains one of the best with great food selection and full bar service - make sure you eat in the lounge because the food on the plane has been seriously reduced in terms of selection, quality and quantity. Tried to book beauty treatment 2 weeks in advance but no appointments available which was disappointing. Also no beauty therapist on the plane - not sure if just staff shortage or part of the cut backs. Overall plane is very comfortable, good selection of movies and crew attentive. Wine selection very so-so but at least they offer choice of 3 whites and 3 reds.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review :  1 June 2009  by E Abdelmessih   (UK)

Flew with 22 month old from LHR-HK-Sydney return. Before departing, had on several occasions emailed and called Virgin Atlantic to ensure my child had a child meal requested on their ticket and they assured me this was covered. On our flights from LHR through to Sydney, the flight crew said there was no meal request on file so my child had to eat either adult meals or have nothing. On top of this, she did not get her meals until after everyone else (i.e. adults) were fed. The gate staff at LHR/Hong Kong had children's backpacks there which they did not seem to give to any of the children. I ended up asking on the flight if I could have one for my child's entertainment only to be told I can only get it on the ground. So we ended up asking for one at HK only to be told that we are only eligible for it if we flew from LHR. So why then did they have it at the gate in HK? I later emailed customer services about this and was told that because I did not pay for a seat for my child she did not deserve to get one. So there's nothing for kids at all on these flights if they have not got a paid seat. I flew Emirates before and they gave backpacks full of entertainment and a soft toy on our flights without question. After all that hassle, the contents of the Virgin children's bags were actually a waste. For our flights back from Sydney through to LHR, I had again made several phone calls and emails to ensure a child meal was set on my child's ticket. When we checked in, the staff had to handwrite notes on the food request as well as hand-write my child's boarding ticket. Same with HK. When we were on our flights, the staff did not openly provide the child meals to my daughter while they happily gave it to other children at the relevant time so we again had to ask. I don't understand their organisation here but it's pretty rubbish in my opinion. Onboard flights, staff are hardly visible until the relevant meal/snack times. This was with all of our flights. On the HK-London flight, the water kiosk had no cups so no one drank water and the staff did not walk up and down the aisle to offer liquids. Flying with Virgin Atlantic was not far off a budget airline in their approach.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review :  1 June 2009  by C Wood   (UK)

Manchester to Orlando Premium Economy. Cabin was clean and tidy. Drink on boarding, food was good and staff wonderful. The return flight was delayed by 2.5 hours due to bad weather in Orlando, but staff were excellent . The aircraft was a little outdated which I think Virgin need to address on this popular route, the seats had had many years wear and after 9 hours I lost feeling in my limbs.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review :  28 May 2009  by M Mahoney   (UK)

Gatwick to Antigua return via Barbados in economy. We pre-booked seats online as there was a group of us - when we checked in online we found that Virgin had changed the seating. After an hour at the twilight check in desk at Gatwick we managed to get bulkhead seats. Yes, there was a tiny bit more room, but the width of the seats was a problem as the TV remotes dug into your side and the armrests didn't move. Our seats for the return flight were also changed from what we had pre-booked on line - why do Virgin do that? Once stuffed in our seats, we found out that 2 of the TV screens wouldn't work - we were offered a dvd player. On our return flight yet again there was a problem with a TV. The food outbound was as I was expecting. The inbound breakfast was a greasy bacon roll wrapped in tin foil - nothing else. I don't think I will fly with Virgin again. The B47-400's that we flew on with Virgin were dirty and in need of a re- furb! Richard Branson needs to concentrate a bit more on his aircraft fleet.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS review :  28 May 2009  by O Chung   (UK)

Las Vegas - London Gatwick. I've only flown Virgin on the London - Hong Kong route and have rated their excellent service, food, entertainment etc. However, Virgin let me down on the route to Las Vegas. The entertainment system was different ie. no option to pause and limited amount of films and radio stations. The seats were shabby (fabric falling apart, seats did not spring back when you wanted it to). The sound on my entertainment system was so bad that I ended up sleeping. Nothing that a change of headset could solve.