Virgin Atlantic Airways Passenger Reviews and Customer Trip Reports

My husband and I flew from Sydney to London during the last week of February 2013. Pleasantly surprised by the Premium Economy area of the Airbus A340-600. We were between the Upper Class and Economy section of the aircraft and found it very comfortable. Leg room is definitely better than economy as is the service. The cabin staff were fantastic. Greeted on each leg by a glass of champagne and our food was served on china (except for Breakfast). The food we had was tasty and filling and we were offered beverages throughout the flight. I do not fly to be served gourmet food and I think that anyone that does is missing the point of flying to different destinations.

Flights VS029 on 18 March Gatwick to Barbados and VS030 return on 1 April in Premium Economy. Revamped Premium Economy well worth the extra (pity about the outrageous APD Taxes) as seats wide and reasonably comfy with plenty of legroom. Also offered Fast Track through security at Gatwick on the outbound flight. Top Class entertainment but not turned on until nearly an hour into the flight! The technology already exists for this to be turned on ready for passengers when they board so come on Virgin, get switched on to this, please. Food, however, only just acceptable as portions are now really quite mean - although a stab at a cooked breakfast on the return nearly made amends. Despite this definitely better than any Economy Flight ! And light years ahead of any North American carrier.

LHR-JFK. Delayed departure due to technical problem, we had to change planes. Offered bubbly pre- departure and due to delay it was topped up twice. Food was okay, served on a tray with white tablecloth and China, but food just economy standard and a bit mean. Offered wine with meal and brandy after, but lack of snacks and drinks run until afternoon tea, a couple of finger sandwiches (tasty) and small cup cake offered. Flight crew excellent on both trips. Return was delayed by an hour, food standards similar but was surprised to be offered hot breakfast. Seating was roomy and more than adequate for 7 hour flight. IFE was excellent with good choice of recent films and good sized screen, only issues were lack of noise cancelling headphones and system not available until +30 minutes after take off.

VS075 and vS074, Manchester to Orlando on upgraded 747. IFE and cabin crew very good on both flights and early arrival on both flights. Managed to book the economy seats upstairs in both directions which is good as there are very few people going up and down the isle which makes it all seem a more peaceful experience. As mentioned by others, food is a little disappointing and if you need more drinks just ask and they'll oblige!

Good ground service and friendly airport staff but things changed quickly once onboard. Crew couldn't wait to start the meal service, in fact one crew got up just as the planes wheels left the runway to switch on all the ovens and then return to her crew seat. Fast meal service thrown out - the starter slid off as it was pushed in front of us. Drinks service only came after diner and then it was over. The quick service clearly allowed max crew rest time and the ones who didn't go first spent the next block of time talking in the galley moaning about passengers moving seats. We were sat in the row right next to the galley so that you could hear everything and had the light coming through all night. Hours past until the even quicker breakfast and then thankfully the faster then normal SFO to LON flight time got us home. Couldn't wait to get off!

VS029, 9th March. Clubhouse staff very polite and efficient! Breakfast is not so good with very small portions and items unavailable. We stayed in the Clubhouse as long as we could and its disappointing that if you do this you then cannot walk straight onto the aircraft but have to wait in the main queue. Cabin crew onboard were attentive, chatty and obliging. Food was great, seat very comfortable and a pleasant experience. VS030 - not as good as outbound flight. Very slow to serve drinks after take off, nibbles came later than drinks, and dinner just ok. Father requested chicken dish for main meal but was later asked to change it to a PE meal of beef! Crew do like to bed everyone down as quickly as possible, however my parents, who did not sleep much, were very well looked after by the crew all night.

LGW to MCO (Orlando) on 10th March and MCO to LGW 27th March. This is the first time I have travelled with Virgin Atlantic. Aircraft going out was the A300 and was excellent. Coming back it was the upgraded 747-400, again it was excellent. The cabin crew could have been more friendly and are rather robotic. The entertainment system and the choice of movies were very good. I would travel with them again on my next trip.

JFK to HRW, 19th March, VS046. Virgins website description of economy is very misleading. Seats are very narrow and uncomfortable, the entertainment control is very difficult to remove being situated in the side of the seat arm rest. Service was very poor, requested a glass of wine with dinner, told that no drink service available. The food was very poor with very small portions, only serving tea or hot chocolate however was given a coffee on request. We found the crew very aggressive and rude and appeared to be rushing the service. In fact within 1.5 hrs they had been round with the drink trolley, served dinner and been round with the duty free. Lights were turned out and I presume we were all expected to sleep. Breakfast was a small fruit juice, a dry muffin bun, a cereal bar and at least tea and coffee. I have be fortunate to have flown on many airlines (including Virgin in the early days when they were good) I must say this was the worst flight ever.

My husband and myself flew to Cancun in Mexico from Gatwick on 16th March 2013 and returned on 26th March 2013. The seats are very close together but not uncomfortable. The leg room was okay for me, and my husband who is 6ft. No problem with the cabin staff service. They do come if you call them and kept us supplied with food and drinks, although they did say alcohol was served in moderation. The food is okay, not great but we enjoyed ours. The inflight enterainment was a bit hit and miss! In all we had no complaints. If you want roomier seats and a bit more comfort then it would be best to upgrade. We will certainly travel with Virgin again.

London to Cape Town, didn't get seat as requested. No pre-dinner drinks, when drinks did come dinner was already over. My husband requested a second coke but told only one drink per passenger. Allocated a row of 3 seats in the middle aisle, arm rests do not raise so my daughter couldn't put her head on my lap for comfort. Dropped my blanket on the floor but couldn't physically reach it for some time as there is no space whatsoever between the seats in front and ours. I am 5.5 and slim but felt wedged in. My husband is 6ft and suffered the entire flight. Food was unidentifiable. Staff took a very long time to clean up afterwards. Entertainment system didn't work initially and when it did you had to wait for them to inform us when a specific film was starting. Had to tilt our heads at an angle to watch anything so gave up in the end. Staff not friendly at all. Toilet door broke half way through flight Definitely not flying with them again.

Sadly, this once prestige brand is now a poor imitation. Mediocre is the best they achieve and that isn't very often in the flight. The entertainment system is embarrassing, at then end of our 12 hour flight 2 of the 4 restrooms in "Upper Class" were inoperable. Food is OK and as always, flight attendants are non-existent after the first 2 hours, good luck getting coffee in the morning before they begin breakfast service. I wish someone would have told me that companion seating should be in the next row number not the next seat number as a result of their arrangement. Book 7a and 8a not 7a and 7b.

Flew to Barbados on 13th March, flight was full. Very claustrophobic, like a budget airline short haul! Hadn't flown economy for about 1 0years and swear there is less leg room now. Was dreading the return journey, but managed to purchase extra leg room seats, which although we're next to the toilets, had much more space and I would say we're better than premium! However one of the hostesses obviously didn't want to be there and was very rude. When they came round with the night drinks and was offered tea or hot chocolate, I asked for coffee. She just kept repeating tea or hot chocolate in a rude manner. However eventually she said I could have coffee but would have to wait. Whenever she served us our food was more or less thrown at us with no niceties. All the others were friendly and attentive.

We flew from Cape Town to Heathrow in March 2013, this was the worst flight we have ever travelled on. We travelled in a group of 30 - we all pre-booked our seats to be told on check in no one had been allocated their seats - in fact many of our group were sat on their own - not a problem on a short flight but this was not a short flight. To make matters worse my husband was sat right next to the toilet door - not the best seat on the plane at any time but on a 12hr overnight flight this was dreadful. Added to this the food was dreadful - frozen salad & bread rolls and cabin crew not as professional as I would have expected - also the entertainment system was not working for which we were offered £20 off our next Virgin flight. We will not be flying Virgin again.

LHR-DXB-LHR. Flew Premium Economy on the new A330 aircraft. Very impressed, nice clean spacious cabin, pre take off drink and newspaper offered. My partner is 6ft 4in and found the seats comfortable although when the person in front reclines space is limited if you are taller. Would be nice if the crew asked people to put their seats up for meals. Food was good although the breakfast into Dubai wasn't great, very small serving of scrambled eggs, reminded me of charter food from years ago! They should offer the breakfast box they have on other flights. Return flight the food was bit better with added extra of Mars ice creams offered. They should get rid of the amenity kits they hand out on all flights and spend the extra money on better quality food. I would take snacks with you as portions are very small. New on demand entertainment is great, lots of choice although the person behind me would jabbing at the screen a lot, felt like they were punching my seat which was very annoying! Crew were great, especially the inbound crew, polite and always smiling. Offered juice and water throughout the flight. Looking forward to my next flight with them.

Although we flew economy we paid an extra £300 for extra leg room which unfortunately was next to the toilet. We were allowed one alcoholic drink on a 9 hour flight. We asked if we could buy a drink and were told there was none left. We asked if we could buy champagne as advertised but there was none of that either. I have a small appetite fortunately - where were the cheese and biscuits etc? Headphones worked intermittently which was very frustrating. I travelled with Virgin to New York in Feb. 12 and Havana in Feb. 13 and things haven't improved.

14th March to Havana from Gatwick and returned on 22nd. What a disappointment throughout. The flight was 2 hours late outbound and half hour late inbound. Check-in was very slow at Havana and we waited 55 minutes in the queue. Although we had pre-confirmed seats, we were given separate seats at both check-ins. No pre-dinner drinks, just 1 during dinner. When asked for a 2nd glass of wine, the crew were clearly reluctant. The meals were so minimal, poor quality and tasteless that we felt hungry at the end of the 10 hr flight. On both flights, they told us they had run out of our chosen meal, and so my wife (who is a vegetarian) was forced to accept non-veg. They charged extra for seats with extra leg-room, which is only found in cheap budget airlines. In brief, we felt that we were in a cheap budget airline throughout. Will never fly Virgin again.

Have just returned from Las Vegas to Manchester. We were served the same food on both these flights which I must say is poor, the worst being the breakfast bar and muffin. Cabin crew to and from Vegas gave very poor service, felt that all they wanted was to get you served as quickly as possible so they could sit in the back talking. On the flight to Las Vegas the drinks only offered once when asked for another drink they had run out? This was 3 hours into the flight and I did not see anyone abusing the so called complimentary drinks - may I suggest that Virgin withdraw this so called service and allow people to buy as it is obviously they do not cater for the amount of people onboard or are making cut backs. I would not fly with Virgin again, staff need to have training on customer care, and Virgin need to give customers what they advertise.

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