Virgin Atlantic

My husband is a Gold card holder and I am a Silver. We travel Virgin Atlantic on most cross-Atlantic routes but having said over and over again that we would never choose them again. We travel Upper Class and it has steadily got worse and worse. The amenities kit is a joke - when you compare Elemis and Bulgari toiletries with other airlines a plastic toothbrush and paste does not cut it these days. The socks are now made of cheap nylon and not worth the effort. We travelled LHR to LAX return and the service you provide is not up to standard. As many people have commented staff appear to be doing us a favour in the service department and are only interested in turning the lights off as quickly as possible and getting every one to sleep which is nigh on impossible with your beds. I am 5ft 2 and still had my feet constantly knocked by the crew walking up and down. Beds are cramped and not private enough. Compare these with BA Business Class - not even in the same ball park. Definitely just had my last VA flight. I'll be going BA from now on.

We found ourselves on VS028 from MCO to LGW on 23 Dec after being let down by BA who had cancelled their flight the previous day. The aircraft a refitted 747 was in top notch condition and the IFE was excellent with plenty of choice. A complete contrast to the somewhat tatty BA 777 we had experienced on our outward flight from LGW. The VS cabin crew have their own unique style which fits well with what is essentially a "bucket and spade" holiday route but I can understand that those who like a more formal style being irritated. They got the job done well enough and served up a reasonable meal with none of the reported stinginess on drinks. Breakfast in a box was the anticipated let down but 30 mins early into LGW and overall I was impressed.

DEL-LHR-DEL. Flew the outbound leg in Y and the return leg in PY an arrangement which cost about as much as flying both legs in Y with many other European carriers. VS is definitely a 'cool' airline and I'm a big fan of the branding but the food in Y is worse than you'd get at Tesco's - if they haven't run out of the non-veggie options before they get to you. 4 toilets for the entire rear (Y) section of an A333 isn't funny either especially after meals/before descent. They have one of the best PY products are out there which even resembles C of yore although serving the second meal with Y packaging and quality is a definite anti-climax.

Travelled to Vegas over New Year. Paid for extra legroom seats but could only be used if you had 1 leg due to metal boxes that seem to have been added to seats for the inflight entertainment. New inflight system with touch screen means you have to touch/tap or hit the screen which is on the person in-front's headrest - playing any games means multiple hits to the screen and the person in front stressed as their seat gets hit multiple times. I would not recommend - next time I will pay extra and go with another airline if at all possible.

I took a flight from Las Vegas to London 3 months ago. Virgin is on a clear downhill path. The cabin and seating configuration is very much style over substance it just does not work ergonomically. Too cramped and irritating 'intelligent' lighting. The seat remains far too clever for its own good resulting in electronic and mechanical glitches on almost every flight I have taken over the past 18 months or so. Main problem though is the cabin crew who for some reason behave these days as if they are doing you a favour. The one exceptional element of this airline at present is the departure lounge at Heathrow which is peerless in my view.

Flew Brussels - Johannesburg - Cape Town - Heathrow 10 December return 28 December. Virgin cabin crew excellent. Booked in February for 640 pounds so good price. Great flight seats A 62 and K 62 were very good. Pity the food was so poor but had a big steak at Cape Town before returning. Normally do not fly Virgin due to it being one of the most expensive airlines but at this price they were the cheapest and good value for money. Thanks again to the great cabin crew and the pilots for a safe and pleasant journey.

VS 250 LHR-PVG. Virgin's premium economy is a great way to fly. Very comfortable large seats friendly service ok food. Better than EVA Air and BA's premium economy offering. It's good value for money.

Flew non-stop from London to Orlando and back. Reserved my seat and did online check-in used bag-drop facility at airport no problems at all. Flights departed and arrived on time in-flight service was great food was okay. Would definitely fly with this airline again.

LGW-UVF-LGW. Both flights serviced by Virgin's brand new A330s. Boarding for both flights was well handled by gate staff in both LGW and UVF and both flights departed and arrived on time with very little turbulence en route. Contrary to many comments I was very impressed with Virgin's new long haul economy seating as it was very comfortable with a good amount of legroom. In addition I even managed to sleep for 6 of the 8 hours on the inbound flight to LGW which was great as I usually never manage to sleep on long haul flights. Amenity kits were also given out on the UVF-LGW night flight which was a nice touch. I especially liked the new IFE system offered on the new A330s as it is touch screen operated and is also very simple and quick to navigate with a good variety of films and music to choose from. Throughout both flights the cabin crew were friendly and were eager to go out of their way for you. Furthermore call bells were answered promptly and the service felt more personal than on previous airlines that I have flown with. However the only thing that is letting Virgin down is the quality of their catering. On both flights the food portions were far too small for long 8-9 hour sectors so I'd suggest bringing extra food with you if possible. In addition there was very little to choose from on both flights unlike other four star airlines such as BA and the snack service offered on board was very limited. All in all our first experience with Virgin Atlantic was by no means disappointing and we would certainly consider flying with them again. The new A330 is an excellent aircraft to fly on as it offers Virgin's latest long haul product and is also extremely quiet compared to similar long haul aircraft.

LHR-BOS. I have been a loyal Virgin Atlantic PAX for the last 10 years with all my Business and Pleasure flights flown with VS. These last 5 years I managed to join the top tier of UNIQ status which does give a more personalised service. However I have taken all I can with this new Upper Class Dream Suite offering on their A330 aircraft. The seat is much narrower than the suites on the B747 and A340-3/6 aircraft the cabin feels congested the isles are not wide enough which means crew and fellow PAX hit your feet on the ottoman when moving around. The bar area seats 3 + maybe 3 standing and although visually appealing in practice is used by the crew to complete admin or serve food from. The food is OK but lacks consistency. The VERA on-demand entertainment system is very good and seems more stable than the older versions. The amenity kit for a business class product is embarrassing and should be removed or upgraded. The LHR clubhouse is always a great place to start a journey with great food and drink offerings. The inflight crew on this flight were great with a proactive FSM who kept things going like clockwork. The flight was a very quick 5 hours and 45 mins I didn't bother turning my seat into a bed as it's not as comfortable as the UCS in the tried and tested and loved older configuration. VS please ditch this UCDS as you are loosing so many of your top tier and loyal customers to other airlines.