Virgin Atlantic

Given my previous positive experience with Virgin America I fully expected Virgin Atlantic to blow me away. Unfortunately that did not happen. My outbound flight was mostly satisfactory aside from the fact that the flight attendants took forever to pick up trash after the post-meal drink service and I ended up spilling wine all over myself trying to get out of my window seat. Returning home was when the real problems started. I tried to check online the night before only to discover there was no record of my reservation in the system. So at 1am (before a 10am flight) I spent 45 minutes on the phone with VA customer service trying to ensure I did still have a seat on the plane. A few days later I sent an email to customer service expressing my disappointment. Over the next month I received multiple emails from them promising a representative would get back to me. None ever did.

The cabin was comfortable in Upper Class the seat was good I didn't find it cramped like other reviews I have been obsessing over. Flight left on time. The crew in Upper Class apart from the supervisor were scruffy. The flight manager was really scruffy and not what I had expected at all. The Flight manager even allowed 2 premium economy passengers into upper to use the bar as she recognised them. To me that is not on if the cabin is full its full. The food was disgraceful and my steak inedible. I was offered a PE meal - which was better but for the money paid I do not want a PE meal. I was very disappointed for my first time in upper class.

LHR-JFK A344. In the past month I've flown both BA's World Traveler Plus (LHR-HKG A380) and Virgin Atlantic's Premium Economy so here's the compare and contrast: Pre-seat selection. Free on VS at time of booking; had to pay £200 for the two of us r/t on BA. Airport check-in. VS has a dedicated Premium check-in counter at which there are rarely any queues. BA had no dedicated WTP check-in although T5 at LHR rarely has bad lines. Boarding. VS boards Upper Class Gold members and Premium Economy at the same time. There is a dedicated Premium check-in lane at the gate. BA boards First then Club and Gold members then families needing assistance then WTP. On board. VS offers you a glass of champagne when you sit down BA offered water or orange juice. The seats on VS are a purplish leather and distinctly cooler/better than Economy. On BA the cabin looks pretty much the same as economy just slightly wider seats. Food: on VS Premium gets a separate meal from Economy served in nice dishware. On BA the food was exactly the same as Economy: trays with dishes with foil you have to remove etc. Supposedly the main course may or may not come from Club but I couldn't have spotted it. Drinks service is same as Economy and no one ever comes round during the middle of the night on a 12 hour flight to offer water like they do on Asian carriers. IFE has many more recent release movies than BA. Seat comfort. Good on both BA and VS I find I can actually sleep in these Premium seats and I can't in Economy and that makes all the difference to me. Ambience. I have been flying BA for years and although I don't dislike the airline I now have a personal challenge to try to get a flight attendant any one anytime anywhere to smile at me. On Virgin the crew are simply more fun and engaging with passengers. Arrival. VS priority tags its Premium Econ. bags so they come off first BA does not. Overall the only clear advantage I could spot that BA has over Virgin in terms of Premium Economy service is they have noise-cancelling headphones which VS only has in Upper. On balance every other part of the experience is superior on VS and given a choice again if the price is even remotely similar I know which way I'm going.

LHR-CPT-LHR. A340-600 on both legs. Seats allocated in advance both ways which is nice when travelling with kids and on-line check in worked just fine. Bag drop at LHR at first seemed busy but when my turn came delay just due to very chatty and friendly ground crew. Flights left with slight delays both ways although time made up on route. PE cabin is inviting and similar to BA's equivalent. PE cabin crew were very good both ways being efficient friendly and personal. The food is not good but this makes up such a small part of the fare we learned our lesson and skipped it way back instead dinning pre-journey. IFE worked just fine and had plenty of choice for these 11hr+ flights. Overall good value on these particular flights.

Flew SYD-HKG-LHR before Christmas and LHR-HKG/stop-over-SYD back after. Call center and check-in staff were very pro-active and helpful generally. Had bassinet seat or if not available were given the extra legroom seat free of charge. On aircraft staff were also helpful/friendly particularly with our baby's needs (water bottle cleaning etc). Food was generally decent quality and enjoyable but they now seem to have economised by giving you a dessert after the main service - but doing so by not giving you one with your main! Gates are generally good aside from the huge distance from shops to gate at LHR T3 - must be nearly a mile?

I have flown Virgin Atlantic over many years in all three cabins over a number of different routes but I have to say I was so disappointed at the cost cutting going on in relation to in-flight service for my flights to and from MCO. For the so called 'premium' meal service we were given after the meal empty paper cups and then had to wait another 10 minutes for a hot drink. It honestly felt like I was in a train buffet car - not even a plastic cup. Breakfast service was disgusting a meal given to you with no drink whatsoever no water no orange juice nothing and again the paper cups came out after 15 minutes - BA WT+ offers fruit muffin orange juice a hot drink and a hot meal for it's breakfast service - honestly never been disappointed before but won't be wasting my money with VA again. On a positive note the best thing on the plane was the entertainment system.

I flew recently Virgin Atlantic from Shanghai to London. Although staff were friendly enough when I made a fuss I was put in a cramped seat with my feet sticking into the bar area. There was no 'on demand' video system and was told that Virgin would be operating this old aircraft on this route for some time to come. I recently travelled business class from Tokyo to London on BA and Shanghai to London on Cathay. I have to say that both airlines were miles ahead of Virgin in all aspects. It is a real shame. A long time ago Virgin led the way with flat beds slumber suits and great entertainment - but no longer it seems.

An underwhelming experience flying LHR to Cape Town with Virgin. Virgin sells itself as something special. It isn't - at least not in Economy. Flight out was poor in two ways. Firstly the menu choice given out was "unavailable" so there was only one option which was not on the menu card at all (tough luck if you didn't want chicken). The food was probably the worst airline food I have had - a real case of cost cutting. On the return journey I ate prior to leaving and rejected the in-flight meal. Secondly the VERA inflight entertainment system was something out of the ark. All films were on a fixed time loop (so you had to wait for all films to finish before they started again). Miss this "start" and you missed your film. Virgin as a "premium service" carrier should be ashamed for still operating this type of system rather than the "on demand" system found everywhere else. On the return journey it was better as the system was "on demand". In addition to this the seat pitch and recline was very poor and something as basic as the ear plugs were of a low quality. I found my own (cheap) ear plugs were twice as efficient as those issued by Virgin. The cabin staff were OK. Not good not bad. Overall very disappointing as the reality falls far short of the image Virgin likes to portray. I would definitely not put Virgin as my first choice next time I fly long haul.

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.