Virgin Atlantic

I flew in Upper Class a couple of years ago and had a wonderful experience. This was not the case for my flight from LA to London. The price of a Upper Class ticket is about what you would pay for a small car. The service was really poor… If you could get any service. It seemed like the flight attendants were mad about something. Way overpriced for bad service!

Stay away form this outfit. Fly British Airways, American etc, but not Virgin. Flight was on time both ways across the Atlantic. So what went wrong?
First time, we were upstairs on 747, and it was shockingly hot — like a sauna. Very uncomfortable and not a happy experience. I was soaking with sweat by the time we arrived.
On return trip, crammed in to a seat direct next to a very busy galley and was kept awake for most of the night with noise, and trolleys banging into me. And then there was the sick. A passenger had been sick all over two blankets and took them to the steward in the galley — standing right next to me for a few minutes; sick stinking blankets 6 inches away from my face. Stewardess (who was preparing upper class meal trays) decided to push the sick sodden blankets into small bio-​hazard bags that were too small, so she ended up wresting with the sick blankets and the bio-​hazard bags inches from the bowls of food ready to go through to upper class. And during this farcical performance, one of the blankets fell to the floor, hitting my sleeve. Ugh!
This is a joke airline pretending to be hip. I will never fly with them again. AVOID!

Virgin Atlantic NOW WORSE than British Airways! In spite of Richard Branson’s claims to be above board, here are some recent changes that consumers need to be ware of that are unique to Virgin and quite expensive
1) If you enter a mistake when making a reservation on line when booking (ie, misspell a name, etc) Virgin charges 30 pounds (approximately $ 45 us dollars at time of this printing) OUTRAGEOUS
2) DO Not think you can EVER use your flying club dollars for a flight on a Sunday from the UK back the States or vice-​versa. I had over 100,000 miles to use for an Upper Class one way return flight, and since August of 2012, have tried twice a day to use them for a return flight on the 7^th of July 2013 to no avail. RIDICULOUS. United Airlines, where my husband is a frequent European traveler, is the BEST at this for sure!
3) Last summer I travel led on Virgin Atlantic Upper Class back and forth to Europe (via Virgin through Heathrow and British Airways connection to Barcelona). I had to retrieve my luggage in Heathrow and get back in the security line to get onto British Airways flight as they do not «like» each other or honor baggage transfer. For older or disabled passengers, this is very frightful and horrific!
4) I agree with Heather that I used to adore Virgin and the great flight attendants and food. Both have major faults now, even in Upper Class (tea service is excellent on return) and the attendants were rude and not happy! This is a major change from what I experienced in years past, so I am wondering if Virgin is suffering the economic turn down and their employees/​food are suffering?
I truly wish all these changes were for the better, but if you want to portray in the media that you are a rebel with a cause, SHOW ME DON’T TELL ME!

I love Virgin Atlantic, and I highly recommend them to everyone over the competition, but I have found on me last trip that things have changed a bit.
Although the entertainment is top notch, I have found the food to be in decline as well as the service. I am sure I simply got on a bad flight seeing as normally I would give them 5 Stars.
I am concerned with the prices of baggage they are now charging. I was even double charged for one bag that I brought with me $$$, I tried to argue that it was completely unreasonable but found that the particular member of staff was new, unable to understand what she had done, and kept confusing herself.
Other than that big bump in the road, they are still better than other airlines.

Absolutely excellent service. Truly, top-​notch.
I was heading to London on a weeknight and knew I had to go straight to work when I arrived, so I splurged with my award miles and upgraded to Upper Class (it was only 50,000 miles on Continental instead of 27,500 for economy) and took the connection in Chicago (it’s usually Houston for me, but VS doesn’t fly there yet). The seat on this A340 converts into a full lie-​flat bed and if you let the flight attendant help, there is a mattress and duvet available for full comfort.
Great menu and though I slept through dinner, the «Full English» breakfast was excellent with two cups of really good coffee. Proper flatware and a real metal knife (though rounded). If I hadn’t been headed to work, I might have enjoyed more than two glasses of pre-​departure champagne or even tried the «guest» vodka.
If I could review my Flight Attendant, I would also give her five stars. Abby was very high-​touch and was very friendly. No, not like that. She even managed to respond to my mindless small talk when I woke up and sat at the bar (yes, there’s a bar in Upper Class). Completely professional!

Totally NEVER again. Like even if You said to me «I’ll fly you Upper Class for free or you pay for your own s!@tty economy class ticket»; I will go for s!@tty economy somewhere else. I don’t particularly like wasting my benefactors or my monies you know.
SO, on our way back from Tokyo, we flew Virgin. Their lounge was tiny– guess not entirely their fault and filled to the hilt with people. They did serve corn soup, potato salad and toast as a breakfast option though so I was happy to get my final weird Japanese breakfast fix. Oh and at least, unlike the rest of Japan, wi-​fi was free and entertained us for our hour– long delay (advertised as 15 minutes).
On to the plane. Who in the world thought that having a flippy bed was a good idea? So– you can’t have a nice snooze in your seat/​bed and then get up to say watch a movie coz you have to stand up; collect all your stuff from the chair; press a button to flip the seat over; make the bed with the bedding provided then lie down in a very flat board thing, not unlike sitting in a coffin I believe. Coupled this with very bling bling essex style design (disco toilets and diamonte panels anyone?) I thought I have stepped onto either someone’s practical joke of business class or hell’s idea of «civil travelling».
To clinch it all; you don’t get special treatment for the extra money you’ve wasted so no fast track, no PRIORITY LUGGAGE but for lots of extra money they will drive you home in a limo when you eventually struggle out of the airport. Or of course you can just save yourself some already much wasted dosh and take public transport.
I’ve not had such a stressful traveling experience for a long time. And that included the time when I traveled economy with Air Canada and they tried to starve us to death because we missed meal time and they refused flat out to give me and my sister a snack. My Mom had to smuggle in food from the front for us. This was WORSE. That’s how bad it was. It is also worse that the time I was stuck in Vancouver for 3 days because of the blizzard. Worse than the times a super fat person took ½ my seat and I had to cower in the other ½ for 12 hours. At least in economy you expect to be unimpressed. This– PLEASE don’t waste your money. I BEG YOU.
The only saving grace is even though the staff must know they have a terrible product everyone had a great attitude and brought «service with a smile» to a new level.
PS. Air New Zealand also provide these crappy flippy bed. You’ve been warn.

I had the most awful exerience with this airline. My husband and I booked tickets for a flight from LHR to LAX 3 – 4 months in advance. We arrived at Heathrow with plenty of time to spare. We tried checking in at kiosk and surprisingly got denied. We walked over to talk to a VA employee and after he investigated for 10 minutes, we were told that the flight was overbooked and that there were no more seats available. Why do airlines sell more tickets than available seats?!? He told us that we had to wait until 30 minutes before take-​off to see if all passengers of Premium Economy and First Class checked in. So after 2 ½ hours of waiting, we were told that there were 2 first class seats, but we could not get them. They had to bump up other passengers to the first class seats. We were able to get economy seats. So we were escorted to the terminal and made it 10 minutes before take-​off. After sitting down in our seats for 5 minutes, I was told that I was randomly selected to be frisked and that they needed to search my bags. Fine. I understand that they are just doing their jobs. But, they had to escort me off of the plane with my bag. Finally, I returned to my seat. The supervisor came up to my husband and me and told us that he heard about the mess we had gone through. He asked if we wanted any alcohol to make up for our horrible experience. My husband and I politely declined and he said that he would try his best to go out of his way to make it up to us during our 10 hour flight. Funny, because by the time they got to us with entrée choices, they had run out of the stuff we wanted. That supervisor did not stop by at all for the remainder of the flight. I filled out a survey using their personal entertainment system. The only thing I rated highly was the personal entertainment system and as soon as I submitted my survey, the thing crashed. I mean, come on! This is seriously a true story. Worst.flight.ever.

Had heard so much about how great VA was… maybe my expectations where to high… but, in my recent flight from Newark to Heathrow in Premium economy I was not impressed at all. The entertainment systems is very very old on this particular plane. the service was half good… one excellent flight attendant and one really really nasty one… I hope its gets better on the way back home.

Oh my Virgin. How I wanted to give you a 5. flying to the UK the day after a security breach in the USA. I expected the stuff to be in force. I mean, as a FA, it should be that way all the time. as the Europeans do it. and have pre-​9/​11. well. not so much. NOW to the review. flying VS to the UK. impressive. nowadays. the cabin crew is so surly that you dare ask for a thing. and hope they save your ass should the crap hit the fan. (I should know. Im one of the last remaining service and save your ass too FA’s in the US;-). the cabin crew was professional. all dressed in red. and hair tightly up. ahhh. reminiscent of my days at ANOTHER airline. GOING to the UK. awesome service. awesome crew. the gate agent. well, dont ask me. but gate agents are just disgruntled. or so it seems. We inquired about an upgrade at LAS. and basically she talked us out of it. WTH? Okay. cest la vie. we remained in our actually pretty decent coach seat. good movies and games all the way. if you want that. bathrooms were kept decent for an airline that is gonna be flying for about 10+ hours. ON the way back. ummmhmmm. heres where the blank hits the turbine. the check in out of LGW was more than 2.5 hours. the kiosk wasnt working for our flight. we had security checks and then another bag search. I get it. its after a fool tried to be a terrorist. we all pay. and thats fine. but it wasnt handled properly by VS. it was chaos. by the time we boarded our now 4+ hour delayed flight. the cabin crew wasnt smiley. they were surly. and not what we had enroute. oh well. lets pretend we are already back in the US. where disgruntlement exists like no ones mama amongst the airline industry… but overall. Id choose VS over BA anyday:-)

This is my trans-​atlantic airline of choice. I usually fly premium economy, and the experience has been pretty consistent. Great seats, good entertainment system.
I have flown VS economy to Mauritius, which wasn’t as great, but was still better than certain star alliance airlines I have flown in the past.
I am a member of their frequent flyer program, and have racked up quite a few points and benefits such as a companion flight and upgrade vouchers.
Overall, great airline that I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend. All airlines have issues at times, it is the nature of the industry, being a frequent flyer, I have come to accept that and take things in my stride.

I’m not a good flyer. I almost crapped my pants on the way home from the States. Not the airlines fault but still, I was terrified!

Best airline meal i ever had and many agreed on the flight, London to Mumbai: the Indian veg option.

The journey home had a rough beginning with a late departure then heavy turbulence. Emma, one of the hostesses did a fabulous job of calming a passenger sat in front of me. Three other hostesses had to deal with a family who repeatedly kept getting up even though the seatbelt sign was on. They managed the situation professionally. As seems the norm with Virgin Atlantic the in-​flight entertainment wasn’t working till about two hours into the flight. The main meal of chicken and pasta was surprisingly good and I have no complaints there.
All in all a Virgin Atlantic Economy flight is painless and comfortable. I would recommend them.

I’ve flown Virgin Atlantic on many a transatlantic jaunt, and while I’ve had some bad times I’d say the good have outweighed them.
Sure, Virgin never quite understands what makes up a vegan diet (I’ve had dairy creamer, butter and, on this most recent trip, a big slab of cheddar cheese thrown on my plate for good measure), but anyone with dietary restrictions knows to bring their own snacks along with them for airplane travel, anyway. ALL airlines I’ve flown have only provided ONE special meal if you order it, leaving you hanging while they invariably hand out ice cream or personal pizzas as snacks later in the flight, replying by saying, ‘Well, the ice cream’s vegetarian…’ So Virgin isn’t alone on that one.
While I don’t usually use the in-​flight entertainment, it’s nice to know that Virgin offers it and that it’s generally good. The seat pitch is all right (better than some other airlines), but the seats and their arrangement lend an unexpected sense of space (in economy, that is. I’m not posh enough to travel anything else).
Lines at Gatwick are short, and the Virgin check-​in area is opposite the EasyJet one. You get to breeze through the line whilst looking at the poor EasyJet suckers and feeling smug.
But what impressed me most about this most recent trip with Virgin Atlantic was the compassion and attentiveness of the ground crew staff at Gatwick Airport. When I realized that someone in my travelling party (who shall remain unnamed) left his carryon bag on the Gatwick Express, which contained his passport, our $ 1000 holiday cash and his laptop, and that the train was shuttling on towards Brighton at that point, I thought our travelling plans were finished. But the ground crew gave us instructions on what we should do, and while this certain someone took an impromptu train journey to Brighton and back, I waited at Gatwick under the watchful eye of the Virgin staff with the clock ticking toward the flight closing time at the check-​in desk. They liaised with me compassionately as we waited for the missing bag and passenger to arrive back at Gatwick. Once he returned, the ground staff checked us in hurriedly, within a couple minutes’ time of the deadline, and shoo-​ed us off to the gate, all very concerned for our situation rather than annoyed or indifferent.

I couldn’t agree with Molly more on this one, it’s a love hate relationship with Branson’s baby.
When there in-​flight entertainment works is brilliant. Though when more than 20 seats have a problem the whole plane has to be reset, so an hour + later nobody has anything apart from lines across they’re screens.
Not to mention they’ve abusive overselling of the flights. I was luck enough to benefit from a free return flight to anywhere (ex AU) for being bumped on the way back from Newark last time round but this time it’s was suffocating, booking in online 22hrs 55mins before flight gave me not one option for seating.
The call centre staff assured me this could be rectified at the airport, though low and behold yesterday I spent 15 minutes being told that essentially i was lucky to be getting on the plane at all considering and should be fine with my mid plane seat.
And everyone’s right about the cabin crew variable to say the least. One lady smashed a glass at my feet and only picked up the «significant» pieces of glass. Surprisingly this wasn’t sufficient for the remaining 5 hours of my flight. When I had the cheek to point out that my foot was bleeding I had to almost beg for a plaster. My requests for someone to review the glass/​floor situation was met with «we’ll sort it out in Heathrow in an hour». Well wonderful very useful for me.
Really the point is at they’re best they are great (Gu puds/​good value/​in-​flight entertainment/​good compensation for bounces) but at worst they compare unfavorably to many an emerging markets carrier.
Need to do better.
I’ll update this once I’m home and have endured another 7 hours of Virgin. Sadly I have 3 flights minimum so let hope they don’t read this or I’ll not just be steeping on glass I’ll probably be eating it ;b

I have been a long term fan of Virgin Atlantic since I started flying to the USA for holiday. They offered good service, a great in flight entertainment system and were the perfect antidote to stuffy old British Airways. Their loyalty scheme is also good value with trans-​Atlantic flight earning enough points to get a discount on your next flight.
Unfortunately, last year saw a drop in standards with the cabin crew turning into rude and virtual Nazis when preparing the cabin for landing.
However, having just flown with them to the USA again, I’m pleased to report that they’re back to their old selves. My parents were impressed with the service. Polite and fantastic cabin service.
2 areas still left to improve. The online check in queue at Heathrow used to be short, hence rewarding people for checking in online. This time, there were so few online check in counters open that there were long queues there and the airport check in lines were virtually non-​existent.
Also the breakfast bun is nasty. You do need to rethink what to serve passengers at breakfast.
Go on, keep climbing back up to that lofty 5 stars that you once deserved!

Dear Virgin Airlines,
You would get 5 stars if you didn’t steal my 2 inch plastic sewing scissors. Sure, safety is important. But so is fixing the holes in my clothes. I couldn’t hurt a preemie with those scissors. For shame.

Virgin is so unpredictable. One experience can be stellar, another one a week later can be disaster. I *might* be speaking from experience.
I’ve had a few flights on Virgin now, and I can say without question that they are one of the best I’ve ever flown with. But here’s where they fall short in my opinion:
1. Snarky flight attendants. On more than one occasion have I been sassed by a Virgin flight attendant. They enjoy talking to people like 4 year olds.
2. Legroom. Economy class is obviously not going to be luxurious, but I’ve been on many other airlines with more legroom, definitely.
3. Their setup at LAX and LHR. Seriously, why even have Virgin planes depart from Terminal 2 when you have to take a 10 minute bus ride to some random section of the airport runway where planes are just hanging out akimbo? And Heathrow is a nice treat. Yes, I would love to spend 11 hours on a plane, and then wait half an hour while you figure out how to open the doors from the jetway. Yes.
Okay, maybe writing this review while tired and jetlagged from my travels last night/​this morning was a bad idea…
I’ll give them these good points though:
— VERY accommodating to special diets
— Awesome in-​flight entertainment (if you get the fun screens with the remotes where you can choose from 65 movies and tons of video games and tv programmes)
— Get-​it-​yourself water and OJ (so nice on a long flight)
— Ice cream bars!

My mother came for the holiday season to visit and she had a massive ordeal with Virgin Atlantic Airlines.
It was all good, the ticket from New York to London had been a bargain (considering the Christmas period) and the schedule worked out fine to make her connection with Miami and then El Salvador (on her way back).
As one of her routine checks, she was making sure that her reservation was fine, time flights were still good and in was during this check she realized something.
The time flight of return had changed, no one had notified her of this change, the flight was leaving at 12:30pm instead of 9:30am and this three hour difference made her loose her connection with the Miami flight. Virgin Atlantic took no responsibility for that, as they said the hour change was only 3hrs. and not 5hrs. (if it was 5 then they would have refunded £££). In addition, one her bags did not arrive, not necessarily the airlines fault, just thought I should mention it.
My mother ended up buying another ticket so she wouldn’t loose her other flight, let you know what happens with that airline.

I had to deal with Virgin Atlantic cargo when I was transporting some personal items back from the USA. I found the staff really helpful and the cargo check in area was pretty straight forward.
Basically you take your cargo to the cargo check in and they weigh in on these big scales and after filling out the customs paperwork you are done.
You then go to a special cargo pick up point at the other end, sit in a waiting room for what seems like ages and pick up your stuff. You can get a door to door service but it did not seem worth the money.
Good work Virgin, transported safely!