From Great To No More Than Mediocre In A Flash (Virgin Atlantic)

Member Name: Teena2003

Product:	Virgin Atlantic
Date:	19/02/06 (3122 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: only airline to fly London - Las Vegas direct

Disadvantages: often expensive, not the best service on board

I used to fly Virgin Atlantic to New York, Washington DC and Orlando. But the price shot up too high and the American carriers provided much better value and service. Then came my recent trip to Las Vegas.

We used Expedia to book our travel arrangement and for some reason, at the time of booking, Virgin Atlantic were the best option for flights. And of course, added advantage was that Virgin are the only airline that have daily scheduled flights from London to Las Vegas. It meant no changing of planes at a so-called gateway city like Washington DC, Chicago or Los Angeles.

Seats were allocated at the time your flight was confirmed. We received emails telling us that everything was arranged and the e-ticket confirmed.

I have always been a great fan of e-tickets. It means that you do not need to wait for paper tickets to be sent to you, or pick them up. You can’t forget the ticket at home, there’s no ticket to forget. As long as you have your itinerary printed off (it will include your e-ticket number) you are fine.

Before your flight, up to 48 hours before, you can log on at the Virgin Atlantic website and change things like meals or even where you want to sit. It is not possible to reserve exit row seats because the check in staff need to see that you are actually physically able to help in case of an emergency – or in the case of Virgin charge you an extra £75 to sit in an exit row seat.

If you are happy with your seat and everything you even have the opportunity to check in online by going to the Virgin Atlantic website. This is possible from 24 hours before the actual flight up to 2 hours before take off. This may be interesting for people who do not want to queue for hours at Gatwick airport for check-in and arrive a little later, just drop off the luggage and then go straight to the departure lounge. We didn’t do any of it because we were trying to smile our way into an upgrade or at least a free exit row seat.


=== Onboard a Virgin Flight ===

Virgin flights from Gatwick leave from the South Terminal. Boarding, and you will find virtually the same system with all airlines, follows an easy rule. First up are the Upper/Business Class passengers, followed by Premium Economy and passengers with children and those needing assistance. Last to board are the normal economy passengers. Boarding starts from the back rows on the plane to the front, normally in chunks of 10 rows at a time.

The legroom in economy is not the most enormous but it is still better than what I can remember on a BA flight to Miami where I sat with my knees up my nostrils. If you want more legroom you can book premium economy but in a lot of cases, and in particular when the flight is half empty, you can just find yourself a new seat. I love flying United, though. If you arrive early enough they do allocate their extra legroom seats to people on a first come/first serve basis and I have been lucky to get those on virtually all their flights. Those seats give you 5 inches extra and it makes all the difference.

We didn’t get the exit row seats but as the flight was not sold out we were told that there was a good chance we could spread out if we were quick enough after take off and bagged us a whole row of unsold seats. Once the doors are closed and the plane’s in the air, there’s hardly a chance of anyone claiming the seat as theirs, is there?

So as soon as the plane was in the air and the fasten seatbelt sign was off, my friends and I claimed two empty rows in the middle of the plane (4 seats each) plus we still had the three original seats allocated to us. It was one of the most comfortable flights ever.

Service on board a Virgin flight is normally very good. You get fed and watered regularly, every passenger has his or her own seat back TV screen and soon into the flight you are given a complimentary pack with toothbrush & paste, earplugs, blindfold and other bits and pieces. On the way out to Las Vegas we were given a string bag contraption with the stuff inside, on the way back to London everything was placed neatly into a see-through pencil case. Something to keep the passengers happy I suppose considering most of the US airlines do no part with any small tokens of appreciation, not unless you travel business or first class that is.


=== Food And Drink ===

The time your flight leaves will determine what kind of food is served on the flight. If you leave around lunchtime you will get a hot lunch and before landing you are served a snack meal. If you fly evenings you will get a hot dinner and then an hour before landing (as the flight will be overnight) a breakfast.

We left for Las Vegas so we had a quick drink and nibbles served before the hot meal came along an hour later.

Maybe it’s just me, but last time I flew Virgin we were all given little individual bottles of drink, I still have my little Virgin Vodka bottle from one of their flights. But they must have changed a while ago because during drinks’ service the flight crew prepare the drinks for your from a big bottle. You ask for a coke, they fill a glass – no more little cans. I normally have a vodka & orange (provided I don’t need to drive when I get off the plane) and I don’t like flight crews mix my drink. They are not professional bartenders and I got a filthy look when I asked for a vodka & orange with two orange juice and the ice separate. I like to mix my own drink. And you only get one drink anyway so you have to make the most of what you get there.

I don’t know if all transatlantic flights, regardless of carrier, want to save on drink and serve just one but two years ago when I was in the USA the last time I remember getting as many little bottles as I wanted and I still have the brandy bottle on a shelf – but then again, I flew United.

I noticed the same for meal service, you were offered one tiny glass of wine (0.1l) or soft drink and there were no seconds, not as far as I could make out. Drink service was a little disappointing I must admit. Water and orange juice was in good supply and you were welcome to go and get a water from the kitchen, and the crew were coming through with cups of water and juice regularly.

There’s a choice of three hot meals on Virgin flights, chicken, beef or vegetarian. So if you forgot to order you veggie meal you can have your pasta anyway. All other special meals (kosher, gluten free, etc) have to be pre-booked.


=== Movies And Television ===

As mentioned before, every seat has a TV screen in the headrest in front. On my flight there were 8 movies shown on a continuous loop. I was a little disappointed as the movies were not the latest blockbusters you tend to get on US carriers. We had to make do with Jodie Foster’s “Flight Plan”, “Wallace & Gromit” and other movies, some I had never heard of. It wasn’t much better on the way back but at least it gave me the opportunity to see “Brother’s Grimm”. The rest of the 17 channels is filled with comedy TV like “Little Britain” and the awful “Tittybangbang” (Virgin were proud to be the only airline that showed it – I’m sure they will rethink that statement). My favourite channel was the flight information where you can follow the little plane as it finds its way over Iceland, Greenland, Canada and large parts of the USA. I had my iPod with me and was listening to music rather than watch the movies on offer.


=== Arrival At Destination ===

Upon arrival in Las Vegas, everything went smoothly. As the plane was half empty, there was no pushing or other bad behaviour. We disembarked in a nice orderly manner and made our way to immigration and luggage retrieval.

However, on the way back to London we had a few problems. The brand new jetty at Gatwick Airport, first time in use, gave up its ghost and we were stuck on the plane for about 45 minutes until stairs were found and busses organised that took us to the terminal building. That wasn’t Virgin’s fault and I’m not blaming them for it but they could have been better at updating everyone by letting us know how long it would take and every could have sat down again for a while.


I quite enjoyed my flight with Virgin to Las Vegas. As I said, the big bonus is that they are the only ones that fly direct from London to Las Vegas. But this comes at a price. It’s rarely ever that you find a reasonably priced Virgin flight nowadays. I prefer flying United where I have to change planes and instead of arriving after roughly 10 or 11 hours it will take a couple of hours longer, but at least I get the flight at a decent price – and frequent flyer miles on ALL routes and classifications (but that’s another story altogether).

Our flight with Virgin was part of a package booked through Expedia.co.uk. I have no idea how much the flight part was of the whole operation but for 6 nights at the Luxor Hotel and Virgin flights we paid around £500. I reckon the flight was approx. £300.

I used to love flying Virgin and always felt special. I have flown with them to a number of US cities over the years but now feel that their service has suffered badly. Staff are helpful and courteous but that’s about it. There is nothing special about a Virgin flight anymore and for the money you have to spend on it, I suggest you keep your eyes open and find a better price, in particular on the routes flown to the east coast of the USA where Virgin have their stiffest competition because most carriers fly non-stop and are heaps cheaper than them. Only for Las Vegas they still have a bit of an advantage at the moment.

© Teena2003/Minnitee

Summary: average - but they will get you there