Generally Pleasing, but cabin crew a little too aggressive. (Virgin Atlantic)

Member Name: CokaCola

Product:	Virgin Atlantic
Date:	17/09/09 (163 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: They were the most reliably priced, aircraft felt safe, captain was friendly

Disadvantages: Cabin Crew a little too condescending, limited drinks choice.

Virgin Atlantic is one of Britain's major carriers, along with British Airways, and it serves a number of long haul destinations, not just those over the atlantic - but all over the world. I have just flown with Virgin from Heathrow to Los Angeles and back, so this review is based on the experience I had with them on this trip. I'd like to list some of the destinations that Virgin Atlantic fly to at the start of this review:

- Sydney - Los Angeles - Tokyo
- Dubai - New York - Las Vegas
- Miami - Nairobi - Hong Kong
- Cape Town - San Franciso - Washington
- Mauritius - Orlando - Barbados
- Chicago - Delhi - Shanghai
- Johannesburg - Boston - Grenada
- Tobago - Antigua - St Lucia
- Cuba

Virgin Atlantic operate mainly out of London's Heathrow Airport where they are based in terminal three, however they also fly from Gatwick and Manchester. Aircraft tends to be either Boeing 747 "Jumbo Jets" or Airbus A340 (either A340-300 or A340-600).

Check in was very easy at Heathrow, there is an absoloutely giant Virgin Atlantic logo behind a huge glass window at terminal three, so it is not exactly hard to work out where the correct check in area is. There are lots of desks inside as you'd expect, however most of these desks are "bag drop" desks, rather than actual check in desks. You are firsy required to check in yourself, either in advance online, or at the kiosks that are dotted around the check in area. Please note that if you have an arabic or slightly foreign sounding name, and plan on boarding a flight to the US, you may find you're unable to check in online or by kiosk, and you have to instead find a member of staff who can check you in on the main computer (roll eyes). If this happens by the way, expect to be pulled aside when you arrive in the States and questioned, although aslong as you have good intentions, it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

At the bag drop, the agent will check you're bags are under the weight limit, and will issue you with your baggage reciept. They will also check your passport and boarding pass, and ask the usual security questions: "Did you pack the bag yourself", "Has it been left unattended" etc. The bag will then move along a conveyor belt on it's way to the aircraft and you will be free to move into departures. Virgin have quite a generous baggage allowance for economy class passengers, you are allowed two suitcases, each weighing up to 23kg.

At the gate, the aircarft is boarded in the typical way, firstly by first class and premium economy passengers, then by passengers with small children or disabilitys and then in rows, starting usually at the rear of the aircraft, around row 60. The cabin crew are on hand to point you in the right direction, and whilst it's usually easy to walk down a tube of descending seat numbers until you find your seat, it does help knowing which side of the central seating area to walk down.

Leg room is quite good, and definately better than what you get on some other airlines I have travelled with. It is still absoloutely nevcessary however to get up and walk around, and have a stand with a drink during the flight several times, or you will feel your legs becoming stiff and painful. I can only comment on the A340-600 aircraft as this is the one I flew in.

Inflight entertainment is very good once you have mastered it, although I did have a couple of complaints. Firstly, there is the popular "I map" facility which shows you exactly where in the world you are at any time, and also lets you know your altitude and the estimated time until you arrive. I found that the I map took absoloutely ages to load up, and I think Virgin need to work on making it a little faster. The screens also last ages, and there isn't really anyway to make them speed up, so despite wanting to see the zoomed in map, you may find yourself staring at the altitude and outside air temperature for a good number of minutes.

The cabin crew were an area I have mixed emotions about. I understand it's a stressful job, and one that no doubt makes you very tired and annoyed, but I found some of them a little bit too strict. I saw people being talked to as if they were children in a class room, as if the cabin crew were far their superiors. Perhaps I am being too fussy, but I did find them a little bit too aggressive in comparison with cabin crew on other airlines, and this was true on both the forward and return journeys.

The food was surprisingly good, certainly your typical airline food, packaged in plastic containers with foil tops, it did taste very good and not as artificial as I had expected from reading other reviews. I had the Beef with Rice on the way there, and on the way back, I had chicken and pasta. The cabin crew came around 3/4 times to offer drinks to people, which in my opinion wasn't enough for a 10 hour flight, I feel they needed to come every hour, although again, perhaps my expectations are too high. I also found they didn't give as much choice with drinks as other airlines, they offered "Juice or Water", there weren't really any fizzy options, which disappointed me. I am used to being able to request anything, from Tomato Juice to Ginger Ale. Furthermore, the cups were a little bit too small in my opinion, I suppose this is all in an effort to maximise profits in an industry which is having a hard time.

Overall I would recommend Virgin Atlantic, and I would definately fly with them again. They definately have a few areas to improve on however if they ever want to get the five star status from skytrax, because after flying recently with both Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways, there is definately a difference in quality.

Summary: If the price is right, I would recommend Virgin Atlantic.