Upper Class - First Class! (Virgin Atlantic)

Member Name: GLASGOWCHILL

Product:	Virgin Atlantic
Date:	05/05/03 (3251 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Comfortable Seating, Good Food, The Club House

Disadvantages: Service Could be Better

Flying Upper Class, London to JFK.

Arrived at Heathrow about 3 1/2 hours prior to departure. The Upper Class check-in queue had only a few people waiting, unlike the economy check-in which had at least 150 waiting!!

Check in was very efficient, staff very friendly, checked in without any delay.

Lines through security were stretched as far as i could see! Even using the Fast Track queue, it still took about 20 minutes to clear security.

Headed straight for the Virgin Club House where we given a very friendly welcome and given a quick overview of the services available - salon, showers, library, music room, full bar and food service.

I had pre-booked salon services for both myself and my partner (which are complimentary to Club House users), however due to some refurbishement the services were not available and instead we had to settle for neck and shoulder massage - no great problem there.

Had plenty of time to enjoy the Club House and it is somewhere you can enjoy!! A wide range of good food and drinks were available and loads to do to pass the time.

Eventually called to board at 1.30pm, but there was quite a walk from the lounge to the aircraft, however by this time everyone else had boarded and we were straight on and seated.

Staff very friendly, took our jackets and put them in the closet, got us drinks and nibbles to get us relax.

Seats were very spacious, about 66" seat pitch i think - good sized TV screen and seats reclined to totally flat quite easily.

Flight took off on time, and service resumed immediatley. Staff came round and handed out the Freedom menu, which they explained, allowed you to choose what you wanted to eat when you wanted. They had quite a good range and i liked the idea of being able to choose when to eat.

The reality of the Freedom menu was however not quite as billed! Staff basically decided for you when you would eat. Although the ch
oice was good, they would always encourage you to order food when it suited them, which i was a bit unhappy with.

The food was good though, best airline food I have had so far.

The on-board bar is a good feature, however on my flight it was not being used, in fact I was actively discouraged from using it, being told I could get a drink at my seat! I was a bit annoyed about this, but again no big deal.

The Inflight Entertainement was superb, with the latest On-Demand system installed on the aircraft, which meant a choice of about 40 movies which you could start and stop whenever you wanted - this system was available in all classes on this flight.

Due to the flight being full, i missed out on my on-board massage, but i was promised i would be given prioroty on my next flight.

Overall it was very comfortable flight . Staff generally were friendly, but i think could have done just a little bit more considering this is their Business/First product.

On time arrival, priority baggage reclaim and the Virgin Limo driver was waiting to take us to our final destination.

All in all, a good experience.

Summary: