With Virgin Atlantic, you never forget your first time! (Virgin Atlantic)

Member Name: dan 2000

Product:	Virgin Atlantic
Date:	11/04/04 (6643 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Friendly staff and tasty food, Modern fleet, and excellent entertainment(the bset on most planes), A great product and a funky, cool, young image

Disadvantages: Limited routes

WARNING, THIS REVIEW MAYBE TOO LONG SO READ WHEN YOU ARE COMFORTABLE AND HAVE TIME! (or skip the info about Virgin Atlantic part!)


In February we went to New York (wahay!) for a week. We chose to fly with Virgin Atlantic as we?ve heard some great things about them, and have always wanted to try them. We stayed overnight at the Heathrow Renaissance Hotel (I?ve got a review about that too) and it was absolutely fabulous. So were Virgin, part of the Virgin group, onwned by Richard Branson, and has other ventures such as mobiles, holidays, trains, cola, the lot, even Virgin Active (leisure clubs). Firstly, before I start the review, I will give you a little info about Virgin Atlantic. I have put lines in-between the info and the review, so you know what part of this op is which! Well here we go!...

----------------------INFO ABOUT VIRGIN ATLANTIC------------------------------------

A NEW AIRLINE IS BORN!
In 1984, Richard Branson set up Virgin Atlantic after having been contacted by someone for an involvement in an airline called BRITISH ATLANTIC. Richard, re-named the airline Virgin Atlantic and set off from London Gatwick to Newark Airport (New Jersey, Near New York, USA), they used a second hand 747-200. They were very successful, and were an integral part of Virgin, before Virgin Atlantic, Virgin were just a mail order record group.

FLEET
Virgin have a fleet of 13 (I Think) modern 747-400s, 10 A340-300s (3 have been sold, and I have heard that they are planning at selling more) and A340-600s (I?m not sure how many, but more are arriving soon, and all are really modern, the oldest was deliverded in 2002.) They also are one of the first customers of the A380 in 2006. They name each of their planes with names like ?Ruby Tuesday, Cosmic Girl, Tinker Belle, a new aircraft has been named by the Queen very recently ? The Queen of the Skies? a A340-600. They also have slogans like ?More Experience than our Name Suggests,? and
?You never forget your first time?. Funny airline. Forgot to Mention they have two 747-200s for Manchester routes.

PRDUCTS
Economy has a seat pitch of 31?, with choice of 3 meals, personal entertainment system, amenity kit, free drinks and more. Premium Economy has all this, aswell as just a maximum of 38 seats, 38? legroom, pre-take off drink. Upper Class is very luxurious, with a minimum of 55?, Clubhouses at most airports, own check-in, and even the majority of aircraft have on-board bars with stools and massage areas! Some aircraft just, apparently have a small bar, with no stools. Virgin are also refurbishing Upper Class with the brand new ?Upper Class Suite? which is the largest fully flat bed in business class, and has 79? legroom, a reclining seat for take-off and landing, and a bigger seat and bed than BA (which previously had the best Business and First Class ones) So, over the coming months, Upper Class will be even better.
Virgin were the first airline to give passengers their own entertainment. They have 4 entertainment systems. Arcadia is the oldest and has 6 movies, 6 TV (I think) 9 Audio channels, 10 games and a telephone on the bulkhead. Nova has 1 TV(!) 8 Movies, 14 Audio and a telephone on the bulkhead. Odyssey has 10 Movies, 10 TV (I think that?s correct) 25 games and a telephone at every seat. V:Port, is a new innovative system which is video and audio on demand and has 50 Movies (Wow) 100 TV Programmes (Even more Wow!), 14 Audio channels, 35 CDs, and 15 games with a phone at every seat. With V:Port, you can even rewind, pause, fastforward your programmes, and nothing works in a cycle. They plan to refurbish their planes with V:Port OR Odyysey by next year, and both are really good, as I have experienced both!

DESTINATIONS
They fly from London Heathrow and Gatwick to USA, Africa, Caribbean, and Asia, they also fly from Manchester to Orlando (Florida, USA)

Finally, now the review can start. Sorry about al
l this!!!

------------------------HERE?S THE REVIEW GUYS! ---------------------------------------OUTBOUND FLIGHT
London-Heathrow to Newark Libery Int?l (NJ, USA, Nr New York)
Flight Code: VS001
Time Depart LHR at 1600 hours, arrive at Newark at 1830 (Local Time) 7 housr 30 minutes.

We arrived at check-in about 4 hours before. The check-in area at Heathrow is in Zone A of Terminal 3. They were checking in for various other flights including the Shanghai one. It was relitavely quick for Economy. There were security people sticking labels to the passports in the queue, I suppose to speed up check-in. Check-in was done by Virgin Atlantic staff (duh!) and they were very friendly and bubbly.

After exploring the numerous shops and restaurants of Heathrow, it was time for us to make our way to the gate. We were boarding at game 34(I think) and that was in the new gate area of Terminal 3. On the boards it said that it is a 20 minute walk (crikey!) but in all reality it took us about 10/15 minutes. I would allow 20 though, because if it is busy, well, you don?t know do you.

At the gate, we were called to board 20 minutes late, Upper Class and Premium were called first, and then us Economy passengers had to board (about 306 of us!!!). We boarded our plane which was a 747-400 (aka, the Jumbo Jet) and it was the registration of G-VTOP and was named ?Virginia Plain?. The slogan was ?You never forget your first time? Funny that, it was our fisrt time with VA! We were greeted by friendly cabin crew and we turned right to Economy, past Premium (we saw the Upper Class bar, oh and our plane had the brand new Upper Class Cabin with the Upper Class Suites, lucky Upper Class people!)

Blankets and pillows were waiting for us (we were sat in rows 48 ABC if you want to know). We pushed back about 20 minutes late, and the rather funny safety video came on in the form of a cartoon. It was taking the mick of the usual ?In the unlikely e
vent? safety demos. The blankets said ?This is a flying blanket, please don?t let it walk? on the label, obviously saying, don?t steal it! Seats were comfortable for Economy.

We pushed past a BA and BMI flight, has we had priority because we were late taking off. We took over towards the west, over the erm, lovely (only joking) M25, and along over Reading, Bristol, Cardiff (tried to see my house, but couldn?t!) and over Ireland, before cruising over the boring Atlantic (also known as ?The Pond?)

The large amenity kits were handed out, and were in a drawstring bag and had all the usual amenities you want. Drinks were served regularly throughout the flight and were free. The first meal, served about 2 hours into the flight was a choice of Sausage and Mash, Beef Cobbler or Vegitarian Curry for Economy and Premium Pax. For us, only sausage was left, but it was my first choice anyway. It was really nice, and was served with salad, a Cadbury?s Flake dessert and a roll. There was also real glasses to drink from and I had Virgin Cola. The second meal was a snack and was a choice of a Chicken or Cheese Sandwich. I chose Chicken and it was nice. It was also served with a drink, tea or coffee, and a choc chip muffin.

Oh, I forgot, the entertainment was Odyssey, and the screen was decent sized, and there was plenty of choice. I was not bored once. I watched My Family, School of Rock, and listened to V.FM with lots of great recent music, presented by Libery X! I imagine that the programmes will be updated soon though. The list of entertainment is on www.virginatlantic.com aswell.

After the smooth landing, we taxied into Terminal B. Dido? White Flag?, Kylie?s ? Come into my World? and Sade?By your Side was also played, along with many more.


We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at New York it was really brill!

INBOUND FLIGHT
Newark ? London Heathrow
VS002
Times: 2130 ( I think) depart, arrive at 0905 ( I think) <
br>
We arrived at check-in an hour before it opened to make sure. But a queue was already forming. We were second in the queue anyhow! After being in the airport for a few hours (a good airport mind you) we were called fro boarding. By the way, Newark does not have a separate large departure lounge. The Duty Free shops are accessible to the locals. However, you go through the strict security before the gates, where you?ll find shops, toilets and a pub (small) We boarded, and were greeted by some more friendly flight attendants. I felt really thirsty on boarding and I wanted a drink. A glass of water was brought to me before you could say Virgin Atlantic!

We took off (I think on time) We were sat in 35 HJK and we could see Manhattan from our window on take-off, one final look at New York for this trip (until our next time!) Seats in Economy were comfortable. Seats with V:Port have a larger screen (should I say huge!) and an adjustable headrest.

Now, I think this review is long enough, so I wont write as much. The meal was again good, with a choice of chicken, salmon, and pasta and the amenity kit was smaller but still useful. Drinks only came round once, but you could go to the galley and ask for one. We flew on another 747-400 G-VWOW, ?Cosmic Girl, built in 2001 and it had V:Port. This system was excellent, and they are refurbishing it onto almost all planes in the next 12 months, with the rest having Odyssey, which is also good for an airline, and eliminating the not so good Arcadia nd Nova systems which are, so I?ve read still good.


Virgin are an excellent airline (and an excellent group at doing everything else), so, I think, they will be my first choice next time I fly somewhere they do. Oh yes, they are also supposed to be going to Sydney, Australia, this year. Wish they went to Toronto though. They do have limited routes which is a downside. Nice modern livery on their planes too!

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