What are you thoughts on Virgin Atlantic?

I haven't flown transatlantic on Virgin for some years, but premium economy was quite comfortable and Upper Class was fantastic.

We are primarily Delta fliers and recently flew VA on the JFK=>LHR portion of our trip. I thought it was meh and wouldn't go out of my way to select it over Delta. Friends had done a similar trip last year and raved about VA service and food, but they were in one of the premium cabins; we were in coach for our flights. I did not think anything was better or worse than Delta with respect to the actual flight experience.

I will say that Delta customer service tops VA (and any other airline we've flown) and it is why we continue to choose Delta when we can. We travel with a disabled family member, and Delta is phenomenal about helping with accommodations, the biggest of which is to have seating as close to the front of the plane as possible to avoid the long walk down the cramped aisle. We are in the economy cabin as per our purchased tickets, but Delta will place us in the first or second row, which normally have an extra seat charge, for no additional cost. VA made us pay, which was several hundred dollars extra for the three of us.

So, for us, for future flights, we'll opt for Delta over VA.

Deb, would you elaborate a bit on why you weren’t thrilled with Virgin. We fly main economy. I’ve never been dissatisfied with a Delta flight. I think the service, food and comfort are all just fine on Delta.

Hi, we flew Delta but our flight from SeaTac to London in 2023 was run by Virgin. We noticed much less jet lag, and some people mentioned it was due to the specific plane they were using on that route. We both thought it was an excellent experience, and we were seated in the Comfort Economy equivalent. I always fly Delta or their partners.

I have flown Virgin Atlantic from Dulles to Heathrow three times and have my fourth and fifth trips booked. My first trip to the UK was British Airway economy. I wasn't impressed. After reading about Virgin from several posters, I decided to book a premium seat. It was so much more comfortable. This past summer I upgraded to upperclass on the leg to Heathrow. It was my first time flying upperclass on an international flight. I loved the flight experience and especially the Virgin Clubhouse at Dulles. I'm heading back to London for Christmas and splurged on upperclass for both legs of the flight. I'm excited to check out the Virgin Clubhouse at Heathrow. It's always so hectic, it'll be nice to relax in the lounge.
I have not had a lot of experience with many airlines, but I have no complaints with Virgin. I hope this helps.
Happy Travels!

I'm an Atlantan, so loyal to Delta because that's where all my perks are, in addition to all the flights. I've flown Virgin only once internationally from HRW to ATL and thought it was comparable. What I remember most is walking through a completely filled business cabin to our almost empty coach cabin. We three had the entire row to ourselves - meaning from window to window.

Hi, Lulu. I wouldn't say that we weren't thrilled, with a negative connotation; it's that we didn't find the flight experience any better than Delta's (which we find perfectly acceptable). We had higher expectations for VA given what our friends had described, but I think those better experiences (food, service, space, etc.) might apply only to the premium seating cabins.

For us, in economy, it was just OK and not better than Delta; perhaps a touch worse, but nothing bad. The food was about the same quality (edible, not great), the seats were the usual uncomfortable but bearable, the flight attendants were wrangling some tough family/poorly behaved children dynamics (the man seated next to me eventually requested to be reseated because of the behavior of the 5-year-old behind him. The flight attendant agreed but never came back and the man remained in his seat, being kicked HARD the whole way to London. I don't blame VA for the kid, but I do blame the flight attendant for never coming back.). So I would say it was an OK couple of flights, but nothing that would make me choose VA over Delta.

It is the customer service aspect that will have me avoiding VA in the future, not the flight itself.

Thank you, Deb, for the clarification. Hopefully it was just the flight attendant and not the typical demeanor of all. I agree from what I’ve read here just now, and other places, the experience is better with higher priced seating. We just aren’t willing to do.

Ruth, how odd? I wonder why no one flying economy.

Lulu, I will give a shout-out to the patience of the FA on my flight. Even though her workload was light, the passenger in front of me was a handful. He complained multiple times to her that the person in front of him was reclining his seat. She was politer than I probably would have been explaining that that was the other passenger's right, as was his to recline his seat. He was seated by his equally elderly wife, and by mid-flight he was trying to buy the FA as his second wife. That didn't go well with any of us!

I've only flown Upperclass on Virgin so I can only comment on that aspect. The beds are not comfortable for tall people. I'm 6'3" and the beds are tight and have a curve to them which means I am unable to lie straight. I recall one meal that was offered was their version of afternoon tea, basically a few sandwiches and cakes, not something I'm interested in nor what I would consider a proper meal. Dining used to be whenever you wanted to but now they've done away with that and meals are brought out at the same time for everyone.

I gave up flying any of the US airlines a long time ago primarily because of consistently bad service and surly staff so if I were to fly transatlantic now I would opt for British Airways and their new Club Suite makes Virgin's Upperclass product look very outdated.

For an economy experience I would imagine there's little to separate Virgin from Delta.

In the last month, I flew Virgin Atlantic to India - SFO-LHR, LHR-BOM - and back in main economy. The flight attendants were very friendly and patient, and it made a huge difference. The food was okay, some meals better than others. On the LHR-SFO leg, we were given afternoon tea, which consisted of a couple of sandwiches, a scone with Rhoda's clotted cream, Bonne Maman strawberry jam., served with a choice of tea (probably PG tips) or coffee. Not the best tea experience in the world, but not too shabby either, and a nice gesture. I definitely would like to fly VA again. My only complaint was that the seat was very thinly padded. I ended up using the seat cushion I carry along for extra cushioning on Indian roads.

Virgin Atlantic remains the standard against which I evaluate transatlantic flights from LAX. KLM to AMS came close last year [another SkyTeam partner], but VA superior to New Zealand Air [still very good - when they flew LAX => LHR] and ITA to Rome - although ITA premium economy FCO => Boston also came close.

On VA we had extra legroom seats, so still in economy. FAs were friendly and helpful. My theory on airline food is that it's largely a function of the catering kitchens involved - the snacks on shorthaul KLM intra-European flights last year were a cut above.

So to LHR VA would always be my first choice. It's a shame they don't offer more connections at LHR - researching a flight to Newcastle, I discovered that to use SkyTeam, I would have to connect via AMS or CDG.