Virgin Atlantic Airways - VIR > Reviews > Virgin Upper Class.

Author's product rating:   

Food Quality	Good
Customer Service	Nothing special
Punctuality	Good
Space	Comfortable
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Seamless journey from home to destination .  The best airport lounges anywhere .
Disadvantages:	Unsure about the new seat .   Staff were friendly but not outstanding .  Price is for when someone else is paying !

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I’ve gone into quite some detail here so there’s lots to read, but if you want to know the detail of the service you get from Virgin in Upper Class, then I hope you’ll find this very useful.

I've flown Virgin Economy several times and on the whole they're very good so I would always choose them over the majority of the competition. Their Upper Class product always has the reputation of being excellent, so I was very excited to be able to sample it on a trip to Johannesburg.

Their 'seamless' journey from your home to your destination means a Chauffeur picks you up from your house and takes you to the airport (in my case Heathrow T3) and will take you from your destination airport to your final destination such as your hotel.

This is a fantastic extra and is clearly worth a substantial amount of money. My Chauffeur arrived promptly (in fact a little early) and took my bags while I settled down in the leather seats. As we set off the driver chatted and then checked me in from his on-board computer. This means that as we arrived at terminal three drive-thru check-in all I had to do was open the car window to collect my boarding card from the staff, whilst my bag was collected from the car-boot and sent to the aircraft.

The driver then continued and dropped me off in the T3 car park, on the correct level to cross the footbridge and go straight through fast-track security. Within a matter of minutes I was in the Virgin Clubhouse Lounge. The check-in procedure is perfect, totally stress-free.

Once in the Clubhouse my flight details were confirmed and (although I was not using the service) my Limo transfer from Johannesburg would have been confirmed. I was made to feel very welcome and offered drinks and snacks all with friendly at-table service. If you had time Virgin offer a variety of Beauty treatments in the Virgin Touch Salon or a haircut or shave can be obtained from the barber. I took time to catch up on the news and to send a few farewell emails from one of the business centre desks. It was a 9pm flight and if you wished you could order a meal in the lounge so that you could go straight to sleep upon boarding the aircraft, they were totally flexible. Having said that most people stuck to the (actually quite varied and tasty) buffet foods on offer. The lounge is large and very stylish but is still quite busy at that time on a Sunday evening with several popular flights all due to leave. Several times I returned to where I had been sitting to find my place had been taken by new arrivals.

Once on board Upper Class passengers were offered champagne, water or juice from staff serving the drinks from silver trays and newspapers were available too (my pet hate with Virgin Economy is that there's no pre-take-off drink).

The on-board food service is amongst the best I've every had, certainly the choice from the 'Freedom' menu is excellent. The dishes are individually prepared as they are ordered and served on china plates (but in the current situation with plastic cutlery). When I was asked for my order I was addressed by name, which was nice and I went for Onion Soup, Bangers and Mash followed by Apple and Blackberry pie with Ice Cream. All were excellent, very tasty and served relatively quickly too.

You can then finish off with a mug of cappuccino or hot chocolate and settle down with your full size pillow and duvet in front of a movie. The in-flight entertainment is the same as in economy class, and is almost perfect, an incredible choice of Movies, TV and Radio to suit everyone.

Sleeper suits which are actually a perfectly nice set of soft and baggy pyjamas are handed out and quite a few people took themselves to the toilet to change into them, I didn't fancy that experience much, must have been very fiddly, but you can keep the pyjamas for after your flight anyway.

The new Virgin seat is something I'm not yet convinced about. A little like the BA 'Flat Bed' this seat slides downwards electronically rather than reclining - which takes a bit of getting used to. And when it is at its almost flat position, I actually found it rather uncomfortable, and I had to shift myself around quite a lot to get a reasonable position. The adverts show people sleeping soundly on their side as if it's like their own bed, but the reality was not like that for me. However I had to think back to my awful uncomfortable nights in Virgin Economy and realise that there was actually no comparison - these seats were not perfect but they are pretty good. One very handy thing for me was the little tray in which you could safely store things like your specs without them getting crushed in a seat pocket.

Sadly, despite putting my name down for an in-flight massage I was not one of those chosen to be treated, so I missed that opportunity which would have been another real treat. They say they have to do it randomly but it's still a disappointment if you're not chosen.

I slept for a few hours only, but it seemed like no time before the 11 hour flight was almost at an end. The bright and friendly cabin crew offered breakfast, again no trolley is ever wheeled through Upper Class, your order is taken and then served to your seat individually. A good selection of breakfast cereals and then croissant, toast and blueberry muffins were the lighter choice, or you could have a full English breakfast if you wished.

Upper Class passengers are, of course, the first to leave and our bags were there almost immediately. Although if I had wanted to be through the airport even more quickly I could have taken my suitcase on as hand luggage, and there was plenty of space in the overhead lockers.

My return flight from Johannesburg was almost just as good. I didn't think the food (which was obviously prepared in South Africa rather than London) was up to the standard of that on the outward journey. But the miniature cakes which were handed out after the meal were delicious. Again I found it difficult to sleep and as I tucked into a few more of those cakes whilst sitting at the bar, the beauty therapist asked me if I wished to have my massage. All the other passengers were sleeping, so I got my massage and it was terrific - just the sort of pampering that sets Virgin's Upper Class apart from other business class products.

On arrival in London, in the Revivals Lounge I was shown to a private shower room where I could freshen up, and if I had wished, they would steam-press my clothes (via a clever wardrobe with 2 sets of doors) whilst I showered. They had a good range of light and healthy breakfast items which were served by friendly staff and as my chauffeur arrived on time, I left the airport feeling totally refreshed, in complete contrast to my normal state following an 11 hour over-night flight.

Join the frequent flyers club and the adverts say you earn 2 free flights to Europe from just one round trip in Upper Class - this is just the icing on the cake, especially when someone else is paying your fare in the first place.

Business Class travel is out of my league when I'm paying for it myself, but Virgin has thought of everything and you feel well and truly looked after. If you can afford it, or if your company is paying, you shouldn't hesitate to give them a try.