Virgin Atlantic Airways - VIR > Reviews > Fly Virgin Atlantic, its just fantastic!!

Author's product rating:   

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

Advantages:	Entertainment system, eye candy, impressive service
Disadvantages:	expensive, lack of friendliness, tries a bit too hard to be 'cool'

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I have a kind of love- hate relationship with flying. One the one hand, it is an amazing experience, you get to travel in these really rather cool inventions and go off to fantastic places, and in the mean time get to watch movies, eat food, and get drunk whilst hopefully chatting to some cool (and preferably attractive) person on the way. On the other hand there is something not right about sending us fragile humans eight miles up into the air at 500 miles an hour suspended in an aluminium tube filled with people and kerosene. Combined with that there is the knowledge that if anything goes wrong, fiery, violent death will result requiring identification from dna traces. Oh and the fact there are evil scumbags who actually want that to happen to people make flying, for me, a somewhat terrifying activity.

It doesn't stop me though, I worked out in my life I have clocked up the equivalent of around ten whole days flying time on numerous voyages. As a kid I was lucky, I got taken abroad two or three times a year, and since then have gone on a 'voyage' most years since my year long excursion to Australasia, so I should be used to flying. I should find it as straight-forward as boarding the number 8 bus to work every day. But I don't. It seems to have got worse as I have gotten older. I still look forward to each flight with a mixture of fear and excitement. In my mind it is still something special, far removed from the mundanity of daily life. Yet, nowadays with more planes in the sky and more and more people venturing overseas it is getting as dull as catching the coach to Blackpool. Often with the same kind of people...

Consequently, when I do decide to voyage overseas, I try and find an airline which will try and promote a sense of exclusivity about the whole thing. I gave up on BA after my return from Australia due to their horrendous service and snooty flight attendants, I liked United until 9/11 meant that I am too cowardly to fly them again. I hadn't tried Virgin before, even though a stunning girl I used to live near was a Virgin flight attendant, and once, whilst visiting a friend near Gatwick I drunkenly kissed a girl who claimed to do the same job! So the attractiveness of their flight attendants was never in doubt, and the general image of the company is one of an airline for young, attractive, trendy types who think nothing of jetting over to New York for a shopping trip or Miami for a holiday. The sort of person I would like to think I am, or would like to be, so Virgin's marketing campaign is aimed squarely at people like me, and with their prices being roughly comparable to BA's at around £400 for a flight from London into NY JFK and out of Boston Logan I thought I would give them a go. And I wasn't disappointed.

Being the poor teacher I am, I had to go economy, not 'upper class' as i would wish. I don't know who it was, I think it was Kate Moss or someone who said the arbiter of success is whether one turns left (into first class) or right (into economy) when entering an airliner. I am still a definite right turner. I hope someday to be able to do the opposite, but not yet, and unless I marry a rich heiress or model then I can't see this changing..

Going economy with VA requires one to undergo the gruelling ordeal of Heathrow Terminal 3. I first flew out of T3 in 2001, and was deeply offended at the state of the place, the wires hanging from the ceilings and the lack of places to sit. Also, the fact you have to walk miles to get to your gate. In fact, getting to the furthest gate means you have to leave the departure area about ten minutes before boarding!! It is horrendous, so when I went back last year, I was hoping it would be better. It was worse. We arrived three hours before, and the line took a full ninety minutes before we actually did check in. Consequently all the aisle seats were gone. I like an aisle seat, in fact I usually make it a rule, so I was disappointed. She did manage to find one, but the other seat was on the inside. Mark took that one. I deeply object to arriving at an airport a full three hours before departure and not being able to pick your seats. T3 sucks, the line for security took another forty minutes, leaving us about ten minutes to buy booze before boarding. Heathrow is a nightmare of an airport, any foreigner who uses it must think England is a land of chaos, rudeness and grime. In some places they would be right.

Once on the aircraft, an immaculate new Boeing 747-400 named 'cosmic girl' (I thought the registration G-V WOW! was particularly cool) these impressions were put right, the aircraft was spotlessly clean, the Virgin cabin staff immaculately dressed. All somewhat attractive, if not quite as stunning as the legend has it, pretty but too much blonde hair dye and make up clashing with the bright red uniforms, and forced smiles. The seats were pretty standard for a B747-400, I am average height for a guy so there was some leg room, yet because of the new entertainment system about a third of the under seat space is lost due to the control box so you have to slot your legs in to one side. I always love this part of the flight, looking in the seat back pocket to see what goodies you get. On Virgin you get a little case with a toothbrush and stuff, a blindfold,(you know them things to help you sleep rather than some kind of kidnapping accessory!) some headphones and various magazines. It always takes ages to get yourself sorted, discman out, cds, books and magazines as well as the obligatory chewing gum (to protect ears) and bottle of water. (to prevent DVT). We seemed to be at the gate for a long time, as usual, at Heathrow, we were delayed. This meant we all got slightly uncomfortable cos being a hot day the aircraft got rather hot, the sensible Captain opting to save fuel by keeping the a/c off until we were underway.

Take off was smooth, a fully laden 747 seems to take ages to get airborne, and then even longer to get up to a safe altitude. I am always rather tense during this period, I always relax when they turn the seat belt sign off. If they let you walk around then things must be going pretty much ok...After this happened, It was time to look at the delights Virgin had to offer. We ordered Stella for the first of our many in flight drinks, and checked the entertainment system.

I couldn't quite believe my eyes when I looked at the instructions for the 'V-POD' entertainment system. You can choose from any one of 44, yes thats right, 44 movies, all of which are modern and current. I chose Lord of the Rings and '24 hour party people' to watch, that would take, oh about five hours or so..it is actually the first time I have wished a flight longer because there were about another seven films I would have loved to watch. You get a little screen in front of you, and the best thing about this system is you can press play when you like, and pause it if you need to get up or if the bloody flight attendant comes on the intercom to tell you about duty free. The system also offers a wealth of music channels, and even nintendo style games which is all free, as well as a map showing you where you are, flying over places like 'Kjuuqaq' in the arctic..always useful to know I feel!

On a flight to New York you get a dinner shortly after take off and then a snack just before landing. The food in economy is ok, nothing special, but as usual it is a lottery where you sit in the plane, if you are near the back you might run out of choice but thats been the same as on any airline I have been on. They do offer free booze, which is a bonus, except the flight attendants didn't seem too happy when I went to the galley to request more beer. It was something I noticed about the Virgin flight attendants, attractive as they may be, they did seem somewhat cold and reluctant to help. Nothing too serious, but different to other airlines I have been on, notably the Australian and American ones, maybe it is a trait of British airlines because BA are worse.

I was therefore, as happy as a alcoholic in a gin factory with my films and stella on tap. I didn't really need anything else. I did get up to walk around for a bit, and enjoyed the views from the windows in the door. The views from 35,000 feet never cease to amaze me, even if you are on Pakistan International you would still get the same views, so it is nothing to do with the airline, just gorgeous panoramas of the Icelandic mountains, swirling clouds and jagged coastlines. Beautiful.

The annoying thing was they turned the v-pod system off when they switched the seat belt sign on about fifteen minutes from landing. I am always terrified during landing, so I like to be distracted, I wish I could listen to music rather than having to listen to the whirring and clanking of the aircraft's flaps and landing gear, but Virgin enforced thoroughly the rule about no electronic equipment on descent. Some airlines don't, but I guess Virgin are very concerned about safety. 'Your safety is our priority' they claim. The safety video was vey very funny, with animated characters voiced by Dani Behr and Vic Reeves putting a comic spin on the whole thing, I guess they do this so people will pay attention! And it works!

I always say any airline that gets you there safely is a good airline, Virgin did this effortlessly, and the best thing was having your own personal cinema (albeit with much smaller screen and more distractions) for seven hours or so! Virgin claim they are 'Britain's flag carrier' to poke fun at BA, I think they deserve this title, as they are a far superior airline to British Airways. My only criticism is perhaps they should choose their cabin staff for their personality rather than looks (preferably both!) in order to give a warmer, more personable level of service. I would definitely recommend Virgin for anyone travelling anywhere on any of their routes. A note on the V-POD entertainment system, it was new when I flew with them, and not on all aircraft. If you get an older plane you will have a more limited system but still far superior to most other airlines.

In conclusion: If you've not discovered the delights of Virgin, go on, pop your flying cherry as fast as you can!!