Virgin Atlantic Airways - VIR > Reviews > I want the world!

Author's product rating:   

Food Quality	Excellent
Customer Service	Friendly and attentive
Punctuality	Good
Space	Comfortable
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Lots of routes, great cabin crews and great food
Disadvantages:	Not all fleet have full on demand yet

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I have used Virgin Atlantic on occasions for my flights with work and on my own holidays. My two most recent flights were one of each - one to Orlando international and one to Antigua's VC bird International. I would say the flights I have flown on have all been very similar in the way that they were conducted and the staff on board but I will give my opinion of the airline as a whole and let you decide for yourselves. Bear in mind thought hat this is a review of the airline itself and not the website or services used to book the flights so I will only touch upon these.

The history:
Virgin Atlantic was set up by Richard Branson. I'm sure nearly everybody has heard of this guy but for those who don't, he is the founder of Virgin and also Virgin Holidays. He has made millions from the company and it's many other projects it now has such as Virgin Vie cosmetics and trains along with also now developing the Virgin space travel program. Virgin Atlantic itself was founded in 1984 after Richard Branson already had Virgin record labels. He used the money from this to start up Virgin Atlantic and since then the airline has flourished with many routes and flying in and out of many different airports worldwide.

Destinations and fleet:
Virgin fly to, in total, 31 destinations from the UK. The airports in the UK that it flies from are London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Manchester and Glasgow. The Glasgow route is not a permanent route though and normally a summer route only when it is operational. All routes are long haul routes.
The airline have have 3 different types of aircraft size and these are:
747 - 400
A340 - 300
A340 - 600
The A340 is the smaller of the aircraft's with an 8 seats across in a row in economy and the 747 has 10 seats across with both aircraft's having 2 aisles.

Booking:
Booking for flights can be done either over the phone, through the website or through an ageny. When booking any flight no matter what airline it is, it is always cheaper to book direct with the airline itself - there will be occasions where this may not be the case but the best deals to be found are usually with the airline and normally on the web too as they will try to encourage customers booking on the web!

Prices:
The airline offer pretty decent rates for flights which are pretty similar to competitor airlines doing the same routes - however if there are reduced fares on with the airline of which Virgin do normally have various sale fares every so often you can grab a return flight for around £300 for an economy seat up to around the £1200 mark for first class.

Flying club:
Virgin have a flying club which is free to join and once you do you can earn points from every flight you take with them. Points that are awarded are dependant on the route you fly, the tier your membership is and also the class you fly in. For example a flight from Manchester to New york if you fly economy and you are a red tier member (first level) would earn you 4224.
Once you have enough you can use your points to earn free flights or upgrades on existing flights. For 37,000 points will get you a free flight from Manchester to Orlando and back.
When you are booking flights if you are a flying club member you should quote your membership number and then also show your membership card when checking in.

Flying with them:
Virgin are a fully scheduled service airline which means that the flight includes all meals and luggage in the cost and during the flight all food and drink served to customers is free of charge. Depending on what time your flight is you will receive a lunch or dinner along with a small snack and then any drinks you ask for including alcoholic beverages.
The aircrafts have seat back tvs and if they have the full on demand service the films can be played and stopped at each seat and also games and music be played of your choice. Headsets are provided by the airline and these are also free of charge. A great feature is when you are able to play the games against other passengers!
Also when flying with them all passengers get their own quilt cover and pillow so none of this asking the cabin crew for them! You'll also get your own little toiletry bag with a toothbrush, toothpaste, eye mask and a pair of socks in so that you can get a bit more comfortable.

Overall experience:
Every time I have flown with Virgin I have always had a great flight with good food and the staff have always been really nice too. The plane seats are spacious in economy - as that's the only class I've flown in unfortunately! I have always found the staff at check in are very efficient too but the only downside I have ever found with the airline is it always seems to be late departing! Only by a little bit but still I've never left on time with them! Also not all aircrafts have got the full on demand entertainment service yet so if you get a flight without it then it's not as much fun on the long flights!

However I would still highly recommend this airline as they are very good and make flying long haul a pleasurable experience - especially if you can afford the upgrades!