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

Author's product rating:   

Food Quality	Good
Customer Service	Friendly and attentive
Punctuality	Always on time
Space	Outstanding
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Friendly, Efficient
Disadvantages:	None

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Ok, so I have always heard the hype of Virgin Atlantic. Lets face it, they are hard to miss when they are owned by Sir Richard Branson!

I was off on holidays to Sydney and decided to treat myself to Upper Class. The day came and I had already arranged the Limo service through Virgin Atlantic. The Limo service I understand is only available on some Upper Class Tickets (i,.e the non discounted ones). The Limo arrived on time, just in time to hit the rush hour traffic in London. My friendly driver told me lots about what my experience over the next 24hours would involve....Spa treatments....excellent Inflight entertainment.....lovely crew.....modern aircraft! Fantastic. We arrived at London Heathrow Terminal three. Well Virgin Atlantics private part of T3. VAA have an area called drive through check in. As the Limo pulls up a lovely ground staff member brings out all your details to the window and checks you in from the car! I couldnt believe it. The other half sat there with jaw open. From there we were escorted through to the Upper Class private security channel and within 9minutes we were in the London Heathrow Clubhouse!

The Clubhouse at London Heathrow has won many awards, I was a bit sceptical as I find airline lounges boring places, especially as they are pretty restricted within Terminal buildings. How wrong could I have been! This place is a haven away from the Zoo that is T3. As you walk in you are greeted by two lovely ladies, welcoming you to the clubhouse and advising you roughly when your flight will board. You then progres and someone takes your jacket and bags for you. To give you a quick idea of whats available, shoe shine, haircut, jacuzzi, massages, spa treatments, a la cart dining, table service, cocktail waiters, games room, HUGE screen television, Kids area, quiet area...hanging bubble seats....simply amazing! I opted for a massage before some dinner. Constantly topped up with champagne as I wandered around in amazement! There is also an outside viewing area, which was sadly not open today.

All too quickly our flight was called and as we arrived at the gate I was pleased to see no que as the rest of the aircraft had nearly finished boarding. As you walk down the jetway this beautiful purple lighting affect comes out of the boarding door, we awere greeted by name by the two cheerful cabin crew and given directions to our luxurious Upper Class Suites! As I wandered down the cabin the cabin crew member approached and escorted us to our seats. 4 & 5A. Our home for the next 24hours! We were offered another lovely cold glass of the bubbly stuff and given a quick intro to our seats/beds. In no time at all the doors were closed and we were off just after 2230.

Once in the air, our crew member for the night brought round hot towels, explained the menu to us and offered us a drink from the bar. Yes please! The entertainment was then started and I started working my way through one of umpteen movies, documentaries, comedies, music......I think there was enough to do my next years worth of flying! The best thing about the entertainment was the fact that it could be paused, fast forwarded, rewound etc. i could also play my other half (or anyone else on the aircraft) at various games!

Dinner was served shortly afterwards, the food was ok, not as good as in the Clubhouse, however there is only so much you can do onboard an aircraft I`m sure. The nicest part was the salad to start, the worst being the ice cream...only because it was rock hard!

Dinner over and myself and my paryner wandered up to the Inflight bar for a nightcap..Baileys with Ice before bed, quick chat with the crew and when I returned to my seat I found my bed all made up for me....I thought this was a lovely touch!

I slept for 8 hours!

I woke up just as breakfst was being served, the breakfast was delicious. Bacon Roll, fresh fruit and a lovely cold glass of orange juice. Now it was time to freshen up before landing.

We landed 10mins early into Hong Kongs Chep Lap Kok airport and in no time we were disembarking and saying goodbye to our crew who had looked after us so well for 12hours. I didnt realsie that Hong Kong had a Clubhouse as well, so was very pleased when we were greeted by the ground crew and given our invitations.

Ok so enough on this report, part two to follow shortly for the second leg of the big journey....