We booked our last trip (November 2017) through Virgin Holidays so I cannot comment on the booking experience for Virgin Atlantic (although we have booked direct with Virgin Atlantic in the past and always found it to be an easy process).
Virgin Atlantic offers three cabin types: Upper Class, Premium, and Economy. Earlier this year they introduced three types of Economy experience: Light, Classic and Delight.
As we had booked prior to the new experiences being launched we were in Economy Classic (when booking through Virgin Holidays this is currently the only option). We had to pay to pre-book our seats, although if you are not fussed about where you sit, you can wait until check-in.
When you book through Virgin Holidays you are provided with your Virgin Atlantic booking reference, which allows you to log into your booking on the Virgin Atlantic website. From here you can pre-book your seats. It is very easy, you are presented with a ‘map’ of the plane and can easily see seats which are available or not. The aircraft used for the Manchester to Orlando route is a Boeing 747, this is my favourite plane too!
We like to sit in the ‘bubble’, upstairs there is a small cabin and the cockpit. There are 20 Premium seats, and 33 Economy seats, 6 of which are exit row seats.
We choose 75B and 75C, these are exit row seats so have plenty of leg room, it cost £60 per seat to pre-book.
There is also the advantage of being able to get off the plane before most other people, as Upper class get off first, then Premium, the bubble and then the rest of Economy. We like to be off first so that we are near the front of the line at security!
The downside to these seats is that the TV and table are stored in the seat arm, this means that you cannot watch the TV during taxi, take-off, and landing. You cannot put the armrest up and you lose a little of the seat width due to this. The leg room far outweighs both of these for us. Also if you have the window seat (75A), there is storage between the wall and the seat, which means you can put everything you need for the flight right at your fingertips!!
With Virgin Atlantic you can check in 24 hours before your flight, unfortunately, this time I was unable to do online check-in as my DH had been selected for a random check, so we had to check in at the airport. We arrived at check-in about 3 hours before our flight time, there were only one or two families in front of us, check-in was quick and easy.
When it came to boarding, as usual, they boarded Upper Class, Premium, Economy Delight and then it was a free for all. Usually, boarding is by row number, so I am not sure why on this occasion they chose not to. We joined the long line, which did move quite quickly. We were soon on the plane and up the stairs, we went, to our seats.
Ladybird (G-VAST), is 21 years old, so if you are used to flying newer planes, this might feel a bit out of date. You can’t beat a 747 though!
There was a technical issue with the PA system which resulted in a one-hour delay, however, the flight time was a short 8 hours, so we made up the delay and ended up landing on time in Orlando.
Food and Drink Service
During the flight we were served drinks, these are all complimentary and include water, soft drinks, spirits, and beers.
You receive a nice little menu which shows you what food you will be served on the flight, and there is a choice of three main meals.
I had the ‘Creamy mushroom & chicken farfalle bake’, the Couscous salad was really good, and I even ate my DH’s!
Entertainment
The in-flight magazine Vera has all the information you need to know about what Films, TV, and music is on during your flight.
There are always up to date movies, but this time I noticed there were also lots of older movies on too, such as Big. There were over 60 movies, more than enough for an eight-hour flight! You can download the latest Vera from the Virgin Atlantic website.
The TVs are all touchscreen and you can save movies and TV programmes to your favourites, so you can plan what to watch on the flight!
I do not know when Virgin Atlantic stopped giving out amenity kits, we first flew with Virgin Atlantic in 2003, and I remember getting a ‘bag’ which had lots of useful items for the flight, both going out and coming back. In more recent years this had been reduced to a small amenity kit on the return night flight. On our last flight, we got nothing. They were very useful as they contained a sleep mask.
Our flight home was on Pretty Woman (G-VROY).
Our seats were 61H and 61K, these are on the first row of seats which change from 3 – 4- 3, to 2 – 4 – 2.
There is a lot of room between the seat and the window, however, they are normal economy legroom ~ which isn’t great! They are good seats if there are only two of you.
Have you ever travelled with Virgin Atlantic, what are your thoughts?
Emma x
Virgin Atlantic Airways...my review @virginatlantic #virginholidays #virginatlantic #review #blogger We booked our last trip (November 2017) through Virgin Holidays so I cannot comment on the booking experience for…