Help an ex-BA Virgin Virgin

Hello everyone, this is my first posting here. Have been crossing the pond on BA since 1991 (LAX-LHR) and now have had just about enough of them.

Considering a purchase of a PE ticket on VS8 or 24 and back. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll have to stick with the A340 for the lowest fare which means no WC in the cabin to my understanding.

Anyway, have a couple of questions on VS PE that I haven't been able to figure out on neither virgin-atlantic.com nor this website.

First of all, is there any sort of lounge access for Premium Economy flyers?

Secondly, can anyone compare Virgin's PE to BA's WT+?

Looking forward to my first flight on VS. Many thanks for any responses. I tried searching the archives for a previous post of this type but couldn't find anything.

[mitchja]

Hi and welcome

Might not be what you wnat to hear but there is no lounge access to PE passengers usless you hold a gold FC card.

PE on the A340 is very similar to BA's WT+. The A340 currently have the old style PE seat so no lap-top power point though. The PE seat has the TV screen on the seat in front unlike WT+ which is attached to the seat. I would say (having flown on both WT+ and PE on the A340) the PE seat is a little wider and slightly longer. The other main difference is that PE has seperate check-in at all airports unlike WT+. PE on the 744's does blow WT+ away though especially on the upper deck.

The other difference (from a frequent flyer point of view) it that PE earns 1.5x miles unlike WT+ with is only 1.25x miles. You earn the same milage in PE on VS as you would in BA's club world.

Hope this helps

Regards

WT+ don't give you champagne at take off any more do they?

[Pete]

B777,

My advice would be to pay a little extra and get yourself on the earlier flights (VS007/008) for the 747. I hate to admit it, but even I don't care for PE on the A343s much.

As mitchja has explained, there are some benefits of PE across the board over WT+, such as separate check in, better mileage, pre-departure champagne; but the Upper Deck PE on the 747 is hard to beat.

Lounge access for PE isn't standard, but you can still (I believe) get into the generic Serviceair lounge if you booked via Virgin Holidays. Other than that, post your flight details on V-Flyer, and if a Gold traveller is going through LHR on the same day, maybe you'll get an invite as a guest to the Clubhouse

Pix

Thank you very much for your replies.

It looks like the lowest fares are only available on VS23. I haven't been on an A343 before so thats the only perk. In addition, the annoying thing is that there is no WC for the PE cabin. That's not going to stop me from going on Virgin! I've had just about enough of BA.

Hopefully I can get on the 747 VS7/8. Looking forward to my first VS experience!!!!

If you dont mind me asking, why have you had enough of BA?

Rich.

The thing with BA is that I feel as though the quality of their product has gone down. I've been crossing the atlantic with them on BA 282/3 and 268/9 for over 10 years now and have witnessed a slow decline of service. I used to enjoy flying with them and now, not so much. The last 3 years especially, I've had a couple of unpleasant experiences with FAs, all while traveling in Club World.

I also am not a fan of the Club World flat bed. Too narrow and not quite long enough. I prefer the cradle seat. About the only good experience i've had with BA recently was a Concorde reward trip last June. Now while I should be grateful for the fact that I got to go on the Concorde thanks to British Airways...I will still mention a couple of exec club complaints. They've made it harder to earn and redeem miles, by for example increasing the miles you need for reward travel while not making it any easier to earn them e.g. WT+ still only 1.25x base mileage as compared to Virgin.

In essence my statement "I've had about enough of BA" is just a reflection of my feelings towards BA. On the one hand, I've been flying them for years and have accumulated my miles with them. But I just think that it is about time to give something else a try and I'm happy to be going on Virgin this time.

Thanks for your response.

Hope you have a better experience with VS.

I have walked throught the new club world cabin, and I agree it does look rather cramped - never flown in it though.

The Suites config would appear to be much more spacious - I'm looking forward to me first experience next week.

It has got me wondering, if there are many BA flyers who stuck with BA, so that they could get Concorde rewards, who are now looking more openly at alternatives?

Rich.

Here are the problems that I have with Club World Richard:

1. The seat is narrow! Not nearly as wide as the old Club World "Cradle" Seat and they put them 2-4-2 across the 747 and 777. The cradle seat was 2-3-2. At least to me, this gives off the feeling of being cramped.

2. At around 1.75m, I'm not tall, but the 6 foot bed is too short for me.

3. I'm not so keen on the backwards/forwards facing

4. If you're facing the tail, your head will be slightly higher than your feet. Vice versa if you're facing the front.

5. On the upper deck of the 747, if you're sitting next to the window, you can still access the aisle without jumping over the legs of the person in the aisle seat behind you (well...by "behind you" i mean closer to the tail). On the lower deck of the 777, you can to climb over the legs of the person behind you and I don't see why it wouldn't be the same on the lower deck of the 747, though I haven't been on the new club world on a lower deck.

I used up 110,000 miles to go on concorde from LHR and come back from JFK on a 777 in Club World. I've still got over 100,000 miles left, but I'm really not that satisfied with BA anymore. Especially now since I haven't been flying as often and therefore am back down to blue standing, I get no extra perks in comparison to someone that has never flown BA in his life! That is what makes me think that it might be worth it to switch to another carrier.

i suppose one slightly good thing about BA is the oneworld alliance, but to be honest BA flies almost anywhere I want to go, so it's not really a big deal. I fly American Airlines within the USA and am quite pleased with them. They just had a free 3 fly free promotion. I completed three round trips in 5 months with them (of which two were discount LAX-SFO and LAX-LAS tickets) and they've sent me a voucher for a free trip anywhere in the 48 states. (Some restrictions, but still pretty cool).

In response to your comment regarding some BA travellers changing after Concorde, I think that this might well be true. BA loses a competitive advantage, albeit for a somewhat small (BUT high-yielding) part of their customer base. The gentlemen sitting next to me on Concorde said that he dislikes British Airways but it is the preferred airline of his company. He prefers on Virgin for his personal travel.

I was reading somewhere that a couple flies to barbados on BA because they couldn't stand being away from their cigarettes for more than a few hours. Now they've been forced to try something different (and shorter).

I also am not a fan of european business class, but BA is not unique on that one.

[Bazz]

Btriple7...

Thanks for your interesting observations and comparisons, we hope VS lives up to our experience and your expectations, welcome aboard.

My advice is maybe book on the VS23/24 if its cheaper and get to the airport early and try to standby for the earlier flight if there is a seat free im sure they would give it to you especially if the later flight is oversold!!