Is Virgin Economy better than British Airways?

I don't know about airport lounges, or first, Upper, Club World or Premium etc as I never have the funds to travel in those classes. So a good economy service is hard to find?

I recently took a flight with BA from New York to Heathrow in economy, a trip i have made a few times with Virgin Atlantic. There are some differences; service delivery appears more conservative with BA than with Virgin, Virgin delivery is more relaxed, lighthearted. Food-wise, BA, certainly on the day flight offered a hot breakfast and a sandwich, while Virgin offered just fruit and a muffin. Entertainment, both pretty much the same but Virgin's system seems more up to date, however I could still be entertained on both systems. Seating, still both seem the same, no major differences in seat pitch or layout on 747's.

I know which Airline offered me the better service and that's the one offering the better meal service - for the money, and both still offer a more holistic service than other airlines, it seems.

You've summed it up for me - Virgin offer a more relaxed, light hearted service.

The one thing that really makes a flight for me is when the staff smile. I'll eat almost anything, so would never really use the food in Y to make a decision. The inflight entertainment while novel, didn't entertain me as much as I thought it would, because it's actually a bit intense to watch continuous movies and television programmes for six hours. I ended up listening to the album channels instead which I found really relaxing, especially at that point in the flight when your body knows it's getting late but the time difference doesn't!

To bring it down to cold hard cash, for our flights to Boston in September, I offered Matt (half heartedly admittedly) the choice of British Airways three flights a day for the same price, or Virgin's one daily flight which gets in later. (American & Continental didn't even feature) For Matt, no question. Virgin. Which made me happy.

So, based on two flights, Virgin have got loyalty from us. Why? VPORT? No. Free booze? No. The food? No.
It was all down to how the staff made us feel.

[Darren Wheeler]

To be honest, in my view Economy is Economy is Economy. As such they are all pretty much at the same level with small variation on different aspects of the service.

[Scrooge]

When it comes to the products offered in the Y cabin both airlines, as you point out offer pretty much the same product, which I have to say is not such a bad thing, when VS entered the market they raised the level of service which took BA a number of years to match. Now I am happy to say that both airlines offer a good Y product.

Just to add my thoughts, it's the crew at virgin that have won us over time and time again, no matter what class you are travelling, a friendly smile and a relaxed crew wins hands down every time.

Virgin wins hands down everyday for me.

I know I've said this before but when flying from LHR is the seats that win it for Virgin - most of their fleet are Airbus' and as a couple, 2-4-2 is so much better than 3-3(or 4)-3.

quote:Originally posted by McMaddog
I know I've said this before but when flying from LHR is the seats that win it for Virgin - most of their fleet are Airbus' and as a couple, 2-4-2 is so much better than 3-3(or 4)-3.


Note the 'flying from LHR' comment about the VS product.

Remember the bulk of the LGW (others will confirm) & MAN flights are on the much talked about old stock, without VOD for inflight entertainment - this would form part of any Y decision, as the older systems are a pain.

However both are if they go down!

The relaxed atomsphere of the Y product is the main reason I would fly with VS over the Y products of other airlines on the same routes.[y]

Following on from the comment above regarding the (well documented) difference in cabin offerings from VS depeding on whether you are flying ex-LHR or not, how does the offering from BA differ between LGW/MAN and LHR? Is there a noticable difference as with VS? (Never flown BA!).

I believe that BA is more standardised and there is no difference in product between departure airports.

I find Virgin offer that little extra personality that BA/The Nanny Airline can't grasp. I find BA crew can sometimes (and I don't mean to make a generalisation) be a bit school maam ish.

I quite often have to travel with BA as they have a more extensive network & schedule - but if I have the choice I would choose Virgin - even the LGW fleet over BA.

When flying BA to the far east I always make sure I used QF on a BA codeshare. The QF experience is better than the BA!

Im the outsider on this one, if its Y then BA every time for me because of quite simply a more consistant CC, whereas for my part have experienced first hand the complete disinterest from VS cabin crew and most shockingly poor food. but hey everyone here loves VS so i should just shut up!


cheers

alex

Having recently flown Virgin economy for the first time. I would have to go with BA. The crew on VS were ok but that was the point they just ok. The food was non-descript and the seats are so small that trying to watch the seat back screens was almost impossible, especially when you wear varifocal glasses like I do.
On the plus side we upgraded on the return flight to PE and this beat BA hands down in every way. So I am going to be saving extra pennies for our next long-haul flight so that we can go PE every time[ii]

[Decker]

Alex - always nice to hear another opinion . Haven't flown BA Y for more time than I care to remember but I can believe the food comment. Food is not VS's strong point. Normally it's the people. Thogal - are BA Y seats bigger then?

quote:Originally posted by thogal
The food was non-descript and the seats are so small that trying to watch the seat back screens was almost impossible, especially when you wear varifocal glasses like I do.
On the plus side we upgraded on the return flight to PE and this beat BA hands down in every way. [ii]


I know what you mean, i dont know if they are smaller on VS but certainly they do seem narrower. Never travelled BA WT+ plus im sure that PE is streets ahead!

cheers

alex

VS Y food = [:$]

[Scrooge]

quote:Originally posted by Decker
Thogal - are BA Y seats bigger then?


I would say so, or different, they seem to offer more pitch even if they are supposed to be the same, VS food in Y is extreme, it is either nasty beyond belief or very good, BA tends to be more middle of the road.

quote:Originally posted by Alex V
but hey everyone here loves VS so i should just shut up!

cheers

alex


Alex, while we may be fans in general, you've been here long enough to know that we may be fans, but we are also probably VS's biggest critics.

I can say with 127% conviction that the last banana tasted in Virgin economy was particularly moreish. No Banana offered in BA economy. Maybe that is indicative of something else.

Thankyou for your comments.