It's interesting to see the comments about the snooze pack. I hadn't seen one ,but it struck me when I read about it that it was the ultimate in cheapness.
People have rightly commented that it effectively cheapens the product. It's like a hotelier saying that most people don't notice the wallpaper, so they will just get some nasty cheap woodchip from the local DIY megastore next time. People probably didn't pay much heed to the amenity kits, but guess what, they noticed when they didn't get one (even if they never used it), and got a paper envelope instead!!
I am always truly astonished that when a company comes up with a winning formula, the very next thing they do is try to destroy it. Maybe some aspects of the upper class experience were superfluous in purely functional terms, but it added to the classiness and ambience. Personally the spin from Virgin on this subject is nothing short of boll*cks - do they think their passengers are so dumb as to swallow that guff?
I like Virgin, but these types of changes worry me, especially when the management seem not to listen to their fare paying UC pax.