Well until recently I had a very poor opinion of VS crew, their work on board and the whole product(following 2 dreadful flights) But having travelled with them last month I must say, the crew I had both ways did not stop, they offered far more services than what my airline would. The people with the opinion that charter crew are worked to death are mistaken every 30 or so minutes on a 10:30 flight they were doing something. And to think I only used Virgin because I didn't want to lose my bag to BA and terminal 5, Glad I chose them. I do agree the service standards between the two fleets are inconsistant- why should you receive an inferior product just because you fly from LGW/MAN and not LHR? If I had to pick a route served from LGW I would not choose Virgin in a month of sundays.
On my flight:-
1 bar- drinks available continuously and no "rolled eyes" if you asked for more!!!- unlike most long haul flights.
1 Meal (with 2 wine services)
3 Juice&Water service
1 Ice cream service
1 Afternoon snack
1 Coffee/muffin/cookie service
Duty Free
That is far more than what we are required to offer and why I am flying from LHR with them again next month and would not even look at BA if Virgin served the same route I wanted to travel on.