Virgin Atlantic Gatwick - Las Vegas

[Iain Wilson]

Hi All
I realise that what I am about to ask is very subjective depending on your experience, but..... I am paxing with Virgin for the first time in June this year to Las Vegas. Rather disconcertingly, I have read a great deal of very negative comments about Virgin. I have been to various passenger satisfaction websites and many (not all) say much the same thing - tired 744, couldn`t - care-less cabin crew and the bar running out of supplies 5 hours into a 10 hour plus flight. I find this difficult to believe. I always believed that Virgin was a serious rival to BA. Has something happened to the product?
Cheers
Iain

[MR7958]

A friend and I flew Gatwick to Vegas with Virgin (economy) last Easter. Having previously flown Virgin on various transatlantic routes my experience (inherently subjective, of course) was absolutely fine. I certainly have no bad memories. What I can recollect is as follows:

- online check-in was less impressive than BA, largely because we were allocated seats without being able to choose them and were sat at opposite ends of the plan;
- baggage drop at Gatwick was busy but kept moving;
- the lady operating the baggage drop was able to give us two seats next to each other at the front of economy because the bassinet seats are held back until nearer the time of depature but rarely required on the Vegas route;
- the plane was packed;
- service in economy was entirely adequate, certainly no worse than BA;
- the plane (a 747, not sure how old) was in perfectly good condition and, best of all, had the best Virgin AVOD system. I gather some of the Gatwick fleet have a lower spec entertainment system;
- they didn't run out of food or drink;
- baggage reclaim at Las Vegas was a little slower than other places (LAX or JFK for example) but that may have been because we whizzed through immigration much more quickly than at those airports.

I'm sure you will have a good flight, or at least no worse a flight than with BA.

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

<<the bar running out of supplies 5 hours into a 10 hour >>

You mean you want to drink for 10 hours??

My wife and I flew Virgin to Los Angeles and return a few years back and had no complaints at all. Great service, nice cabin crew... would do it again.

[strake]

A lot of the posters on this board fly very regularly and can get (I include myself here!) hyper-critical about various service levels. That's not to say the views are wrong but they are possibly from people who travel two or three times or more a month for their job and therefore the odds of problems and the effect are higher. I have been flying VS regularly since 2004 and overall, the experience has been good to very good. There will always be "the trip from hell" but that is quite rare on VS and you would have to be just unlucky. I have done the Vegas trip in economy on miles with friends a couple of times and the atmosphere has always been good - never any of the experiences you describe. If you poise yourself over your computer 24hrs and one minute before your flight, on-line check-in will open and you should be able to get the seats you want as 99% of the "held" seats are released at that time.
Have a great time and remember : "What happens in Vegas....":ok:

[liteswap]

I've done this trip dozens of times on business. It's Ok, the crew are friendly enough, the assumption usually is that the pax are flying for pleasure (though what's pleasurable about Vegas defeats me - but that's another issue). However, it's *always* packed so there is never any room to stretch out and it gets a bit gruesome after a couple or three hours, and of course the old battleaxe 747 has zero facilities that help the time pass, such as a power socket for the laptop (or room to open it)...

[airbourne]

Im in a fairly bad mood tonight for some reason so I'll make it brief.

Went to LAS on Dec 31st. Flew PE, so got seats 80K and 80H. Top deck at the back. The best seats in PE I believe. Hmm, not sure abotu that. Cloth seats with crap IFE.

Service was O..K! It only got better any time the cabin manager was upstairs.

Drinks> Very little choice and thrown into a glass, no minitures and no jack daniels, no morgans, no beefeater, no smirnoff. Got a barcardi and 1 cube of ice and that paint thinner Virgin Cola.

Dinner Service - On proper plates etc, but Im sure if I attempted to chew the plate it wouldve been tastier than the meal.

IFE - Dont even bother

Overall, very disappointed with the Virgin product from LGW. How can you fly with one company and get a TOTALLY different product and service between LGW and LHR?

[AdamFrisch]

I fly Virgin all the time, in fact it's the only airline I fly with across the Atlantic and I can tell you that they're a great airline for most parts. I fly LHR-LAX at least 5-6 times a year.

I'd say that the one blip in the protocol is the Gatwick-Las Vegas route.

It's basically ferrying a clientele that isn't - how shall I put it - that discerning. They're basically loud people in track suits, if I may be blunt. It's the same crowd that drinks themselves legless in Alicante, but with gambling money to spend. They have signet rings and gold chains. They smoke. They like free things. You get the idea. This is all fine and dandy if you're in that mood, but if you're going for business and want to work or sleep or just relax, it can be a bit tiring. Mind you, I've only done it a couple of times. So naturally Virgin does the sensible (read economical) thing and flies that route with their most tired 747-400.:}:)

This is in stark contrast to the Heathrow-LAX, San Francisco or even South Africa routes which are mostly trafficked by the smooth-as-velvet A340-600. I have no preference when it comes to makers of aircraft, but if you've ever travelled on the A340-600 it's very hard to go back to the old 744. Noisy as hell, for one, and the bleed air doing the air con and ventilation always smell of kerosene on 744's. Gives you a headache.

[strake]

They're basically loud people in track suits, if I may be blunt. It's the same crowd that drinks themselves legless in Alicante, but with gambling money to spend. They have signet rings and gold chains. They smoke. They like free things. You get the idea.

How very dare you?

I don't smoke....

[airbourne]

Adam,

Post of the year in my opinion!

[liteswap]

He's not wrong either...

[Iain Wilson]

Can I just thank one and all for your replies (and opinions) to my post.

Adam`s reply is pretty much as I feared.

I should point out that neither my wife or I fall in to the category of "tourists" that Adam described (brilliantly) and of whom we are all only too aware of at airports nowadays.
We are only going for a week, and for me the highlight of the trip will be a visit to the Grand Canyon and Hoover dam. We have "splashed out" somewhat and are staying at one of the best hotels in Las Vegas so hopefully, we will not encounter the kind of creatures that seem to be seen as representing all the worst elements of "Brits Abroad" nowadays.

The inevitable consequence of popular culture and cheap air travel, I suppose.

Iain

[philbky]

When I've wanted to visit Nevada and Arizona I've assiduously avoided flying from the UK to Las Vegas and used Virgin to either LAX or SFO depending on my itinerary.

A totally different product is, and always has been - since the mid 1990s at least - provided on the routes which can be classed as primarily "tourist or leisure" routes on the Virgin network.

After 25 years it is still my airline of choice on the Atlantic but the product ex Gatwick and Manchester to the Florida, Las Vegas and the Caribbean is totally different to that ex LHR - regardless of equipment - and whilst I have no problem with anyone flying, in whatever type of clothing, so long as thery behave themselves, the product the traveller is given, on what Virgin sees as primarily tourist routes, is more akin to that on some charter airlines - as I found out going to Antigua.

[Stampe]

Philbky is spot on about Virgins LGW product offering.I flew out economy yesterday with Virgin to MCO,pleasant crew but a very tired 744 entertainment system not working on my row and the seat pitch and width very poor excrutiating for a long flight.Most Uk charters have increased the space available on their long haul offerings greatly over the last few years typically 767s down from 328 to 258 seats.The Virgin economy product out of LGW is way out step with the current market and very dated.However it was cheap under £100 for the one way flight so can,t expect much for that sort of money.VBR Stampe

[Dan Air 87]

I've flown the VS product out of LGW to BGI and ANU. There's no comparison with the tired old B744's to alternative carriers. As for PE I had that on my last trip back and all I will say is that I had to complain to VS's Customer Relations team about the IFE and the food. When will VS's management realise that the LGW product is simply dreadful? Its OK and fine to have the fancy product out of LHR but people expect the same product and servuce from LGW and LHR. I fly with another airline- employer / personal choice.

[Two-Tone-Blue]

I get the feeling from some of these comments that Sir Richard really needs to start getting 'hands on' again.

It's sad that the airline's reputation is apparently sliding downhill. It wouldn't take much 'management' to resolve the issues.

[spannersatcx]

It's all about saving money, the LGW based 744's were due to have the cabins upgraded, but has been put back as no money in the pot to do it.

[SpannersatVS]

Just announced that the LGW aircraft will be getting refitted soon, awaiting decision on what IFE system is going to be fitted....

[MR7958]

I can only conclude that I must have had an exceptionally good experience on my Gatwick to Vegas flight. Perhaps they had to use a LHR plane.

Am flying Virgin Heathrow to SFO in a few hours in Upper (my first time turning left on Virgin). Hope I don't get the share of reverse luck I probably deserve...

[Dan Air 87]

Its about bloody time that VS raided the piggy bank for the LGW fleet but the damage has been done. You can't rip people off as you have been doing and expect them to come flocking back. Does this mean that VS are going to do something about the Y class seats on the fleet or will it be a superficial new carpet and seat covers?