BA First vs Virgin Upper.

[cavortingcheetah]

With a lot of air miles to spend and Sydney in February/March as the destination one just wondered if anyone had first hand experience of either of these lines and classes on that route and would be so kind as to provide a little innocent comparative criticism.
The routes are slightly different and BA require somewhat more miles. Both provide full flat beds and both use the Boeing, at the moment, or so one believes.
Thank you.
Should add, before anyone attempts to de gullet, that a search has tossed nothing to the shoreline.

[Miraz]

Virgin fly to Sydney via HKG using the A340, not the B744.

My personal preference is for Virgin's door to door service, but the BA product is also very good.

I suspect your choice will be driven by availability of airmiles reward seating - Virgin Upper tends to book out relatively quickly

[manintheback]

Nice problem to have. Prefer Virgins lounge. Virgins Bar on board is rather nice to get away from the seat - far fewer seats in BA first so more personal service. But both very nice ways to travel.

[Final 3 Greens]

Not directly comparable, I'd say.

BA's First is a traditional first class service, whereas Virgin's upper is (to my mind) a very, very, good business class service.

It probably comes down to a choice between the styl;e of the two airlines.

I would be happy to make the journey on either

[lilyo]

I have always found BA Cabin Crew to be top class. Can't say the same about BA's customer service - it is totally impersonal. So flying BA is great, provided you don't encounter problems.

[spanishflea]

BA First is definitly a superior product to VS Upper Class. Thats why you pay more for it! Bear in mind the flight via SIN is a 777 nowadays however, and most people prefer the seats on the 744 that go via BKK.

[christep]

Presumably the miles that would get you a BA F flight would also get you one on QF or CX? Given a choice between those three I would take CX every time.

[cavortingcheetah]

Thank you all for your responses. The CX option seems an excellent idea which will be further investigated. The input is much appreciated.
Gosh-it is such a hard choice, the freedom of a flight to Oz and every minute of the eating and drinking which helped to accumulate the miles to make it possible, was thoroughly enjoyed too!
For idle information, it would seem the Virgin want 160k air miles for the Upper round trip whilst BA require 320k for the F class similar.
Saluatations again. cc

[slim_slag]

Originally Posted by cavortingcheetah

... the freedom of a flight to Oz...

Come back and tell us how much freedom the airline gives you to spend your miles after you have checked availability......