(new) Virgin Atlantic Premium Economy on ALL VS fleet ???

[shogan1977]

Question for anyone in the know - I am booking flight for wife and me from Brussels to Orlando (via Manchester) to spend Thanksgiving with family. I am tempted to buy a Premium Economy ticket on Virgin - but wondering if:

1) The "new" Premium Economy seat has been rolled out across entire fleet or at least all 747s ? Or is it hit and miss?

2) Is it worth paying the extra or should I just fly normal economy with either BA (better than virgin economy?) or Virgin standard econ?

I have read some bad reviews on airline equality of the virgin premium econ service which surprised me because on paper it looks great - but people mention bad food, old planes and non-functioning AVOD!!!?? Can this be true?

Any input from regular travellers or cabin crew would be appreciated?

PS is it possible to arrange seat in advance with Virgin?

[PAXboy]

It was on the A346 two years ago on the JNB run, so it must be fairly wide spread. I thought it a slight improvement on the original and I certainly recommend P.E.

[rogerg]

Give it a go, I went LGW to Orlando in pe and it was great. A few years ago so it should be better. Not having to wait in the Q fo check in was worth it.

[ImPlaneCrazy]

None of the Virgin 747s have AVOD, they run on the old Odyssey system that is simply channels powered by video players / DVD players that cannot be paused, fast forwarded or rewound.

However, I believe this is the same case for any BA aircraft flying to MCO. I've always enjoyed Virgins service and the PE cabin is very nice along with the service provided.

[Jofm5]

I was looking at the virgin premium economy the other day for a flight I am planning in Jan.

The new premium economy leather seats etc is only available on flights from London heathrow according to (Virgin Atlantic Airways - Popup)

I used to commute to chicago bi-weekly back in 2000, I tried BA, Virgin and AA over a period of months and virgin economy was the best of the lot - may have changed since then.

Cheers

Jof

[r.s]

The Orlando routes are serviced by LGW based aircraft, none of which have the new leather premium seats. There are two types of entertainment system, neither are AVOD. Odyssey has games, Nova doesn't. It is possible to request a particular seat in advance, but it is only a request.

[Leezyjet]

None of the Virgin 747s have AVOD, they run on the old Odyssey system that is simply channels powered by video players / DVD players that cannot be paused, fast forwarded or rewound.

Not true. The LHR based 744's have AVOD, known as V:Port at Virgin, whilst the LGW fleet have a mix of Odyssey and Nova. Odyssey was the last tape based system before AVOD was invented and was pretty advanced for its time, having a large selection of movies/music and games - the only real difference between it at Vort is the inability to stop/start/ff/rw and also slightly less content. Nova was a slightly older tape based system that Virgin inherited on the 5 744's that were originally built for Alitalia and is pretty basic as far as IFE goes.

Have a look at The largest independent resource for Virgin Atlantic passengers : V-Flyer: The Flyer Resource for Virgin Atlantic and Virgin-Branded Travel Companies for more independent info.

[shogan1977]

Virgin PE - time for wider roll-out

Seems to me that Virgin should speed up the roll out of the PE. It looks great, but what's the point if you can only fly on certain routes (i.e. those out of LHR). I presume they are not waiting till 2013 for the A380s!

Meanwhile, I have decided to fly United econ plus. Ok its not "real" premier economy, but its 500EUR cheaper per ticket and you know what you're getting. Flying old PE on virgin on old aircraft in need of re-fit would just annoy me, especially at a premium price.

Thanks for all your replies.

[big.al]

We had the V:Port AVOD in Premium Economy returning from St Lucia to Gatwick in May. Cost an arm, a leg, and some other limbs, but was far better than standard Econ and now Mrs Big wants to fly Premium everywhere... this could get expensive.

The food, service, seating etc were all much better than Econ on the way out from LGW-UVF so I can vouch for the improved quality but this was only my first trip with VS.

[The Blimp]

Earlier this year I had to return home from Abu Dhabi (via Dubai) at short notice - cheapest flights at the time were standard economy with Virgin. On-board premium economy looked lovely and was completely full. Standard economy was mostly empty meaning that it was reasonably easy to get a full three seats to oneself!!

[keltic]

I just flew from Hong Kong yesterday on VS Premium Economy. Confortable leather seat with neck support which is a little bit wider than in tourist class. Pitch is decent, but not as not to disturb your partner when going to the toilet, and meals were fine. Pre take off drink, less seats per rows. Dedicated check in, but no priority boarding since both lines (Premiun/Upper and tourist) opened at the same time. Pax are provided with a pen, tooth brush and paste, ear plugs, socks. Menu selection or three courses served in china. A fantastics selection of films, games and so on.

Plane was a A340-600, in a good state and the cabin crew were fine. Good breakfast prior landing.

Was it worth it?. I had to be flying on Tourist go have a good comparision. It depends on the price paid. Itīs reasonable when thereīs a good offer, but not at the regular price. Sometimes Upper Class and Premium Economy are too close as far as price is concerned. Havenīt been on World Traveller Plus, yet. I have to admit that I do not accept paying an extra and not being able to choose my seat online.

[warkman]

From September, PE luggage allowance will drop on the USA routes to tghe same as Economy, namly 2 X23 Kg per person from 2 X 32KG
This means for roughly twice the price of the Economy ticket you get an extra 7inches of leg room and thats about it.

Upper Class is dropping from 3 X 32KG to 3 x 23KG also.

None of the Gatwick/manchester/Glasgow 747's have the new PE seats and will now not get them as Virgin will now await the replacement for these aircraft over the next few years.

[PAXboy]

(slight thread drift from seats to luggage)
If VS do this - then they are just following the herd down the road of death by a thousand cuts. Just how dumb can you get? Yes, the luggage takes more gas to haul but - those folks are paying a LOT more money!

[raffele]

I think the weight limit reduction is good old Health and Safety..

But dropping the number of bags you can take in premium economy strips a lot of the benefits of going premium economy!

[Pax Agent]

all BA LGW-MCO 777's have AVOD

[spannersatcx]

The new premium economy leather seats etc is only available on flights from London heathrow

Except if you fly MAN-BGI on the 340 as that has leather premium seats.