So I wrote a piece back on 07th November 2023 regarding an experience myself and my family had, whilst using Virgin Atlantic’s award winning Upper Class service from Manchester Airport to Orlando International, the piece I wrote was called “Upper Class Minus The Pizzazz (MAN-MCO August 2023) please see the link here; https://lifethroughordinaryeyes.com/2023/11/07/upper-class-minus-the-pizzazz-man-mco-august-2023/ I wrote the piece as an open and honest account of what I saw and experienced both before the flight, whilst onboard and once in the air, I was surprised as well as very encouraged when I received a response from Virgin Atlantic’s senior executive team advising they were looking into all my points raised, i received a very comprehensive a detailed response. Working through each of the points I raised which are below I’ve shared them with permission from the sender at Virgin Atlantic, once you have re-read my post from the link provided you will see where the responses fall in line.
1. I raised a point about the chauffeur service or lack of based on previous experiences? The response to this query read “We used to offer a complimentary chauffeur car for anyone flying on a full fare Upper Class ticket within a 75 mile radius. This was applicable for flights departing from London Heathrow, London Gatwick, and Manchester. In 2018, we made the decision to change the chauffeur car programme from a complimentary service to a paid for service. We allowed our customers to purchase a chauffeur car at favorable rates. We promote our chauffeur car service on our website. You can book and pay for a chauffeur car service online, and the service is available for all cabins. Our Flying Club members can also redeem Virgin Points (17,500) for a chauffeur car ride to/from the airport. Here’s a link if you’d like to take a look: https://flywith.virginatlantic.com/nl/en/upgrades-and-extras/chauffeur-service.html “
2. I raised a point of a below standard cleanliness of Upper Class seat onboard the aircraft way below the usual outstanding cleanliness? My response read “Our cleaning processes are the same at all of our locations. There is absolutely no excuse for a dirty seat area, so this important feedback has been shared with our cleaning teams in Manchester so they can avoid it happening again. “
3. I asked why Manchester got the older dated Airbus A330-300 aircraft while Heathrow benefitted from the ultra modern A350’s, A330-900’s & B787-900’s? Again I was given this comprehensive response “In September 2022, we added our first A330-900neo to our fleet. Our average aircraft age is now just under 7 years and 68% of our fleet will be next generation aircraft. We are passionate about sustainable travel. The A330-900neos are designed to be 11% more fuel and carbon efficient than the A330-300 they’re replacing and will deliver a 50% reduction in airport noise contour. Over the next four years, we’ll take delivery of up to 16 of them, reaffirming our commitment to flying the cleanest, greenest fleet in the sky.”
4. I highlighted that for the entire flight we had no use of the bar area reserved for Upper Class passengers, and not advised prior to boarding? Response that followed was “The onboard bar will only be closed as an exceptional measure where our engineers and cabin crew deem it necessary on safety grounds, and will always be swiftly resolved by our engineers. Our commitment to flying social spaces that our customers love on all of our aircraft (a commitment we are very proud of) stands firm as you will see from our A350 and A339 fleet that have entered into service in recent years.”
5. I’d raised about the airport check in and lounge experience which again was considerably under par when compared with Heathrow which provide all the proverbial “Bells & Whistles”? The response was very encouraging. “Our Manchester location is really important to us and is in the middle of a transformation programme. We’re residing in the new part of the terminal, but due to the refurbishment, we have capacity restraints and limitations on the number of desks we can operate from. We don’t have an Upper-Class wing where meet and greet/assistance with luggage can be performed currently but we do have hosts at the front of check-in where they direct our customers to the relevant desks depending on cabin. This is the same practice in the main check in area at London Heathrow.”
6. I raised a point regarding security questions/signage or lack of which I found very unusual? Another proactive response from Virgin. “Dangerous goods signs are near the Upper Class desks and it’s standard practice to refer to these during check-in, as well as being asked security questions. Our People Leaders will be discussing this with our teams so this doesn’t happen again – thank you for letting us know.”
I wasn’t expecting the executive team as well as Sir Richard Branson himself to get involved, but when they did it showed just how important customer satisfaction is to Virgin, as well as highlighting just how much they care about what Virgin offers its customers, also just how Virgin sees itself as it moves to the next chapter of its continued evolution, plain and simple fact is “They Care” not just about shareholders and investors, but about the everyday person who saves money all uear, in order to fly with Virgin, as well as the seasoned well travelled passengers! I think it is very important to give an account of my latest Virgin Atlantic flight in Upper Class to see if there were any changes from my flight which generated the initial blog post? Please read on as believe me there was changes!
VS127 Manchester to New York Upper Class 01.01.2024
New Years Day 2024 my birthday not just any birthday but my 50th hence why we travelled to New York City, where better to celebrate than the greatest city on earth, now given my last experience with Virgin Atlantic it did stop me booking with them again, I figured hopefully it was a blip? Who better to look after me on my special day than Virgin, I will be honest I was somewhat apprehensive, of what I was going to expect from my Upper Class product on this flight, questions spinning round my mind such as “What was my check in going to be like?” “What levels of service will I see?” Well I can honestly say is was a million percent better and then some, we was greeted by our Upper Class concierge colleague who was very insightful and accommodating, he guided us to where we needed to be straightaway which is a brilliant touch, as we strolled to the check in desk, we was greeted by another very friendly chap who checked us in, he was full of New Year cheer and smiles. We chatted to him as we checked in telling him the purpose of the trip, he wished me a very happy birthday, as he was chatting his colleague who was behind him came over to us, and handed me two £10 vouchers to use on the aircraft (really nice touch Virgin) once we had completed our check in we breezed through Manchester Airports security area and headed to the lounge for a little R&R before the flight.
I have to say that flying through Manchester Airport with Virgin at lunch time is terrific, no lines to be seen anywhere! Security was desolate with only us going through, the terminal itself was at a quarter capacity, we made our way to the 1903 lounge this is used by Virgin for Upper Class passengers in the current absence of a dedicated Virgin Club House (fingers crossed in the future), once in the lounge we caught the end of breakfast and the start of lunch. Superb is all I can say, I had Scrambled Eggs with Toast and Hash Browns washed down with a very cold glass of Champagne, followed later by a delicious Asian Noodle Salad dish, accompanied by a side salad of Cauliflower & Broccoli again washed down by a little more Champagne (why not it’s my birthday). Once our gate was called on the monitors we left the comfort of the lounge and wandered to our gate (202) bit of a trek but all good, where our aircraft was waiting for us. Today we travelled on an Airbus A330-343, registration G-VSXY, the aircraft was named “Beauty Queen” one of Virgins older aircraft at 12 years old.
Onboard Experience
We breezed onto the aircraft, as a benefit to flying you have priority boarding and do not have to que at the gate, once on the aircraft we was greeted by the very friendly crew who would take us to New York, they guided us to our lodgings on the flight which were seats 8A, 9A & 10A (me), having flown and travelled on this aircraft and seat many times we knew the seat lay out and characteristics of what to expect, the cabin service manager in our cabin was called Charlene, she came over introduced herself, my partner recognized her from a previous flight with Virgin fling on the Boeing 747-400 back in 2019, where then we sat in Upper Class in the aircraft nose, she looked at us and said she recognized us from somewhere? was only when we told her that she remembered she had previously looked after us, we showed her a video on a camera timeline of my son in 2019 strolling into Upper Class Charlene is in the video talking to him, brought back great memories of the god old “Jumbo ” days.
I settled into my seat with yet another nice glass of champagne, after all your only 50 once aren’t you! We taxied out to the runway bang on schedule, smooth roll down the runway then we were up and on our way, right up to our cruise of 40,000ft all the way to New York, once up the seat belt signs were turned off and it was time to kick back, I tried to log onto the Wi-Fi as being a Virgin money customer I’ve always enjoyed complimentary onboard service, not this time though could not get on? Another member of the crew came and introduced himself he was called Kyle, really nice guy very attentive to our needs as well as everybody else in the cabin, Charlene constantly stopped by making sure we had everything we needed, my partner tipped her off that it was my 50th, I really received the VIP treatment then, between Charlene & Kyle and the rest of the crew, they really made this a memorable occasion one I will never forget! Once dinner was ready to be served the crew assemble your table placing a cover over first followed by your cutlery and condiments then your meal, which may I add is presented amazing and tastes delicious as good as any top restaurant, I opted for the a starter of Smoked Salmon, followed by a main course of Trout fillet with steamed rice, finished at the end by a mouth watering cheese board, I rarely had an empty glass as the crew are constantly looking to see if you need anything, i alternated between Sparkling Mineral Water and Champagne and a Tomato Juice chaser. Once dinner was completed and cleared away, i settled into my seat transforming it into my flat bed and had a couple of hours sleep recharge my batteries, I snuggled into the the big pillow you are provided with, and pulled my duvet up to my chin and slept like a log, when I woke up I felt relaxed, recharged and above all very content.
Onboard Party at 40,00ft
So as I’ve mentioned various times throughout the piece it was my 50th birthday on New Years Day the day we flew, everything had already been amazing and I really was enjoying every second of the day, as I was chilling out in my seat about to watch a movie Charlene came over and said my fiancée Michelle was sat at the bar area she had a drink waiting for me, I made my way to the bar when I arrived I was shocked and amazed the whole area had been transformed into a birthday area set up by the crew and my family, there was a cake, banners, placemats, napkins everything, embarrassingly four crew members, my fiancée, my son as well as a few random passengers all sang happy birthday to me it really was amazing and memorable, something I will never forget, we sat at the bar area for about 35 minutes enjoying the birthday cake as well as a little more champagne, before the flight deck crew advised we were starting our decent into New York’s JFK Airport, we finished the drinks then tided everything away, settling back into our seats getting ourselves ready for landing, I honestly believe that what I experienced could only happen on Virgin Atlantic! The crew and the airline’s attention to detail is second to none, I feel that how the airline is run from the top cascades down and is embodied in everything they do, no request is refused without firstly being explored, the ability of the airline and it’s employee’s to adapt with ever changing times is both very refreshing and encouraging, but it’s gestures like I experienced makes me want to shout from the roof tops, just how good Virgin are and how they should be the first airline of choice when flying long haul.
Virgin Club House JFK
On our return journey we was honored to be invited into the Virgin Club House in JFK’s Terminal 4 by Sir Richard, having never been in before this would prove to be a fantastic end to our trip in New York, so a quick overview of the New York Virgin check in experience, simply it was seamless no lines, very polite staff throughout, explained everything in detail, unfortunately are flight home wasn’t in Upper Class instead we flew Premium back, which in itself is a fabulous product to fly on, Premium doesn’t afford you fast passes through the security area sadly! So from a seamless, flawless check in we went to security which really is unorganized chaos, the lines snaked up and down and around, we queued for over 1hr 15m just to get from check in to the scanning machines, the TSA staff were yelling at you to speed up and place item in the trays to keep lines moving, but the trays on the machines weren’t moving? There was trays on the floors which had fell off, trays on top of each other etc. really was a mess from start to finish, something the port authority at JFK and the TSA really need to work on, as from a passenger perspective it was an awful tiring experience.
But alas once through we headed to the club house, we was greeted at the main desk by a Virgin Uniformed employee, who once the confusion over who had invited us had been rectified we entered the Club House, I think when Virgin sat down and looked at the designs for the Club House they must of had a remit that every single possible scenario of passenger could be catered for, as there really is something for everybody without exception, the lounge itself is just above gate A5, there is an escalator and a lift as well as a staircase to get you to the lounge, as we were flying in the evening I did find the lounge to be a tad dark, not to dark not to be able to see but dark if you get my meaning, brilliant array of seating from booths to pods, tables and chairs to long loungers and quirky benches, there are area’s for privacy along with open area for communal seating, there are area’s for business people to work as well as area’s for families with children to relax and kick including a large pool table.
There is a very large bar area that sits in the center of the lounge, in front of the bar area is informal type seating on the other side is a more formal type dining area, on all tables there is a menu along with a QR code, this is an option for ordering food or drink, really simple to use and a really good way to get what you want without moving (lazy I know), you can also ask a waiter/waitress for your menu choices or even go to the bar, whatever is easiest for you is catered for, there is a huge assortment of drinks on offer, from soft drinks to beers, wines and champagne & Prosecco, to more distinguished drinks suck as Gin’s, Whisky’s, Bourbons etc. To compliment your drink of choice they have a superb menu offering a little bit of something for everyone, whether you are a Vegan, Vegetarian or Carnivore! Also stuff for younger travellers including sweet treats, really is well stocked and the detail in seeing what people want has been well met.
On either side of the lounge are large window’s affording great views of the apron area’s of JFK, as well as great close up views of your aircraft, as I mentioned there is a large pool table for you to use, we didn’t use it as a family were using it the entire duration of our visit, but I believe you leave your passport with the front desk in exchange for cue’s & ball’s, not that I could see anybody pinching them but I understand the security methodology. Towards the back of the lounge are the toilets as well as showers, this is a brilliant addition to your experience, as for us we checked out the hotel at 11am, wandered around Manhattan for a while before travelling to the airport (and getting stuck on the Van Wyck Expressway) so you get a bit warm and flustered, so the opportunity to refresh yourself with a nice shower, with great products to use and warm fresh towel is a must, have to say this is the first time I’ve showered in an airport lounge, but have to say how great you feel afterwards really is a great addition.
In conclusion the Virgin Atlantic Club House at Terminal 4 at New York’s JFK Airport gets a resounding 10 out of 10, it was superb, detailed in it’s presentation coupled with brilliant attentive polite staff, all going the extra mile to ensure you are comfortable and well looked after, its clean and tidy with no tables being allowed to remain messy, the showers are spotless
So, based on my previous post dated August 2023, I had encountered a rather disappointing experience of Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class product. Maybe this was a one-off? Maybe I over thought it? Whatever the reasoning, it was well below par! But my experience travelling out and returning from New York was 2nd to none!
Conclusion
So to sum up and I’ll keep it short, my experiences on this trip have been second to none! I’d challenge any airline to try and mirror what Virgin Atlantic did on this trip. The Upper Class product was superb and echoed the ethos the airline sells itself as, that of an airline built around its customers, not shareholders or rich CEO’s but keeping the fare paying passenger right at the heart of its continued evolution. This was memorable for so many reasons, but Virgin’s contribution set the tone for the entire trip as well as the return home, outstanding from the very beginning all the way to the final conclusion. I have now booked another four trips with you transatlantic. May your 40th anniversary set you on your way to another 40 years of providing the best in class service and to show why your the people’s UK flag carrier
Life Through Ordinary Eyes 