Review: Virgin Australia 777-300ER Business Class To Australia

Did you have any problems with carry on baggage? I've ready that VA enforces a strict limit of something like 8kg for in cabin luggage which kind of prevents doing a carry on only long haul trip.

so Matt has a boyfriend now? i want one too!
LOL

anywho... very good review. i had similar experience on my LAX-BNE flight. service on par with some first class trips. they let me keep the salt and pepper shakers.
on the return the service was a little less attentive... still very decent for biz class.

nice seats on the MEL-SYD route... it's beyond me why they don't have biz class on their routes to NZ... those are much longer flights!

love the grown alchemist skincare... still using it now.

by far the best use of skypesos.
😉

From my experience, what I saw in these photos fall way short of Qantas service.

I flew VA only from SYD-LAX on an award in February. The rest of my ticket was on Delta (Yes, I actually found a DL Biz Class award seat to SYD). I agree with all that was said here, and if traveling with a companion the point about Delta's seat being too private are quite true. This is where a reverse herringbone like CX Biz really shines, as you can practically choose your level of privacy. But, as a solo traveler, I much preferred Delta. Didn't hurt that it was on the way to SYD and was able to sleep where the VA flight was midday and I wasn't tired until I landed.

awesome review, Matt! Quick question -- where is the TV? Was that a piece of cloth covering the TV during your LAX-MEL flight? I'd imagine you at least watched one movie during the 14 hour flight?

Boyfriend.....

Take a picture of your boyfriend, Matt! Nice review.

Great review! Looking forward to part 2...

Ben, have you ever had threesome with Matt and his boyfriend?

Do they let you keep the pajamas? I've heard sometimes VA takes them back. Also was there room to get up and around your seat partner when the seats were in the lie flat position?

Thank you!! Great review! I'm going in May, and I have been looking for a good review like this one.

@Lantean, so true about their flights to NZ being long enough to justify a business class vs. the "premium economy" that they have. Unfortunately that distinction means you can only book regular economy through SkyMiles since DL has no way to book the P fare that is premium economy.

And a question for the crowd: Does anybody have experience connecting internationally through BNE? I'm booked on VA LAX-BNE-WGN with a 1:20 layover. My understanding is that I shouldn't need to clear customs or immigration and will not need to change terminals, but I haven't found a definitive answer. Does VA funnel all arriving passengers into BNE to the exits?

Whoops... That should be LAX-BNE-WLG. Fingers went faster than my brain.

We're also flying back CHC-BNE-LAX, but that's a >3 hr connection, so I'm not worried even if I have to change terminals--which I shouldn't.

@Matt - did you start your trip in LAX or arrive via connecting flight on DL/AS? I am taking this flight at the end of May and will be on a DL flight to LAX connecting to VA. Reason that I ask the question: occasionally DL has some partners where they do not have good interconnection agreements. Normally this usually means that they cannot issue the boarding pass for the partner airline, but in the worst case you have to collect checked luggage from DL and re-checkin with the partner. Ideally, when I checkin with DL, I get my DL and VA boarding passes with luggage checked through to Australia and thus only have to walk from Terminal 5 to Bradley terminal. That would stink if you had to go T5->T3->Bradley.

@ Ellen -- You do indeed get to keep the PJs!

@ Joey -- The TV flips up from between the space between the seats. I watched a movie during the meal service--don't worry!

@ Tom -- Great question. While checking in a LAX we were told our carry on bags (mine was a 20" Tumi Alpha International) were overweight and that we should "carry some of the excess items in our hands during boarding." I completely ignored this suggestion, and I was actually boarded by the same agent, who said nothing about it. On the return and intra-Australian flights no one said a thing. So I'd say you're fine.

@ Curious - Wait, Curious is doing a threesome with his friends?

@ Erik -- I did start at LAX. I can say that I'm certain DL can interline baggage onto VA (because I heard an agent talking about it at SYD for another customer). As for issuing the BPs I'm unsure.

Does anyone else have an answer for Erik?

@Matt, is the LAX-MEL route a lot easier to snag than LAX-SYD? I just did a few dummy searches on DL for the SYD route and I got nothing, close-in, a few months out and 11 months out.

@Matt Great review! Thanks for being a guest blogger. I confess I didn't know what vintage champagne was until reading the menu you included.

@Virgin Australia--Um, that would be artic char, not chard. 😉

@ Nick -- LAX-MEL was much easier to snag than LAX-SYD. LAX-SYD tends to have a single seat available well in advance (even on DL), but I haven't seen two seats. LAX-BNE is also generally a good route for 2 seats. Connections are quite simple, and it might even be nice to just hang out in BNE or MEL for a few days.

Matt- What is E,V, and H on the menu? Also, why didn't you stay in MEL for a few days?

@curious. Keep your homophobia to yourself. I come here to read reviews and analysis, not hate speech.

@ John -- Sorry, I should have explained that.

E = part of the "express" meal for those looking to eat quickly and sleep.

V = vegetarian

H = "healthy"

@Matt…. great flight and you are super cute

I'm enjoying (though feeling like a finger-waiving adult at the same time) watching the comments section of this post slowly turn into an M4M chat session. Matt, Ben and his friends are all indeed devilishly attractive, but keep it together, people-- this post is about Virgin Australia, not Virgin Ass Trollers. (Please forgive the pun. I just couldn't help it.)

// I'm completely mortified I even made that joke. But I guess any post about an airline named "Virgin" necessarily brings out the snickering 14 year old in all of us.

@Autolycus: I did LAX-BNE-WLG last May. It's all in the international terminal. You'll need to clear security, but it's easy and not a lot of transfer traffic internationally from that flight. (If not originating at LAX, be prepared to explain to 100 different DL staffers that WLG is in NZ and visas are not required.)

@Erik: I flew OMA-MSP-LAX-BNE-WLG in May last year. DL could not issue BPs for the VA flights online or at OMA or MSP. However, they were able to check my bags through without incident. Have your baggage claim slip handy when you check in with VA, however, as they may ask for the number on it. They'll get your bag from DL and re-tag it with their own tags, but you won't have to worry about dealing with that.

@Mitch, thanks for responding! I'm actually originating in ATL, so I'll cross my fingers that they can figure out the visa situation. Was your carry-on (aka hang baggage) experience on the BNE-WLG leg similar to Matt's Australia domestic? (i.e. not weighed and not measured)

And I didn't say it originally, but @Matt, thanks for the great review!

Matt, you said you checked in at T3 at LAX, but you had to walk to TBIT - did you have to walk outside, next to the roadway? Or is there a way to connect within the terminal? I'm assuming you made the walk pre-security and then went through security at TBIT?

Thanks - enjoyed the report!

How did you find business awards for only 150,000 miles??? The least I'm seeing is 240,000 miles per ticket.

@Autolycus: I had no hassling with hand baggage at LAX or BNE. I had a rollaboard that I bought when I lived in Europe, though, so it's LCC compliant and ultra-light. An overstuffed bag might raise some red flags, but I didn't really feel like anyone was even looking at it seriously. I was travelling with a slimmer laptop bag than I normally do, in part because I had a bunch of domestic flights in NZ on RJs, so I figured I needed to be able to go fairly light at times.

Does anyone know how long their menus run for? Do you think this will be same menu in May?

I think it'd be amazing to read about a threeway between Matt, his boyfriend and Ben lol

@Autolycus: I live in BNE and travel domestically and internationally quite often. I have never seen anyone have their hand luggage refused on a VA or QF flight and I've seen plenty of massive pieces or people with multiple pieces of hand luggage!

@ Ellen -- The URL to the dinner menu suggests it's the menu for March through June.

Great review, thanks!

@ Andrew -- You check-in and get BPs in T3 and then walk outside, approximately 200 feet, to TBIT. It is 80% covered (not that it rains here). You clear security at TBIT, which is unfortunate because TBIT security is horrendous at peak times. You do get the Business/First "Express" line--not that it usually helps much.

Great review Matt! I really enjoyed my flight on VA in November. If you ask nicely, the adorable Opera House salt & pepper shakers can be yours. Looks great when I dine at home and recall the great experience. The crew is consistently top-notch, with attentive service and genuine smiles. They really want you to enjoy your trip and will ensure you a fantastic journey.

I agree, the pajamas are perfectly comfortable and still use them as they've not shrunken to Barbi size.

On thing on the seat, it's hard to tell in the photos, but there's a huge handle on the backside of each seat so it's really convenient for your seatmate who needs to step over your reclining feet to have something to hold onto. I didn't find the window seat any difficulty in accessing the aisle when the companion seat is in bed mode.

Ladies might be interested to know that the FAs reserve one of the three lavatories for ladies only. I suppose us guys are too messy.

Worth mentioning that the best seats are in Row 5 if you want a real treat. After dinner service, the FAs will enclose each pairing of 2-3-2 in a ceiling to floor curtain....feels like a double bed suite for the 2 pairings. Really private and quiet.

Looking forward to flying it again someday. Great use of SkyPesos!

@Mitch - Thanks for the connecting flight info. To the people that were asking about availability, I booked 11 mos. out and was able to snag VA biz seats for my family of 4 in June. MEL and BNE were generally available, but realize that VA only flies those routes like 4x/week. SYD had some availability but it may be easier to connect to SYD via MEL or BNE (if you want to visit MEL or BNE remember that DL allows stopovers). If you don't live in SoCal, the hardest part of the booking process is finding domestic flights to get you to LAX. We ending up booking the domestic segments in economy, which stinks because the overall mileage amount allows for First, but you'll be extremely lucky to find domestic First available to LA at the low award level.

i like the guest trip report. it is awesome! @Lucky - you should have @Matt or other guest showing up more often, spicy up! of course, I still love your posting all the time.

Flying out in September on VA, anyone have any tips on how to snag aisle 5 seats?

@Joe, you can only snag row 5 seats within 24 hours. I tried many times calling VA when they opened but the delta award tickets makes VA very fussy about them requiring you to call Delta (who can't see row 5). Ask first thing at checking with VA! I had much better luck at checkin.

I've got a SEA>SYD trip coming up for business in J. What do you guys think... Korean via ICN, or via LAX on DL or Virgin. Leaning towards DL out of LAX for status, or trying for the DL code on Virgin. I love the look of the Virgin service, but as a solo traveler, the DL hard product seems a better bet - no? Interested in people's thoughts.

What exactly is Arctic Chard?

Is seat 5G OK ? Is it too close to the bathrooms?

5G is a great seat and won't be bothered by the bathrooms as they'll likely have the curtains drawn around you during the night. It's a great row if you can snag seats here.

I am travelling in November 2014 from Bne to LAX Business class on VA7 what are the seats like in rows 1 and 2 - we booked 4 seats

Thanks so much for the posts! We are traveling VA for the first time Dec 31. hope there will be a party on board:) We just booked, and found better availability/mileage cost to go from LAX to Melbourne rather than Sydney, through Brisbane. It was 160 Delta miles for business. Since we are touring all over Australia, really didnt care which city we start in. We will fly out of BNE back to LA. However, we could not get our cross country trip (Dulles to LAX) included. They tried- at one point had us going to from Washington to Minneapolis to Singapore and somewhere else- to Sydney, 50+ hours and 300? miles. Instead we are using USAirways miles (25 each way) for first class to get to LAX. Can't wait to drink champagne in my pjs!

@Jimmy
Arctic Char is the fish. Tsk, tsk, they got it wrong. Chard is a vegetable. Arctic Char is related to salmon and equally delicious.

Hi Matt- if you're still getting notified about posts...how busy was the bar during your flight? I'm doing the same route in a few months and am wondering if the bar is dead since it's an overnight flight. Thanks!