After a lovely visit to the Clubhouse, which is located landside, I made my way airside about 70 minutes before departure, since I also wanted to walk around a bit before the flight. I headed for security, which was fairly quiet. While I was able to use the premium security line, I wasn’t able to…
Continue reading: Five Star Virgin: Virgin Atlantic Upper Class from San Francisco (SFO) to London (LHR)
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Great report and enjoyed reading as always--but it kills me when you choose pasta over steak or fish!!!
SFO reorients operations for the usually southerly winds during bad weather (opposed to westerly most of the time), but the 19 runways are shorter and have hills not far from the ends so the big jets will be on 10.
The seats are extremely narrow!!! See how the armrest is inside the wall. Makes it very uncomfortable.
Yes, the food onboard is not that good. Always better to eat in the lounge before departure.
Yes, the same people sit at the bar and are very loud.
So, did you lift the salt and pepper shakers? They expect them to be lifted due to the novelty.
That head on photo of your seat (11A) makes the seat look very claustrophobic. The latter photo (cabin before landing) doesn't seem to mesh with the other photo. Does that "wall" lower? Certainly not a good seat if you are traveling with someone you want to talk to.
Great report followed up with a dumb question, do you keep the pj's? Does anyone?
Why would anyone order meat on a plane? Take meat of dubious quality and pre-cook it and reheat it in a toy oven, how can you expect it to be any good?
@ Andrew -- Very simple explanation -- I had heard the food on Virgin Atlantic was inedible, and frankly, given what I had heard, I figured there was less they could screw up with pasta than a meat dish. On the return I had fish, though.
@ retsef -- Hah, surprisingly enough I didn't take them with me.
@ Alex -- Good point, it did taste a bit off. Guess it was Pepsi. 😉
@ rich (arizona) -- The wall doesn't lower, so a herringbone style seat isn't ideal for someone traveling with a companion. That being said, when traveling alone, I far prefer the privacy of that over having a seatmate. It's definitely not "spacious," but then again, it's business class, not first class. I found the seat to be functional and comfortable for sleeping, and at no point did I feel claustrophobic. That being said, for those that are bigger than me, it might be a tight fit.
@ jr -- I always keep the PJs, and it seems like quite a few people do. Probably half of my closet at home is sets of airline PJs from all around the world.
Very thorough, detailed trip report. The FA in your "Cabin View" picture looks like a plastic doll. Maybe she is?
Great report! Having flown VS J class many times, I agree completely with your experience....inc their terrible main courses...
When flying British Airliners (BA or VS) ALWAYS order several side dishes to make up your meal...it would seem these along with desert are the only dishes edible!
The British CANNOT COOK!!!!
Except for Breakfast 😉 always done well!
I don't think it was either Diet Pepsi or Diet Coke. It's usually the diet version of Virgin brand.
I'm not sure if you meant to paraphrase that great Woody Allen line from Annie Hall: -- There's an old joke - um... two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know; and such small portions. --
One small nit... the products in the loo are from the Cowshed Spa, not Bumble and Bumble:
http://www.cowshedonline.com/spa_virgin_clubhouse.html
Cowshed's part of the Soho House Group (London, Berlin, NYC, Miami and WeHo), well worth checking out on your travels!
Loving the site and trip reports.
Thank you for the in-depth profile of the Upper Class cabin!!! There's a chance I might be taking this exact route in May so I was very curious. Great job!!
Great review, and priceless info about the 2/1 seating. I'd also prefer to face the partition than a stranger who may have a reading lamp (or camera) pointed at me! Also agree with you about the onboard bars. Nice in theory but loud people can make them a colossal nuisance. Thanks