Going to Antigua in 2 weeks, is it worth Upgrading?

Aidenr

Hi Endora,

In relation to your seats in PE, yes use the online check-in 24hrs before. IMO I would opt for row 75. this is the exit row on the upper deck (bubble) and will give even more space to stretch out !

with getting the best time on the flight, jjst speak to the crew onboard. As crew myself, I always love getting honeymooners and those special occasion passengers ;-)
Im sure that if you let them know, they will try and make the flight as special as possible !

With some hotels like the St.James club in Antigua there are sometimes facilities for you to check in whilst at the hotel. I know that this is called the check-in & chill out service. Maybe check the Virgin website for further information?

Hope that helps

Have a great trip

Aiden

Endora_2

Aidenr wrote: »

Hi Endora,

In relation to your seats in PE, yes use the online check-in 24hrs before. IMO I would opt for row 75. this is the exit row on the upper deck (bubble) and will give even more space to stretch out !

with getting the best time on the flight, jjst speak to the crew onboard. As crew myself, I always love getting honeymooners and those special occasion passengers ;-)
Im sure that if you let them know, they will try and make the flight as special as possible !

With some hotels like the St.James club in Antigua there are sometimes facilities for you to check in whilst at the hotel. I know that this is called the check-in & chill out service. Maybe check the Virgin website for further information?

Hope that helps

Have a great trip

Aiden

Hi Aiden,
Many thanks for that info, perhaps we might see you on our flight. Just to let you know one of our son's has the same name as you but spelt Aidan, suprising coincidence there. Thanks for the tip on what seats to pre-book, we just hope that when it comes to doing the online check-in that those seats are still available, are they rows of 2 or 3 seats together? Our holiday is going to be spent at the Sandals Grande Antigua Resort and Spa which we ended up booking through Thomas Cook Signature in the end. I have queried with Virgin (through the website) if we can pay for the use of the V Room at Gatwick but they have responded by saying that only Virgin Atlantic customers have this privilege, I guess they mean customers who have booked their holiday through them so it looks like we will not be able to have access to that, pity.:A

Aidenr

Hi Endora,
on the upper deck it is rows of 2 in PE
you never know, i might be on your flight ! stranger things have happended lol

with the V.room at Gatwick, I am surprised. it was my understanding that customer who have not booked there holiday through Virgin Hols could still purchase a ticket for around £40.. I may be wrong so dont quote me on that.

As you booked through Thomas Cook Signatures, it may be worth speaking to Thomas Cook and see if they have a lounge share that you can use. I know that my local Thomas Cook shop, they are fantastic and would look into it - try yours, will ask the question for you when I am next passing there.

Sorry, just looked and too much hassle to edit post. As per the Virgin brochure for this year it says that the V.Room at Gatwick south is £17.00 per adult and £10.00 per child and does not say anything about other restrictions other than must be booked in advance and the dress code is smart casual. min age is 8yrs old

Hope that helps

Aiden

sturll

I genuinely don't think Premium Economy is worth the the upgrade. I know there are many who do, but i don't. Its not the space in economy that gets to me, its the fact you cannot lay your seat right back, but you cant do that in PE anyway.
I think its a rip off that you cant use the lounges and the food really isnt that special. Id go as far to say the PE is a rip off.

I would either save the money - i mean £195 x2 x2 is almost £800. Not worth it at all in my opinion.

Endora_2

Aidenr wrote: »

Hi Endora,
on the upper deck it is rows of 2 in PE
you never know, i might be on your flight ! stranger things have happended lol

with the V.room at Gatwick, I am surprised. it was my understanding that customer who have not booked there holiday through Virgin Hols could still purchase a ticket for around £40.. I may be wrong so dont quote me on that.

As you booked through Thomas Cook Signatures, it may be worth speaking to Thomas Cook and see if they have a lounge share that you can use. I know that my local Thomas Cook shop, they are fantastic and would look into it - try yours, will ask the question for you when I am next passing there.

Sorry, just looked and too much hassle to edit post. As per the Virgin brochure for this year it says that the V.Room at Gatwick south is £17.00 per adult and £10.00 per child and does not say anything about other restrictions other than must be booked in advance and the dress code is smart casual. min age is 8yrs old

Hope that helps

Aiden

Hi Aiden, spoke to Thomas Cook (who we booked holiday through) and they in turn spoke to Thomas Cook Signature and they don't seem to be able to do anything though the rep at Thomas Cook said she can give us a locater number which we can used on the Virgin website to gain access to the V Room. I have noticed on the Virgin website that they are doing a special offer price for the V Room of £10 each per adult for Jan and Feb so hopefully if we can book it then it won't cost as much. Heard on the news that jobs are going at Virgin, hope yours is safe? Friend of ours has just been made redundant and my neighbours husband will know end of this month if his job is safe or not.:A

Endora_2

The Thomas Cook rep who we booked our holiday through has said that Thomas Cook Signature are unable to book the V Room at Gatwick Airport for us but she has given us a Locater Number so we can try and do it ourselves online. She also gave us the phone number but on ringing it yesterday around lunchtime got an automated answer machine message stating that the offices are open Mon to Sun from 0900hrs to 5.30!! No option to leave a message and it was only midday so how could it be closed? Anyway had to go on the Virgin Holidays website, not the Virgin Atlantic one where you manage your flight bookings,to get info about the V Room and how to book it, they gave a different telephone number but the message said they were v.busy and to try later. It also gave the option of sending an email with regards to V Room booking so I sent them an email, just waiting for a response now as they would need to contact me with regards to payment, it does state that the V Room for adults is only £10 each for the month of Jan and Feb so if we can get to book it at this price it will be another bonus.:T

rlc22

Endora wrote: »

The Thomas Cook rep who we booked our holiday through has said that Thomas Cook Signature are unable to book the V Room at Gatwick Airport for us but she has given us a Locater Number so we can try and do it ourselves online. She also gave us the phone number but on ringing it yesterday around lunchtime got an automated answer machine message stating that the offices are open Mon to Sun from 0900hrs to 5.30!! No option to leave a message and it was only midday so how could it be closed? Anyway had to go on the Virgin Holidays website, not the Virgin Atlantic one where you manage your flight bookings,to get info about the V Room and how to book it, they gave a different telephone number but the message said they were v.busy and to try later. It also gave the option of sending an email with regards to V Room booking so I sent them an email, just waiting for a response now as they would need to contact me with regards to payment, it does state that the V Room for adults is only £10 each for the month of Jan and Feb so if we can get to book it at this price it will be another bonus.:T

You can only book the V-Room if you've booked a package holiday through Virgin Holidays so you won't be able to use it as your tour operator is Thomas Cook Signature.

You can speak to TCS to see if there's a lounge that they can book you, or try www.holidayextras.co.uk to book one of the Servisair Lounges in the South Terminal through them. Not quite the same as the V-Room but gets you out of the madhouse that is Gatwick Airport!

Pooky23

One word of warning - do not have high expectations. I recently flew PE back from Orlando with my family of 4. This cost over £800 on top of the holiday cost.

Dinner service was painfully slow. Child meals that we had pre booked were not provided. The adult meal provided did not appeal so they ate very little. Entertainment system was not working properly. Crew were openly looking fed up.

We were travelling with young children and were very mindful that their behaviour should not annoy any other passengers. So we each sat next to one of our children and made sure they were not noisy and didn't run around. They behaved beautifully and slept for most of the way. Unfortunately an adult male passenger decided to stand adjacent to my row (although too far away for me to prod him) for almost the whole night carrying on a long loud conversation with the crew. The crew did nothing to curb the conversation or ask him to return to his seat. I didn't sleep a wink despite trying ear plugs and my whole experience was ruined. I wrote to Virgin on my return and got the usual 10,000 airmiles. I would not rush to book PE again, I'd rather use that towards spending money, or save up for proper first class treatment.

Endora_2

Had a reply email back from Virgin Holidays today, sadly as we did not book our holiday through them but through Thomas Cook Signature, we are unable to book or use the facilities of the V Room. Never mind. We did originally try to book our holiday through Virgin but they were unable to beat the quote that we got (for the same deal) from Thomas Cook, in fact they said that they could not compete against Thomas Cook as they are one of the companies/agencies that sell holidays for them?

Endora_2

Stayed at Holiday Inn Gatwick the night before flight out to Antigua, what a mistake, bed was very lumpy, soft and uncomfortable and people checking in throughout the night seemed to have no regard for other people trying to sleep, managed about 2 hours sleep that night and we had to pay an extra £10 for the car parking. We had already booked and pre-paid for the room and parking before-hand so wasn't expecting that. Only good thing was the shuttle bus service running to and from the hotel to the airport, every 15 mins and cost £3 each (each way).