British Airways vs Virgin - is Virgin worth the extra?

pennylane99

jackieblack wrote: »

Agreed. Plus you don't have to do battle with that horrendous foreign call centre!

I find the Swansea call centre very helpful....:)

claire16c

The virgin call centre seemed to think having connecting flights where the 2nd one left before the 1st one landed was no problem..Ill stick with ba!

jackieblack

pennylane99 wrote: »

I find the Swansea call centre very helpful....:)

Unless the call handlers in Swansea have a very strong Indian accent, I've never managed to speak to them. I could never get my queries addressed as I could never make myself understood. It's one of the reasons we stopped using Virgin Hols

jackieblack

delwynshd wrote: »

It can sometimes come down to how busy the flights are

We always try to be competative in the market place

In this case the flights with Virgin could be busy therfore the class of seats may of been at a higher cost

There are lots of factors to consider

There are retail stores around the country now guys so if you would rather not contact our call centre you can pop in to your local agent

Most of the sales calls are handled by our call centre in Crawley

Thanks
Del

Last time I directly compared flights with BA vs Virgin it was on the day the flights were released.
BA were £1000 cheaper for 4 of us, and have a more generous hand baggage allowance in economy.

At one time we always used to fly with Virgin, but have now flown BA for our last 3 trips, and for the next one we have booked.
A shame, because we liked Virgin when we first started flying with them but the quality of many aspects of the experience went progressively downhill over the last 2 or 3 flights we took.

delwynshd

Oh well I cant change your opinion Jackie lol

Virgin Atlantic hand baggage is now 10Kgs

I'm not being biased at all here but all of our fleet have now been upgraded and the flying experience is great on Virgin

I have flown BA and to be honest I was pleased but not blown away

I find BA very plain jane to be honest, Virgin just has that edge

Thanks
Del

jackieblack

delwynshd wrote: »

Oh well I cant change your opinion Jackie lol

Virgin Atlantic hand baggage is now 10Kgs

I'm not being biased at all here but all of our fleet have now been upgraded and the flying experience is great on Virgin

I have flown BA and to be honest I was pleased but not blown away

I find BA very plain jane to be honest, Virgin just has that edge

Thanks
Del

I would be quite happy if you could ( we've got shedloads of VAFC miles I'd love to be able to use) but my opinion is formed by my experiences.

With the hand luggage it's not so much the weight as the fact you have to include a laptop in your hand luggage (unless that's changed since the last time I checked) whereas with BA you can take a laptop bag in addition.

The last couple of Virgin flights I found the flight attendants a bit aloof and offhand, BA flight attendants, at least on our last few flights, seem to be a little more mature and caring.

Virgin just haven't lived up to their image on the last few flights we've taken. Maybe our expectations were higher (on the basis of Virgin's marketing) but we were disappointed, and disappointed to be disappointed because at one time they definitely were better and so we were prepared to pay a little more for that. (Not £1000 more though )

lgw29

delwynshd wrote: »

I have flown BA and to be honest I was pleased but not blown away

I find BA very plain jane to be honest, Virgin just has that edge

Thanks
Del

in what way

KarenG

ferf1223 wrote: »

I didn't know that BA were doing twilight check-in now, that's interesting...we normally fly Virgin and love that option from Gatwick...good to know.

They've done that for years from LGW North - at least, we did it as far back as '05.

duchy

The hand baggage issues with Virgin always irritate me and I do prefer the maturity of the BA staff- I;ve seen some really petulent and immature behaviour by VS FAs on a few occassions. (not every flight but I've never seen it on BA)

Hard product is similar now VS have upgraded their fleet so it's all down to the soft -Virgin's food used to be outstanding -it's now on a level with all the other TA carriers.

Virgin spend a fortune on marketing which will attract new customers but a bit more attention to the inflight experience might be a bit better investment to ensure they rebook.

£200pp is an extraordinary difference and I do agree with Jackie that why would or should a customer have to go begging for a match. Get the pricing right first time. A matter of £10 or £20 pp fair enough -but £200 shows a lack of awareness of the marketplace. I wouldn't bother looking for a match if a like for like carrier was offering that kind of reduction. I'd just book the more attractive offer-Job done...no having to spend my precious time on asking for a match-which at £200 most likely would be refused when I could be spending it researching a better hotel price or buying a hotel upgrade with my saved £400

jackieblack wrote: »

I would be quite happy if you could ( we've got shedloads of VAFC miles I'd love to be able to use) but my opinion is formed by my experiences.

With the hand luggage it's not so much the weight as the fact you have to include a laptop in your hand luggage (unless that's changed since the last time I checked) whereas with BA you can take a laptop bag in addition.

The last couple of Virgin flights I found the flight attendants a bit aloof and offhand, BA flight attendants, at least on our last few flights, seem to be a little more mature and caring.

Virgin just haven't lived up to their image on the last few flights we've taken. Maybe our expectations were higher (on the basis of Virgin's marketing) but we were disappointed, and disappointed to be disappointed because at one time they definitely were better and so we were prepared to pay a little more for that. (Not £1000 more though )

duchy

lgw29 wrote: »

in what way

Maybe because they pay his wages ?