Virgin Atlantic premium economy

sidebarcarl

Hi All

I'm just looking at flights to Atlanta from London and the prices for the return are:
Economy £232.90
Premium £1178.90

I flew to New York last year and upgraded at the airport for £300. My opinion after was that the leg room was good, but not as good as an emergency exit seat and the seats were also a little wider, which was nice. There was a welcome drink and a slightly better meal. On the return flight I paid £50 for the emergency exit seat and my partners was free as it was right next to the door. So, buying the emergency exit seats saved us £550 on the upgrade cost but we didn't get the drink or the slightly better meal which I would value at £20 each. However, I did get better service in economy as I felt ignored in premium.

My question is, has anyone flown premium this year and able to update me on any new extras received that may justify an extra £946 per person?

richardw

Is that a VS codeshare on a DL plane to Atlanta?

Btw the BA Jan sale has started, so perhaps have a look at their WT+ fares to ATL.

Alan_Bowen

This is Delta, now the 49% owner of Virgin and not Virgin Premium. It is Economy Comfort, a whole 4 inches extra legroom, same meal, possibly an extra free drink. The last time I flew Delta, to Atlanta in Business Class, I was wildly unimpressed, I wouldn't pay £1100 plus for Economy Comfort under any circumstances, but then the stated economy fare of £232 also seems completely wrong unless some naughty travel agent is quoting the fare without the taxes and charges

littlemissbossy

I'e flown Virgin PE to Las Vegas from memory £200 ish each, each way and Florida £400 ish each, each way. As you mention the extra room is good and also, you and your bags (in theory) come off before ecomony.

HTH

phatbear

sidebarcarl wrote: »

My question is, has anyone flown premium this year and able to update me on any new extras received that may justify an extra £946 per person?

I flew out to NY in upper on 27/11 and back in Premium on 02/12.

The PE service is meh! nothing special a tad more leg room, which is reduced if the person in front of you shoves their seats back on take off.

Ive flown several times in economy and, apart from the welcome drink when you board and the metal knives and forks and a slightly bigger seat i cant tell an awful lot of difference between cattle class and PE.

phatbear

littlemissbossy wrote: »

you and your bags (in theory) come off before ecomony.

well my bags didnt arrive before economy on either upper or PE

opinions4u

I paid £150 extra for BA PE a couple of months back. I'd struggle to justify a bigger differential.

It was nice and the extra space was appreciated. But there's only so much extra you can eat and drink. There's only so much value you can attribute to nicer headphones and a pair of socks.

I can't compare Virgin's offering but my guess is it's similar. There's not a hope in hell I'd pay £900 extra for it.

fkaprotz1

PE on VS is good (better than BA) but I would hesitate before paying for it. I have paid for upgrades from PE to Business before, but that is definitely worth it for me (especially on overnight flights!).

PE on DL: it's not PE but 'Economy Comfort' and I would not even pay £20 for it. It is just a very poor marketing ploy and is not very much comfort added to standard economy class anyway.

If you have VS miles you could always see whether there are miles upgrades available?

Doshwaster

opinions4u wrote: »

I paid £150 extra for BA PE a couple of months back. I'd struggle to justify a bigger differential.

That's pretty much my going rate on BA too. No way I'd pay more than £200 extra. BA's WTP has recently improved as you now get the meal choices from Club rather than the same food as those in the cheapest seats, but it is still behind other airline's premium economy products. My favourite is Qantas which is more of a "Business Minus".

Often the only reason I book BA WTP is so that I can use miles to upgrade to Club or hope for a free upgrade.

ferf1223

we've started flying PE regularly now on Virgin...strictly speaking it's probably not value for money, no...but we've decided it's worth it to us...the seating configuration is better, seats are wider and more legroom so even if the person in front reclines all the way my knees aren't crushed for the duration of the flight...at Gatwick at least we can go through the priority security line where we've never had a queue...we get off the plane earlier so quicker to immigration...and we get an extra bag each and since we normally fly to the US with gifts to post to family over there and then fly back with plenty of stuff (including a small case full of American foodstuffs) we save a bit on the extra baggage charges we might have otherwise. It's just a more comfortable experience all around so we would find it hard to go back to economy.

But agree that the original prices don't really make sense as the economy fare is ridiculously cheap...if they were correct then no, even we would not be able to justify the additional price....as it stands the additional cost to book PE over economy is hard enough to justify but we've managed it the last few trips to the US and are about to book another one.
But I could completely understand some people deciding it was absolutely not worth the extra.