[Anonymous]

[MartynSinclair]

A name that is becoming less frequent on this forum VIRGIN.

I have just given up my Virgin Gold card as I have no desire or need to use the airline. I still have over 500,000 airmiles and will get round to using them in the fullness of time.

Does anyone have any Virgin news, especially about the new upper class, Is there a Virgin equivalent of Vintage Krug because although I am a BIG fan of BA I would like to hear something positive about Virgin apart from the fact they have a new paint scheme.

So you Virginettes, lets hear what you have to say, if indeed there is anything to say.

[Bullfrog]

Could it be a case of ‘been there, done that, got the T shirt’ … ? & there is nothing really new with Virgin.

Maybe it is because BA really does ‘fly the flag’ for Business Traveller readers ….

[Tom Otley]

To be fair to Virgin, they have put out quite a bit of news recently, and we have reported the following

http://www.businesstraveller.com/tags/Virgin+Atlantic

The new advertising is in the cinemas now, and they have got the new aircraft coming next year, which should be interesting.

[Bullfrog]

Fair comment .. Site Administrator.

I apologise if it looked like I was knocking Virgin .. that was not the case.

I am a great fan of Upper Class. I have only flown CW once on a BA 767 & was not that impressed. I prefer the herringbone layout on VS as I think it it feels less claustrophobic than 8 abreast in CW (unless you’re upper deck 747). With BA, I always opt for First but that seems on the decline with the 3 class 777s.

I would not even consider Premium or Economy for a long haul flight …

Virgin just does not seem to make as much news with on line posts
on this website from online readers.

[Gin&Tonic]

Great lounge at Lhr, good service on board etc etc, but the cost of upper class is nearly always off the scale compared even to BA J and other carriers. I have yet from a budgetary view been able to justify VS on more than 1 occasion in many years; I always check them but rarely, if ever use them. How do others feel the prices compare?

[Hippocampus]

Virgin has recently announced internal senior management changes. They are due to take delivery of A330s next year which will initially be used in a two class configuration (no Upper) on leisure routes. I think what the industry is awaiting from Virgin is:

– What’s happening with the A380 deliveries?

– Will Virgin join an alliance/how will it respond to AA/BA which is a real game changer at LHR?

– How will it grow with no expansion of LHR?

[continentalclub]

I think the perceived lack of news, or perhaps more accurately ‘comment’ on these pages merely reflects the actual size of Virgin Atlantic and the number of passengers that it carries.

Virgin have 37 aircraft in their current fleet; British Airways have 237.

Virgin carry between 5m and 6m passengers each year; British Airways a little over 31m.

Interestingly, Virgin reportedly made an operational loss of £132m last year; British Airways, despite its size, lost a relatively limited £231m:

http://www.centreforaviation.com/news/2010/08/06/virgin-atlantic-confident-about-future-prospects-despite-big-fy200910-loss/page1

Against that (or perhaps because of it) the traditional PR punching-above-its-weight of Virgin Atlantic does seem to have abated more recently, the net effect of which appears on the face of it to mark a huge swing away from Virgin Atlantic being constantly in the news, towards a position of apparently having relatively little to say.

In reality, there’s probably just as much/little to talk about as ever there was – but as a smaller player in a market with much bigger stories to report, from Continental/United to AA/IB/BA to easyJet and Ryanair, VS is possibly merely assuming its natural place in the hierarchy of passenger relevance.

[Author]

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