[Anonymous]

[EU_Flyer]

I recently read BT’s review of Upper Class on Virgin’s new 787 aircraft and noticed the seat looked almost identical to the original, and now outdated, UC seat.

Didn’t Virgin Atlantic launch a new Upper Class product a while back?

http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/virgin-unveils-new-upper-class-suite

The article states:

“The airline says that the new seat will be fitted to its forthcoming Boeing Dreamliner aircraft from 2014, and more A330 routes with the new offering will be added throughout this year as further aircraft are delivered”.

Have I missed something?

[Jenny Southan]

Hi Flying_Alex,

The Upper Class product is a slightly different, but is still new, on the B787. I will be publishing another review later today with more photos.

Virgin says: “We tend to tweak all of our product depending on the aircraft and customers onboard the 787 will enjoy a new iteration of Virgin Atlantic’s iconic ‘Upper Class Suite’ which incorporates all of the popular features along with some new design elements.”

I hope that helps.

[MartynSinclair]

Dear Jenny

How can VS say their seat is new.. It is still a flip over, as far as I know, the only flip over currently in long haul business. There may be a few decorative or minor tweaks, but its basically the same.

British Airlines seem to be way behind in being innovative. Granted both VS and BA were innovative in their day, but in 2014 BOTH airlines have very stale business products…. however you look at them…. As a journalist I cant see how you can see this in any other way….

[EU_Flyer]

JennySouthan – 27/10/2014 12:52 GMT

Thanks very much for the update Jenny.

I can see some amendments have been made to the Upper Class seat that’s installed on the 787 but it still looks largely like the original.

I was personally impressed with the ‘New’ Upper Class product launched in 2012 on the A330s and had hoped/expected the same design to be used on the 787. Perhaps it doesn’t suit the 787 dimensions, particularly given the middle section on the A330 has a criss-cross design as against the single direction design on the 787 product.

In any case, thanks for the clarification. I enjoyed reading your piece/review when it was published a few weeks ago.

[CityRiskBoy]

@Flying_Alex – I’m behind you on this one, this is not even close to the ‘new’ seat they launched on their new A330 a while back. It’s just the same seat with some minor tweaks.

My guess is the updated version launched on their new A330’s wasn’t as well received as they had hoped so decided to pull the plug on it, I don’t remember reading many good reviews on it so they probably decided to stick with the original trusty version.

I feel VS will continue to make these types of decisions going forward leading to more inconsistencies across their fleet.

[malbarda]

What I found far more irritating is the “mood lighting” of the biz class cabin in every picture I have seen to date. Call me old fashioned, but I thought that the 70’s disco era was well behind us, yet Virgin appears to only have purple and red light bulbs. Give me “normal” light so as to not ruin your eyes when reading, and actually be able to see if your food is properly cooked/prepared. Next: black light?

[travelworld2]

What’s the problem with a flip over seat?

[SimonS1]

@ malbarda – be careful what you wish for. I gather as part of the latest BA enhancement passengers will be supplied with their own personal microwave built into the seat and invited to prepare their own 🙂

[IanFromHKG]

MartynSinclair – 27/10/2014 13:29: How can VS say their seat is new.. It is still a flip over, as far as I know, the only flip over currently in long haul business.

Flip over seats aren’t unique. Singapore Airlines have them. So do Air New Zealand.

[Author]

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