[Hktbound]

After leaving a cruise we had to fly From Barbados on 1st December on a fixed date and it seemed all flights were jammed full and hugely expensive leading us to take our first economy long haul in many years.
I am also loyal to BA so Virgin was my second choice of carrier and I had my heckles up which although unfair was the truth.

Therefore after weeks of trying everything from bidding for upgrades, (delighted with premium and excited for Upper), trying for award tickets and any other way of upgrading decided that 8 hours 5 minutes in economy was worth the cruise.

Check in was quiet and despite a crammed flight and they allowed us to have a couple of bags with a few kilograms overweight (26kg each bag). Incidentally a friend in premium was not so lucky being charged 200 USD for having similar overweight bags.

We decided that the best compromise was to pay for emergency exit seats but at the late booking stage they were not together but we secured two albeit at different ends of economy.
Boarding was on time but very slow and I feared a very late departure. Staff very welcoming on boarding.
I always choose a window seat but only 25H was available (aisle) and I was relived I had not paid for 25K which had a large part of the exit door blocking the legroom. I am sure a seat guru check would have highlighted the issue but I was happy that I hadn’t paid for 25K
The huge surprise was the flight was only 6 hours 42 minutes so such a fast flight was very welcome. Indeed, despite a delayed departure we landed 40 minutes early.

It was great to fly the 747 after a number of years and the plane was in good condition despite its age. It was one of Virgins newer 747s but of course it was still an old plane. The seat was tight but not uncomfortable and menus were distributed which was a nice touch.

A hot towel and drinks service was served by a young and enthusiastic crew. After a Gin and Tonic and nice pretzels I received my first choice of meal which was small but tasty.
The TV was small but adequate and I found the entertainment choices to be good.

After dinner tea and hot chocolate came round but I opted to rest and was surprised to get some rest and enjoy the extremely fast flight to London – you could almost feel the speed as the tail winds got us to London in super quick time.

Breakfast was fruit a yoghurt and a hot croissant 90 minutes prior to landing and as we. Had only eaten dinner 4 hours earlier it was more than adequate.

We arrived at Gatwick before the earlier BA flight at 4.45am and bags arrived so quickly I was able to take an earlier Easyjet flight home.

I felt compelled to write a review about the experience.
Yes, I was lucky to have a super quick flight and I swerved a bad emergency exit seat by chance.
I was ready to leave after 6 hours and wouldn’t relish a longer flight but the experience was positive. Yes I would have still paid for Premium or Upper and will try to next time but, for the price paid I thought it a good value product.

1 user thanked author for this post.

geo1004m

[st1969]

“I had to fly economy class back from my luxury cruise around the Caribbean”

A nation thanks you for your hardship.

[Hktbound]

It was a transatlantic actually although completely irrelevant to my post.
Thanks for that.
My purpose was to post a positive review on a good experience that may be helpful to others on the forum who do not always fly this class so it is not reviewed so frequently.

6 users thanked author for this post.

mkcol74, DerekVH, PatJordan, Jacob, st1969, TravellingJake

[capetonianm]

I’m no fan of Virgin Atlantic after a series of flights between London and Cape Town a few years ago in both classes. On that basis I booked BA economy for my current trip to Barbados because it was several hundred pounds cheaper for the same dates than VS. I didn’t see the point in coughing up a lot more money for an indifferent premium product.

We flew yesterday on an old but refurbished and very clean 777, and had three seats (window middle aisle) for the two of us. IFE, food and service were better than expected and the mixed fleet crew were particularly pleasant. It was my first long-haul flight with BA for about 2 years and I have to admit that I was favourably impressed.

Well done BA, maybe the tide is turning.

[Author]

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