Airline review: It’s still the sassiest in the sky, shame about the food

The airline: Virgin Atlantic

• Route London Heathrow to Las Vegas, flight VS155.
• Frequency Once daily
• Aircraft Boeing 787-9
• Class Economy: Seat 56G
• Flight time 10 hours, 23 minutes (taking off 14 minutes late, arriving eight minutes early)

Checking in

Virgin Atlantic’s Boeing 787-9 fleet will soon get a shake-up.

At Heathrow, lines are fairly short, and the agent is friendly towards our somewhat giddy seven-year-old. Our case is clearly overweight, but a blind eye is turned to this. However, we were supposed to be flying from Manchester the day before and the flight got cancelled 10 minutes before we arrived at Manchester Airport. Virgin Atlantic’s not entirely ideal solution was to put us in a two-and-a-half hour taxi ride to London, pay for an overnight hotel, then get us on the London flight the next day. With two kids in tow, this is a pretty stressful experience, albeit handled as well as possible by the staff in the circumstances.

Baggage

Unless on the ultra-cheap, hand luggage-only Economy Light tickets, passengers can check in one 23-kilogram bag. You can also take one carry-on bag plus a handbag into the cabin. There’s a not-especially-vigorously-enforced 10-kilogram weight limit for cabin baggage.

Loyalty scheme

Virgin Atlantic’s scheme is called Flying Club, but points can be credited to any SkyTeam member scheme. The most useful of these alliance partners for Australians are Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines. However, members of Virgin Australia’s Velocity program can also earn and spend points on Virgin Atlantic flights through a separate partnership.

The seat

Seats don’t feel rock hard or paper thin like they can on some budget airlines.

With a 3-3-3 layout, seat pitch of “up to” 31 inches (79 centimetres), and seat width of “up to” 17 inches (43 centimetres), these are not the most generous seats in the sky. While hardly lavishly padded, the seats at least don’t feel rock hard or paper thin like they can on some budget airlines – although my headrest keeps slipping down, which quickly gets annoying.

Entertainment + tech

Virgin Atlantic is one of the last hold-outs with in-flight magazines, but the on-screen offering is more engaging. The in-flight entertainment passes my usual test – are there at least 10 films I want to watch? – with ease.

There’s a strong UK slant to the TV, with bingeable full series of reality shows such as the Traitors and Race Across The World, plus a series of stand-up specials by British comedians. Parental blocking and bespoke playlist features are handy, too.

There’s a USB slot for those who prefer their tablet, but the Wi-Fi pass – offering a meagre 40 megabytes of data for £4.99 ($9.70) – just seems like throwing a credit card in the bin.

Service

Virgin Atlantic is a pioneer in the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

A member of the cabin crew quickly wins our seven-year-old over by saying that her dress looks really pretty, and there’s an overall vibe of humanity rather than getting service from regimented automatons. When I order a rum and ginger ale, they don’t have it in the cart. But a crew member brings one over a few minutes later, then remembers and asks if I’d like another when I’ve finished.

Food

It takes chutzpah to say “please have another choice in mind as your first choice may not be available” when there are only two choices of meal – vegetarian pasta or chicken in barbecue sauce. Said chicken is a little dry and underwhelming, although the sauce is pleasantly smoky. Later on, a cheese and tomato toastie is doled out, followed by afternoon tea consisting of dire mozzarella sandwiches and an unappetising scone.

Carbon emissions

It’s 475 kilograms when flying in economy. Virgin Atlantic is a pioneer in the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and was the first commercial airline to operate an SAF-powered flight across the Atlantic in 2023.

One more thing

Virgin Atlantic’s fleet is about to get a significant revamp with a bulk order of Airbus A330-900s. The airline boasts that by 2028, its planes will have an average age of just 6.4 years.

The price

From about $1500 return in economy (including checked luggage)*.

The verdict

Virgin Atlantic, majority-owned by Richard Branson (who now owns a mere 5 per cent of Virgin Australia) is still the sassiest option between Europe and North America – but personable service is masking a stinginess on the seating and food.

Our rating out of five

★★★½

The writer flew at his own expense. See virginatlantic.com

*Fares are based on those available for travel three months from the time of publication and subject to change.