Last month we travelled from London Heathrow to San Francisco International by Virgin Atlantic’s 787 Dreamliner. We flew from Terminal 3 on a Sunday lunchtime with a flight time of 9 and a half hours.
Why Virgin Atlantic?
We’ve flown with Virgin Atlantic a few times in the past. Only ever in economy. I first flew with them back in the 1990s when I headed to Boston, US on business. And when we planned a special holiday to celebrate my mum and dad’s Golden Wedding anniversary, we flew Virgin Atlantic to Miami. This was back in 2011. We’ve always enjoyed the ‘little extras’ that come with flying with VA over other airlines: they always seem to be at the forefront of technology too with their backseat screen entertainment. With a long flight to San Francisco, good entertainment for an 11- and 9-year old was important for us.
Incidentally, VA was the only airline flying direct to/from San Francisco on the days we wanted to fly.
Check-In, Baggage Drop, Loading
I wanted to reserve our seats when we booked the flights. We could – at an additional cost of £30 per seat, each way. With five of us flying, this added a notable £300 to the overall cost. But we wanted to make sure we all sat together, so opted for this. We booked our seats for the outward journey, and selected seats coming back … slightly different seats as we’d be flying home on an Airbus A340-600. But, job done, we had our seats sorted.
We checked in online the evening before our flight. That was easy, and we printed off our boarding passes.
At the airport we headed to the Baggage Drop area of the Economy Virgin Atlantic desks. We were immediately whisked across to an empty desk, and promptly checked in our bags.
When we were called to our departure gate, we were pleased that they loaded economy from the back to the front of the plane, as our seats were right near the back. So, in no time at all we were settled into our seats, and the children had their headphones plugged in eager to watch the screens!
The Flight
We’ve flown on a Dreamliner before – British Airways to Baltimore. It’s our favourite type of plane as it feels like you have more space. It doesn’t feel so claustrophobic, and it doesn’t get so hot/muggy. The seats are more comfortable than the Airbus A380 … but I have to say that the BA seats were nicer than the Virgin Atlantic ones.
A nice touch is that you get a menu once in the air, explaining what you’ll be offered during the flight, and when it will be brought around. But that was the only ‘nice touch’ that we experienced really. On every previous VA flight we’ve received ‘sleep bags’ containing eye masks, an emergency toothbrush, pen and pad, and things to amuse the children. These are no more 🙁 Well, I didn’t see any, and we weren’t offered them.
The food was typical airline food – nothing special. The children barely touched it. The highlight for me though was enjoying a complimentary G&T (Bombay Sapphire gin and Fever Tree tonic water)!
The entertainment – which I expected to be ‘awesome’ – was quite mediocre. The film choices weren’t that exciting … no big titles ‘fresh out the cinema’ like we experienced on both Etihad Airlines and British Airways the previous year. The choice of music albums to listen to wasn’t overly up to date either. No Ed Sheeran – scandalous! It was ‘ok’ though and I found three films to watch on the way out. However, half-way through the third film the screen froze and it never regained consciousness for the rest of the journey.
It was a 9-hour flight in total, and I have to say it really did feel like 9 hours! I was ready to get off once we landed!
The Return Journey
Well, here’s where I get a little angry …
The night before we were due to fly home, using the hotel wifi, I logged in to check us all in. It was then that I discovered a change in airplane types. No longer were we flying back on an Airbus A340 but were back on the Dreamliner. By this time the flight was full, and the seats we reserved (at £30 each) were now totally wrong as the layout had changed. At check-in we asked if we could be seated together, but all seats had been assigned. A huge waste of money.
Considering the £30 reservation fee, surely an email out to those who had reserved seats could have been sent once the airplane type had changed? That would have given us the opportunity to log in to reselect.
So, our night flight home started on the wrong footing, as we were sitting apart.
I dread night flights, but I have to say this one was quite good. The stewards timed the drinks/food well, so we could settle down to watch some films and snooze. I watched two films, and I think I may even have managed 4-5 hours of sleep (unheard of in economy!) This was a Dreamliner though, and they are more comfortable.
Unfortunately, Huw and my brother had a different return experience, from their side of the plane. The inconsiderate oaf seated in front of my brother decided to fully recline his seat just after they were served hot drinks … all of which ended up over my brother. Don’t get me started on reclining seats. Fix ‘em upright is what I say – unless at the touch of a button the stewards recline all seats in one go! At least then it would be predictable!
In San Francisco they also loaded the plane from the front to the back. Again we were near the back – last on the plane, with the furthest distance to travel to our seat … it wasn’t very time efficient, let’s say!
Overall
Virgin is one of my favourite all-time brands, but I’m sad to say I was disappointed. Gone were the little touches that made it a Virgin Atlantic flight. It was just an economy flight taking us from A to B. Of course, I’d have loved to have turned left rather than right when we boarded – and I’m sure the experience is VERY different had I done this. But unless some miracle lottery win comes my way, this is out of reach for most ‘normal’ families, so can only talk about economy. I have to say though, in a British Airways transatlantic Dreamliner vs a Virgin Atlantic transatlantic Dreamliner comparison, BA would win.
Virgin didn’t wow me like it used to do. And that’s a shame.
