[Kimbo Carmen]

Originally Posted by katie833

hello
I am flying home for christmas and was wondering which airline was better, Virgin or BA economy? Also, does anyone have any experience flying Virgin premier economy, if so, is it worth the extra cost?
All opinions welcome, thanks
Katie833

hi katie,

i would plump for virgin personally... last time i flew ba was over to antigua a few years ago and seems the planes never got refurb'd since ba were a great airline in the 70s and 80s.

i would also say upgrading is worth it....looks pretty nice in there but not sure how much it costs extra

hope this helps somewhat

kimbo carmen

[ontheroad]

Also with BA economy you're only allowed one checked in luggage per person, so if you're like me and you bring tons of things back with you from Europe, that's something to consider...

[Boris]

In came back on Saturday from UK.
Travelled Air New Zealand which has a better fare than BA or Virgin. Offices in Central. Nice people.
I would highly recommended it. Good legroom ( for a 747 ). If your a " lanky ", why not ask for a door seat to stretch out?
The entertainment system in ANZ is awesome. The best I have ever seen. There is loads of movies, New and Classic, TV , Docs etc etc . You will NEVER not find enough to satisfy you.

The seats are Lufthansa style not standard Boeing Square lumps and have the movable wing head rests that let you sleep comfortable and not continually " neck break " . Business class has the Pods like BA, so the fleet is very modern.

Food is good for Econ ( The NZ lamb with Coconut cream sauce and Bazmati Rice was angel food ) . The service good and friendly. They use their own staff at check in so you get the feel good factor from the start.

Although people advise Oasis, and it is good value with great people. The fact they go into Gatwick will make you scream. If price is paramount then use them BUT it took my wife ( HK'er ) 2 hrs to get through immigration ( Inbound ) . Myself was better at 45 min.
The same through LHR was 40 mins and 20 mins respectively.


They use Swissair agents at LGW and they are scum. Used to dealing with low lives going on cheap holidays, their treatment of more "sophisticated" passengers. does not compute in their tiny brains. Going through the personal checks makes you understand the Nazi Party is alive an well at this airport.

We came through LHR ( Outbound ) on the Friday, Early evening, Very busy but only took 20 mins from Arrival to sitting at the seafood bar sipping Chardonnay. We arrived at check in 2.5 hrs before departure. PLEASE understand all the new rules for carry on at UK sites. It made our check in stress free.

However in UK, BA have a sale that end on 25th Sept so check out their HK web site. If you like being treated as a third class traveler then the huge "one queue" fits all at Term 4 will be right up your street. Personally, The worlds best airline tag on the BA adverts must have been a board / 1st Class vote and not by ordinary passengers. I have no idea why they fly as many people as they do.

Virgin has the reputation for being good service but really, I think thats based on a historical basis and others have now exceeded what they did and IMHO they are overpriced in this market.

[Pekkerhead]

I came across this article in todays online UK Times. It is an article on premier economy seats. Maybe it will help, maybe not.

http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/...cle2407215.ece

[jaykay]

Have used Virgin for flights before and never again. Plane from HK was still full of rubbish, etc after arriving from Australia. Had to ask for everything and the flight attendant was the biggest most surly Mancunian I have ever seen. Service was terrible so have never flown them again.

Have done BA and not bad, better than Virgin but only just. Have also done Finn Air via Helsinki but very old planes and no personal IFE. Best so far (and we're talking about economy here) was Emirates via Dubai. Great flights, great service although a long, long trip.

Going back myself this Christmas with wife and baby and have chosen to try Oasis Business Class so will see what it's like. Gatwick not a problem for me as my kids live down on south coast. Rest of the family are North London so not that far and just as easy to get to them as it is from LHR.

Someone did post their Oasis experience recently and overall sounds pretty good, I'll see what it's like at Christmas.

[katie833]

hey
thanks to everyone for the sterling comments. Everyone has given great advice, and its really good to hear about personal experiences. The general feeling i get is to avoid BA, but have conflicting opinions about Virgin economy and preimer economy. I think we are going to try Air NZ because most people think this one is ok. Anyhoo, I will report back on how it is! Thanks again to everyone, it really helped!
katie