Virgin Upper Class (transatlantic) - is it worth it?

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jhg0912

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My husband and I are considering flying upper class with Virgin for honeymoon trip to Caribbean & USA, as its a 10 hour flight and a special occasion we thought we might treat ourselves.

The prices are €850 each for Economy versus €2500 each for Upper Class. The money wouldnt be toooo much of a squeeze but we want to know that its worth it.

The price of the flight includes Dublin - London - Caribbean, an internal USA flight and then back to Dublin via London and taxes and all that.
If anyone has flown Upper Class with Virgin I would be really intersted in hearing if you thought it was worth the money.

Equally if anyone has managed to get an upgrade with Virgin or other airlines, is it easy to do? Would the honeymoon story work?? Would we need copy of marriage cert? We got married last December but decided to delay honeymoon until now for various reasons so would they think we're just trying to scam an upgrade?

There is another class between Econ and Upper called Premium Economy, but for €1800 all you get is more leg room and a smaller/quieter cabin than Econ. Not really worth it.

All feedback on airline upgrades and/or Virgin Upper Class really appreciated!!!
Thanks
 
No experience myself, but either of the following sites might help. The first has passenger reviews for various airlines and might have helpful feedback. The second site shows seat information, e.g. which are the best seats, which to avoid, etc.

http://www.airlinequality.com/
http://www.seatguru.com/home.shtml

You could always chance your arm and play the honeymoon card and ask for an upgrade. It worked for us; we got upgraded to business class London to LA.
 
Flew Upper Class a couple of years ago.....could not fault it....treat yourselves
 
We got upgraded with Air France on the way home from our honeymoon from the Carribbean to Paris. We brought our church marriage cert. It was bliss. I didn't want the flight to end! Going over they said it was full but I got the impression she didn't really check. Also, because we were checking in in Dublin for our flight from Paris to the Carribbean she said she couldn't really tell and we'd have to ask once we got to Paris which we did do. Coming back we could see we got the only two remaining seats in First Class as there were only about 20 there in total. You could try it but I've heard cases of people going on their honeymoon to Mauritius and asking for an upgrade only to be snapped at and told 'everyone on this flight is on their honeymoon!'. A possibility I suppose!
 
A few random thoughts:

- I've just used VA (Economy, unfortunately) to the US and was very impressed with the standard of food and service

- You cannot rely on being upgraded, and it seems to be getting less and less common

- Most upgrades seem to happen to people travelling alone: the only time it happened to me when travelling with someone was when I was in the Gold Circle lounge in DUblin, and Aer Lingus asked would we mind being upgraded to 1st as they had a problem with seating? would we what???? the trip was fabulous: the 7 hours went like 2. I'm not sure I'd have paid for it, though.

- I've been upgraded a few times on BA and Air Canada, but it was usually on the basis of frequent traveller status. Only once from business to 1st, more usually it was from economy to business

- I doubt "we're on our honeymoon" would do the trick: there's probably a dozen honeymooners on the same flight, and I think it would take more then that

- When you say that for Premium Economy all you get is "mroe leg room and a smaller/quieter cabin", believe me that's what you're paying for any business or 1st class: space and quiet. The free champagne and better meals etc. are just frills: it's the seats and space really you pay for. In other words, give the compromise of Premium Economy serious consideration

- Don't forget that on the way back, it's (probably) a night flight. What you really need for that is somewhere to sleep and nothing else.

- My general inclination would be to spend the extra when you get there on a better hotel etc., go economy on way out and Premium on the way back (for more space and ability to sleep). No harm in asking for an upgrade, but you're unlikely to get it.
 
€1000 a head extra for Premium economy isn't worth it really (it's not that much better) - you'd be paying a lot (nearly as much as upper class) and you're not getting much more than a slightly wider larger seat. (Virgin are improving their premium economy, but only being rolled out at the moment, the new seats are better, but still nothing amazing - and depending on the route/aircraft you mightn't get the new seats.)

€1600 a head extra for Upper Class ... it's up to you whether it's worth it or not but it's a completely different product to Economy class - you get a fully flat bed to sleep on ... so while you're paying a lot more you're getting a lot more, both on the ground (access to their fantastic lounges, especially in Heathrow) and in the air. Virgin has one of the most modern and comfortable business class products in the industry.

So I certainly wouldn't pay the extra for premium economy as it's in my opinion only worth a marginal premium over regular economy, but I'd consider it for upper class (business class)

Also to add - the "can I have an upgrade as we're going on honeymoon" ... it might just work but you certainly wouldn't want to count on it at all - upgrades would likely only be given if Economy was full and then frequent flyer status would be more likely to score you an upgrade than a marriage cert :)
 
A further summary:

- on arriving after an economy trans-Atlantic flight, main feelings vary between "that was OK/wasn't bad" to "thank God that's over"

- on arriving after a 1st class trans-Atlantic flight, main feeling has been "that was a pleasant/wonderful experience"

Worth the extra? better than upgrading your hotel? only you can decide.....
 
i dunno seems a lot but its up to you, with the money you'd save you could have another holiday (something special) later in the year!
 
As Evil Doc says - premium economy isn't worth it. If you can do Virgin upper class, do it. If it's a night flight The trick is to allow time to eat, relax and have some beauty therapy in the Club house in heathrow. Get on plane, chilled out and go to sleep.
 
Having flown 1st/business class with most of the major European airlines Virgin has to be one of the best. If you can justify the extra expense go for it as it will be part of your holiday as opposed to some to dread at the begining and end. The service, food and seats are all of the highest order and you will arrive at your destination fully rested as opposed to knackered in economy. As stated complimentary upgrades are fairly rare nowadays and usually given to lone travellers/frequent flyers.
 
As a frequent business flyer, I always remark that I would never pay the price of Business class if i was travelling for pleasure.
Its roughly 8-10 times the price. Is it TEN times better? Of course not.

2 short examples:
- For our honeymoon (hawai'i) I used Air Miles to upgrade to economy plus on Delta and United. It only cost about €150 extra per flight. Its an extra 10" of feet space, which is enough (I'm 6' 1).

- I was in Tampa a few weeks ago, and was struggling to get flights at short notice. There were 2 options, Continental via Newark, or BA via Gatwick. The Newark flights were €600. The BA flight was Business class, and was £4,700! (about €7,000). Also, the return flight with Continental arrived in DUB at 9am. Happy days; waking up at home. The BA flight arrived in Gatwick at 6am, with another journey still to go.
No contest. Continental economy class all the way.

Quick point: as most have mentioned, upgrading is all but extinct these days, partly because of the cost (If you paid €7k, would you want to hear someone tell you they got bumped up for free!?), and mostly because Business Class is very popular with paying customers these days, and is more often than not full on every flight.
Using my Airmiles status, I usually get free upgrades on internal flights in the US (its pretty poor business class), by asking to be put on the stand-by list when checking in. If there is a seat, you get the boarding card at the gate.
 
Agreed if it's 8-10 times as much it's hard to justify (unless someone else is paying :) ) ... however with a bit of advance planning and smart purchasing it's usually possible to get it for a lot less of a premium (in your example for Florida BA are very regularly offering r/t fares of around £1000-1200 in business class with some advance purchase and a Saturday night stay)

In the case of hte original poster's request the options were Business class at 3 times the economy price and Premium Economy at 2 and a bit times the economy price ... As others have pointed out here I don't think Premium Economy is worth paying double for ... but I could justify business for triple if I had the spare cash

At the end of the day you pays your money and you takes your choice :)
 
jhg0912 said:

There is another class between Econ and Upper called Premium Economy, but for €1800 all you get is more leg room and a smaller/quieter cabin than Econ. Not really worth it.
Click to expand...

I was lucky enough to travel VA Premium Economy from London to San Francisco last year and would recommend it - although I did not pay for it. For me, the bigger seat and quiter cabin is great - i don't care about the better food, free booze, or choice of DVD, just give me more leg room.
 
Slash said:
i don't care about the better food, free booze, or choice of DVD, just give me more leg room.
Click to expand...
Me too - I always moaned that corporate policies about who gets to fly business should be based on leg length, rather than level!
 
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