Is Virgin PE "The Emperor’s New Clothes "

I'm not trying to acheive anything ! I have been very open with the fact that I have never flown with VS previosuly, mostly, any long-haul flights I have taken are with BA and to be honest I have always found them pretty good. The reason we are flying with VS is because of a cracking deal we got with VH that we felt was too good to miss. I was under the impression that as a discussion forum, we were allowed to discuss what we thought ? Whilst I don't for 1 minute suppose that this is an official Virgin site, it is run by people that have a loyalty to VS, whislt not being official, it is very much a "fan" site and as such I suggest most of the posters are pro VS.

I was just stimulating a discussion on whether VS is still seen as good value for money in line with other PE offereings, I agree the fact that I have booked with VS won't change, however if I have to take other flights prior to that booking I am trying to understand what the value for money offered by VS is and if it is the best product out there for the price you pay.

I'm sorry that having an open discussion about the merits of VS against other airlines is seen as "finding negatives" - I do have some issues with the VS offering which I have said before, however that is a personal opinion of the VFM offered against other airlines.

I will refrain from posting any further opinions as it appears that if you have an opinion some people don't like, it's not valid............

FatCat - many on here do have a loyalty to VS it's true, but honestly, I think you'll find the same people can be VS harshest critics....

Possibly, the struggle is to understand why you might be critical of a service you haven't yet experienced - that's a pretty confusing stance given that you've booked it!

Speaking personally, I'm confident that no oppinion is "not allowed", or "not valid" - folks will likely challenge you, in a polite way, if they don't understand the point being made - that's reasonable isn't it?

If you're expressing a concern that you've purchased a product that may be less than it's advertising, hopefully the views on here have told you that the VS PE product is a very good one, so you can be re-assured that you haven't made a mistake in booking it.

Whether it's still "leading" and whether other airlines are challenging it's position is an ongoing debate.

[Neil]

I will refrain from posting any further opinions as it appears that if you have an opinion some people don't like, it's not valid............

That couldn't be further from the truth and certainly isn't what I am saying.

Debate is good, and of course everyone has differing opinions and as long as you make those in a manner that doesn't break any of our rules, then you are free to continue to post them.

As I have said a couple of times already, I just struggle to see why you are always looking at/for the negatives in the VS PE offering. Yes I can understand you looking for information prior to your first VS trip, but it just seems odd that you seem to constantly believe and highlight the negatives reviews while ignoring the more positive ones.

Each trip is very individual and what is small and trivial to one person, to someone else it is the most important thing. A lot of review sites base their ratings on very quick, 'off the cuff' type reviews without any real challenge, the good thing on here is, we take detailed ratings on different aspects of the flight and also allow for a detailed trip report, which should hopefully highlight the good and bad of each flight.

Yes, we are fully independent, and yes it is natural for a lot of our members and regular posters to be pro VS in the main. We are however very honest and realistic, and are more than happy to make our feelings known when VS doesn't get things right.

Hopefully you will have a positive VS experience, and whatever happens, you will post a TR for us.

Of course with the VS PE offering being enhanced this year with new seats/IFE on the LGW/MAN fleet there is going to be a period where some will probably be raving over the new products, while others are still moaning about the very dated IFE and seats. It could be an interesting few months ahead.

Neil

As I have said before, I am not being negative / critical of something I have not experienced, I am trying to garner opinions on VS PE as I may hve to complete a few trips to the US in the near future and want to ensure I get best VFM !

As you say, different people have different requirements and as such, the ultimate decsion will be made when I experience VS for the first time. I guess as I have never flown VS, there has always been a tendency to see them as a "better" airline than others as the marketing dept seem to be switched on compared to others however the impression I am getting is that marketing is better than product My other half has flown VS previosuly and she loved it and is looking forward to her first PE experience.

I apologise if it appears critical, it realy isn;t intended to be, I will make the decison for myself after experiencing it. However I do still think that at full Price, the VS offer could be better in terms of what is offered........

Fatcat

All legal,decent, honest and truthful posts and opinions are welcomed. Remember any replies are tackling the issue not the man/woman.

Welcome to the forum.

Having just flown PE for the first time I have to strongly disagree with you. I personally think you're taking a far too numerical approach to the benefits and have negated to consider the 'experience'.

From trip start to end Virgin PE was a far far better experience than any other airlines Economy product. Without worrying about the numbers, the seat was miles more comfortable than EC, all the food was nicer and the service was more personalised.

I think it provides far better value for money (in my opinion anyway) than upper class for short flights to NY, in terms of comfort over economy. Having never flown upper I can't stay for sure but I don't feel for the huge gap in fare cost the seat would be THAT much more comfortable than PE on a day flight.

. A few people are saying that the new WTP+ service is now better than VS PE.

It's worth bearing in mind that BA's new WT+ cabin is only available on (I believe) 8 777 aircraft.

They don't appear to be re-fitting the 747 fleet, nor half of the 777 fleet at any point.

Nikolic, thanks for the perspective. I presumes it was an LHR -Config 4 with PE downstairs only ? Just curious to see what the 2-4-2 config felt like. We have requested the bubble for our CUN flight, did you get a look at what it was like upstairs with a mixed configuration ?

Nikolic, thanks for the perspective. I presumes it was an LHR -Config 4 with PE downstairs only ? Just curious to see what the 2-4-2 config felt like. We have requested the bubble for our CUN flight, did you get a look at what it was like upstairs with a mixed configuration ?

I flew PE on both a 747 and A346. I had a row of 4 to myself on the 747 so can't really comment on what it felt like. I don't think it's much different to 2-3-2 on the A346 as you're still ever only 1 person away from the aisle. I prefer the purple mood lighting on the 747 though.

I didn't go upstairs so can't comment on the mixed config.

Thanks for the info - I guess until we know the new config post re-furb for LGW/MAN we don't know anything for sure - I'm just assuming from comments on here, there will be a bigger PE cabin downstairs a la LHR. Did you think the A346 had less room ?