BA or Virgin to Florida - Who would you use?

[Robw73]

In my quest to organise our first 'proper' family holiday in 8 years, I have narrowed flight options to Florida down to either BA or Virgin, as these two seem to offer more direct flights.

There seem to be many frequent flyers on PH, so simply, of the 2, who would you use?

My lad will be 7 when we fly.
Is one better than the other when it comes to in-flight entertainment for young ones?

Any help or tips appreciated.

Edited by Robw73 on Saturday 31st August 12:40

[BryanUsrey]

I would use Virgin, especially if you want to Upper Class. Either way though, that would be my preferred choice.

[Robw73]

Upper Class is a distant dream!
I'll be down the back in cattle class with the rest of the peasants!

[Subbeh]

For economy I'd go Virgin and take the up stairs cabin if you're on a flight with one, much quieter!

[surveyor]

Flew back from Orlando with BA with my 7 year old. No hassle.

[GreenDog]

When abouts are you thinking of going ?
Might be taking my family there next September, although my daughter will nearly be 6 then I'm not sure if she'll still be a bit young for the full-on Disney experience.

On the Virgin Vs BA question I'll be using the latter.

[Roger645]

Out of the two in economy I would go for BA

[Robw73]

Greendog / Roger,
Why BA? Any particular reason?

I'm looking to go early Spring / Early summer next year.
From my internet probing so far, BA are offering the best deals at the end of March, about £150 cheaper than Virgin for the flights.

I'm still working on a Villa & Car Hire.

Edited by Robw73 on Saturday 31st August 16:59

[Puggit]

If its Miami, be advised that BA flights are always full (told to me by senior cabin crew)

[DangerMonkey]

If it's economy you're going I'd be tempted to go Thomson (dreamliner) or Thomas Cook instead and get the extra legroom. Bear in mind both fly to Orlando Sanford atm though. (TC start Orlando McCoy service in March).

[Evil Monkey]

We've been to Florida twice in the last couple of years, the first of which was on BA and the second on Virgin. Both were perfectly fine and we found little to choose between the 2 although Virgin had the better choice of films etc. If (when!) we go again we'll pick the cheaper of the 2 at the time.

It's definitely worth looking at BA flights to Tampa instead of Orlando too. Only an hour away from Orlando on the I4 and it's a quieter airport so you may end up spending less time in the queue for immigration and car hire. When we flew to Tampa we saved a few hundred pounds which was nice.

[pherlopolus]

We always use virgin, fantastic staff, great IFE, and direct from Manchester to Orlando which is ideal for us.

I am just on 20st and 6ft and the seats were great in economy plenty of room.

[tim0409]

I'm in Florida at the moment having just flew into Miami the other day on Virgin - flight was half empty so managed to move to an empty middle row which made a very comfy bed for 9 hours. Service was great. I used to fly BA until I tried Continetal direct from Edinburgh to NY then down to Miami but on the way back was moved to Virgin due to snow in NY - the plane/service was so much better than BA (old tired 747's in my experience) that I have never used them again given that BA/virgin prices are always strangely similar....,,

Eventful flight over - medical emergency declared around 1000 miles from Miami due to a cabin crew member falling ill, so we had straight in clearance. The travelling public never fail to amaze me - captain told us to stay seated until paramedics had boarded plane and taken the crew member off - didn't stop about half a dozen idiots getting up and blocking the aisles although they soon say down after the police boarded!

[mike80]

Don't have any issues with BA, but Virgin have recently refurbished the planes they send to Florida, so they are really nice now. Also half empty when I went in January so I had a row to myself both ways!

[5potTurbo]

The hint to use Tampa instead of Orlando airport's a good one. I flew through Tampa in June.

[danzltiu]

I fly out about 4 times a year to Florida. Always use BA. Have found the service with Virgin to have fallen over the years. BA also give you the option of flying into Tampa (which I do, its a much smaller airport easily makes up for the extra 20 minutes or so on the road) which avoids the horrendous Immigration hall at Orlando MCO, is a smaller plane ie usually 777 so less people in the queue at immigration and the seats are far more comfortable. Price is very little difference.
kevin

[Webber3]

mike80 said:

Don't have any issues with BA, but Virgin have recently refurbished the planes they send to Florida, so they are really nice now. Also half empty when I went in January so I had a row to myself both ways!

Before reading your post I was about to say don't use Virgin if you're flying out of Gatwick. Good to see they've refurbished their aircraft as some of them were in a right state.

I do find the whole Virgin experience advertising thing a bit of a joke. I've flown premium and upper and certainly didn't see any 'rockstar service' in either class.

[triple5]

mike80 said:

Don't have any issues with BA, but Virgin have recently refurbished the planes they send to Florida, so they are really nice now. Also half empty when I went in January so I had a row to myself both ways!

Good to hear about Virgin, we stopped using them to Florida as the planes were so bad.

[miln0039]

BA to Tampa - 100%.

If you MUST fly direct, I'd go Virgin (just) as they have recently taken delivery of new A330s and have refitted their 747 fleet. Both now have the latest modern IFE systems.

I'd still do BA on the 777 (all have AVOD IFE) to TPA though to avoid MCO which isn't the most user friendly airport in the world IMO.

[George7]

In terms of long haul flights, I've used BA for flying to NY and Virgin for flying to Florida and Japan. I preferred BA. The food was better, and whilst it's pot luck what plane you get, the BA planes were very nice and fairly new, whereas the Virgin ones were fine, but felt a bit tired inside.