Virgin Upper or BA Club - Gatwick Barbados

[Tresco]

Booking a break late April and have the choice, is there a stand out favourite or are they broadly similar?

Cost is the same.

[schmalex]

Virgin Upper is more fun, BA is more austere. Virgin Upper generally has bar on board, BA doesn't. BA's seats are more comfortable. Virgin Upper generally offers chauffeur service so there's one less expense

[J1JPE]

Upper every time.

Have flown long haul with Virgin, BA, Cathay, Thai, Lufthansa, Qantas, Ethiad, Singapore airlines and Virgin is my preference for US trips.

Watch out with BA for code share too - depending on route, date, time etc - you may end up on a different airline ...

[shirt]

Done that route a few times in the past at few months, as have my colleagues. Consensus was virgin by some margin. Last couple of trips I went emirates via New York just to avoid the ba drudge. Didn't realise modern parlance had changed the meaning of austere to ste

[schmalex]

I was trying to be polite. It's true though. BA (any class) is terrible compared to other carriers and utterly shocking when compared to the ME3

[HotJambalaya]

Take the lounges out of the equation and I was a little less ravy about VS upper. I found the seat very narrow, and its either a bed or a seat, no in between, whereas with the BA seat you can sort of lounge.. With Virgin I had to pile up the duvet to lean back on. Plus they didn't do the whole bar thing.

VS certainly is a more intimate cabin though, I'll definitely try them again though

[Tresco]

Thanks all really useful, sod's law that the BA seats are available on our preferred dates but may juggle in view of comments.

[Blaster72]

shirt said:

Done that route a few times in the past at few months, as have my colleagues. Consensus was virgin by some margin. Last couple of trips I went emirates via New York just to avoid the ba drudge. Didn't realise modern parlance had changed the meaning of austere to ste

Gatwick to Barbados via New York - bizarre. Didn't even know Emirates flew those routes.

Maybe I'm being thick and missing something?

Edited by Blaster72 on Sunday 19th February 10:13

[shirt]

No it was me missing out details.

Dubai to barbados. Quicker and 'easier' option (balanced flight legs, no US immigration, nice fryup halfway) is via gatwick but I choose to go via NY.

I also did dxb-lhr-miami-barbados once but that was with AA which is even worse than BA.

[Blaster72]

Yep sorry Shirt, I read it again and thought you must have meant something like that!

[brickwall]

schmalex said:

I was trying to be polite. It's true though. BA (any class) is terrible compared to other carriers and utterly shocking when compared to the ME3

Completely with you here. I flew Etihad to Abu Dhabi and back last month - it just reminded me how far behind BA had fallen. Everything about it was better - the Business seats were approximately equivalent to BA First, but with a better screen. The lounges were far superior. The service was top-notch.

[GT03ROB]

BA LGW - Caribbean is generally their tired old 777s, with rather dated IFE.

If you can get a 4 class 777 then tend to be better.

[djc206]

shirt said:

No it was me missing out details.

Dubai to barbados. Quicker and 'easier' option (balanced flight legs, no US immigration, nice fryup halfway) is via gatwick but I choose to go via NY.

I also did dxb-lhr-miami-barbados once but that was with AA which is even worse than BA.

The AA 777's have been refitted with a business class that's far superior to BA's in my opinion. I flew LHR - MIA and back last month out with BA on the A380 and back with AA on the 777. Much preferred the return leg.

[GT03ROB]

schmalex said:

It's true though. BA (any class) is terrible compared to other carriers and utterly shocking when compared to the ME3

Try being based in the ME! BA is superb when compared to my option!

[Bristol spark]

Was very impressed with Virgin upper on my trip to Vegas and back.

Very good service on board, very good food and range of drinks, plus the bar. And no bloody kids

However only used Easyjet prior, so not sure how compares to other airlines. its a whole different world to Easyjet

Lounge in Gatwick was very nice, Unfortunately Virgin didn't have their own lounge in Vegas and had to use a "shared" lounge and wasn't so nice and didn't serve hot food

Only other downside is, if you pay with points you don't get the Chauffeur Pickup

[HOGEPH]

Bristol spark said:

Only other downside is, if you pay with points you don't get the Chauffeur Pickup

Or if you have a sale fare, as I've just found out.

[danzltiu]

Is there a distance limit on the Chauffeur service?

[HOGEPH]

75 driven miles.

[Saleen836]

danzltiu said:

Is there a distance limit on the Chauffeur service?

http://www.virginatlantic.com/us/en/virgin-experience/cabins/upper-class/upper-class-transfers.html

[audidoody]

Beware of Virgin Upper Class on a Boeing 777. The Upper Class seat/beds pods are much narrower than the 747 UC seats/beds