Does Virgin Atlantic's Upper Class Live Up To The Hype? LHR to JFK 2024 in their A330 NEO

I've always respected Virgin Atlantic's approach to flying - disrupt the mainstream, offer something different and blow a raspberry at authority. And I very much enjoyed flying with them back in the 90's. But they're now 49% owned by Delta, the largest airline in the world and they're in SkyTeam, one of the 3 global airline alliances, both of which makes them mainstream???

Virgin's marketing would have you believe they're still the quirky innovator they started out as, but is that the reality in 2024? I decided to see for myself so booked flights to and from New York - this is the story of that outbound flight...

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⏰ Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
2:28 - Getting to Heathrow
4:20 - The Heathrow Experience
10:40 - The Plane and Seat
15:02 - The Service
20:15 - The Flight
23:20 - Arriving in the USA

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[Rydia]

Really enjoy the longer style videos but also don't apologise for negative points. I would rather know what I'm buying than have a Sam Chui "Everything is perfect" video.

Also interesting you pointed out how efficient the immigration process was in the states using the app.

More details like this please :)

[JacobTarzi]

Another good matts planet video, you really should have more subscribers your videos are better than a lot of the big creators these days.

[sergeyontheroad]

Thanks for sharing Matt! You bravely took one for your viewers! We appreciate it!

[fazalm]

I’d commented 2 yrs ago that I’d love to see your A330Neo Virgin Atlantic review. It’s finally here..

[STORMCLOUDGREY]

You are right about Virgin's 787s. Had to fly on Birthday Girl last year. It seriously needed a major overhaul. I believe they are nearly 10 years old now. Loved the A350 in lowly Premium though.

[robcoles]

Always love your vids Matt. Keep em coming.

[itsjoel]

Also worth noting the A330 cruises a little slower than the 787 or A350. About 25kts or about 20 minutes slower on a flight of this length

[pixiholly]

Sorry to hear of the less than stellar experience, and hope you were soon recovered from the excess of butter. Thanks for taking us along. I remember my mum flying "upper class" really early on, and she was excited by it - times have clearly changed.

[kevju]

your reviews are delightful thank you so much!

[MxStxrl]

Sensational overview! Great video, I will be flying the a330 next week let’s hope it’s a good one!

[twobins]

Telling it like it is. It's what we need to hear. Well done, Matt.

[Petertjeehh]

Outstanding video Matt. It had so much in it, I simply loved this one for the detailled opinion with a quircky joke here and there. Still here and absolutely enjoying your content, well done!

[u]

Matt, a spot on, fair and honest appraisal of your experience which is everyones experience. I think you have encapsulated it when you report that Virgin Atlantic are a 'mainstream' airline nothing more which is 100% true. The Loft is such a disappointing negative 'addition' too, bring back the bar which was such a vote winner.

[benyhone]

Not sure if I’ve missed someone else saying it but the “Queen of the Skies’ name is a nod to the late Queen Elizabeth II with the registration of the aircraft being G-VEII.

[idanceforpennies]

The three point belt is required because of the distance to the bulkhead in front of you. If you submarine or fly over the top of a lapbelt you have more distance to accelerate.

[IndochineUK]

Happy to see you’ve treated yourself to a nice new mic plus a dead kitten. Initially I thought it was an old school trade show sticky bug without its ribbon!

Your timing of this video is great for me and consolidates my purchasing choice of flying Delta from MIA (to book later today). Even if I have a transfer in JFK, I still think it’s preferable to what you experienced here, and less Icona Pop on boarding.

[Dan-]

We just come back from Orlando and on the way over we had this plane, it got swapped last minute which was good as this was the newer one.
I wasn’t in business but standard economy bulk head seats so plenty of leg room, queen of the skys I thought was lovely, much better than the older one coming home where screens were all dated and didn’t work right.

[markstrainsplanes]

Excellent summary and fits with my perceptions. I’m curious to refresh my knowledge of Virgin’s experience but I’ll miss out on my BA Tier Points! I’m not in quite as much a rush after seeing this!

The Uber failure to get you to Drive Thru checkin is clearly frustrating - shame you didn’t have time to nip back to Hayes or Hounslow and try again!!

I’ve also felt Virgin’s image and reality are often quite different but they always have loyal defenders - interesting to see your perspective.

[kp]

Another great video Matt. Looks like you're going to need to do another virgin video about the new dynamic points pricing. It's looking like bad news as far as I can tell. One of the best parts of Virgin was flat rate points booking.

Read something which said "Based on what we saw when Delta (which owns 49% of Virgin Atlantic, remember) moved to dynamic award pricing, redemptions could get toppy indeed and extend into the hundreds of thousands of points for some flights. Delta’s standard reward price for return transatlantic flights is 750, 000 SkyMiles in business class."

Looks like I'm going to have to find someone to status match with!

[kevinnolan]

Great Video Matt, Honest opinions, I'm not convinced by their upper class offering,
You are looking and sounding great too.