Virgin Atlantic Boeing B747 400 seat review by carl #35668

A world apart from economy! Cabin is so spacious! Seat padding could be better, but it was so nice to be able to stretch out and recline without obstructing anyone. The lie flat beds are nice, but actually not that great as they are a bit too hard (and narrow), even with the padded quilt provided. Surprisingly quiet in the nose of the plane. Cabin staff were great and attentive. Nice choice of menu and served with a table cloth and china. Ability t go up to the bar at any time to get a drink or snacks was a nice touch, although we didn't use this much - we just had the drinks when they offered (our take off was delayed so we were full of food and drink from the upper class lounge!). I was a little disappointed with the drinks on offer - they do not offer cider at all (which is my drink of choice), which seemed odd to me as upper class is supposed to offer everything - I would have thought they would have offered Rekorderlig or Kopparberg or Old Mout as it is so popular now. Very disappointed with the orange juice too - why do they insist on serving the horrible cheap concentrated muck? In first/upper class I expected to have better - they are only catering for 14, so surely they can offer not from concentrate orange juice (like I can buy from Lidl's for 99p a litre). Entertainment wasn't great - no new films and the headphones didn't work, so we had to have the standard economy head phones. We were supposed to have dedicated toilets for just upper class. However, we often found ourselves waiting because the premium economy passengers were using them (they supposedly had their own toilets) - something the cabin staff did remark on, but didn't enforce. We had no priority boarding/disembarking at either end, which was a shame. All in all, you appreciate the extra cabin space and service, and it is so far ahead of economy, you will never want to go back. However, was it really worth the extra cost (we could have had another 2 week AI Caribbean holiday for the price of the upgrade)? I am not sure it is worth paying so much more - I think it needs updating as was looking tired and worn in places (but won't be as they will be retiring the 747 soon). More options on the drinks menu would be nice. Don't get me wrong it was a lovely experience and I would love to do it again, but it is so, so expensive and it is hard to justify the cost. And I don't think I was made to very overly special (unlike in the upper class lounge at Gatwick where we were treated like royalty), especially disembarkation.