Virgin Atlantic Boeing B747 400 seat review by Steven Kingsley #37057

Chose to fly this route on 747 (Ruby Tuesday) for nostalgic reasons as opposed to a newer aircraft out of Heathrow but regretted the decision pretty quickly.
Delta/Virgin still using the small Escape Plus lounge at MAN so you lose out on the Virgin Clubhouse experience or will until at least Spring 2020 when I believe the new Delta/Virgin clubhouse will open at Ringway.
747 Cabin is looking and feeling old although it was nice to be one of only 14 Upper Class passengers on board. My seat had an issue with reclining smoothly but it was not a big enough issue to complain about. Steward told me that they may not retire the 747s next year as planned following earlier reprieve due to extra passenger volume caused by collapse of Thomas Cook. If they are kept in service they should be refurbed IMHO.
Received the usual fantastic service from Virgin cabin crew but that was offset by the absence of access to free Gogo WiFi via T-Mobile phone plan. Apparently only available on newer aircraft.
Last time on this aircraft for me I think unless they are modernized.