Virgin Atlantic - Premium Seating Is it worth it?

When we flew from the UK to Barbados recently, we chose to upgrade to Virgin Atlantic Premium. Normally standard seating is fine with me. I might be a little achy after a long flight, but I have never seen the point of having a bigger seat to go the same speed as other people on the same plane. This time though we were relocating our lives and some of the other perks included with Virgin Atlantic Premium seats were quite useful, so let's compare what you get.

Priority

When you check in at the airport you have a Priority boarding area, so the wait to check in should be shorter than the standard ticket holders. Also when you get on the plane you are given priority boarding.

Seats

The Virgin Atlantic Premium seats are larger, have extra leg room and are leather. Where the standard seats have 3 seats on the outer side of the cabin, the premium seats have two. The space does mean you can move about a little easier, and if you are a couple you know you won't have a stranger sitting on the aisle that you need to disturb each time you want to visit the bathroom. With this seat type, you can reserve your seats any time after booking in the specified cabin. This was quick and easy in my experience and meant we could choose a seat with nobody behind us, so we didn't have people accidentally kicking the seat, and we could recline without having any guilt about doing so.

So how big are the seats? The standard seats are advertised as 17-17.9 inches (Virgin website) wide, whereas the premium seats are 18-21 inches wide. Not quite as wide as the 20-22 inches in upper-class but still quite roomy. You also get more reclining ability in the Premium seats, which might be useful on a long flight where you might want to sleep. They also have two armrests in the middle, no more fighting for arm space!

All seats have USB charging, entertainment screen, pillow, blanket and earphones. Though the Premium seats have upgraded earphones, I will say I didn't really notice much difference from a standard pair.

Bags

Standard seats and Premium seats get the standard one bag (10kg) of hand luggage plus your standard handbag if required. If you want more than this, then you would have to upgrade to the upper-class tickets. The main difference is for the hold luggage. Premium tickets get two 23kg bags included, whereas the standard gets one 23kg bag (and Standard light doesn't get a hold bag at all). All hold bags can be up to 32kg (for an additional £65 per overweight bag), or you can add an extra bag to your allowance if you are willing to pay the extra fees for this. Upper-class ticket holders can have two 32kg bags as standard. There is also priority baggage delivery at disembarkation included with Premium tickets. I didn't realise this at the time of booking, but I would say our bags were one of the first on the carousel when we arrived in Barbados, but I just thought this was a coincidence because of their size.

Food

This is where I noticed a big difference compared to my normal experience. When we got on the plane we were offered a glass of sparkling wine, juice or water. In a real glass, not plastic! (you can tell I don't fly fancy very often!!!)

People were also given the premium menu so they could choose what they wanted to eat later. This is described as "restaurant inspired" on the Virgin website. The menu listed the food for the flight and the drinks we had on offer. There seemed to be more choices than the standard ones I have had in the past, including herbal teas and hot chocolate for those of us who don't want alcohol or fizzy drinks. Menu choices can be seen here.

I had pre-ordered the vegan meal so I didn't need to choose and it did seem like there were a limited number of each dish, the same as in the standard seats, so some people didn't get their first choice.

We took off and after about 30 minutes, we were given a snack of BBQ corn and another drink. The main meal arrived after about 1h 30 minutes. Gone were the tinfoil containers (What you can see in the photo is just a lid) we had porcelain bowls. thick napkins, metal cutlery and the cutest salt and pepper shakers. Everything just seemed to be slightly escalated compared to the normal food I had experienced before.

Before the end of the flight, about 1h 30 minutes before we were due to land, we had another snack of a wrap and an afternoon tea, scone and cream (which was amazing).

Along with the meals the team were handing out drinks throughout the whole flight and told us about the 'wonder wall' full of snacks if we wanted anything between means (this was a section of snacks you could help yourself to, near the crew area). We had a flapjack, but didn't feel we needed anything else on the 8h 30-minute flight. But it is there for anyone who wants it.

So is it worth it?

For me, yes it was worth it. Upgrading to the Premier seats was cheaper than adding a second case, and the thought of a slightly comfier seat so I wouldn't be in as much pain when I arrived, really won me over. For this trip, as I was moving to another country, I had a lot to bring with me. I don't think most people need 2 suitcases when just going on holiday for a week or two, so for them, I'm not sure if the additional costs to upgrade would be needed. It then comes down to if you want the extras of the nicer food and a bigger seat. You decide. I'm glad I did, and I think it might have ruined me for future flights (one of the reasons I have never yet travelled First Class, apart from the other obvious one of the eye-watering cost!) but when it comes down to a normal flight for a few hours, I think I will stay in standard seats and use the money I save on a nice meal (or three) when I arrive.