Anyone fly Virgin Economy when they could afford PE

[Lisa x]

We would never fly anything less than PE when travelling long haul. DH is 6'4'' and the Economy seat ruins the first couple of days of our trip. He ends up in so much pain with his back, the seats are so cramped and when the person in front puts their seat back, I see steam coming from his ears.... It might not be a massive amount of room to some people but it definitely makes a difference to him!

We have also travelled UC a few times and we love it! But, although we can afford to do it when we travel, we like the novelty of it and it kind of wears off if you do it every time! We like to keep it as a 'treat'!

 

[2Tiggies]

Just going back to the title of this thread, I would pay PE at a special price, one that seems reasonable to me. If I could afford it, then yes, I would. I assume that 'afford it' implies that the upgrade will have no negative impact on budget or finances. However if I could comfortably afford PE at the prices as they have beenl , I would consider stretching the budget for UC.

 

[UKDEB]

What absolutely makes PE on the Orlando route is the upstairs cabin. It's a private haven away from the hubbub of the rest of the plane, and it really does have a VIP feel. I'm surprised Virgin has never thought to charge a premium for that cabin over downstairs PE. As an added benefit of that configuration, you also get to disembark ahead of UC passengers.

The most we've ever paid for PE is £1100 and that was back in 2001. Ever since, thanks to M+M and the ability to be flexible regarding dates, we've paid between £550 and £750. On the occasions that we've been looking at double those prices, we haven't been able to bring ourselves to pay it and we've reverted to economy. I loathe flying and there is no question that the PE experience is much more pleasant than economy from start to finish. On the economy flights there is invariably a point at which I think "never again", but I remind myself that it is just a means to an end. On our recent flight to Houston with BA (economy), we ended up in the middle of a bank of 4. Whilst it was undoubtedly a pain, I was determined not to let it bother me. We got there just the same and it was all forgotten the minute we landed.

I'll be interested to see how PE compares on the Airbus when Virgin introduces that to the Orlando route. I suspect it'll hold less appeal for us, but I'm trying to keep an open mind.

 

[Kath2003]

We don't fly it. I'd rather upgrade the hotel (where we will spend FAR more time) or travel more often. To me, the holiday is about being there, not having marginally more leg room for a total of 20 hours over the entire vacation. It's just too much money for the little you get from it. We accept that economy sucks, take a good book and chill out back there for the day. It's never going to be the best experience but it's not torturous.

 

[wayneg]

On the economy flights there is invariably a point at which I think "never again", but I remind myself that it is just a means to an end.

After flying Biz class twice out of our last 3 trips I have got to the point where I don't think I am willing to go all the way to Florida in economy for a short trip. In the past I wouldn't hesitate doing a 7 night trip but between now and our August trip all we can do is 7 nights in May.
Maybe its the bad jetlag I got this August(a full week of it) or the price of economy flights (£780 direct, £464 indirect) or a combination but I don't feel like doing it. A bit of a shock after going upto 4 times a year recently.
I suggested a week in Europe but thats gone down like a lead balloon

We don't fly it. I'd rather upgrade the hotel (where we will spend FAR more time) or travel more often. To me, the holiday is about being there, not having marginally more leg room for a total of 20 hours over the entire vacation. It's just too much money for the little you get from it. We accept that economy sucks, take a good book and chill out back there for the day. It's never going to be the best experience but it's not torturous.

This is where we are all different, this trip we stayed in Country Inn & suites under £30/nt, RPR £135/nt & OKW £100/nt, my choice CI but free DDP takes us onsite for now.
We have stayed in 2* upto 5* and we get absolutely nothing out of an expensive hotel.
Thankfully what I spend on flights doesn't affect where we stay but if it was a choice a flight upgrade is now more important to me than an expensive hotel.

 

[tttessa]

Hiya -

we also don't fly PE - we could I suppose - but the difference in price was more than our theme park tickets this year!! We reason that 9 hours of a bigger seat or a whole week's theme park tickets - which is more worth it to us!!

Tessa

 

[fairytale]

Its great to hear others people prospective on things, thank you for posting so far.

I was just browsing the VA website and came to thinking that for our flights next October I might actually do both.

I agree with a couple of the previous posters that the biggest issue is overcoming not getting the "perks" when you've been used to them in the past even if they are no longer so great. ie quick check in at MAN, leg room, better food options etc. But I also hugely agree that fundermentally we all get there at the same time and realistically the flight is just the means of getting to where the holiday begins.

My thoughts therefore are, the check in benefit only really applies to check in in the UK, as due to so many passengers checkin in at DTD for the home flight, in the past when we have arrived at the airport VA check in is usually fairly quiet. Please comment if you have ever encountered any different.

Also, IMO, children can sleep anywhere, in any space, and therefore feel that they would have more than enough room to sleep in the space provided in economy. I've often thought when I've seen them sleeping like 7/8 hours non-stop why have I paid for you to sleep in that big chair with all that space when your curled up in a ball 1/2 the size of an economy seat As adults neither DH or I sleep regardless on board, even with the extra space PE provides and I'm therefore thinking we could easily manage economy home

I guess what I am saying is outbound we are all awake pity much for the full flight and can safely say we all would benefit from the extra room, check in at MAN is always, or has been for us Manic, like lines and lines of economy passengers waiting to check in, and again the benefit of no lines for PE would outbound appeal to us. Plus the overall excitement of "going on holiday" would be increased due to the upgraded flight. Realisitically coming home, I'm normally so gutted that it would make no difference to me whether I was in a gold plated hammock, I'd still have a face like a slapped....... As my DH always says

 

[Kath2003]

This is where we are all different, this trip we stayed in Country Inn & suites under £30/nt, RPR £135/nt & OKW £100/nt, my choice CI but free DDP takes us onsite for now.
We have stayed in 2* upto 5* and we get absolutely nothing out of an expensive hotel.
Thankfully what I spend on flights doesn't affect where we stay but if it was a choice a flight upgrade is now more important to me than an expensive hotel.

Absolutely; and we are two young people without children so we couldn't really care less where we sit. Maybe if we had kids we would care about food or entertainment or leg room but in honesty, we just don't. I don't care if the food's rubbish, I'll take a bar of chocolate, bag of crisps and eat at the other end. I don't care what the movie is, I bring a good book. I don't care about baggage allowance; we pack only hand luggage. I don't care about checking in early or anything like that either. All I care about is getting to the other end. I just accept that it won't be the best 10 hours of my life and knuckle down for a snooze, a few hours of sudoku and a book I've grabbed in the airport. Last time we flew home was during the volcanic ash fiasco and the plane we were on didn't even have personal TV screens (they were using every plane they had to get people back) and the flight was just fine. Having done PE, the only benefits I can see are wider seats and more leg room - I'm not overweight and I'm 5'4", so both of those are of no advantage to me.

We are used to scrimping and saving throughout university (graduated only a few years ago) so we don't even "splurge" on hotels at the moment - we've found a nice 3* hotel we like and have visited there on our last two trips - to us, flying economy means we can go twice as often and I would rather go twice as often than be slightly more comfortable on the trip over.

To me, a nice hotel would win over flight upgrades any day; but going twice as often wins over both

 

[wayneg]

Exactly same thoughts as me upto about a year ago, even with a child we have not minded travelling in economy for 16 years but now coming upto 44 years old I am changing.

 

[JulieSharp]

We have flown Premium Economy the last few trips but in the main do it for Joshua's comfort rather than our own.
It does add a considerable amount to the overall cost, but having had our son fall ill on the plane a few years ago we have to bear that in mind, if it was just me and DH I think economy would be fine.

We have flown upstairs and found it an extremely enjoyable experience and the cabin crew were ace too. It isn't the same downstairs.

Recently booked PE for next April using Miles and Money and whilst not cheap I cannot see us ever taking our boy again unless we fly PE.
Having said that we are finding the whole booking process and the expense getting a bit too much now - it could be next year is our last Florida holiday, or at least that's what we keep saying.

DH hates flying too, always has, the first/last day of the holiday is so tiring, if flying PE can ease that then we won't be complaining too much.
A decent amenity kit would be nice though, they should include a good souvenir for the price, or a better standard pen at least.

 

[torsie24]

We're doing that this trip, we could fly out PE, but have friends flying with us who can't afford it, and although it would be nicer to be upstairs and have more room, we'll get there the same time, still have to do the customs queue, and will still feel awful the first night.

We are doing PE on the way home though, as I dread the return flight as you have none of the excitement of going out to help with the long flight, so I think out economy back PE is a good trade off. Plus it was a lot less than half extra to upgrade just the return flight as it would have been jthe upgrade the full round trip. (If that makes sense)

 

[2Tiggies]

A decent amenity kit would be nice though, they should include a good souvenir for the price, or a better standard pen at least.

Yes! Preferably a pen that doesn't fall apart when you click it

 

[Constant]

At the end of the day it is just 18 hours of the holiday.
.

It's the way I view it, I am lucky that when I fly business I still sometimes get UC / business on long haul, but I don't sleep well on night flights regardless of what class so I always view it as 5% of the holiday and try to keep the cost as proportionately low as possible. My problem this year with Virgin is the same econ ticket in the same week is looking double the price I got with miles and cash last year.

I have always had patchy service on all classes, the worst was BA with 2 repositioning cabin crew (who themselves were great) but the serving cabin crew kept coming and asking them if they were ok, did they want anything else, sneaking them treats and ignored the rest of us. That flight and oddly it was to Orlando would have cost us £12k as a family and that was in October.

Also I find that the economy space is fine for me now, however I can some days spend 5 hours in my car (as I can't stand getting the train to London) and I guess I have become conditioned to cramped sitting and little movement, so long as I have my iPad or iPhone with own movies / audiobooks / kindle / music / games I am a happy camper. In fact knowing the IFE might be limited for my two 5&2 years old we justified getting them an ipod touch each know it would be the same where ever we were.

But when it comes down to it.... if a man of nearly unlimited means, it would if travelling scheduled be the max class available everytime.....of course

 

[zippy99]

Without a shadow of a doubt, if money was no object it would be PE or Upper all the way...however, in the same way that we live in a two bed (albeit very large flat) rather than a 5 bed mansion money is an issue.

I am 5ft3, hubby is 5ft8 plus children so none of us are particularly tall or overweight we manage quite comfortably Economy - we would prefer the extra spending money than a bit more comfort for what is such an insignificant part to our holiday - as someone else said 'A means to an end'!

Having been to DLRP in first class Eurostar - I know the perks - quieter, away from the riff-raff, better service -but as many have said money is an issue and therefore I can quite happily cope with the noise, crap food and cramped space just so I can actually get to the magic. And lets face it....it is hardly a Rosette restaurant and ultra roomy in PE -only a fraction more (although Wayne's biz class food was impressive compared to Economy butnothing like a real restaurant and not enough to justify the cost).

Ultimately - none of us really like the flight- it simply gets us to the magic, we can kid ourseleves that paying that bit more makes it better - but really we all have the same moans whether you are in PE or Economy - you can end up with dreadful neighbours or bad service.

Bottom line .....who cares how we get there.... the ultimate joy is that we are getting to Disney

 

[Disneymad]

We've been travelling PE for the last 6-7 years, (and with Virgin overall for about 14 years) with only a tiny amount of exceptions due to physically not being able to get the flights however the most we've ever paid has been in the £700's.

It was hard to justify then but we wrote it off as our little treat as we do see the journey as part of our holiday however this year was a joke where I was watching from January (leaving next week) and flights were £960 each and went up from there. Sorry, not going to happen, PE is nice, but it's not 4-figures nice.

Consequently when a sale came along I booked Club World and my first time ever flying Biz class. I can't claim a Wayne 'bargain' where it was only £100 or so more than a normal ripoff seat, but it was still what I would consider a good deal for that class so despite it costing more than I was prepared to pay initially PE, I perceive the bang for buck to be much higher.

Too bad for Virgin really. We were brand loyal and often flew with them even if they were a little more expensive occasionally, but it can only go so far so not only did they lose us to BA, but we splashed out pretty much double the amount we usually do to their rival.

Prices for next year also seem to be stupid so I'll either try and burn some miles, pray for a bargain in the New Years sale, I'll fly Economy - probably and probably indirect because I also consider £600-700 for Economy out of season to be a joke too.

Consider me Miss Grumpy-face about this topic!

 

[zippy99]

Too bad for Virgin really. We were brand loyal and often flew with them even if they were a little more expensive occasionally, but it can only go so far so not only did they lose us to BA, but we splashed out pretty much double the amount we usually do to their rival.

I understand what you mean Virgin is nice but prices have gone too high - we converted all our airmiles to vouchers recently to pay for our park tickets as it seems unlikely we will fly with Virgin again. Virgin has a good name and brand but without rewarding loyal customers it seems hard to choose to fly with them again - the strength of their name will not be enough if they continue to cost so much more than rivals.......

 

[fairytale]

I understand what you mean Virgin is nice but prices have gone too high - we converted all our airmiles to vouchers recently to pay for our park tickets as it seems unlikely we will fly with Virgin again. Virgin has a good name and brand but without rewarding loyal customers it seems hard to choose to fly with them again - the strength of their name will not be enough if they continue to cost so much more than rivals.......

Never realised you could do that

Would you kindly direct me as to where I find all the information please.

 

[UKDEB]

Exactly same thoughts as me upto about a year ago, even with a child we have not minded travelling in economy for 16 years but now coming upto 44 years old I am changing.

It can only be a matter of time before you'll be settling for nothing less than the Ritz-Carlton!

 

[STOCKYJIM]

Have just got flights on Virgin (M+M) at 468 each for 2 of us in economy (we are flexible on dates which helped) ive used the £800+ saved by not flying our usual PE both to upgrade to a 1 bed villa for the 10 days we are at OKW AND to upgrade to full dining plan !!!

It was no contest really - do i want an extra couple of inches (im tall AND fat so wont be comfortable) and a glass or two of fizz for the flights OR do i want shed loads of room, shed loads of excellent meals - and a JACCUZI!!!

(sorry - did you get im excited about our next trip!!)

 

[PChef]

I cannot justify paying extra for PE, WT+ or whatever. Maybe if we used points to upgrade I would (not enough this time but DH got a reward flight). DH travels to USA on business several times a year often in WT+ and says he doesn't think it's worth the extra money (his company pays). I just try to think that we are lucky enough to be able to afford to take our kids to Florida and stay in nice hotels etc., the flight is just a means of getting there.