BA or Virgin

[gemmybear83]

That age old question - again!

Following my VPORT question, I am not convinced about flying with virgin. We flew BA to MCO last Jan, and they were fine - flights on time, 10+ films to choose from (although not on demand), food was ok (as far as airline food goes), and they did come round fairly frequently with drinks etc.

I will be flying economy and the prices are the same, but virgins entertainment appears to be poor compared to BA.

Also I guess if I am on a 777 instead of a virgin 747 there will be less people on the plane quicker security queue (I am being hopeful here!)?

I also read some things on the internet about the clientele on the virgin mco flight being a bit "chavvy" - although I choose not to believe this, and to be fair there were a fair few weirdos on my BA flight !

 

[wayneg]

Nothing to choose between them, just go with price and which is easiest for you.

If you are wanting a better flight then NWA or BMI have been the best we have used, far better planes and service but indirect.

We mainly use Virgin for the conveience of Manchester airport but NWA and their great prices were worth the the inconvenience of Heathrow and indirect. Virgin are very poor in comparisson.

 

[gemmybear83]

Nothing to choose between them, just go with price and which is easiest for you.

If you are wanting a better flight then NWA or BMI have been the best we have used, far better planes and service but indirect.

We mainly use Virgin for the conveience of Manchester airport but NWA and their great prices were worth the the inconvenience of Heathrow and indirect. Virgin are very poor in comparisson.

Thanks Wayne, I've seen them about £20 cheaper, if I find flights with more of a difference I will give that a go!

 

[Elise79]

We fly Virgin but we also fly PE and like being in the bubble. I have researched BA but their 'PE' isn't as good and to get a similar level of service it would always cost more so we stick to Virgin.

If I was flying economy if the price was the same i would always pick VA over BA as I had a really bad flight on BA (both ways to MCO) that has put me off them completely - its a personal thing though.

 

[OrlandoMagic]

That age old question - again!

Following my VPORT question, I am not convinced about flying with virgin. We flew BA to MCO last Jan, and they were fine - flights on time, 10+ films to choose from (although not on demand), food was ok (as far as airline food goes), and they did come round fairly frequently with drinks etc.

I will be flying economy and the prices are the same, but virgins entertainment appears to be poor compared to BA.

Also I guess if I am on a 777 instead of a virgin 747 there will be less people on the plane quicker security queue (I am being hopeful here!)?

I also read some things on the internet about the clientele on the virgin mco flight being a bit "chavvy" - although I choose not to believe this, and to be fair there were a fair few weirdos on my BA flight !

Wow, you should have been on my flight with Thomas Cook last year then!

As Wayne has said there is very little difference between the two. We are going to choose which ever is cheapest when we come to booking our flights.

One point that may sway you towards Virgin is their luggage drop-off sevice at DTD, good to take advantage off if you have a late flight time back. I dont think BA have such a service, I may be wrong!

 

[wideeyes]

I'd go with the cheapest. There is nothing wrong with virgin though IMO, I have been with them twice and going with them again this year.

 

[Pozzie]

We have been a few times and found travelling with a stop at Washington to be ok. We have used United from Heathrow via Chicago or Washington with a connection to Orlando. It takes about 10 hours but rates are pretty good if you book early and we enjoy getting some food and a Starbucks at the stop.

We also travelled BA and Virgin. Both are fine. Given a choice between the two I would go BA. We are more United fans though.

 

[wayneg]

I'd go with the cheapest. There is nothing wrong with virgin though IMO, I have been with them twice and going with them again this year.

There is nothing wrong with Virgin as in they get you from A-B but where they used to be market leaders 10 years ago they are now a lot further down my list, companies like BMI and especially NWA have newer planes, happier staff & far superior IFE system.
Virgin planes have very tired interiors, this last flight we came home on at Xmas the guy near us could not sit his seat upright, just would not lock, August we only had 1 earphone socket working out of 3, Easter 1 screen didn't work.
Also in past year had delays with Virgin, thankfully never had with other carriers. Virgin are now 34th out of 35 carriers for delays, although I am sure you can't just take this chart on face value. http://www.flightontime.info/scheduled/scheduled.html

All depends which plane you get, which staff and what mood they are in as with all airlines, but where a few years ago I would have paid a premium to fly Virgin I wouldn't now.

 

[wideeyes]

We unfortantly are limited to virgin so have not tried anyone else as they are the only airline that fly MAN-MCO. I live only 4miles from Manchester Airport(£10 taxi ride) so won't consider flying from Gatwick, not when I can leave my house 10minutes before we need to be at the Airport. I like to fly to MCO as we use the magical express.

 

[wayneg]

Man is very easy for us, 45 mins but sometimes I can't resist the prices from London. Last Oct Half term we left it a little late to book, Virgin's best price was about £800. Heathrow with NWA £240. A big saving for 3 of us.

 

[Cinderella]

Hi - I love flying with Virgin and I've never had a bad flight. The kids love the inflight entertainment system. But the last few times I've flown with them, I've used upper class, or premium economy and that does make the experience a lot better.

I've flown with BA too. The first time they were great but the second time, they didn't seem up to the same standards.

I would choose whichever one you can get the best deal on. And also consider some of the American airlines who have personal inflight entertainment systems.

 

[fuse04]

Thanks for the link Wayne, when you look into the stats in detail (I am sad like that ) for 2008 only 29% of VA flights on the Orlando route leave within 15 mins of schedule and 31% are at least 1 hour overdue.

 

[wayneg]

Thanks for the link Wayne, when you look into the stats in detail (I am sad like that ) for 2008 only 29% of VA flights on the Orlando route leave within 15 mins of schedule and 31% are at least 1 hour overdue.

Thats been a major problem with Virgin recently, Xmas were OK, no delays but our 2 flights before that were delayed by over 2 hours each. One of the reasons I have no hesitations going indirect, we can arrive in UK just as quick as a delayed Virgin flight.
Hopefully it was a bad year for the delays and this year will be better.